“Sometimes the new wine can’t get into the old wineskin, not because of the old wine, but because the skin is stuffed full of learned scribes, writing treatises on what it was like back in the glory days, back before we drank all the old wine.”
No Dead Faith
“The fact that someone who believes that saving faith is nothing more or less than mental assent to propositions has somehow come to be regarded as a defender of the Reformed faith is a remarkable phenomenon, and worthy of study.”
Stipulated Vocabularies
“I recognize that James and Paul have differing stipulated vocabularies. ‘Works’ is a word that does not refer to the same thing for the two men. Paul is at war with dead works, and James is at war with dead faith. We are the heirs of both men, and ought to be at war with both dead works and dead faith. The enemy is death, not faith or works. Works for James is fruit for Paul. But within the clear usage that James gives us, it is indisputable that works is the animating principle of faith.”
Because Some Were Shooting in the Wrong Direction
“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.”