A few days ago, Peter Leithart published a brief summary of Matthew Bates’ book, Salvation by Allegiance Alone. My musings here cannot be a fair rebuttal to Bates, since I have not read his book, and it is really not a rebuttal of Peter’s point either, because he largely limits … [Read more...]
Straight Outta Calvin
It is only natural that there are some federal vision questions. Of course there are. I have been asked a number of times what the response has been to my Federal Vision No Mas post. As best as I am able to gauge, there have been three visible responses. The first has been … [Read more...]
Federal Vision No Mas
Introduction I have decided, after mulling over it for some years now, to discontinue identifying myself with what has come to be called the federal vision. It used to be that when I was asked if I held to the federal vision, I would say something like “yes, if by that you mean … [Read more...]
Swings Like a Thurible
Peter Leithart was kind enough to respond to my rejoinder here. So let us not just talk about ecumenism, let us all continue to display the ecumenical spirit that properly begins at home. I thank Peter for his interaction. In this rejoinder to mine, Peter issues a clarification, … [Read more...]
A Rejoinder to Peter Leithart
Introduction In a recent First Things article, Peter Leithart has continued to develop his recent emphasis on the “end of Protestantism.” He has a book coming out on the subject, and so this is not the first précis he has offered on the topic. The topic is on his mind, and that … [Read more...]
Two Kinds of Christian?
Perseverance and Time
What are we to make of the question of perseverance and time? Some might want to say that God gives Himself in the present, and only in the present. A gift by definition, has to be received in the present in order to be a gift, right? No, not if we want to speak … [Read more...]
No Need to Count the Barnacles
In a previous post, I alluded to the important matter of the marks of the church. Historically among the Reformed, these have been considered as Word and sacrament. Some have added a third mark, that of discipline, but I think this represents a small but significant confusion. … [Read more...]
A Bucket With No Bottom
I am currently reading A Humble Inquiry by Jonathan Edwards, in which he explains the reasons why he was putting some doctrinal daylight between himself and his predecessor Solomon Stoddard. And since these basic issues, being what they are, cannot ever go away, and because in … [Read more...]
One Kind of Baptism Means Two Kinds of Christian
In my stack of books being read, there are a handful of writers that are always in there somewhere. I make a constant point of always having a book by Chesterton, Bunyan, Lewis, Thomas Watson . . . and, to come to our point this morning, Jonathan Edwards. I am currently in … [Read more...]
Nothing Coming Down the Pike
The question of assurance is a subset of epistemology. And that means Christians today who struggle with assurance are dealing with an extra factor that previous generations of Christians (usually) did not have to deal with. We live in a skeptical postmodern age, and so the … [Read more...]
21 Theses On Assurance and Apostasy
1. There are only two final destinations for human beings after the day of judgment, those two destinations being the final damnation of the old humanity in Adam, and the final salvation of the new humanity in Christ. 2. Throughout all history, God has kept a visible covenant … [Read more...]
Down at the Pool Hall
Warfield's little book The Plan of Salvation is one of the few books that I have read three times. The first time was in 1988 when I was first becoming a Calvinist, and it was no doubt part of that bumpy but wonderful process. I read it again the next year. I read it a third time … [Read more...]
Future Grace
The evangelical hinge is not whether sacraments accomplish the blessings they speak of. The issue is whether they accomplish every blessing they speak of. The sacraments, like the Scriptures, like the gospel itself, like the very existence of the Church, are eschatological. … [Read more...]
A Helicopter on the Front Lawn
This last week my friend Peter Leithart did some musing out loud about some problems that he identifies as resulting from an emphasis on the "legal status" of righteousness. One post, "How to Say, 'I Am Righteous'" is here, and another related post on Luther and … [Read more...]
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