VanDrunen: What do recent Reformed thinkers, the Radical Reformation, and Brian Mclaren have in common?

I recently received Dr. David VanDrunen's new book Natural Law and the Two Kingdoms: A Study in the Development of Reformed Social Thought. It is my first exposure to VanDrunen's work, and I am enjoying it very much. I've found this work to be, among other things, substantive, thorough, precise, clear, and very well written. I ran across this insight from early in the book. VanDrunen writes:

Another example [of an influential recent trend in broader, ecumenical Christian thought which seems remarkably friendly to the last century of Reformed social thought] comes from the recent revival in interest in the social tenets of the radical reformation, historically associated with the Anabaptists and Mennonites. The most influential voice here is surely that of Stanley Hauerwas, though himself a Methodist. A perspective grounded in the radical reformation would not ordinarily be associated with a perspective looking to Calvin and the magisterial reformation for inspiration, but they in fact share remarkable similarities. Hauerwas was influenced not only by Mennonite theologian John Howard Yoder but also by the eminent philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre, whose tour de force, After Virtue,  subjected modern, post-Enlightenment, liberal, secular, value-free Western society to a withering critique. MacIntyre concluded that the autonomous individuals within it share no common story or telos and therefore have no resources from which to draw in order to have genuine moral discussions about anything. Not only has Hauerwas picked up on such analysis in condemning the quest for freedom and autonomy in a morally fragmented world scarred by capitalism and materialism, but he has also rejected, as inimical to Christian faith, the idea of a universal ethic or common morality grounded in natural law. Nevertheless, he has called for Christian activism in the world, but in a way peculiar to Christianity. The church, he says, is to live out its existence as a community of faith and hence display to the world how the peaceful kingdom of Christ provides an alternative to a politics built upon violence and falsehood. Hence Hauerwas voices familiar contemporary Reformed themes in rejecting a natural law social ethic, sharply critiquing modern thought and practice, promoting social activism, and calling on Christians to have the ways of the kingdom of Christ shape all of their activity in the church and in the world. Hauerwas has many admirers that have picked up and developed such themes, including those associated with the New Perspective on Paul and scholars in American evangelical circles without historic connection to the Mennonite theology. The work of Brian McLaren, a chief spokesperson for the so-called emerging church movement, is also similar in many important respects (7-9).

Sixteen Reasons Not to Watch the Superbowl

I stole this from Darryl Hart's blog Old Life (and tweaked it just a bit).

16. Remember the Sabbath day.
15. Keep it holy.
14. You have six days for all your work.
13. The Sabbath belongs to God.
12. Don’t work on it.
11. Don’t let your son work on it.
10. Or your daughter.
9. Or football players.
8. Or cheerleaders.
7. Or advertizing executives.
6. Or broadcasters.
5. For God made the world in six days.
4. Then he rested on the Sabbath.
3. For that reason he blessed the Sabbath.
2. And made it a holy day.

And the number one reason not to watch the Super Bowl. . . .

1. The COWBOYS aren’t playing.

Nick Batzig: On Biblical Numerology and the Sabbath

Here is an excellent post from Nick on biblical numerology and the Sabbath Day, among other things.

Martin Downes: On Contending for the Faith

Here is an excellent post from Martin Downes outlining the two kinds of defenses the church has against heresies, the external and the internal. On the internal defense, he writes:

Without this internal delight in the truth the external defense is certain to crumble. It is not theological statements that preserve the truth so much as men filled with the Spirit and wisdom, taught by God to follow the pattern of sound words and able to guard the good deposit.

For some churches and denominations the vibrant confessional testimony of their forefathers in the faith became no more than a museum piece, a relic that gave witness to what was once believed before the church moved on with the times. The truth remained the truth, even if you were told to look at it behind a glass case, but long gone was the atmosphere of orthodoxy.

Ron Steel: "Mercenary Mindset"

This morning my pastor Ron Steel preached a sermon from Matthew 20:1-6 called "Mercenary Mindset." This is the best treatment of the "Laborers in the Vineyard" parable I've ever encountered. Pastor Steel really did a masterful job connecting the passage with the immediately preceding passage on the rich young ruler. I was well-fed. You can access the audio and video files here.

