In the comments below this post, Jeremy Sexton explains an objective, outside-the-individual way of understanding the qualitative difference between a persevering covenant member and a non-persevering covenant member. I appreciate Jeremy’s contribution. In line with my previous comments, I don’t have any difficulty seeing this as a position that an orthodox Christian could take. The …
Messing With the Verb
I recently wrote about how catholicity begins at home, which you can read here if you missed it. Jim Jordan was kind enough to comment in the thread below that, but because the conveyor belt of time won’t slow down, his comments were kind of buried. I wanted to bump them up to the top …
A Romans 11 Olive Branch
I would like to thank Shane Lems for his post at The Aquila Report for his post on the FV as it relates to union with Christ. The reason for this is that he quotes from the Joint Federal Vision statement, which is very rarely done. I really appreciate it — that is what the …
Remembering Og and Sihon
I said here that I was looking forward to Peter Leithart’s answer to some of the responses to his piece on the end of Protestantism. And you can read his response to Fred Sanders piece here. If I might, I would like to add just a few observations to the discussion, without assuming that either …
Protestantism Without Borders
I will say it right now. Chesterton is my favorite papist. This is something you could probably figure out from how much I quote him, but how much I have learned from him extends far beyond that. One of the things I learned from him is the fundamental stance of a reformer — in order …
No Speekee
In the comments on this post over at his blog, Scott Clark threatened to cut off comments if people persisted in asking why he wouldn’t meet with me. “Why is it curious that I should refuse to meet personally with the leading proponent of the corruption of the gospel?” Well, it is curious because in …
A Few Heideljinks
A friend wrote, drawing my attention to this and, with regard to the one statement of mine that the OPC report took issue with, asking me if I meant it. I would prefer to divide that into two questions — first, what did I mean by it, and second, did I mean it? I can …
Even Postmillennialists Get the Blues
Before I became postmillennial, I noticed something odd, and since then, some of the oddities seem even more so. Some of the most cogent cultural criticism I have ever read has come from postmillennialists, who described in excruciating and exact detail how and why our culture is falling apart. And yet, back in the day, …
All Over the Map
One of the things that modern Reformed Christians have trouble doing is arguing and maintaining tight distinctives without breaking fellowship. This inability is projected back onto the period of the Reformation, on the assumption that from Poland to Wales all the Reformed marched under the five banners of the five solas, all five banners snapping …
Not Counting the Barnacles
Okay, I am a Protestant. I get that. This is why I believe there are many things wrong with the papacy, and that is not even counting the barnacles. But hope springs eternal, and every time a new pope is selected, a lot of people — including Protestants who should know better — start yearning …