Christian Renewal published a letter by Dr. Beach critical of the Federal Vision, and Jim Jordan took the time to respond to it. Jim’s letter was so full of good info and historical details that I asked him if I could publish it here as well. I have heard that the edition of Christian Renewal …
Why Historical Theology is Such a Nuisance
Here are few comments from Calvin’s pastor, Martin Bucer. Hold on to your hats. HT: Steven Wedgeworth “We confess and teach that holy baptism, when given and received according to the Lord’s command, is in the case of adults and of young children truly a baptism of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit, whereby …
Shackling the Wind
If you have read the “When the Fork Floats” thread, this is a follow on to that, particularly the comments. This is what I am doing with the ordo, and for FV critics, it constitutes what I believe to be an unanswerable problem for them. I have said before in this space that the ordo …
When the Fork Floats
In the discussion over at Greenbaggins, one of the FV critics said something important. I responded to it there, but I want to amplify my response here. This is what he said: “We are not justified by a dead faith. We are not justified by a living faith, either. We have a living faith because …
Put Law and Gospel into a Story
I want to take a brief point I made in the comments section over at Greenbaggins and amplify it. The FV treatment of law and gospel creates the question of how “the law” relates to us as Christians in the course of our Christian lives. And so of course we hold that the law convicts …
Our Little Reformed Contretemps
Thanks to Randy Booth, who supplied me with some interesting quotes on general and special election from Calvin. Here, then, a twofold class of sons presents itself to us, in the Church; for since the whole body of the people is gathered together into the fold of God, by one and the same voice, all …
Some Bayly Questions
As I have said before, I respect the Bayly brothers highly, and have appreciated the integrity of their conduct in the whole FV flap, despite our obvious differences. Please take a moment to read this.
Call It a Shadow Ordo
The Westminster Standards say that non-elect covenant members partake of “common operations of the Spirit.” Calvin consistently speaks of general election and special election. Now when some in the FV have used ordo words like regeneration and applied them to those who are not of the special elect, the response from the FV critics has …
So Confusing. I Don”t Want to Pay Attention to the Adjectives.
A friend brought our attention to Calvin’s commentary on Acts 3:25, where he says, “And so, although the common election be not effectual in all, yet may it set open a gate for the special elect.” The rot is spreading. Somebody needs to bring charges, and soon. What would the charge be exactly? Well, it …
By Popular Request
In the comments in the previous post, there were a couple of requests for me to amplify just a tad. So here goes. The NPP wants to say that Second Temple Judaism was fundamentally a religion of grace, contra those folks who tend to see it as a first century version of the monkish merit-mongering …