O. Palmer Robertson: Distinguishing the Action of Christian Individuals from the Action of the Church in Broader Social Engagement

In 1988 Presbyterian Church in America TE O. Palmer Robertson wrote "A Protest in Response to the 'Summary Positions' Paper on Church/State Relations." He concludes point five writing:

Indeed, as members of the kingdom of Christ that has come, is coming and is yet to come, the Christian as an individual and in cooperation with others should involve himself in advancing the truth of Christ in every area of life. The Church should never shrink from applying the truth of God's Word to every issue of life. But when the church as the church takes on characteristics that distort its proper marks before the world as they are expressed in the preaching of the Word, the administration of the sacraments and the exercise of church discipline, then its distinctive role in the world will be blurred.

Brian Hough: On Parents, Children, and Prayer

Prayer is a means of redemptive grace God has ordained for his people. John Calvin called it the chief exercise of faith. As a young father and Pastor to Families with Youth, I am more and more thankful for this blessed divine provision every day. Also, I am often convicted at my lack of faith, demonstrated in my failure to pray. God loves it when his children cry out to worship him in prayer! Here is an excellent post from fellow PCA Pastor Brian Hough encouraging parents to regularly pray with their children.

Lane Keister: Encouraging Confessional Churches

Here. He begins:

I get really tired of people complaining about the Westminster Standards. These people want us to broaden our horizons beyond confessional boundaries so that we can be more ecumenical. I would like to ask these people, aren’t there enough generally evangelical denominations? . . .

Christ, Kingdom, and Culture Conference Videos

Videos from the recent Christ, Kingdom, and Culture conference at Westminster Seminary California are now posted online. I am looking forward to viewing these!

[HT: Heidelblog]

Should Churches Promote Movies?

I was recently approached by a promoter of the movie The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry with the request to promote the movie in the local church I serve. I haven't viewed the movie yet. It may be very well done. But I wanted to share my response to the request to promote the movie.

I first wrote:

Thank you for taking time to write Twin Oaks PC about this. You are obviously excited about the movie and tenacious in promoting it. That is commendable. However, it is my understanding that this sort of thing falls outside the singular mandate Christ gave his church. He has called his church to be about the work of extending his kingdom by the teaching and embracing of the doctrine of the Gospel, the administration of his ordinances, and the performing of public worship in purity (Westminster Confession of Faith, 25.4). The production or viewing of movies, while wonderful means of common grace (I enjoy movies often), are not included in this mandate. Therefore, I would have to decline your request to promote this movie as a church, using resources given for her special redemptive work.

Nonetheless, I would be willing to view it and give you my feedback, if you'd like.   

The promoter then graciously offered me a free viewing online and respectfully asked me to clarify the reasons why I thought the church should not be in the business of movie promotions. I responded again:

My unwillingness to lead the church in the promotion of a movie like the Sperry movie (I would distinguish it from video recordings of lectures or sermons) is this: The church's mandate is to preach the Word, administer the sacraments, and exercise church discipline (basically stated in WCF 25 and 30). These are sometimes called the three marks of the church. It is through these three means that God gathers and nurtures his people from among the nations. Since the making and promoting of movies like the Sperry movie is not included in this mandate, it should not be done by the church. 

Individual Christians may make, promote, and enjoy movies as they live out their lives in the common realm (i.e. the world). But according to Scripture, the sacred realm (i.e. the church) is distinct from the common, the distinction being governed by the three marks. 

There is, of course, some overlap between the sacred and common realms. They are distinct but not separate. For instance, teaching elders may surely, with Christian prudence according to the general rules of the Word, make use of common things in their teaching, thus sanctifying them unto God's service. This happens every time we consecrate bread and wine for the Lord's Supper or when preachers illustrate their text using personal anecdotes. Also, movies might include themes, messages, or scenes from the sacred realm. I see this most often in wedding and funeral scenes. These examples are, however, quite different from the church as the church actually making and/or promoting things which are essentially common (e.g. bread, wine, a book of personal anecdotes, movies, etc.). I believe it is incumbent upon every officer of the church, and particularly her teaching elders, to be very careful not to blur the lines between the sacred and the common.

