Zowie. The RPCNA has adopted a report that speaks in loud, muffly tones. The emphasis is mine. The skylarking afterwards is also mine. 1. That Synod DECLARE that we stand in solidarity with our Reformed and Presbyterian brethren in rejecting as contrary to the Scriptures as summarized by our confessional standards the theological views that …
Clam Chowder and the Future of Africa
I am in Austin for the ACCS conference, and while on the plane coming here, I spent some time listening to N.T. Wright on Jesus and the victory of God. His treatment of the parable of the sower was profound, and seeing the prodigal son as Israel in exile is clearly the foundational way to …
Saying a Few Amens With Scott Clark
Just a quick response to Scott Clark’s comment about faith and obedience. This is also part of my continued interaction with Lane, since Lane handed this round off to Scott. There are a number of places there where I could cultivate my differences with Scott, as though they need cultivating, but let me take this …
Bum-fuzzled, Pole-axed, Gob-smacked, and Bewildered
Lane does not believe the chess game is over, as he states here. He says he is not going to “answer every point,” which is fine. I would be content if he simply answered the central one. He says this, “Quite simply put, our response to God’s command to come to faith is God’s doing, …
Dikai-Infusions and Dikai-Imputations
Lane thinks we are making progress, and I agree. But I don’t think we agree on what that progress actually is. He makes four points that I would like to address. The first is on the “aliveness” of faith. “But in what does faith’s aliveness consist? Does it not consist in sanctification? Does it not …
Obedience Unto Justification
Let me begin this round of my exchanges with Lane with straight up agreement on at least one point. Lane says: “In my opinion, this whole issue is very parallel to the debate about faith’s aliveness. It is not the aliveness of faith that makes faith the instrument of justification. Rather, it is the fact …
Good and Necessary Consequence
Lane has picked up our discussion of faith as evangelical obedience here, and Tim Prussic has captured the problem with Lane’s argument in the second comment there at Green Baggins. The issue is not really an exegetical one — I granted in an earlier part of our discussion that his exegesis pointing to sanctification is …
Is This Checkmate?
Here is a quick response to Lane’s latest, and then I am content to move on. First, I don’t object to detailed grammatical exegesis, and I don’t object to it in the Thessalonians passage that Lane was dealing with. I was simply pointing out that we were talking about the kind of problem that remains …
The Great Cretan Gaffe
A few weeks ago, N.T. Wright responded to a few of his critics on the debt relief issue here. A more detailed interaction needs to wait for another time, but I want to put a few thoughts up now. As Wright himself put it, “I don’t have time for a full answer, but I hope …
A Worksy Sounding Word
Lane has responded to my post on “jumping and obeying,” and confesses himself a bit puzzled. And I, speaking for myself, am puzzled also. Lane took me as objecting to grammatical and dogmatic parsing generally, when I was only objecting to it as a means of solving non-existent problems. Just for the record, I am …