1. Our Lord Jesus, in the night wherein He was betrayed, instituted the sacrament of His body and blood, called the Lord’s Supper, to be observed in His Church, unto the end of the world, for the perpetual remembrance of the sacrifice of Himself in His death; the sealing all benefits thereof unto true believers, …
Layered Definition
One undercurrent beneath the Federal Vision business is a hidden difference in epistemological assumptions. The Hellenistic method strips accidents away from the thing, looking for essences. The Hebraic way of definition adds layer upon layer, looking at the thing from as many different angles as possible, and in as many situations as possible. Peter Leithart …
A Response to Rick Phillips
As the Wilkins controversy continues to give off fumes, I would like to refer you to three places before we begin our next installment of comments. The first is to reiterate that Steve’s written responses to his presbytery exam can be found here. The second is a response to that, written by Rick Phillips, found …
Faith Is Mediated
When someone says that God foreordained the conversion of Smith, and that the conversion of Smith was therefore made necessary, a denial of this would include the view that the conversion of Smith was contingent, not necessary, and that God’s foreordination took up some percentage of the whole deal that was less than 100%. In …
A Target Rich Environment
Obviously, since I am in Monroe (still) for the now finished Auburn Avenue Pastors’ Conference, the “situation” in the PCA has been much on my mind. And the guys have talked about it in various ways, and from various angles. As I was reflecting on it this morning, I thought that I should write about …
Auburn Avenue 2007 In the Can
Sorry for the paucity of posts, and the reason for this is that I have been on the road. More specifically, I have been delighted to have been (once again) a guest speaker at the Auburn Avenue Pastors’ Conference. Just finished at noon today. As always the singing was stupenderous, the hospitality top drawer, and …
The Postmill Culprit?
In a discussion this morning at breakfast, some of the men in our gathering were talking (not surprisingly) about the federal vision controversy that has recently heated up again. One of the things that was noted is that there are some issues that are not currently part of the controversy, but which are real indicators …
Invisible and Eschatological
The Westminster Confession of Faith defines the invisible church as “the whole number of the elect that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one” (XXV.i). Some of you may know that over the last several days, I have been commenting on Scott Clark’s blog, and trying to carry on a discussion there, albeit …
Federal Vision Haiku Poetry Contest
In the spirit of whatever it is, I thought I would offer a short cycle of federal vision haiku poems. Anyone who feels similarly inspired can make their contributions in the comments section. Once it is apparent the creative springs have dried up, or perhaps never got started, as the case may be, I will …
Scott Clark Gearing Up to Unchurch Everybody
Before the final round of bets, Scott Clark is pushing all his chips out into the middle of the table. He has recently gone over the notae of the church, which in itself is not a problem for anyone following the Reformed understanding of the Church. So, okay so far. But then, as one commenter …