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 →
Erskine: Were Paul Alive He Would Excommunicate Richard Baxter
…1. As to doctrinal legalists, we might bewail and refute the legal schemes that take place in the world. I name these two: 1. The Popish Scheme, denying the imputation of Christ’s righteousness. The imputed righteousness of Christ is blasphemed by the . . . Continue reading →
Bavinck: The English Delegates To Dort Agreed In Substance With Amyraut And So Did Baxter
At the Synod of Dort, the foreign delegates spoke as broadly as possible about the worth and sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice. The English theologians even stated that Christ, in a sense, had died for all: “Christ so died for all that all . . . Continue reading →
Ernest Kevan On Baxter On The Marrow Of Modern Divinity
Richard Baxter ought to have recognized a friend in this book, but he opposed it and spoke of “The Marrow of Modern Divinity, which on pretence of Moderation is Antinomian or Libertine, and very injudicious and unsound”. Scripture Gospel Defended, “Breviate of . . . Continue reading →
Baxter’s Biographer: He Adhered To His Errors On Justification To The End
To give a concise and accurate opinion of these Aphorisms, is no easy task. This difficulty arises from the great number of separate propositions, which are neither always consistent with truth nor with one another. As a book, it abounds in moral . . . Continue reading →
Beeke And Pederson: Baxter’s Doctrines Of The Decrees, Atonement, And Justification Were Not Reformed
Baxter’s writings are a strange theological mix. He was one of a few Puritans whose doctrines of God’s decrees, atonement, and justification were anything but Reformed. Though he generally structured his theology along Reformed lines of thought, he frequently leaned towards Arminian . . . Continue reading →
Packer: Baxter Sowed The Seeds Of Moralism, Arianism, And Liberalism
Thus Baxter, by the initial rationalism of his ‘political method’, which forced scripture into an a priori mould, actually sowed the seeds of moralism with regard to sin, Arianism with regard to Christ, legalism with regard to faith and salvation, and liberalism . . . Continue reading →