Heidelcast 127: I Am That I Am (5)—The Trinity

Heidelcast

on May 7, 2017 | 1 Comment

There strong indications in the Hebrew Scriptures that the God of the Bible is not only personal, but that he is multi-personal. In Genesis 1:1, Scripture says that Elohim (God) created the heavens and the earth. In the very next verse, however, . . . Continue reading →

Heidelcast 126: I Am That I Am (4)—The Trinity

Heidelcast

on April 12, 2017

Traditionally, at this place in theology, we should address the divine attributes in relation to the divine being/essence. Otto Weber (1902–66) challenged this approach by arguing that because Scripture reveals God first of all as Triune and his attributes in the light . . . Continue reading →

Heidelcast 125: I Am That I Am (3)—More On The Categorical Distinction

Heidelcast

on March 27, 2017

So far in this series we have been talking about what I call the categorical distinction, i.e., the Creator/creature distinction. At the 1518 Heidelberg Disputation Martin Luther unveiled what he called his theology of the cross, (theologia crucis) against what he described . . . Continue reading →

Heidelcast 124: I Am That I Am (2)—The Categorical Distinction

Heidelcast

on February 27, 2017 | 2 Comments

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 →

Ursinus On The Distinction Between Essence And Persons In The Trinity

R. Scott Clark

on February 14, 2017

We may now readily perceive the difference between the Essence of God, and the Persons, subsisting in the divine essence. By the term, Essence, we are to understand, in reference to this subject, that which the eternal Father, Son, and Holy Spirit . . . Continue reading →

Heidelcast 123: I Am That I Am (1)—The Categorical Distinction

Heidelcast

on February 13, 2017 | 4 Comments

This is the 1st episode of our series on the doctrine of God, ““I AM That I AM.” In older histories of theology it used to be said of the Reformed that they started with the divine decree and deduced (i.e., drew . . . Continue reading →

We Are Not Merely Discussing Economic Subordination

R. Scott Clark

on September 8, 2016 | 9 Comments

So Burk argues that Christ’s not grasping for equality with God belongs not only to the economic but to the ontological Trinity. That is an extraordinary claim! He is asserting far more than a simple acknowledgement that the Father and Son are . . . Continue reading →

Turretin Defended Divine Simplicity Against The Socinians

R. Scott Clark

on August 26, 2016

Is God most simple and free from all composition? We affirm against Socinus and Vorstius I. The Socinians agitate this controversy with us since they deny that simplicity can be attributed to God according to the Scriptures and think it should be . . . Continue reading →

Bavinck On Divine Simplicity

R. Scott Clark

on August 25, 2016 | 9 Comments

Now Christian theology has always been more or less conscious of this calling. On the whole, its teaching has been that God is “simple,” that is, sublimely free from all composition, and that therefore one cannot make any real [i.e., ontological] distinction . . . Continue reading →

Voetius Contra Middle Knowledge

R. Scott Clark

on August 13, 2016 | 2 Comments

From the points which have been so far upheld against middle knowledge it is clear that the whole difficulty in the present controversy reduces to this one point: Could free conditioned things, from eternity indifferent by nature to futurition or nonfuturition, have . . . Continue reading →

Turretin Contra Middle Knowledge

R. Scott Clark

on August 12, 2016 | 2 Comments

I. Although the knowledge of God is one and simple intrinsically no less than his essence, yet it can be considered in different ways extrinsically as to the objects. But it is commonly distinguished by theologians into the knowledge of simple intelligence . . . Continue reading →

Biblical, Ecumenical Christian Doctrines Are Not Adiaphora

R. Scott Clark

on July 15, 2016 | 3 Comments

Rachel Miller writes: “I hope that those who have read and recommend Dr. Grudem’s Systematic Theology will go back and reconsider what is being taught.” Continue reading →

Maybe It Comes Down To Method?

R. Scott Clark

on July 9, 2016 | 3 Comments

We understand that some strands of Baptist and evangelical life have not typically learned the habit of creedal thinking but have tended to emphasize independent Biblicism and personal exegesis. Perhaps that lies at the root of much of this dispute. But this . . . Continue reading →

Function And Subsistence Are Distinct Categories

R. Scott Clark

on July 9, 2016

Both the unity of the divine essence and the distinction of the persons within that essence are matters of ontology, of the divine being. Some, like Wollebius, define the divine persons as “the essence of God, with a certain manner of subsisting” . . . Continue reading →

What Heresy Is, Who Gets To Say, And Why?

R. Scott Clark

on July 4, 2016

Part of the problem has been that in using the word ‘heresy’ (which I didn’t but do now) we have been talking past each other. Heresy is not a word to be used carelessly and hurled indiscriminately at anyone who dares to . . . Continue reading →

Why This Controversy Now?

R. Scott Clark

on June 23, 2016 | 3 Comments

During this same time, there was also groundbreaking historical work done by Richard Muller and those who followed in his wake. Muller’s research definitively smashed the “Calvin against the Calvinists” thesis, and his undeniably strong scholarship produced a whole new generation of . . . Continue reading →

A Response To Grudem’s Appeal To Hodge On Eternal Subordination

Harrison Perkins

on June 23, 2016 | 7 Comments

Hodge actually makes this restricted application explicit, “The subordination intended is only that which concerns the mode of subsistence and operation, implied in the Scriptural facts that the Son is of the Father, and the Spirit is of the Father and Son, and that the Father operates through the Son, and the Father and the Son through the Spirit.” (Systematic Theology I:461) The point he is making is that there is subordination in “the mode of subsistence and operation” only in the sense that one cannot reverse the orders of relation. They are not said to be subordinate in any sense of eternal submission, but are subordinate relationships in the fact that one relationship leads to the next and we cannot flip those. The Son is Son of the Father and so his Sonship depends on the Father being the Father. Nothing more is entailed or permitted. According to Hodge, the Son is Son in a subordinate way only in the sense that a Son has to have a Father, and that is the mode of subsistence and operation. Continue reading →

Truly Audacious Proposals

R. Scott Clark

on June 22, 2016 | 5 Comments

Let us all reflect for a moment on the dramatic significance of Grudem’s claim about eternal generation. What he is saying is that the church catholic has for over 1600 years been affirming theologically and liturgically, as the key ecumenical summary of . . . Continue reading →

Note To Evangelicals Revising The Doctrine Of God: The Socinian Vortius Denied Simplicity

R. Scott Clark

on June 19, 2016 | 7 Comments

Conrad Vorstius also occupies a significant, but nearly entirely negative, place in the development of Reformed orthodox doctrine of the divine attributes. After his successful defense of two of his works, De sancta trinitate (1597), and De personis et officio Christi (1597), . . . Continue reading →

Athanasius On Eternal Generation

R. Scott Clark

on June 18, 2016 | 1 Comment

As we said above, so now we repeat, that the divine generation must not be compared to the nature of men, nor the Son considered to be part of God, nor the generation to imply any passion whatever; God is not as . . . Continue reading →

The Heidelblog

Doctrine of God