1. There is but one only (Deut. 6:4; 1 Cor. 8:4, 6), living, and true God (1 Thess. 1:9; Jer. 10:10), Not that this should be necessary to say, but the Christian faith is monotheistic. But this does not mean that “Christianity” is a belief system which contains one God within it, so that people …
Westminster One: Of the Holy Scripture
1. Although the light of nature, and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable; (Rom. 2:14–15; 1:19–20; Ps. 19:1–3; Rom. 1:32; 2:1) yet they are not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of His will, which is necessary …
Introduction to Confessional and Systematic Theology:
Remember that a systematic understanding of any given text is really synonymous with a formal understanding of the text. Understanding of a work is impossible unless there is an ability to summarize it, and summary is nothing but a systematic distillation. The real enemy is systematic misunderstanding of the text (not to mention systematic misapplications). …
Try, Try Again
A couple years ago, I started posting a series of notes on the Westminster Confession. But I never finished posting them, I didn’t like the format I was using, and there I was, like the guy with the half-finished tower in the gospels. Not to mention the prospect of having to exposit that stuff about …
Conservatives Blitz Anyway
I believe it was Samuel Francis who said that Washington D.C. was run by two political parties — the Evil Party and the Stupid Party. The same thing is true in contemporary ecclesiastical politics. We have the people who are selling out the “faith once delivered,” and then there are those who are clueless about …
Chugging In the Meadow
What does it look like when the Presbyterian locomotive jumps the rails and finds itself chugging valiantly through a meadow? Let a recent statement from Evangel Presbytery (PCA) answer the question. HT: Jeff Meyers Evangel Presbytery declares that the doctrines of the “New Perspective on Paul,” “Auburn Avenue Theology/Federal Vision”, and teachings of Norman Shepherd, …
Last Post on Waters
Okay, one last comment, and I am done reviewing Waters’ book. In the bibliography, Waters says this about my lecture on heretics and the covenant at the 2002 Auburn Avenue Pastors’ Conference. “Wilson calls for a ‘covenantal approach to heresy,’ one that recognizes the ‘objective . . . covenantal obligations’ of the heretic, who, if …
Talmudic Layers of Revivalism
In the footnotes of Waters’ book, Cal Beisner makes this statement. “The Westminster Standards present the sacraments solely as means of sanctifying grace, not as means of converting grace” (p. 302). In his response to my essay on sacramental efficacy in the Westminster Standards, Rick Phillips makes a similar point. “In reading Wilson’s paper I …
Making the Necessary Qualifications
One of the things that became obvious throughout this review of Waters’ book on the Federal Vision was the extraordinarily sloppy job done by Waters in representing my views fairly or accurately. Unfortunately, this pattern continues in the footnotes and bibliography. An astonishing ommission in the bibliography is the doctrinal examination I took before my …
A Tulip From Calvin’s Garden
The last chapter of Waters’ book gives him an opportunity to wrap up. But although I will interact with some elements of this chapter, I am not going to wrap up, not just yet anyhow. Nossir. I am going to go through the footnotes too. First, Waters charges me with a “misuse of logic.” Were …