Paul Helm compares the two.
Richard Baxter
Office Hours: The Gospel Mystery Of Sanctification
Since the very earliest days of the post-apostolic church, in the 2nd century, there have been preachers who thought that the best way to produce godliness (sanctification) in believers is to pound it into them, as it were, with a hammer. It’s . . . Continue reading →
Packer: Shepherd Reinvented The Neonomianism Of Richard Baxter
Shepherd in effect reinvented the neonomianism of Richard Baxter in the 17th century—and from the same motive—recoil from the practical antinomianism that surrounded him, and a desire to state the gospel as to make perfectly obvious that persevering holiness is enjoined on . . . Continue reading →
Burying The Lead On Baxter
There is a phrase in journalism called “burying the lead” (or, since about 1979, the cloying variant lede). The lead (lede) is the paragraph in which the most important, salient facts are contained. In the old days (c. 1975), the writer was . . . Continue reading →
Boston On Not Turning The Covenant Of Grace Into A Covenant Of Works
ARGUMENT. V. Though the patrons of the doctrine of the necessity of repentance in order to the obtaining of the pardon of sin, do not aim at any encroachment on the doctrine of free pardon; yet, with all deference to those learned . . . Continue reading →
Richard Baxter On Initial And Final Justification Through Faith And Works
The magisterial Protestant churches (i.e., the Lutheran and Reformed) and their theologians did not speak of, teach, or confess a “two-stage” doctrine of justification or even a “two-stage” doctrine of salvation (justification, sanctification, and glorification). Yet, today, one sees leading evangelical and . . . Continue reading →
Antinomianism Is A Serious Error And So Is Nomism
The Problem Of Antinomianism Repeatedly in the history of Christianity there have been two competing, damaging impulses regarding the moral law of God. One of those impulses is known as “antinomianism.” This view denies the abiding validity of the moral law for . . . Continue reading →
Boston And Rutherford: Baxter Turned The Covenant Of Grace Into A Covenant Of Works
Let us take a watchword from holy and learned Rutherford: ‘We would beware (says he) of Mr. Baxter’s order of setting repentance and works of new obedience before justification; which is indeed a new covenant of works.’ Continue reading →
Baxter’s “Hot Peppercorn” Of Justification And Salvation Through Good Works
Touching the latter, how far he will extol the peppercorn of our own works, and righteousness to justification and salvation he does not here (though afterward, he does) in express words signify. But that he means to extol them, he does enough . . . Continue reading →
The Canons Of Dork #34 For November 2, 2024
Trick or treat! Continue reading →