“More than once in this whole fare, it would have been a good idea for everyone to look down and double-check the color of their own uniform.”
Or Maybe Even Six and a Half
“And again, just for the record, I am so Calvinistic it makes my back teeth ache. And if the Synod of Dort had come up with six replies to the Remonstrants, then I would be a six-point Calvinist.”
New Covenant Apostasy
“The book of Hebrews was written to a new covenant people, and it was written in order to head off a looming apostasy. That is what the entire book is about. In this verse [Heb. 10:29], we learn that the sanctions of the new covenant are more severe than the sanctions under Moses—“sorer punishment.” The new covenant does not contain “no sanctions.” It contains “more severe sanctions” . . . . Members of the visible church can and do fall away from Christ.”
Roman Catholic Baptism
“Note that [A.A.] Hodge called Roman Catholics his brethren. Not only so, but he managed that particular stunt in a Banner of Truth book.”
Twin Graces
“Repentance and faith don’t get us grace; repentance and faith are grace . . . Apart from repentance we cannot believe, and apart from faith we cannot be saved. And both repentance and faith are gifts from God.”
Not Justified by Doctrinal Works Either
“Because justification by faith alone is true, it is possible for someone who is screwed up on justification (in his theology) to be actually saved. And because justification by faith alone is true, it is possible for someone with an orthodox theology on the subject to be actually looking at his correct theology instead of to Christ alone, and so he is lost.”
Discuss Among Yourselves
“What is regeneration? That is an existential and experimental reality. God takes away a heart of stone and replaces it with a heart of flesh. Now, when does regeneration occur? According to the traditional ordo . . . regeneration is first, then repentance, then faith, then justification. Imputation arrives with justification. What is the righteousness that this new heart has, both experientially and practically? It is an infused righteousness. Regeneration is not imputed, right? Regeneration is a change of heart, from an unrighteous heart that hates God to a righteous (but still imperfect) heart that loves Him, repents of sin, and believes in Him . . . At the end of the day, this means . . . infused righteousness as the instrument of imputed righteousness.”
Like With a Gun to My Head
“We don’t have to choose. High Church Puritanism is possible and highly desirable. But if you make me choose, I prefer the Ringling Brothers tent of Evangelicalism to the marble mausoleum of Rome.”
Although Some May Have Abstained
“Not only do confessional Protestants have to make their peace with revivalism, the kind of movement to which they generally object, they also have to make their peace with genuine movements of the Holy Spirit, which can be far more troublesome. In the revivalist stream, the institutional Church often suffers at the hands of nut jobs, and they come and punch holes in the wineskins with the icepick of fanaticism. This does create ironies and tensions. But the new wine of the Spirit is sometimes just as unkind to the wineskins. As we recall, there was a time when virtually every trained theologian in Jerusalem voted to kill the Messiah.”
Ortholife
“I am fond of saying that your theology comes out your fingertips, and whatever it is that is coming out of your fingertips is your theology. Therefore, orthodox Reformed theology means loving your wife as Christ loved the church. Orthodox Reformed theology means bring up your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”