“Now in particular I ask you to pray with me that as I baptize this child with water and receive him into the number of Christians, that God himself inwardly baptize him with his Spirit and hold him in the number of his elect.” John Oecolampadius Basel Service Book of 1526
Justification By Saying the Right Thing About Justification
If I taste too many more delicious ironies, I think I will become a theological diabetic. The latest one is the way in which John Robbins has taken to denying justification by faith alone. Justification by faith alone is not accomplished by asserting justification by faith alone. Justification by faith alone occurs when a sinner …
Common Grace. Uh Oh.
I just can’t stay off this monocovenantal thing. This whole fracas is a real head scratcher, and the word grace appears to be the thing that causes the great game of paradigm bumper cars to begin. But this is highly selective. The fact that I want to use the word grace to describe the unearned …
The Council of Trent Finally Repents!
In response to my Thanks for Nothing post (5/18/04), one correspondent argued that this was essentially the same position that Trent affirmed. It was a bit hard to follow, but I will do my best to replicate it here. If the creature’s works are the ground of his justification (which I was denying, actually), but …
Faith Unplugged
I guess I should be pleased that I caught up with Peter Leithart. The April edition of The Trinity Review is a chapter from a book called Not Reformed At All, which presents itself as a response to my “Reformed” is Not Enough. I am tempted to write another book entitled And Both Are …
Thanks for Nothing
In my post on monocovenantalism (5/14/04), I said that some prominent folks on the other side of the AAH had agreed with me that had Adam stood, it would have been by the grace of God appropriated by faith. One of those gentlemen has since contacted me, saying that this misrepresents his views. He believes …
I Got a Question
So here it is. Q. What should the Reformed establishment do with a teaching or doctrine that emphasizes our need to believe all the promises of God, especially those promises that concern our children? Keep in mind that this is a doctrine that underscores the necessity of faith from first to last. The purveyors of …
Auburn Avenue Hubbub (AAH) Cool Quote #4
“Before baptism, the minister is to use some words of instruction, touching the institution, nature, use, and ends of this sacrament, shewing . . . that they [children] are Christians, and federally holy before baptism, and therefore are they baptized.” Westminster Directory for the Publick Worship of God, emphasis mine
Monocovenantalism, a Great Word, or What?
One of the charges leveled against me for my Auburn Avenuing is that of monocovenantalism. But what is that, exactly? If the critics mean that I hold that there has only been one covenant throughout the history of mankind, then the charge is false. God made one covenant with mankind in Adam, and He made …
Education and a Theology of Children
Education, like everything else we undertake, has countless methods we can get tangled up in. Instead, we need to be using those same methods in faith. Covenant keeping cannot be done by our works, or any autonomous effort that we might supply. Covenant keeping is promise believing — nothing more, and nothing less. But …