I have begun listening to the audio recordings of the recent conference at Westminster West on The Foolishness of the Gospel, and will make a few comments here from time to time as circumstances warrant. Initially, just a few remarks. While it is quite true that Scripture speaks of the foolishness of the gospel, it …
Church of the Firstborn
Jesus Christ, the firstborn, is therefore head of the Church of the firstborn (Heb. 12:23). All of this is indicated in Paul’s interpretation of the second psalm— And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that …
Born Again from the Dead
Christ was born again from the dead. Because of this, the whole created order was born again from the dead. Because of this, Israel was born again from the dead, and is now the Church. Because of this, a man can be born again and enter the Church. If he was already in the Church, …
Auburn Avenue Kerfluffle (AAK) and Transitive Verbs
Always trying to be helpful, I would like to suggest something else that might help good Reformed folks out of the impasse we have gotten ourselves into. In the current debate over faith alone, obedient faith, faith and obedience, and so on, we have a tendency to reify things like faith and obedience, and then …
New Nation, New Members
As we talk about what it means to be “born again,” we have to preserve the scriptural pattern and order. First, as the cornerstone of all doctrines of regeneration, Jesus was born again from the dead (Col. 1:18). Because of Christ’s birth from among the dead, the whole created order was made new in Him. …
From Greater to Lesser
There is an important sense in which regeneration has to be understood as applied to individuals. But this is not the primary thrust of the scriptural emphasis. If we emphasize individual regeneration alone, we will lose the glory of the biblical message of Regeneration. But if we keep the scriptural emphasis, we lose nothing with …
The Agreeable King Assensus
Once upon a time, the king convened a great synod of all the parachurch ministries, and because the times were troublous, they all of them came. WildLife Youth Stampede was there (WYS), the Gospel Blimp Organization (GBO), and IIMEI (If It Moves, Evangelize It) and many others like that — yea, all the staff members …
New World, New Hearts
The Reformed world is currently cooking up an perfect Irish stew controversy. Thrown into the pot have been the meaning of regeneration, imputation, and justification, the relationship of faith and works, the New Perspective on Paul, the firing of Norman Shepherd twenty years ago from Westminister Seminary, and a Presbyterian (!) newspaper charging me with …
Crossfire
As Stevie Ray Vaughn might have put it, “I’m caught in the crossfire.” The East Coast Reformed Police say that it is all right to believe in a kind of baptismal regeneration so long as you also believe in a prelapsarian meritorious covenant of works. And the West Coast Reformed Police are saying that so …
Auburn Avenue Hubbub (AAH) Cool Quote #7
“Surely the Sacraments can remind us of grace, help us to appreciate grace, and exhort us to walk in grace, but do they actually give us the grace promised in the Gospel? The Reformed and Presbyterian confessions answer “yes” without hesitation. A Sacrament not only consists of the signs (water, bread and wine), but of …