Book 2/Chapter 2 Church fathers on free will (section 4) 1. Does Calvin believe that the church fathers handled the idea of free will scripturally? 2. What was the reason for this? 3. What two things were they concerned to avoid? 4. Which of the fathers was an exception to this? Different kinds of freedom …
Tea Kettle Charges of Heresy
One of the things I appreciated about John Piper’s critique of Wright was that he didn’t go straight to tea-kettle charges of heresy just because he encountered something in Wright on the subject of justification that he thought was unclear, for whatever reason. And after looking at it closely, Piper concluded that Wright was a …
No Need to Replace the Furniture
The next section of Wright’s book (pp. 169-176) was glorious in what it affirmed, and weirdly disappointing in what it denied. He does a fantastic job in situating the point of the discussion that swirls around “let God be true, and every man a liar.” As Wright puts it, the problem with Israel’s sin is …
Natural and Unnatural Both
Book 2/Chapter 1 Definition of original sin (section 8) 1. How does Calvin define original sin? 2. Do infants bear the curse of original sin? 3. Is this original sin nothing more than the absence of righteousness? The whole man in sin (section 9) 1. How far does original sin extend in a man? 2. …
Original Sin
Book 2/Chapter 1 Original Sin (section 5) 1. How does Calvin define the “death of Adam’s soul”? 2. How does Calvin define “original sin”? 3. What was Pelagius’ “profane fiction”? Is Original Sin Imitative? (section 6) 1. When are children defiled by original sin? 2. What is Adam’s position with regard to the human race? …
Part of the Temple Belonged to Them
I don’t really have a lot to say about Wright’s next section (pp. 158-168), a section focused largely on Romans 2. Just a few things. Wright makes some worthy points about the general neglect of Paul’s eschatology of justification. The doers of the law will be justified (Rom. 2:13). Might not mean what it appears …
Primal Worthiness
Book 2/Chapter1 True knowledge of ourselves (section 1) 1. What ancient proverb does Calvin commend? 2. What echo of an earlier point in Calvin does this make? 3. What are the two essential parts of self-knowledge? Deluded self-admiration (section 2) 1. Instead of true self-knowledge, what do we tend to seek out instead? 2. What …
Not Harsh at All
Book 1/Chapter 18 God’s manifold will(section 3) 1. What is the disposition behind a dismissal of God’s complete sovereignty with a simple “to me it seems otherwise”? 2. Why do opponents of this doctrine claim that it makes have God possess two contrary wills? 3. What is meant by God’s “manifold” wisdom? God’s holy disposition …
Excursus on Union with Christ
I used the word excursus in the title so that people would know that I was going to be scholarly in this one. Or maybe try to be scholarly. Or, better yet, try to act scholarly. You know, I think I am off to a bad start. In the comments on this series of posts …
At Least Not in Paul
As his section on Romans begins, Wright continues to reason beside the point. He begins, not surprisingly, with Romans 1:16-17 and with a discussion of what is meant by the “righteousness of God.” He says that, in effect, if we just read this verse without all the blinkers created by seventeenth century debates, we could …