-
Formal Sufficiency of Scripture: Introduction (Guest Series)
Formal Sufficiency of ScriptureStated and Examined from Scripture and the Fathers, with scholarly confirmation regarding the Fathers’ views. The Scriptures are the Word of God. Their purpose, among other things, is to bring people who read them to a saving knowledge of God – to bring them to faith in God and repentance from sin.…
-
Who Cares about Historical Theology?
Jason Stellman has posted an article in which he says: It seems to me that all this effort on the part of Catholics to prove that the fathers are on their team, and (especially) all the effort on the part of Protestants to demolish these claims, is beside the point and can be a distraction…
-
>Scripture has its Own Authority – and Christ Alone is Our Mediator – A Response to Michael Liccione
>Roman Catholic Michael Liccione recently provided a comment in the comment box of a Roman Catholic blog that I think highlights two of the problems with Roman Catholic theology: (1) the disparaging of the authority of Scriptures themselves; and (2) the deification of “the Church.” He said: What’s needed is a concrete, communal, continuous locus…
-
Response to Argument for Idols from the Incarnation
In the course of the comments on a previous post (link to post), I had asked: What about the prohibition on picturing God? — Why does that prohibition not apply to pictures of Jesus? The response I got from one of my Eastern Orthodox readers was this: “Because on Sinai we saw no image. In…
-
Circumcision Ended Without Scripture?
In the discussion between Matt Slick and Robert Sungenis, Dr. Sungenis made the following comment: In Acts chapter 15, where the debate over circumcision arises. And Peter stands up and says, “We’re no longer going to practice circumcision.” And he had no Scriptural precedent to do so. (see 53:51 in this mp3 recording of Dr.…
-
The Apostolic Succession as a Solution to Ambiguous Scriptures Challenge
In a comment box at the GreenBaggins blog, Jason J. Stellman sets forth a simple but important challenge (link to comment). The challenge is this (paraphrased): If “apostolic succession” is the solution to multiple competing Scriptural interpretations, then what is the solution to multiple claims to “apostolic succession”? Let’s suppose for the sake of the…
-
Further Replies to Stellman
There are two parts to this post. The first is a response to Stellman’s response to my previous post (link to previous post)(link to response: part 1 – part 2). The second part is a response to comments he had made earlier in the same comment thread. I. Dividing Word from Scriptures Jason J. Stellman…
-
Scripture and the Church – Response to John Martin
The following is a response to comments from John Martin (Roman Catholic) in the comment box of a previous post (link to previous post). In general, the quotations (using normal quotation marks) are from John Martin. My responses follow line-by-line. “All scriptures were written by prophets either of the OT church of Israel of the…
-
Holy Scripture – The Foundation of the Church – A Response to Stellman
Jason J. Stellman wrote: I think we need to make a simple distinction between the “Word” and the “Scriptures.” The New Covenant church was founded on the Word (that is, upon Christ and his message as preached by the apostles), but it was not founded upon “the Scriptures,” for the obvious reason that decades elapsed…
-
Thomas Aquinas, William Webster, and Scripture against Bellisario
Over in the comment box of the Beggars All Reformation blog, Bellisario has attempted to take on William Webster (source). Pastor Webster is not there to defend himself, instead Bellisario is responding to a blogger named Rhology. Bellisario writes: “Scared of Webster! Are you serious?” Of course Rhology’s serious that it seems that folks are…