I hope this is helpful for you. I would be happy to continue exploring these issues with you. Let me know if I can clarify any further.

I shared my response with my friend Jared Nelson to see if my thinking was on target. He summarized what I was trying to say very well writing:

I’m taking it that your main point might be summarized as: As an individual, I might see a movie and recommend it to friends. But when functioning in the role of a minister, I will promote and require my people to attend to the preached word, the visible word of the sacrament, and prayer but will not promote or require a movie (or tv show, or yoga position or cola product) for their spiritual formation.

Exactly!

Article on Youth Ministry

Here. And an excerpt:

Even in the church, we have established a pattern of perpetual regress that is tearing down the last vestiges of maturity that our fathers laboured to achieve. Evangelical churches are honouring divisions that have existed in our culture for less than a century – divisions which have no basis in either Scripture or common sense. These divisions breed immaturity because they hinder young people from associating with, and learning from, their elders.

Rather than admonishing our young people with Paul’s mandate, “Flee youthful lusts” (2 Timothy 2:22), we provide a forum for youthful lusts to be pursued. We have compromised standards in the name of relevance.

We must therefore reject the appalling notion of the model youth minister as a recently graduated extrovert who looks and acts just like a high schooler himself. Responsible youth ministry in the church involves teaching and exhorting parents to raise their children Biblically (Deuteronomy 6:7; Ephesians 6:4). . . .

Scripture clearly places the responsibility for child rearing on fathers: “And you fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:1 – 4). Many parents believe that they are “doing their job” by seeing their children off to a youth meeting. Most do little or nothing more. Fathers are responsible for directly overseeing their children in spiritual matters.

Effective youth ministry is the father’s task; he has the responsibility to establish a godly atmosphere in the home. Fathers must be leaders in worship, prayer, reading and studying the Bible and in fellowship with other saints.

Fathers, through abdication, are bringing their children up in practical atheism.

As a father of two children, a four-year old and a two-year old, and a pastor to families with youth this article is quite convicting.

David Strain: A Heuristic Syllogism on the Two Kingdoms

The basic argument of Two Kingdom Theology is this:

(1) Jesus' kingdom is not advanced or defended by the sword (John 18:36; 1 Cor. 10:4; Eph. 6:12).

(2) And God has ordained the civil magistrate to maintain order and enforce justice by the sword (Rom. 13:4; 1 Pet. 2:13)

Since the ethics of Jesus' kingdom (i.e. the ecclesiastical, sacred realm) and the civil magistrate (i.e. the civil, common realm) are fundamentally unified (which is the basis for Christian participation in the common realm contra separatism) and the sacred and the common exist simultaneously, then . . .

(3) Therefore, there are two distinct kingdoms at work in the New Testament era (i.e. the ecclesiastical and the civil, the sacred and the common, Jesus' kingdom and the civil magistrate).

David Strain has posted a fuller presentation of this argument here.

Nick Batzig: On Justification in James 2

Here

Justin Taylor: On Media Saturation among Teens

Here

David Strain: On Sabbath Observance in the PCA

Here. And an excerpt:

Given that the Westminster Confession and Catechisms continue to be the subordinate standards of the PCA, even with exceptions being granted by presbyteries, it does not seem unreasonable to expect to find a higher degree of reverence for, and diligence in the practise of, Sabbath observance among us. My, albeit limited, observations thus far have not affirmed that expectation, sad to say. In fact, my perception is that, in the PCA at least, Westminster Sabbatarianism is a strange and little known and even less loved feature of Christian devotion.

David VanDrunen: On Natural Law and The Two Kingdoms

R. Scott Clark recently interviewed David VanDrunen on Office Hours. VanDrunen discussed issues from his new book Natural Law and the Two Kingdoms: A Study in the Development of Reformed Social Thought. I look forward to reading VanDrunen's new book soon.

