Taking one thing with another, Robert Godfrey’s contribution to Covenant, Justification, and Pastoral Ministry was really quite good. Entitled “Faith Formed by Love or Faith Alone?” Godfrey summarizes the original Reformed response to the medieval definition of faith (made complete and salvific when formed by love), and discusses the grounding of the Protestant response in …
Take the Grilled Cheese Sandwich Away
The next chapter in Covenant, Justification, and Pastoral Ministry is by Scott Clark, and is entitled “Do This and Live.” In it he argues for the active obedience of Christ as (an essential part of) the ground of our justification. Okay, I agree with that. So how hard could this be? But alas. On p. …
Christ and the Life of Faith
In my previous post on the Auburn Avenue business, I said something that I think requires a bit more amplification. I believe that the unfallen Adam was under a covenant that obligated him to obey God completely and entirely. He broke that covenant, and God promised him a redeemer through another kind of covenant, a …
Like Scarsdale
So here I sit in the Chicago airport, exercising the patience of Job, or at any rate thinking that I ought to be exercising the patience of Job. No, nothing to do with the flights. I just finished reading Michael Horton’s contribution to Covenant, Justification, and Pastoral Ministry. I was seriously disappointed — I think …
Merit Isn’t One of Those Words
The next chapter in Covenant, Justification, and Pastoral Ministry is entitled “The Covenant Before the Covenants,” and is written by Scott Clark and David VanDrunen. In the course of reviewing it, I intend to quote Ambrose Bierce not once, but twice. The first citation is of a more general nature. The topic of this chapter …
Westminster XXXIII: Of the Last Judgment
1. God hath appointed a day, wherein He will judge the world, in righteousness, by Jesus Christ (Acts 17:31), to whom all power and judgment is given of the Father (John 5:22, 27). In which day, not only the apostate angels shall be judged (1 Cor. 6:3; Jude 6; 2 Pet. 2:4), but likewise all …
Uphill From Here
I thoroughly enjoyed the next chapter in Covenant, Justification, and Pastoral Ministry. This was the chapter by S.M. Baugh, and was entitled “The New Perspective, Mediation, and Justification.” In it he tackled the central confusion of E.P. Sanders, along with some of the resultant muddles, and does an effective job with it. One particular thing …
A Regular Gun Show
The next essay in Covenant, Justification, and Pastoral Ministry is by Bryan Estelle, and is entitled “The Covenant of Works in Moses and Paul.” Estelle is plainly acquainted with a vast amount of theological and biblical studies literature, and his close handling of that literature is obviously competent. If footnotes were biceps, this thing would …
In Which I Give Merit Demerits
I honestly do not see how it can be considered possible to separate Christ from His benefits. So when I speak of the imputation of the active obedience of Christ, this means that I am ultimately speaking of the imputation of Christ Himself, and there is no way to understand this apart from the Pauline …
Some Headway, Maybe
Green Baggins is reviewing a new book on the Federal Vision, and, if you check out the comments section of this entry, you will find that an ecumenical dialogue of sorts has broken out. Well, not exactly, but I think the exchange was more productive than not.