“One use of the law cannot be made the over-arching essence of that law—because that would make it impossible to employ the other uses.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 774
Saving Faith Does More Than One Thing
“So, saving faith yields, trembles, and embraces. It yields obedience, it trembles at threats, and it embraces promises. But its principal acts are accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone for justification. These are indeed its principal acts, saving faith does other things. It hunts down the red law passages and yields obedience to them. It comes across passages which threaten divine displeasure, and saving faith trembles at these red law passages also.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 774
Nuda Lex
“They think that nuda lex is totus lex, which is a staggering confusion. They have confounded a use of the law which the definition of the law. They have confused a part with the whole.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 771
Totus Lex
“Therefore, the Reformed tradition (the real one) holds that when describing what the law is, in all its parts and relations, we are talking about totus lex. And totus lex has a subordinate and honored place within the covenant of grace. Then Reformed historically have not held to a kind of radical dualism with law over here in stark opposition to grace over there.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 771
True Integration
“But there is a place of integration, a point where everything hangs together. In Christ, do law and grace meet in perfect harmony? If someone hates Christ, repelled by His aroma, do they recoil from both law and gospel, or from just one? In Christ, what do law and gospel do? According to the Westminster Confession, they do ‘sweetly comply’ with one another.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 770
Wiring It Right
“A minister is like a licensed electrician. He has to wire the room so that the lights work. But a child can flip on the lights. I want high standards for the theological electricians because this is the house of the Lord, and don’t want it to burn down. I want low standards (work with me here) for the people who live in the house. I want every three-year-old with curious fingers, and a rudimentary knowledge of cause and effect, to able to reach that light switch.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 765
Too Broad, Too Narrow
“The latitudinarians receive as Christ’s those who are manifestly not Christ’s and the sectarians reject those who manifestly are.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 764
Who Is the Father Here?
“Regeneration cannot be understood apart from the doctrine of generation. And if a person is of their father the devil, that is their problem of generation, which can only be addressed by means of a glorious regeneration.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 761
The Number of Chicken Bones is Irrelevant
“I have gone through enough theological paradigm shifts to know when it is happening. I used to be Arminian, and now am Calvinist. I used to be baptistic and now am paedobaptistic. I used to be premill and now am postmill. I have learned to recognize it when the scenery changes outside the car window. But I was brought up as an evangelical Christian, I am an evangelical now, and if the doctrine of perseverance is what I take it to be, I will die an evangelical. Bottom line, this means that I hold that a man must be born again, must be given a new heart, in order to see the kingdom of heaven. I don’t care how many chicken bones the priest threw in the air at his baptism. If he is not converted to God in his heart by the glorious gift of the Spirit, then he is going to Hell.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 760
A Sign of Some Distress
“At some point in the discussion Wilson began to spit sixteen penny nails. He maintained that this was necessary to keep him from swallowing them.”
The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 758