Words of Institution and Eucharistic Prayer

This morning I had the responsibility to give the words of institution and Eucharistic prayer for the Lord's Supper during our worship service at Twin Oaks Presbyterian Church. Here's what I said:

The Lord Jesus Christ opened his great sermon on the mount saying “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matt. 5:3-6). When we come to worship God according to his Word, we come impoverished. We come as receivers. We come to feed upon Christ. We come to ingest him in the depths of our soul. His body was offered up and his blood was spilled for us and for our salvation. Indeed Jesus said, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. . . . Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever” (John 6:35, 53-59). We know that Jesus was not referring to a carnal eating and drinking because he said, “not as the fathers ate and died.” Instead he was referring to a spiritual eating, an eating that is no less real than carnal eating yet even more effective in that it nourishes us unto eternal life. Jesus has prepared his Table for us. As the Apostle tells us, “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes” (1 Cor. 11:23-26).

This is the Lord’s Table. It is open to all those who are trusting in the finished work of Christ alone for their salvation, to all those who are communing members in good standing of this or any other church where the Gospel of Jesus Christ is truly preached. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Let us pray, Father we are thankful that you have gathered us now around the Table of your Son, because he offered himself up to you as our sacrifice of atonement. Would you also now grant by your Son’s mediation that the Holy Spirit would attend our eating of this bread and our drinking of this wine and so cause us to feast spiritually upon the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, being raised up to commune with him in the heavenly temple with great joy, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

2010 Spring Sunday School Schedule

This spring the subject of my Senior High Sunday School class will be The Doctrine of God, chapters 2-5 of the Westminster Confession of Faith. Here's the schedule:

1. Doctrine of God: Introduction (Jan. 3)
2. Doctrine of God: The Attributes of God Part 1 (WCF 2.1) (Jan. 17)
3. Doctrine of God: The Attributes of God Part 2 (WCF 2.2) (Jan. 24)
4. Doctrine of God: The Trinity Part 1 (WCF 2.3) (Jan. 31)
5. Doctrine of God: The Trinity Part 2 (WCF 2.3) (Feb. 7)
6. Doctrine of God: God’s Eternal Decree and Causation (WCF 3.1) (Feb. 14)
7. Doctrine of God: God’s Eternal Decree and God’s Knowledge (WCF 3.2) (Feb. 21)
8. Doctrine of God: Predestination and Foreordination (WCF 3.3-4) (Feb. 28)
9. Doctrine of God: Predestination unto Life (WCF 3.5-6) (Mar. 7)
10. Doctrine of God: Foreordination unto Death (WCF 3.7) (Mar. 14)
11. Doctrine of God: Predestination and Assurance (WCF 3.8) (Mar. 21)
12. Doctrine of God: Creation (WCF 4.1) (Mar. 28)
13. Doctrine of God: The Imago Dei (WCF 4.2a) (Apr. 4)
14. Doctrine of God: Natural Law and Commandment (WCF 4.2b) (Apr. 11)
15. Doctrine of God: Providence (WCF 5.1) (Apr. 18)
16. Doctrine of God: Providence and Causation (WCF 5.2-3) (Apr. 25)
17. Doctrine of God: Providence and Sin (WCF 5.4) (May 2)
18. Doctrine of God: Providence and Discipline (WCF 5.5) (May 9)
19. Doctrine of God: Providence and Hardening (WCF 5.6) (May 16)
20. Doctrine of God: Providence and Preservation (WCF 5.7) (May 23)
21. Doctrine of God: Conclusion (May 30)

Top Eleven Books of 2009

Here's a top eleven list of the books I read in 2009 (not counting re-reads):

1. The Glory of Christ, John Owen
   
2. Dual Citizens: Worship and Life Between the Already and the Not Yet, Jason Stellman
3. Recovering the Reformed Confession: Our Theology, Piety, and Practice, R. Scott Clark
4. Risking the Truth: Handling Error in the Church, Martin Downes
   
5. On the First Day of the Week: God, the Christian, and the Sabbath, Iain D. Campbell
6. The Westminster Assembly: Reading Its Theology in Historical Context, Robert Letham
7. Reformed Theology in America, ed. David Wells
   
