Did Adam have to earn access to the tree of life? Not at all. Nothing could be clearer in Genesis 2: God offers every tree of the garden, and makes one – count ‘em – one exception, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree of life was there for the taking. Adam had only to accept God’s offer, take, and eat. After the fall, God kept Adam from the tree of life, until Life itself appeared... Read more
Did Adam have to exercise faith in the garden, prior to sin? Of course. He was a creature. Creatures are utterly dependent on the Creator for everything, absolutely everything. That’s what it means to be a creature. An utterly dependent being is a being whose stance must be one of expectant trust. God said, Eat from the trees. But how could Adam produce the fruit? He couldn’t. He had to trust God for food. God said, It’s not good for... Read more
The term “mono-covenantalism” has been tossed around wildly in the last few years. Apparently, mono-covenantalism is really scary and bad. The PCA FV report insists on “bi-covenantalism” as the structure of “Scripture.” So, is there one covenant, or are there two? Might as well ask if Indian and African elephants are one species or two. Are you mono-elephantine or bi-elephantine? The answer, of course, depends on what features you’re attending to. Nobody believes that the Adamic covenant in the garden... Read more
Luther illustrates justification with the image of a mortally sick man and his doctor. The doctor is so certain that he is going to heal the patient that he declares him well already, and tells the patient to consider himself well. The patient trusts the doctor so thoroughly that he considers himself well now, takes all the medicine prescribed, and looks eagerly to the time when he’s finally healed. (Scot Hafemann, incidentally, has argued that Paul’s doctrine of justification is... Read more
Picking up on my last post . . . So far as I know, no one has challenged my paper on justification exegetically. Perhaps someone has offered a devastating critique, one that shows I’ve misinterpreted every passage I discuss. If such a critique is out there, though, I’ve not seen it. The responses I’ve seen have been more systematically and Confessionally based: If I’m right in my exegesis and my suggestion concerning the biblical usage of “justify,” what does that... Read more
The PCA FV Report includes a brief, and fairly accurate, summary of a paper I wrote on justification. This is one of the few things on justification that I’ve published. Since some may read the Report without reading the article, let me summarize what I thought I was doing in the article. (more…) Read more
Is it appropriate to use the term “justify” to describe God’s verdict at the final judgment? This has admittedly not been common usage in Reformed theology. “Justify” has normally been reserved for the “already” of God’s verdict rather than the “not yet.” But Paul uses “justify” to refer to the judgment in Rom 2:13, so the usage has to be legitimate. One might wish that Paul were clearer, more precise, and didn’t use “justify” in what we might perceive is... Read more
The Father has put judgment into the hands of the Son (John 5), and God the Father has appointed a day on which the Risen Son will judge all men (Acts 17:31). The judge of all will be a Man, as Paul says in Acts 17. According to the PCA FV Study Committee, the “so-called final verdict of justification” based only on “the perfect obedience and satisfaction of Christ received through faith alone.” Doesn’t that mean that Jesus is passing... Read more
Is the denial of judgment according to works implicitly binitarian? If we are judged according to Christ’s imputed righteousness, then at the judgment, Jesus’ works are approved but not ours. the judgment is Father-Son. But where’s the Spirit? If our works are the works of the Spirit in us, then their approval is the Son’s final judgment about the Spirit, the vindication of the Spirit as the Spirit of righteousness. At the final judgment, the Son, speaking the Father’s final... Read more
Does judgment according to works contradict the gospel? Does it reintroduce law back in the covenant of grace at the last minute? Is judgment according to works God’s final “Gotcha”? Not at all. Judgment according to works is part of the gospel. Paul hopes for the day when “according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus” (Rom 2:16), a judgment that will “render to every man according to his deeds” (Rom 2:6, quoting Psalm... Read more
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