“Before baptism, the minister is to use some words of instruction, touching the institution, nature, use, and ends of this sacrament, shewing . . . that they [children] are Christians, and federally holy before baptism, and therefore are they baptized.” Westminster Directory for the Publick Worship of God, emphasis mine
Monocovenantalism, a Great Word, or What?
One of the charges leveled against me for my Auburn Avenuing is that of monocovenantalism. But what is that, exactly? If the critics mean that I hold that there has only been one covenant throughout the history of mankind, then the charge is false. God made one covenant with mankind in Adam, and He made …
The Greatest is Faith
Once a young minister was summing up what he believed was the safest sermon he had ever preached. This had become necessary because certain members of the session had begun looking at him funny, and making comments that had words in them like hypercovenantal and not Klinean, and phrases like “went to seminary with.” So …
Auburn Avenue Hubbub (AAH) Cool Quote #3
“But to protect the importance of faith we do not have to deny His presence, which is what many people, in opposition to formalism, want to do. They say, ‘No, we don’t want to find Christ in the water, we want to find him just by faith.’ But Luther and Calvin’s point is that the …
Was Jesus Faithless?
What I would like to do in brief compass is explain how a particular understanding of a pre-fall covenant of works requires us to say that Jesus was faithless. In short, I want to explain the problem some have with our rejection of their covenant of works, and then explain the problem with that problem. …
Auburn Avenue Hubbub (AAH) Cool Quote #2
“All who are baptized into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, recognizing the Trinity of Persons in the Godhead, the incarnation of the Son and his priestly sacrifice, whether they be Greeks, or Arminians, or Romanists, or Lutherans, or Calvinists, or the simple souls who do not …
Auburn Avenue Hubbub (AAH) Cool Quote #1
“More and more it has occurred to me that the big issues between the Anabaptists and the Reformers of classical Protestantism are still among the biggest unresolved agonies of modern American Protestantism.” Hughes Oliphant Old, The Shaping of the Reformed Baptismal Rite (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1992), p. x.
Bestminster Best
Once two seminary professors at Bestminster Theological Seminary were walking together, heads bowed as they were deep in theological conversation. Their topic concerned the depths of the wisdom of God in the salvation of sinful man, and it was consequently slow going, as though they were try to paddle a canoe across a lake of …
The Irenic Bombshell
The Auburn Avenue Hubbub (AAH) of course has a number of texts going. But those who are theologically astute have no doubt noticed some subtexts also. One of those subtexts is the question about the covenant of works and the covenant of grace, and the grounding of those covenants. Fundamentally, what is the relationship of …
Effectual Means of Salvation
A young ministerial candidate was asked whether his sacramental views comported with those of the Westminster Standards. This line of questioning was a novelty to him, and so he asked for a copy. One was quickly produced, but when it became apparent that he was not going to swear on it, but on the contrary, …