8. Seeking a Better Country: 300 Years of American Presbyterianism, D.G. Hart and John R. Muether
9. With Reverence and Awe: Returning to the Basics of Reformed Worship, D.G. Hart and John R. Muether
10. The Preaching of Jonathan Edwards, John Carrick
11. Calvin and the Sabbath: The Controversy of Applying the Fourth Commandment, Richard Gaffin
    

2009 Study on Reformed Worship

This year, while I didn't limit myself to it, Reformed worship was my special focus of study. In January I was vigorously preparing to stand before the Missouri Presbytery (PCA) for my final oral ordination exam. I had a basic understanding of the regulative principle of worship (RPW) and what has become the usual view of images of Christ and the Sabbath (i.e. taking exception to the Confession's proscription of any use of images and recreation on the Sabbath). By summer I had formally withdrawn my two exceptions. As the year comes to a close, I think I have a pretty good grasp of the RPW and am fully convinced of the Confession's teaching on the use of images and the Sabbath day.

Excluding blog posts and podcasts, here are the books and articles I read on Reformed worship this year in no particular order (some were re-reads):

On worship proper:

• Worship: Reformed According to Scripture, Hughes Oliphant Old
• With Reverence and Awe: Returning to the Basics of Reformed Worship, D.G. Hart and John R. Muether
• A Better Way: Rediscovering the Drama of Christ-Centered Worship, Michael Horton
• The Westminster Directory of Public Worship, Discussed by Mark Dever and Sinclair Ferguson
• Scripture and Worship: Biblical Interpretation & the Directory for Worship, Richard A. Muller and Rowland S. Ward
• A Primer on Worship: Recovering the High Church Puritan, Douglas Wilson
• Reformed Worship: Worship that is According to Scripture, Terry L. Johnson
• The Worship of God: Reformed Concepts of Biblical Worship, Johnson, Godfrey, Pipa, Smith, Schwertley, Shaw, Blair
• The Family Worship Book: A Resource for Family Devotions, Terry L. Johnson
• "Reframing Presbyterian Worship: A Critical Survey of the Worship Views of John M. Frame and R.J. Gore," Frank J. Smith and David C. Lachman, The Confessional Presbyterian, vol. 1, 2005
  
• "In Brief: Samuel Miller On The Regulative Principle of Worship and On 'Holy Days,'" Samuel Miller, The Confessional Presbyterian, vol. 1, 2005
  

On the Lord's Supper:

• Children at the Lord's Table: Assessing the Case for Paedocommunion, Cornelis P. Venema
• The Lord's Supper: Eternal Word in Broken Bread, Robert Letham
• The Puritans on the Lord's Supper, Vines, Calamy, Wadsworth, Alleine, Watson

On the Sabbath:

• On the First Day of the Week: God, the Christian, and the Sabbath, Iain D. Campbell
• The Lord's Day, Joseph A. Pipa, Jr.
• The Market Day of the Soul: The Puritan Doctrine of the Sabbath in England 1532-1700, James T. Dennison, Jr.
• Calvin and the Sabbath: The Controversy of Applying the Fourth Commandment, Richard Gaffin
• Institutes of Elenctic Theology, Francis Turretin, trans. George Musgrave Giger, ed. James T. Dennison, Jr., Eleventh Topic, The Law of God, The Fourth Commandment.
  
• "The Sabbath Day and Recreations on the Sabbath: An Examination of the Sabbath and the Biblical Basis for the 'No Recreation' Clause in the Westminster Confession of Faith 21.8 and the Westminster Larger Catechism 117," Lane Keister, The Confessional Presbyterian, vol. 5, 2009

On Puritan-Reformed identity (which includes The Regulative Principle of Worship):

