To come into the presence of our Creator shatters any illusion of creaturely independence and self-sufficiency. We are not our own and are undone before him. Apart from him we have no existence (Col 1:16-17). It is God who created us, as . . . Continue reading →
Creator/creature Distinction
Heidelcast 193: Taking Calls On Christian Platonism And Covid-19 Restrictions
We are taking a break from the series, What Must A Christian Believe to take some calls and answer some questions. The first question comes from Deborah in Chicago who asks about the trend among evangelicals to talk about “Christian Platonism.” What is . . . Continue reading →
Why Caution About Jonathan Edwards Is In Order
Jonathan Edwards (1703–58) is America’s most famous theologian and perhaps its most famous philosopher too. He is an important and influential figure and worth seeking to understand for those reasons alone. We should think about Edwards for other reasons, however, He is . . . Continue reading →
Wake Up And Smell The Coffee
…in this book Dolezal argues that a number of contemporary evangelical and Reformed theologians, whether wittingly or unwittingly, have rejected and/or wrongly redefined elements of classical Christian theism. In other words, they have rejected and/or wrongly redefined elements of the Christian doctrine . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast 124: I Am That I Am (2)—The Categorical Distinction
The Creator/creature distinction is fundamental to Christian theology. The Ancient Christian church defended it against the pagan doctrine of the eternality of matter. Scripture is very clear: “In the beginning God…”. On this point, the classical, confessional Reformed theologians built their distinction . . . Continue reading →
Protestant Basics: The Theologian Of The Cross Versus The Theologian Of Glory
19. One is not worthy to be called a theologian (theologus) who looks upon the “invisible things of God” [invisibilia Dei; Rom. 1:20] as though they were clearly “perceptible in those things which have actually happened” [1 Cor 1:21–25] 20. But who . . . Continue reading →
Strangers And Aliens (8): A Rock Of Offense And A Cornerstone (1 Peter 2:7–8)
What Martin Luther (1483–1546) expressed as a distinction between the distinction between a theology of glory (theologia gloriae) and the theology of the cross) the Reformed tended to express as a distinction between the Creator and the creature but same set ideas . . . Continue reading →
Heidelberg 33: God’s Eternally And Only Begotten Son And His Adopted Sons (4)
In some quarters of the patristic church and widely in the medieval church the line between God as the Creator and humans as the created became blurred. One of the more important but often overlooked accomplishments of the Reformation was to recover . . . Continue reading →
Christian Doctrinal Interpretations Vs. Joseph Smith’s Revelations
These passages can be interpreted in different ways. Yet by viewing them through the clarifying lens of revelations received by Joseph Smith, Latter-day Saints see these scriptures as straightforward expressions of humanity’s divine nature and potential. Many other Christians read the same . . . Continue reading →
Berkhof On The Creator/Creature Distinction
Alongside of the archetypal knowledge of God, found in God Himself, there is also an ectypal knowledge of Him, given to man by revelation. The latter is related to the former as a copy is to the original, and therefore does not . . . Continue reading →
Only God is Self-Sufficient
Martin Downes is reading Van Til: If one does not make human knowledge wholly dependent upon the original self-knowledge and consequent revelation of God to man, then man will have to seek knowledge within himself as the final reference point.
The Black Rubric And The Creator-Creature Distinction
The “Black Rubric” was so-called because it was set in black print in the 1661–1662 edition of the Book of Common Prayer. It was first inserted into the Second Edwardian Prayer Book in 1552. It was intended to explain that when communicants . . . Continue reading →