Introduction There is no question among orthodox, i.e., confessional, Reformed folk whether good works are necessary as a consequence, evidence, and a fruit of justification and sanctification by grace alone, through faith alone. There is no question whether God’s moral law, whether summarized in . . . Continue reading →
Soteriology
Muddying The Distinction Between Justification And Salvation (2)
…although they make their boast of Him, yet in deeds they deny the only Savior Jesus, for either Jesus is not a complete Savior, or they who by true faith receive this Savior, must have in Him all that is necessary to their salvation. Continue reading →
Muddying The Distinction Between Justification And Salvation
Ultimately, the Socinians, the Romanists, and the moralists (e.g., Baxter) agreed: the gospel of free justification with God and free salvation must be rejected because it’s insufficient to produce the desired outcome. Continue reading →
Our Salvation Is By Grace Alone
And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. Continue reading →
Christ’s Merits Affirmed And Ours Denied In The Reformed Confessions
Christ’s Merit For Us Affirmed “only for the sake of Christ’s merits” (Heidelberg Catechism 21) “for the sake of Christ’s merits” (Heidelberg Catechism 84) “if they did not rest on the merit of the suffering and death of our Savior” (Belgic Confession, . . . Continue reading →
Saved By The Blood Of The Lamb
I was blinded by the devil, Born already ruined, Stone-cold dead, As I stepped out of the womb Continue reading →
Heidelberg 29: No Other Name
Jesus is an intentionally troublesome figure. He said “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). This was an outrageous claim when it made it and remains so today. . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast 32: D. G. Hart On Union With Christ
The doctrine of union with Christ has been a controversial issue in Reformed circles for several years. On the surface, judging by the older Reformed writers and by the Reformed confessions, it is difficult to see exactly why the doctrine of union . . . Continue reading →
It’s Here: Muller on Calvin and the Reformed Tradition
This is going to be fun. Anyone who is interested in the history of Reformed theology, in finding out what the classical Reformed authors (of which Calvin was one) actually said, must get to grips with the work of Richard Muller. By . . . Continue reading →
Semi-Pelagianism and Faith as the Instrument of Existential-Mystical Union with Christ (5)
Part 4. In part 4 we saw that William Perkins taught that believers are given new life by the Spirit and by the same Spirit given faith and through that faith united to Christ. It is particularly useful to be aware of . . . Continue reading →
Semi-Pelagianism and Faith as the Instrument of Existential-Mystical Union with Christ (Pt 3)
Part 2 That faith which secures eternal life; which unites us to Christ as living members of his body; which makes us the sons of God; which interests us in all the benefits of redemption; which works by love, and is fruitful . . . Continue reading →
Semi-Pelagianism and Faith as the Instrument of Existential-Mystical Union with Christ (Pt 2)
Last time we saw that, according to William Perkins, semi-Pelagianism asserts that the will (or other faculties) are able to operate in salvation partly on the basis of nature, i.e., they are not entirely dependent upon grace. In contrast, the Reformed argue . . . Continue reading →
Semi-Pelagianism and Faith as the Instrument of Existential-Mystical Union with Christ (Pt 1)
William Perkins (1558-1602), in his 1595 Exposition of the Apostles’ Creed, on the question of effectual call, wrote: Againe, if the Vocation of every man be effectual, then faith must be common to all men either by nature, or by grace, or . . . Continue reading →
Warfield on Justification
by B. B. Warfield Professor of Didactic and Polemic Theology Princeton Theological Seminary, 1887-1921 [NB: This essay was originally published in The Christian Irishman, Dublin, (May 1911), 71. It was reprinted in John E. Meeter, ed., Selected Shorter Writings of Benjamin B. . . . Continue reading →
How Did We Come to Faith? Election and Predestination
[This essay was first written c. 1988. It has been revised several times since] Introduction: Jesus’ Hard Words Why should we study what the Bible says about how we came to faith in Jesus? Isn’t it enough to simply believe and let . . . Continue reading →
The Free Offer of the Gospel
By John Murray with a new foreword by R. Scott Clark The foreword is ©2002 R. Scott Clark Foreword This essay was written by John Murray (1898–1975), professor of Systematic Theology in Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia and Ned B. Stonehouse (1902–62), . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast: Does God Give Faith to the Living or to the Dead?
Heidelcast: Does God Give Faith to the Living or the Dead? Dan writes to the HC to ask about the timing of regeneration (making alive by the Spirit) and faith but he raises the question of whether God gives faith to the . . . Continue reading →
Bavinck on Presumptive Regeneration (And Other Things)
In Saved By Grace just out from RHB. With the Bavinck conference and blog and new volumes coming out, there’s a veritable Bavinck Blizzard! This volume, like anything from Bavinck, is worth having and reading. I read part of it in a pre-publication . . . Continue reading →