Lane is continuing our conversation and so shall I. I’d like to begin with just a few quick answers and responses, and then spend the bulk of my time on the Westminsterian view of baptism — which is in sharp contrast to that of many American Presbyterians. First, we do believe that the Lord is …
Anybody Keeping Count?
Steven Wedgeworth sent me a couple quotes from A.A. Hodge that I would like to pass on for your general edification. “Now, the covenant of works is so called because its condition is the condition of works; it is called also, and just as legitimately, the covenant of life, because it promises life; it is called …
Life and Evidence
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 …