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Immediate Context of James' Faith/Works Pericope
James discusses the relationship of faith and works in a pericope with well-defined boundaries: the passage starts at James 2:14 and ends at James 2:26. We can see this from the signal, “my brethren,” which James uses repeatedly throughout the book in various forms to set off various pericopes. James uses it once in verse…
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More Thorough Exegesis of Francis' "Failure of the Cross" Phrase
In response to Pastor Hall quadrupling down on his misinterpretation of Francis’ words, let me explain how I know (with certainty) that Pope Francis was contrasting the divine perspective with the human perspective, when he said: The cross shows us a different way of measuring success. Ours is to plant the seeds. God sees to…
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Pseudo-Augustine "Doubt is an element of Faith"
One of my friends pointed out to me a quotation attributed to Augustine, but which didn’t sound Augustinian. My friend’s suspicions were correct. The quotation in question was this: “Doubt is an element of faith.” I found this attributed to Augustine in a number of sources: “Doubt, as Saint Augustine wrote, is actually an element…
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Defining "Responsibility" for Leighton Flowers
I was listening to Professor Leighton Flowers talk about “responsibility,” (mp3 – around 29 minutes into the debate) and he noticed that he tried to define it as “able to respond,” as in being able to respond positively to God’s commands and exhortations. That definition is just fanciful. The term “responsible” actually means “answerable” or…
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Christ is what's Better about the New Covenant
What’s better about the New Covenant? Christ. That’s the point of Hebrews. My beloved Reformed Baptist brothers seem to have missed this. Baptism is not better than circumcision – the Lord’s Supper is not better than the Passover. Instead, Christ’s blood is better than the things that point forward or backward to it. There is…
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Deeper Criticism of Francis' Typo Tweet
“Our Mother Mary is full of beauty because [s]he is full of grace.” – Francis of Rome via Twitter about a year ago. The typo (corrected with bracketed insertion) was amusing, but there’s a bigger problem. Who is more full of grace – Mary or Jesus? Yet of Jesus it is said “he hath no…
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The Real Turretin on: Christ's Atonement is Both Substitutionary and Exemplary
Tony Stiff at Sets ‘n’ Service has provided a brief quotation from the real Turretin providing a helpful reminder that the Atonement is not only Substitutionary but also Exemplary (source). Sometimes in our eagerness to emphasize the distinctives of Reformed Theology, we can lose sight of that fact. The fact that Christ’s death is an…
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Ultimate Destination Isn't Only Purpose
Some people think that “God created the reprobate just to torture them in Hell for all eternity,” is an accurate picture of one aspect of Calvinism. I’ve heard it used a number of times as an attempt to criticize Calvinism. What’s a good answer when someone asks you if that’s what you believe – or…
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Never Thirst – Taking Jesus "Literally" can be Fatal
Roman Catholics like to try to claim that they are just taking Jesus “literally” when they interpret “this is my body” to mean that what was in Jesus’ hands was not bread but his physical body [FN1]. Three passages in John help to illustrate the problem with that approach: John 4, John 6, and John…
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One Particular Accomplishment in the Sye Ten Bruggencate v. Matt Dillahunty Debate
There were a number of highlights (and a few lowlights) in the Sye Ten Bruggencate v. Matt Dillahunty debate (link). One highlight was when an audience member asked Sye if there was anything Sye couldn’t be wrong – and Sye pointed out the essentials. The follow up was “and what are those?” Sye did a…