Allow me, if I might, to follow up on an important point that has arisen in the discussion following my post on Sinclair Ferguson. There are macro issues involved, so bear with me for a moment. Prior to Nicea, there were good men who were Trinitarian in substance, but who did not use the orthodox …
Now What the Heck?
Sinclair Ferguson says a number of fine things in his piece for Tabletalk. Here is one: “Justification cannot be abstracted from Christ as if it were a ‘thing’ apart from or added to Him. Chrhist Himself is our justification. We cannot have justification without Christ! Nor can we have Christ without justification!” But I have …
And in a Masterpiece of Bad Timing . . .
Congratulations to my colleague Peter Leithart, who has been appointed to a two-year lectureship for the Association of Reformed Institutions of Higher Education (ARIHE). You can read more about that here , on the blog of Roy Atwood , president of NSA. Meantime, in a masterpiece of bad timing, some of the gnats-stranglers in the …
Diligent Oyster Avoidance
The next article consists of J.V. Fesko tackling the “works of the law” in Paul as N.T. Wright construes them, which is to say, as boundary markers. The works of the law for Wright are not the moral good works “which the Reformation tradition loves to hate.” For Wright, the identity markers were things like …
Carpet Bombing Theology
The next article in Tabletalk is by Cornelis Venema, and is entitled “A Future Justification Based on Works?” In it he tackles Wright’s emphasis upon a future justification on the basis of works. Venema’s point is that Wright “radically compromises the scriptural teaching that justification is not based upon works or human performance.” Venema adds …
Introspective Weird Beards in the Monasteries
Al Mohler’s contribution to this edition of Tabletalk, an article entitled “Rethinking the Gospel?” is simply superb. And let me tell you why. First, he acknowledges Wright’s gifts. He is “brilliant, creative, provocative, and fascinating.” He also acknowledges that, as a matter of emphasis, Wright has some real contributions to make when it comes to …
Damned for Being Underfoot?
Just ran across this, and it seems to me to be N.T. Wright’s central mistake, one that generates a host of lesser mistakes. “We have got over the old idea that law-keeping was an early form of Pelagianism, by which Pharisees and others sought to earn their justification or salvation by moral effort” (N.T. Wright, …
Obeying God Rather Than Man
For those of you who have been following this series, this brings to a conclusion our series of study questions through Calvin’s Institutes. Congratulations. As my granddaughter Daphne would say, “I dood it.” Book 4/Chapter 20
The Lesser Magistrates
Book 4/Chapter 20 The royal person (section 28) 1. Whom should we serve in the civil realm? 2. Why are there “many princes”? 3. What should we then do? God will vindicate (section 29) 1. What do we not examine? 2. Are we to be subject to men who are evil in character? 3. When …
Obeying the Ungodly
Book 4/Chapter 20 Unjust magistrates (section 24) 1. Does Calvin believe that magistrates are capable of great wickedness? 2. What does this do in the minds of men who must live under such? A foundational lesson (section 25) 1. What should our first reaction be when we find ourselves governed by a wicked magistrate? Obedience …