De Regno Christi

RLints Might I venture into the heart of the doctrinal part of the controversy, at least as far as the courts of the OPC, the PCA and URC have pondered FV. Do any of the FVers in our midst define faith in the act of justification to include Spirit-wrought sanctity and cooperation with grace? Has [...]

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Another word about tradition. It is important to remember that to speak of the Reformed tradition is to speak of an exegetical tradition. We are not rejecting sola scriptura but rather (as Keith Mathison as called it) solo scriptura. The Confessions (our Constitutional law) and our Directories, position papers, systematic theolgies, book reviews, ect. (our [...]

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Joel Garver makes helpful comments to Caleb’s post about tradition and in them claims as something of an FV sympathizer to have been steeped in American Presbyterianism. He writes of this tradition that “While some Dutch expressions of Reformed Christianity have tended towards seeing their own church as THE Christian church (and everything else at [...]

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I appreciate Peter and Douglas frameing out their understanding of assurance as it relates to election. For the most part, I am sympathetic. After all, the eternal decree is a secret counsel of God. It is unhealthy to pry. I would also prefer to see my people look to the promises of the gospel, the [...]

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If I could tag something on the end of Peter’s posts about assurance, it would be this from C.S. Lewis’ English Literature in the 16th Century. “Relief and buoyancy are the characteristic notes. In a single sentence of the Tischreden Luther tosses the question aside for ever. Do you doubt whether you are elected to [...]

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Jeff wrote below: “Is our precious Reformed tradition above criticism? I believe it is part of our tradition to be suspicious of tradition, and maybe more importantly, to never rely on our tradition to adjudicate theological and ecclesiastical controversies. But that’s all we seem to want to do these days.” This belies a relatively modern [...]

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Peter To continue from the last. . . . Yes, but: Lots of people are baptized, hear the promise of forgiveness, and sit at the Lord’s table and end up in hell. Correct. And the FV is not saying that participation in the sacraments or merely hearing the word saves anyone. We’re saying, though, that [...]

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Peter  Problems with assurance can take several forms. There is intellectual doubt; is God for real, and is Jesus His Risen Son? That kind of issue hasn’t been directly in view in the FV debate. There is also doubt about whether God intends to save me in particular. This doubter – let’s call him Doubter [...]

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Peter I promised a longer consideration of assurance, so here goes. For starters – with Darryl’s reiteration of the original question in mind – I’d say that assurance is one of the primary pastoral issues that the FV has been designed to fix. I don’t think I need to detail how assurance has been a [...]

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Just to clarify the rule on comments. The original post on rules of engagement for the FV discussion declared: 5. Comments will be allowed if the moderator, at his sole discretion, finds that they substantially add to the conversation (this will be rare).

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