Today is remembrance day. It is the day which we hope ended war forever in the main countries of Europe. It is a day for silence, contemplation, and gratitude. The thought that strikes me is that what is true of nations is also true of individuals. We war and fight with one another, and just as a small event all those years ago erupted into a major war that engulfed the globe, so in our personal relationships small disagreements can... Read more
Anyone who has read anything about the New Perspectives on Paul will realize that one of the key arguments is that we have misunderstood the Pharisees through the perspective of the Reformation. The first century Jews were never legalists, we are told. There are a number of problems with that position. The first is looking at Jesus’ own perspective on the Pharisees seen most prominently in Luke 18. The second is that while we should acknowledge that the original message... Read more
We are continuing to look at John Piper’s elegant exposure of the heart of the differences between his position and that of N. T. Wright’s. For those without the time to read massive volumes written by the current Bishop of Durham, Piper has done a great service. His scrupulous attempts to be fair to Wright are most useful. I also love the way which, in responding to Wright’s teaching, Piper adequately uses the opportunity with which error presents us to... Read more
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So far in this series we have looked at the following: John Piper, N. T. Wright, and Gracious Discernment John Piper Challenges N. T. Wright on Justification Piper Explains the Classic View of Justification Versus N. T. Wright’s View Today I want to share a quote from The Future of Justification in which Piper responds to another of Wright’s main criticisms of traditional views of justification. Wright has argued that the Gospel is not a way of getting people saved,... Read more
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Today I will take you further into Piper’s argument where he explains the long-held position, which Wright denies, that God cannot simply ‘forgive’ the guilty, but instead an exchange between guilt and righteousness must take place: An omniscient and just judge never “finds in favor” of a guilty defendant. He always vindicates the claim that is true. If the defendant is guilty, the omniscient, just judge finds in favor of the plaintiff. The judge may show mercy. He has it... Read more
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On Friday I introduced a series on John Piper’s response to N. T. Wright in The Future of Justification. We saw that to Piper the most critical difference between N. T. Wright and himself is that Wright does not believe that Christ’s righteousness is in any way transferred to our account. This is a vital, vital point. Without this concept of an alien righteousness either credited or transferred to us, ironically, both the Protestant and the Roman Catholic understandings of... Read more
Fred Sanders has a great post interacting with Thomas Goodwin’s exalted view of Ephesians. Goodwin is not alone. In the “Introduction” to his series on Ephesians, Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote this: “It is very difficult to speak of [Ephesians] in a controlled manner because of its greatness and because of its sublimity. Many have tried to describe it. One writer has described it as ‘the crown and climax of Pauline theology’. Another has said that it is ‘the distilled essence of... Read more
Phil Johnson has a second post answering my two-paragraph criticism of him. My schedule does not permit me to make a full reply as I am traveling on business. (All the posts you will see for the next few days were written before I left.) All I will say in reply, therefore, is this: Thank you, Phil, for sounding a much more conciliatory tone and for the acknowledgement that these issues are less important than the core of the Gospel,... Read more
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<iframe style="WIDTH: 120px; HEIGHT: 240px" align="right" hspace="20" vspace="12" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=adrianwarnock-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=1433501082&fc1=000000&IS2=1Bishop Tom Wright has long been the darling of many evangelicals. He is praised particularly for his work on the resurrection. But there is another side to Wright which is coming increasingly to the fore. His ability to woo evangelicals has, according to some observers, made it easy for him to subtly change some key concepts we all hold dear. Many evangelicals have followed Wright away from standard understandings of doctrines that... Read more
Over at Unashamed Workmen, there are a number of great quotes on the vital place of prayer in preaching. The one that really stood out was in the comments section. I think this quote expresses perfectly why we need to plead with the resurrected Jesus to pour out his Spirit on us before we dare think of preaching: “This divine unction is the one distinguishing feature that separates true gospel preaching from all other methods of presenting truth. It backs... Read more
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