In the Greyfriars ministerial program, the systematics course is structured around the Westminster Confession of Faith. This means that last Thursday I was teaching through chapter 16, and I noticed a little something. “These good works, done in obedience to God’s commandments, are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith: and by …
Same Faith, Different Feet
Lane and I continue our discussion. First, on baptism. Lane wonders what “formally” means when we say that baptism formally unites a person to Christ. He then says that if this means that baptism “puts one into the visible community of the people of God.” Well, that is what it means, with this one proviso. …
The World is not God’s Hat on a Windy Day
The word providence comes from the Latin pro and videre, meaning “to see beforehand.” Our word provision comes from the same source. We know that God sees everything before hand. So as we turn to the Bible’s teaching on this subject, we will see that there is a very close connection between God’s providence over …
Don’t Force It . . .
Lane and I continue on. First, Lane says, “The instrumentality of obtaining the glorified state was works in the first covenant, and faith in the second covenant. This is non-negotiable.” Suppose I were to say something like this — would Lane find it acceptable or not? I am honestly asking. “The instrumentality of obtaining the …
Living Faith
When God creates, He does so with authority. He commands light to shine out of darkness, and it obeys. He commands the earth, and the mountains to stand forth, and they do so. It is the same with our new life in Christ (2 Cor. 4:6). Now in the Federal Vision controversy, when we speak …
Different Kinds of Differences
Lane thinks that I am taking him to task because he simply affirms that saving faith must contain the element of notitia, which I also affirm. Lane requires this of adults, but argues that even infants have nascent understanding, a view I am also sympathetic with. The reason I said that Lane was (unwittingly) messing …
Saving Smarts
Here comes my latest reply to the ongoing discussion at Green Baggins. Lane is interacting with the section entitled “Reformed Catholicity” in the FV Joint Statement. As an illustration of just how much we are talking past each other, Lane says that this “statement in and of itself does not necessarily exclude all works from …
Pretend the Church Is a Bar
Lane has answered my catch-up posts in one post here. I will just touch on a few things in response, and then await his next installment. On the first matter, I don’t think we differ anymore. The disagreement now has to do with whether I have changed my views on this (which Lane thinks), clarified …
As Cool as the Other Side of the Pillow
Just one last post here, and I am caught up with Green Baggins. Look at me go. There are four basic issues to respond to in this post. The first is that Lane says, completely misunderstanding everything, that the “FV definition of the covenant” says that the “covenant of grace is undifferentiated between the elect …
What Do You Mean, Hermeneutic?
Here is my next installment in getting caught up with Green Baggins. I will not be trying to pick up the thread of discussion that was going on prior to this, but simply reply to some of Lane’s concerns expressed in this post. Lane says, “I really challenge the assertion that repentance and faith are …