“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 …
When Stuck, Try Theological Innovation
How is it that we are assailed for having a high (and very Reformed) view of the sacraments, when others, like the Lutherans and the Westminster West cadre, are given a pass by the anabaptist reformed? The answer that is given to this question is that there is a basic compatibility between the covenant of …
Objective Christians and Husbands
In a recent book entitled The Church: One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic, Rick Phillips says this: “Eventually, the evangelicals gave in to that pressure, agreeing that if you are baptized you are a Christian, even if you deny the deity of Christ and the atoning work of the cross. This is of the greatest importance …
A Synod of Owls
Once a great synod of Reformed owls gathered together for a confabulation of their wits, to wit, putting their brains together to solve a problem that had long roiled the world of owley Reformedness. Now, in that last sentence, I must confess that I was sorely tempted to write, “of their wits, to wit, to …
Strange Alliances
A specter is haunting the Reformed world — the specter of biblically grounded teaching on marriage, family, and elder qualifications. The threat is causing new ecumenical alliances to form, all calculated to meet the rising and imminent danger. TR Frank Smith is teaming up with openness theology, rabid anti-theonomist John Robbins is shoulder to shoulder …
John Robbins and the Council of Trent
The controversy over justification by faith shows no signs of letting up. Every day I hear from some new quarter that the hubbub continues. One of the larger ironies in all this is that men who have abandoned the historic, Protestant understanding of faith have accused other men (who have not abandoned it) of doing …
Auburn Avenue Hubbub (AAH) Cool Quote #6
“Almighty God, Heavenly Father, we give you eternal praise and thanks, that you have granted and bestowed upon this child your fellowship, that you have born him again to yourself through your holy baptism, that he has been incorporated into Your beloved Son, our only Savior, and is now your child and heir.” Strasbourg Psalter …
Anabaptists in Puritan Face Paint
When was the first appearance of the strict regulative principle? And what does this tell us about certain deep affinities between certain streams of the Reformed faith and the streams of other communions? I have before charged that some of the pietists in the Reformed world are completely at odds with their own heritage. And …
Auburn Avenue Hubbub (AAH) Cool Quote #5
“Now in particular I ask you to pray with me that as I baptize this child with water and receive him into the number of Christians, that God himself inwardly baptize him with his Spirit and hold him in the number of his elect.” John Oecolampadius Basel Service Book of 1526
Going to Memphis
A certain man was traveling to Memphis, and as he drove along the highway, he saw one of those big green road signs that said, “Memphis, 250 miles.” This was not unusual, but what was unusual was the cluster of cars, tents, and Winnebagos around the base of the sign. Curious, he decided to stop. …