“Put simply, my challenge contains two questions. Has the Roman Catholic church made infallible pronouncements throughout her history? And may we have an infallible and complete list of them? (Mother Kirk, p. 32).
A Theology of the Table of Contents
“The problem with contemporary Protestants is that they have no real doctrine of the Table of Contents. With the approach that is popular in conservative evangelical circles, one simply comes to the Bible by means of an epistemological lurch. The Bible ‘just is,’ and any questions about how it got here are dismissed as a …
No More Inspired Than the Maps and Concordance, But Still Authoritative
“But when we open our Bibles, before we come to the Word of God at Genesis 1:1, we come to the word of the Church at the Table of Contents. No one holds that the Table of Contents is part of inspired Scripture; rather it points to inspired Scripture, in a similar way that John …
A False Dilemma
“Of course this should not be taken as anything like approval of any form of sacerdotalism. But if a man is going to base his worship around ceremonies and traditions of human devising, then it makes far better sense, humanly speaking, to opt for the traditions that were invented in the fourth century, as opposed …
The Church at the First is the Church at the Last
“But the problem with Eastern Orthodoxy, and also with Rome, is not their antiquity. The problem is that they are not old enough — they are not part of the Ancient Church, characterized in all ages by the righteousness of faith. Abel lived under a different administration of the grace of God than did Moses, …
Cain Was the Eldest
“The Church which Christ purchased with His blood is not the only thing which is ‘of old.’ Scripture shows us the serpent has been lying from the beginning (1 Jn.3:8; Rev. 12:9). The truth is ancient, but within the experience of our race, lies are almost as ancient. The antithesis between true righteousness and self-righteousness, …
So Define “Old”
“This desire to belong to an old church is certainly a noble and scriptural one. ‘Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thinke inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, where thou hast dwelt’ (Ps. 74:2). But at the same time, caution is in order. Someone with a pressing …
Life in the Provinces
“If a man is redeemed by Christ, then he is a member of this one Church — a Church founded in God’s decree before time existed, and by the grace of God manifested in history as long as sinful heirs of Adam have lived. Enter the modern rootless evangelical, who, with a bemused detachment, is …
Non-Elect Branches
[Speaking of Romans 11 and John 15] “This does not mean that the elect can lose their salvation. But it does mean that branches can lose their position on the tree. The elect always bear fruit, and their fruit remains. And yet some false professors, with genuine historical connection to the tree, never bear fruit, …
The Root Supports the Branch
“But the Reformers saw that some such distinction [between visible and invisible Church] was necessary. Without it, men fall readily into the trap of thinking that all that is necessary for salvation is to be in good standing with the visible Church. And because that is something they can readily arrange, they think that all …