Saturday, September 8, 2007
![Kerygma Press (Forthcoming)
Primitive Truths for Postmodern Times™
Preface - P. Andrew Sandlin
CHAPTER 1 - John H. Armstrong: “Preaching the Faith That Is Never Alone”
“Modern populist evangelicalism has virtually made an absolute distinction between faith and works, seeing works as negative in almost every instance related to salvation. Our works are important, to put it very simply, but quite optional. The only works that really matter are Christ’s, which are transferred to our account. This is how we got a non-Lordship gospel message. Our Reformed friends reject that message just as we do. But they reject it by using a very different means. They appeal back to alien righteousness alone and, in effect, tell sinners there is no further work to be done. This cuts the nerve of real gospel preaching.”
CHAPTER 2 - Norman Shepherd: “Faith and Faithfulness”
“Because [Norman] Shepherd teaches that saving and justifying faith is living, active, penitent, and obedient faith, [Professor Robert] Godfrey is quite certain that no one listening to him preach the gospel would ever raise the question, ‘Should we sin that grace may abound?’ It is different, however, when Godfrey preaches the gospel. Presumably, when he is finished, crowds gather around the pulpit breathlessly inquiring, ‘Then why shouldn’t we sin so that grace will abound?’
‘Why is there such a different response to the gospel Godfrey preaches?
‘The answer is that Godfrey preaches justification by faith alone, and he really means a faith that is alone. It is not a living and active faith that justifies as Shepherd says, but a faith that is all alone. He writes, ‘Paul really could not be clearer. Paul indeed taught that faith stands alone in receiving justification from the work of Christ ([Rom.] 3:24-26)’ (CJPM [Westminster West volume], 282).”
CHAPTER 3 - Mark Horne: “Reformed Covenant Theology and Its Discontents”
“Faith and commencement of new obedience are the conditions that members of the covenant of grace, not their mediator, must meet. They are for Christians, not for Christ as covenant head. Jesus did indeed lead a sinless life, and his obedient death for our sins and resurrection for our justification, are indeed the only ground by which a covenant member can have righteous standing before God. But when mainstream Reformed Covenant theology refers to the ‘conditions of the covenant,’ it is not referring to those unique and essential works done by Jesus. The term is used for those who are saved by grace alone—a grace that is precisely the only reason why anyone fulfills the conditions of faith and the commencement of new obedience and thus benefits from Christ’ mediatorial office.”
CHAPTER 4 - Rich Lusk: “From Birmingham, With Love: A ‘Federal Vision’ Postcard”
In the end the [Westminster- California] volume ends up revealing more about the weaknesses of present day Reformed culture than it does the problems with the ‘Federal Vision.’”
CHAPTER 5 - Peter Leithart: “Adam the Catholic? Faith and Life in the Adamic Covenant”
“For both Protestants and Catholics, the solution to the dilemmas created by the natural/supernatural scheme is not to strive for more precision in relating the natural and supernatural, but to reject the whole paradigm. The natural is always already infused with the gifts and graces of God, always already the arena of revelation; man always already, in every action, is aiming for communion with God or alienating himself from that communion. There is no way to draw the line between the two. Insofar as some formulations of the Adamic covenant try to pry grace from nature, they aid and abet secular enemies of faith.”
CHAPTER 6 - P. Andrew Sandlin: “The Gospel of Law and the Law of Gospel”
[Professor Scott] Clark is thoroughly committed to what Daniel P. Fuller pejoratively calls ‘theological interpretation.’ Of course, all Biblical interpretation is theological in the sense that it relates to God, but Fuller has in mind something more specific. When we refuse to let Biblical texts stand on their own and, instead, deduce a certain broad, overarching scheme of the Bible’s message by appealing to a few ‘clear’ or ‘important’ verses in terms of which the rest of the Bible must be read, we tend to circumvent the concrete message of the Biblical texts in favor of a single, harmonious message to which our deductions have previously committed us. The conclusion is already apparent in the premise.
CHAPTER 7 - Norman Shepherd: “The Imputation of Active Obedience”
“Persons who question this doctrine [the imputation of the active obedience of Christ for the justification of sinners] and who are fully committed to the inerrancy, infallibility, and authority of Holy Scripture and have a high regard for the historic Reformed catechisms and confessions can participate in this discussion within the historic parameters of the Three Forms of Unity and the Westminster Standards. We should not prematurely foreclose this discussion by the arbitrary, precipitous, and raw exercise of ecclesiastical power, as Rome did with the Protestant Reformation.”
CHAPTER 8 - Don Garlington: “The New Perspective, Mediation and Justification”
“Throughout [Professor Baugh’s chapter], there is the persistent misrepresentation that has plagued the Reformed response to the NPP since the outset of the debate. This includes painting with a very broad brush and, in several instances, imputing to proponents of the NPP positions that they do not advocate. Among other things, Baugh has not appreciated the variegated nature of the movement that generically bears the moniker of ‘The New Perspective on Paul.’”
CHAPTER 9 - Rich Lusk: “Future Justification: Some Theological and Exegetical Proposals”
“Initial justification is by faith alone. But it is by a faith that will prove itself in works. Final justification is by faith and works together. Or, to put it differently, it is by a faith that has proven itself in obedience and borne the fruit of the Spirit. This is the teaching found across the board in the NT. Jesus (Luke 18:14/Matt. 12:37), James (2:23/2:22), and Paul (Rom. 3:28/Rom. 2:13) all provide a synthesis of present justification by faith and future justification to doers. So far from there being tension, there is complete compatibility.”
CHAPTER 10 - Don Garlington: “Covenantal Nomism and the Exile”
“According to [Kent] Yinger’s findings, there simply is no tension in Jewish thinking between God’s grace and God’s demand; the two simply coexist in complete harmony. For a final time, we do not have to choose between either/or, because it is always both/and at the same time. As a notable instance, Psalm 62:12 (normally considered to be the source of Romans 2:6), actually says: ‘to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love, for you requite a person according to his work.’ It is for this reason that the great ‘assurance chapter’ of Scripture, Romans 8, promises ‘no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’ (v. 1); and yet the recipients of this guarantee are those who walk according to the Spirit and put to death the deeds of the body (vv. 4-8). To set the mind on the Spirit is life, but the mindset of the flesh must result in death (v. 6).”](C74A630B-793A-4600-9E12-81AE27A86904_files/shapeimage_2.png)
