Dear Gavin, It was really great meeting you in person last week. Thanks for making the trek over our way, and it was great worshiping together with you. Our conversation after church really helped ...
Audio Reading of Post
Okay to be White
A Crucial Distinction
“There is a vast difference between a law/gospel hermeneutic, which I reject heartily and with enthusiasm, and a law/gospel application or use, which is pastoral, prudent, and wise.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 532
Letters To Help While Away the Time
N.B. Before anyone writes in to correct "while away" to "wile away," please know that while away is the older usage, and the newer and formerly incorrect wile away shouldered its way in, such that even ...
Law and Grace Hearts
“The Scripture is what it is, and it contains both promises and imperatives. For the one who reads the Scriptures in evangelical faith, he sees all the imperatives in the context of a larger grace. For the one who reads the Scripture in unbelief, he can sound out the promises, but they are always trumped by what he thinks is the larger demand of ‘do this and live.’ The former contextualizes everything as a subset of God’s grace. The latter contextualizes everything as a subset of law. For the believer, even the Ten Commandments can be understood as gracious. The preamble reminds the Jews that these words were coming from the one who brought them out of the house of bondage. For the unbeliever, even the message of the cross is foolishness, an intolerable demand. So that, in a nutshell, is what I think is going on with law and gospel.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 529
In Which Heidi Przybyla Shows Us the Way
Introduction: The world of Christian X was all in a doodah over something that Heidi Przybyla said last week. Now this was fully appropriate, but Christian worldview thinking demands that we ...
Not Really the Same
“In the old days, defenders of the faith used proclamation, argumentation, and apologetics. These days, the defenders of the faith use all the bureaucratic levers they have hidden under the desk . . . In the old days, the prophets of God would thunder the word. These days, they resort to Machinations and Back Room Deals.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 529
Should Have Been Obvious
Truth Remains Unified
“The issue of emphasis is problematic when discussing issues like this. I believe all kinds of things that I emphasize in varying degrees. Why is that a problem? Belief is where you measure doctrinal orthodoxy. Legitimate differences in emphasis can be affected by numerous factors like the period of history you are in, the state of the church you are preaching to, the nature of your own personal gifts, and so on. If I am preaching at Thyatira, my emphasis is one thing; if at Ephesus, it is another. The truth remains unified.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 527
Thank God
“I am going to heaven because of Jesus, and not because of my mastery of the dikai-word group.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 527
Isildur, the Ring, and the Glory of Limited Government
Introduction: So let us talk about revolutions, you and I. Historically speaking, the word can mean anything from a simple change in government, like a revolving door, or it can be a nightmarish spectacle that doesn’t ever want to quit. The word admits of quite a range of meanings. It can refer to something as …