In the American criminal justice system, for many charges, after one has been arrested and booked (photographed for a “mug shot,” fingerprinted, and paperwork completed) one goes to jail to await a preliminary hearing and after that a trial of the charge. . . . Continue reading →
John Piper, “Does God Really Save Us By Faith Alone?” (September 25, 2017)
As I mentioned in an earlier post in Romans 2:13 Paul writes, “For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified” (ESV).1 The chapter begins with matter . . . Continue reading →
Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the . . . Continue reading →
When Scripture uses the verb “to justify” (δικαιόω) as it does in Romans 3:20, “wherefore out of the works of the law will no flesh be justified before he, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin,” it means to say, . . . Continue reading →
Las controversias pueden ser desagradables y dolorosas y la reciente controversia sobre la santificación ha sido ambas en algunos momentos. De igual manera las controversias pueden ser útiles al traer mayor claridad y esta controversia ha sido útil en este sentido. Algunos . . . Continue reading →
This is what is meant when we insist that justification is forensic. It has to do with a judgment given, declared, pronounced; it is judicial or juridical or forensic. The main point of such terms is to distinguish between the kind of . . . Continue reading →
It was good to talk with Paul Flynn of Megiddo Radio today about the ongoing controversy over justification and salvation. It was a wide-ranging discussion. Paul and his family are members of Loughbrickland Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland. Click on the link . . . Continue reading →
After the Westminster Assembly, John Owen defended the imputation of active obedience against Piscator, turning to Christ’s active obedience as a source of encouragement and consolation for the Christian. According to Owen, Christ had to provide active obedience because Adam was under . . . Continue reading →
Among New Testament scholars, Mark Seifrid, influenced by Clifford’s interpretation of Protestant orthodoxy, says that it “added the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to the forgiveness of sins.” The distinction between active and passive righteousness is “unnecessary and misleading” and arose from a . . . Continue reading →
Perhaps the first post-Apostolic use of the New Testament verb “to justify” (δικαιόω) occurs in 1 Clement, written just after 100 AD to the same Corinthian congregation to whom Paul had written half a century earlier. There is no claim of authorship . . . Continue reading →
I merely want to focus our attention on what I think is the most detrimental theological claim advanced in this book. Wright polemicizes by arguing that we should change the famous line “justification by faith” to “justification by loyalty.” He reasons, “If . . . Continue reading →
The charge made by Rome and the Anabaptists, among others, was that the evangelical doctrine of salvation sola gratia, sola fide would make Christians cold and careless about their sanctification. The Reformed churches refuted that charge by arguing that the same grace by which we have been given new life also produces faith and it is “impossible for this holy faith to be unfruitful.” True faith is God’s gift. It unites us to the risen and ascended Christ who, by his Spirit, works in us conformity to himself and to his moral will. This is how we understand “faith working through love” (Gal 5:6). Rome, remember, turned “faith working through love” into “faith formed by love” (on this see part 1). In response, Calvin wrote on Galatians 5:6, “When you are engaged in discussing the question of justification, beware of allowing any mention to be made of love or of works, but resolutely adhere to the exclusive particle.” Continue reading →
One of the gravest problems raised by Rev. Shepherd’s book, The Call of Grace is its refusal to honor the Biblical, confessional and Reformed theological distinction between Law and Gospel as expressed in the two covenants in the historia salutis. The covenant . . . Continue reading →
Resources Explaining the Errors in the Theology of Norman Shepherd and in the So-Called Federal Vision Movement Continue reading →
The resurrection of Christ is a sure testimony to us that God considers us to be as just and righteous in His eyes as the body of Christ was when He arose from the dead out of all of our sins. Continue reading →
Editor’s Preface During the controversy at Westminster Seminary (Philadelphia), not only did faculty devote meetings to the highly objectionable views of Norman Shepherd, but they also wrote articles for the seminary’s theological journal and even used class lectures to counter arguments from . . . Continue reading →
Almost since the beginning of the Reformation there were two reactions to the recovery of the gospel: legalism, or nomism, and antinomianism. There are associated doctrines and practices but the core of antinomianism is the rejection of the abiding validity of the . . . Continue reading →
In every generation, the doctrine of justification by faith alone comes under attack. As the heart of the gospel, the doctrine of justification is most fundamental to the definition of salvation and any adequate understanding of the atoning work of the Lord . . . Continue reading →
There is yet something more required; it is not enough that we are not guilty, we must also be actually righteous,—not only all sin is to be answered for, but all righteousness is to be fulfilled. By taking away the guilt of . . . Continue reading →