“The common assumption is that God drops a rope from heaven, and then the theological debates begin. Pelagians want to shinny up the rope, Arminians want to hang on while God pulls, Calvinists say that God ties the rope to us with one of His knots, and some of our more severe brethren think He …
So Don’t Do That
“And hubristic sectarian pastors have pronounced on the obvious lack of regeneration displayed by someone who failed to dot all five i’s in ‘denominational distinctives.’ That can’t be good” (Against the Church, p. 100).
Too Close for Comfort
“The Bible teaches us that the credibility of the profession of others may be called into question in the heat of lawful, polemical controversy. In the midst of the controversy, the apostle Paul declared that those who wanted to require circumcision of the Gentiles were ‘false brothers’ (Gal. 2:4). He says that they were ‘dogs,’ …
High Mountain Air
“The real litmus test, if I may be so bold, is to manage to be accused simultaneously of antinomianism and legalism. When you have gotten to the point where any stick is good enough to beat you with, then you really have something. This is like what one Puritan called the bracing experience of ‘living …
The Number of the Barns Doesn’t Matter
“We are invited (in numerous places in the Scriptures) to consider our earthly lives in the light of our ultimate destinations. The rich fool is not encouraged to say or think, ‘Well, I know I am lost for all eternity, but for a while there I sure had enough money to build some bigger barns!’ …
Alive or Dead
“In Christ, there are no prohibited trees. Outside HIm, they are all prohibited. That means there is only one real question to answer, and it does not involve any grace-works ratios. The question is more basic than that, and has to do with the new birth” (Against the Church, p. 86).
Both Lighting the Wrong Path
“Moralism is just a three-dollar flashlight to light the pathway to Hell. And of course, if we are guilty of the opposite error, if our lives are manifesting a lineup of dirty deeds done dirt cheap, the only real sin we are avoiding is that of hypocrisy. Overt immorality is the fifty-dollar flashlight” (Against the …
Why Grace Makes Everybody Nervous
“But those who insist that apple trees must always produce apples will make the friends of free grace nervous, not because they have anything against apples, but rather because they know the human propensity for manufacturing shiny plastic apples, with the little hooks that make it easy to hang them, like so many Christmas tree …
And They Both Fall Into a Pitch
“If we lived in a truly confessional age, with great preaching, theological geniuses writing their tomes, and so on, then we would have to worry about the naked Quakers running through Safeway again, and legalistic Anglican bishops cutting off people’s thumbs for having broken some stupid rule. But as it is, we are too anemic …
Why Not Both?
“The fire of evangelical conviction, when scripturally governed, cries out for a fireplace to burn in. A well-designed fireplace, put together by biblically-minded craftsmen, cries out for a fire to go in it. A fireplace without a fire is cold and dead. A fire without a fireplace is fierce and destructive. Shouldn’t we be able …