Be a Little Considerate
Where the Law/Gospel Divide Actually Is
“I prefer to speak of a law/gospel use, rather than hermeneutic. Just as the law is one, but there are three uses of the law, so with this. Instead of assuming that the Scriptures come in two categories, I prefer to speak of the human race coming in two categories—the regenerate and unregenerate. For the regenerate, the entire Bible is gospel, good news. The gospel is obviously gospel, and the law falls under the third use of the law. The regenerate believer looks to Scripture and finds Christ everywhere. Christ in the manna, Christ in the water, Christ in the sacrifices, Christ in the law. He finds Christ in the promises and Christ in the law. To the unregenerate, the law is simply condemnation. For the elect who are unregenerate, this condemnation drives them to Christ and therefore functions asa servant to the gospel. For the unregenerate who are not elect, this condemnation drives them away. All this is simply standard for Reformed believers. But we have to note that for the unregenerate who are not elect, the gospel does exactly the same thing that the law does—it is the aroma of death (2 Cor. 2:14-16).”
The Chariots of Recapitulation
“Those who want the Mosaic law to recapitulate the covenant of works from the Garden need to be aware that works will always drive out grace. To mix the covenant of works into the Mosaic administration of grace will ensure that the grace of the law will be entirely supplanted. It is astonishing that through this book, the recapitulated sense of law and condemnation has almost entirely effaced the Westminsterian understanding of the graciousness manifested at Sinai . . . God had brought the Jews out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, but apparently the hosts of recapitulation had not been drowned like Pharaoh, but chased them out into the wilderness, caught up with them, and subjected them again to a yoke of slavery.”
Cuckolds, Capons, and Cotqueans
Introduction: I trust that you have watched the NQN trailer three or four times now, and so you may have noticed the line about "apocalypse proofing" your family. The first step in learning how to ...
Good Morning, November!
So then, friends, you know the rules. The first rule is that you have come to expect a trailer of some sort, in which something burns. Thus far it has been a couch, a field, a truck, a boat, and an office. If you want to find out what it is this year, you will …
Thanks Would Have Been in Order
“As I have pointed out in many places, if Adam had withstood the tempter, it would have been necessary for him to thank God afterwards. This means that the covenant was fundamentally a gracious one.”
Merit Not Fungible
“We simply deny that merit can be extracted from a virtuous act and stored on shelves.”
Letters On the Very Threshold of November
Letter to the Editor: Can you recommend any good resources-books or video series-for learning church history from a Protestant point of view? Thank you and God bless. Ryan ...
The Westminster Standards, That Is
“He tries to justify this by some kind of discussion of Galatians, but I don’t know why he is messing around with that when we have the Standards.”
Did Jesus Trust God or Not?
“Was Christ’s obedience faithless or not? Now I agree that Christ’s obedience was imputed to us, but where did this obedience come from? Did Jesus gut it out for us on a works principle, or was His obedience grounded in His absolute trust in His Father? The answer is simple. It was perfect obedience, right? That meant that it was not grounded in the actions of the first successful Pelagian.”