“Baptism is never empty; baptism is never a meaningless act. I deny that baptism operates ex opere operato for blessing, but I do affirm that it operates ex opere operato in formally ratifying the baptizand’s relationship to the covenant” (Against the Church, p. 161).
Or a Terrible Mixup
“If a kid was baptized, educated in the covenant, catechized until his eyes bulged out, and all the rest of that drill, and apostatized in a terrible flame-out as soon as he left home, what does that do to the promises? Nothing! Let God be true, and every man a liar. But notice what saying …
The Mystery is a Fact
“If a person goes to Heaven when he dies, this means, necessarily, that God intervened at some point in his life — the time stamp of which is usually unknown to us, but which is always known to the God who did the intervening” (Against the Church, p.158).
The Spirit Gets There First
“I have to hear the gospel preached before I can believe it, but I don’t have to hear the gospel preached before the Spirit disposes my heart to listen to that preacher” (Against the Church, p. 157).
Facing the Facts
“Once we come to grips with the fact that covenant members can hate Jesus, and that many of them do, a robust evangelicalism becomes a scriptural necessity” (Against the Church, p. 153).
And Pretending You Don’t Have a System Just Means It Is Biblically Ungoverned
“The need to speak biblically to the people of God is central . . . This means that there is a sense in which we must insist that the people of God can be divided into two groups — tares and wheat (Matt. 13:25ff), sheep and goats (Matt. 25:32, those who have the Spirit and …
Mercy, Not Sacrifice
“So if there is a biblically defensible liturgy coupled with biblically indefensible lives, this is a routine maneuver by sinful men to try to put God into their debt by doing just what He told them to, as though it were a paint-by-numbers kit. And since that is how the sinful heart of man loves …
Like Liturgy and Love
“The Bible routinely opposes things that are not necessarily opposed to each other. Pastoral opposition is not the same thing as logical opposition” (Against the Church, p. 147).
He’ll Never Think of Looking Here
“Scripture teaches us, and history shows us, that the very best hiding places [from the grace of God], at least for a brief time, are found in the things of God — the church, the Bible, the sacraments, the catechism, the ministry, the Internet theology debates, the church splits over a bunch of nothing, the …
The Natural Man Baptized
“But the natural man, the unconverted man, the unregenerate man, is the same kind of man whether he is inside the covenant or outside it, with the difference that reprobates inside the covenant have greater condemnation” (Against the Church, p. 143).