One of the charges brought against the Auburn Avenue theology is that it undermines assurance. Raising the question of assurance is fair game, but it is also highly ironic. It is not as if the Reformed churches have the issue of assurance solved, after all. In many sectors of the Reformed church, the lack of assurance is a HUGE problem. It’s not as if assurance were a well-oiled machine until the Auburn Four threw sand in the gears. Read more
John Robbins ‘s current Trinity Review is devoted to a sharply negative review of my book Against Christianity . So far as I can tell, Robbins caught me in one error: I did, as he said, misuse the phrase “beg the question” at one point. Otherwise, I would say that Robbins got the point of my book quite well, and understood that it was addressed to people who hold views like his. Fundamentally, I’m relieved: After working hard to write... Read more
Again, much of this is from Jim Jordan ‘s From Bread to Wine . Kingly Rule, 1 Kings 3:1-28 INTRODUCTION Israel moved from its priestly to its kingly phase through a process of destruction and renewal. The Mosaic order broke down after the battle of Aphek (1 Samuel 4-6), and the Mosaic tabernacle was never restored. Decades later, Yahweh set David on the throne and established the dynasty that ruled Israel until the exile. So also in our lives, the... Read more
David Yeago makes this important comment about Luther’s “catholic” turn after 1518: “For Luther after 1518, Christ is central not as pattern but as person; we are saved by the faith that acknowledges his authority, competence, and willingness to rescue those who call upon him. The gospel that is proclaimed and sacramentlaly enacted in the church is a word that calls us to put all our trust in this particular person, Jesus the Son of Mary; thus who Jesus Christ... Read more
McGrath gives an account of the development of the doctrine of imputation within early Reformation theology. He notes that there are elements of the doctrine already in the early Luther: “The reinterpretation of grace as an absolute external, and faith as a partial internal, quality permits Luther to maintain what is otherwise clearly a contradiction in his theology of justification ?Ehis simultaneous insistence upon the external nature of the righteousness of Christ, and the real presence of Christ in the... Read more
Who wrote this? ” opera sunt necessaria ad salutem, sed non causant salutem, quia fides sola dat vitam ” (works are necessary to salvation, yet they do not cause salvation, for faith alone gives life). Norman Shepherd would be a good guess, except that he doesn’t write in Latin. Calvin would be a good guess too. But wrong. It’s that Law-Gospel fanatic, Luther. Read more
Alister McGrath’s discussion of Luther’s theology of justification in his standard work, Iustitia Dei , shows that understanding grace as favor Dei rather than as a “medicinal substance” was an essential part of the Reformation doctrine of grace. He writes, “The most significant discussion of faith [in Luther’s earler writings] may be found in the 1521 treatise Rationis Latomianae confutatio , in which, on the basis of an exegesis of John 1.17, gratia is identified with favor Dei . .... Read more
her bandanna blue through the cattails by the pond in the green pasture in the pond morning clouds and sun flecks of moonlight like fireflies ?E the ripples of the pond across her chair shafts of sunlight through the lace curtain Read more
Trinity Reformed Church is large enough that it is difficult to know everyone in the church. And now we have been around long enough that it is awkward and embarrassing for us to meet each other. When you introduce yourself and say something like ?Are you visiting??Ethe response might well be, ?No, I?ve been here since the church began.?E Because of the potential awkwardness, we are inclined to avoid introducing ourselves at all. Get over that awkwardness. Don?t let the... Read more
Leviticus 22:10-16 In the sermon today, I addressed the some of the challenges and temptations of young adulthood, the priestly stage of life. It is biblically appropriate, as I tried to show, to describe young adulthood in these terms. But we should not let this perspective obscure the more fundamental reality of the church. In one sense, only one segment of the church is in a priestly stage of life; but in the more fundamental sense, we are all priests.... Read more
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