“Our baptist brothers see the problem, and (in my view) want to uproot the tares before it is time. They wind up damaging the wheat. The sacramentalists, I believe, are too careless about letting everything grow together, until eventually, like the Episcopal Church, they think that morning glory is wheat. And why shouldn’t we ordain …
Do the Math
“If there are only two final destinations, Heaven or Hell, and there are, and if it is possible for baptized Christians, who have been communing since they were ‘so high,’ with all their external papers in order, to go to Hell, and it is, and if God is sovereign over all history (which includes every …
Explain What Happened, Not What Didn’t
“Salvation first, then the theology of it. Joy at the foundation, and then the building. Jesus first, then the discussions” (Against the Church, p. 34).
Child Communion
“When we want the children ‘tracking’ as we commune, we are wanting them to participate in the joy — the way my one-year-old granddaughter claps after everybody sings ‘Happy Birthday’ to one of the cousins. What we want is ‘Yay, here we are with Jesus again!’ not an infant’s contemplations of Turretin’s rejection of consubstantiation …
All or Nothing
“It will not do to say that the new covenant has full continuity when it comes to the privileges of the covenant, and no continuity when it comes to the responsibilities” (Against the Church, p. 31).
There’s Always Something
“Historic evangelicals, at their best, are unaccredited teachers in the schools of the prophets. At their worst, they are sons of Zedekiah, selling little miniature horns of iron on the teevee for $9.95 plus shipping and handling (1 Kings 22:11). Institutional Christians, let us call them, at their best, are like Jehoida (2 Kings 11:17). …
Sacraments in Motion
“We must be opposed to every sacrament caught in a freeze frame. In order to be true sacraments, they must be story sacraments” (Against the Church, p. 26).
A Short Rope
“The heart of man is fully capable of polluting whatever he might be offering to God. He does this whenever he thinks that believing the promises and keeping God on a short rope are the same thing” (Against the Church, p. 25).
On Not Leaving God Out of It
“If we say that we are saved on the basis of the Bible alone, we are not making any claims about the paper, the ink, and the leather or the maps, concordance, and ribbons. In the same way we are not saved by water, or by bread and wine. The surgeon may pick up many …
A New Covenant Mistake
“We are not permitted to draw contrasts where the New Testament draws parallels. The Corinthians were tempted to put on airs over against the Jews. We have spiritual food. We have spiritual drink. So did the Jews, Paul replies bluntly. You can have religious ceremonial, God-given ritual, whole burnt offerings and sacrifices, baptism in the …