13. Can we ourselves make this satisfaction. By no means, on the contrary, we daily increase our guilt.1 1 Job 9:2, 3. Job 15:15,16. Matt 6:12. * Matt 16:26. Only Christianity accounts for sin.
Pelagianism
Surprise! Emergent Leader Embraces Pelagius
Tony Jones rejects Augustine, the North African church of the 4th century, the French Church of the 6th century, the entire medieval church, the Protestant Churches, and the Council of Trent (HT: Kevin DeYoung). Here’s one on which the confessional Protestants and . . . Continue reading →
By the Power of His Deity
Heidelberg Catechism Q. 17: 17. Why must he also be true God? That by the power of His Godhead He might bear in His manhood the burden of God’s wrath,1 and so obtain for 2 and restore to us righteousness and life.3 . . . 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 →
Brothers We Are Not Perfectionists
Introduction In the doctrine of sanctification there are several errors to be avoided. First, let’s define our terms and understand what the basic biblical (and confessional Reformed) doctrine of sanctification is. The verb “to sanctify” is Latin. It is the word from . . . Continue reading →
Imputation Works Both Ways
Even so, the magisterium has some explaining to do if you can swallow the idea that humans come into the world with the guilt of Adam’s sinful estate and then object to Protestants drawing a line between the imputation of Adam’s sin . . . Continue reading →
It Was A Covenant Of Works, Not A Covenant Of Grace
. . . though this flattening of the covenant relationship throughout the course of history, before and after the fall, may have a superficial appeal, it has huge implications for the way we interpret the respective “work” of Adam and Christ, the . . . Continue reading →
Sinclair Ferguson: Santa Christ Is Pelagian
Santa Christ is sometimes a Pelagian Jesus. Like Santa, he simply asks us whether we have been good. More exactly, since the assumption is that we are all naturally good, Santa Christ asks us whether we have been “good enough.” So just . . . Continue reading →
The Consensus Of The Divines, Legalism, And The Covenant Of Works
The charge of legalism against the covenant of works is one of those allegations that seems persuasive at first because we all know that legalism is bad and that grace is good. It is almost instinctive to react to the charge by asserting the graciousness of the covenant of works. That is a trap, however, into which we ought not step. Continue reading →
Hodge On That “Gloomy Doctrine” Versus The Good News
Whether good or bad. That is, whether he did good or evil. Each person will receive according to his deeds, whether good or bad. It is from passages such as this that some American theologians have inferred that the only benefit the . . . Continue reading →
If God Helps Those Who Help Themselves, Christ Died For Nothing
Now take both Laws, the Ceremonial Law and the Moral Law or the Decalog. Imagine that by the merit of congruity you have made so much progress that the Spirit has been granted to you and that you have love. Of course, . . . Continue reading →
Second Council Of Orange Contra Pelagianism
CANON 1. If anyone denies that it is the whole man, that is, both body and soul, that was “changed for the worse” through the offense of Adam’s sin, but believes that the freedom of the soul remains unimpaired and that only . . . Continue reading →
A Note On Christian Perfectionism
Is perfection in this life possible, or is it a heretical concept that misunderstands the nature of original sin and total depravity? Hint: it’s not possible! Continue reading →