• The Westminster Assembly: Reading Its Theology in Historical Context, Robert Letham
• Puritanism: A Very Short Introduction, Francis J. Bremer
• Recovering the Reformed Confession: Our Theology, Piety, and Practice, R. Scott Clark
• Worldly Saints: The Puritans As They Really Were, Leland Ryken
• Seeking a Better Country: 300 Years of American Presbyterianism, D.G. Hart and John R. Muether
• Reformed Theology in America, ed. David Wells
• How Do We Glorify God?, John D. Hannah
• A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life, J.I. Packer
• The Westminster Confession into the 21st Century, vol. 1, ed. Ligon Duncan
• The Westminster Confession into the 21st Century, vol. 2, ed. Ligon Duncan
  

J. Gresham Machen: On the Sin of Indifference

I read J. Gresham Machen's classic work Christianity and Liberalism for the first time last year. It's one of those books I'd like to reread annually, so I retrieved it from the shelf today and began to browse it in my last few minutes at the office. I plan to reread it in the next few days.

Machen has this to say about the sin of indifference:

It is often said that the divided condition of Christendom is an evil, and so it is. But the evil consists in the existence of the errors which cause the divisions and not at all in the recognition of those errors when once they exist. It was a great calamity when at the "Marburg Conference" between Luther and the representatives of the Swiss Reformation, Luther wrote on the table with regard to the Lord's Supper, "This is my body," and said to Zwingli and Oecolampadius, "You have another spirit." That difference of opinion led to the breach between the Lutheran and Reformed branches of the Church, and caused Protestantism to lose much of the ground that might otherwise have been gained. It was a great calamity indeed. But the calamity was due to the fact that Luther (as we believe) was wrong about the Lord's Supper; and it would have been a far greater calamity if being wrong about the Supper he had represented the whole question as a trifling affair. Luther was wrong about the Supper, but not nearly so wrong as he would have been if, being wrong, he had said to his opponents: "Brethren, this matter is a trifle; and it makes really very little difference what a man thinks about the table of the Lord." Such indifferentism would have been far more deadly than all the divisions between the branches of the Church. A Luther who would have compromised with regard to the Lord's Supper never would have said at the Diet of Worms, "Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise, God help me, Amen." Indifferentism about doctrine makes no heroes of the faith (50-51).

New Sermon Audio and Video: "Jesus in His Father's House"

Yesterday morning I had the privilege of preaching the Word of God for Twin Oaks Presbyterian Church's Lord's Day worship service. A link to the audio and video files is below. Here's a summary of the sermon:

Title: "Jesus in His Father's House"
Text: Luke 2:41-52
Themes: God's dwelling place, worship, the offices of Christ
Thesis: Jesus' redemptive work centers on being in his Father's house.

Robert Letham: On Puritanism

Today I finished reading Robert Letham's recently published book The Westminster Assembly: Reading Its Theology in Historical Context. While I didn't agree with all of Letham's conclusions, I was nonetheless greatly helped in better understanding the doctrines I confess and the tradition with which I'm identified. I'm very thankful for his work.

Here is his summary of Puritanism:

The chief point at issue for the Puritans was whether the church has the right to bind consciences with anything other than the declarations of the Bible (18).

David Wayne: On Being Relevant to God

Last year fellow PCA pastor and blogger David Wayne was diagnosed with cancer. Today he posted a reflection on this year's experience. Here's an excerpt:

Most of all, I am grateful that God has put me through a situation that has caused my faith in Him to become real. All these years I have been in ministry and have been on a constant quest to make the gospel relevant to my hearers. I now see that as misguided. The question is not how we can make the gospel relevant to us, but how we can make ourselves relevant to God. In other words, God defines reality and it is our task to conform our lives to reality as He defines it, not "make Him" relevant to us. He is always relevant, but we are often irrelevant to Him.

As eternal matters have been at the forefront of my everyday life this year I have been compelled to begin to get a glimpse of life from God's perspective. I am most grateful for the theology of the cross. For years I had heard about it, but I am beginning to get a wee bit of understanding and experience of it. It's just a taste but the taste is great.

Darryl Hart: On the Two Decalogues

Here. And an excerpt:

So again, to reiterate: if the law is good for the magistrate and it gives him (or her?) guidance about the culture wars, why does it not also give instruction about which religious groups to support and which to forbid? . . .

The folks who condemn two-kingdoms for its dualism (among other things) have a dualistic view of the Decalogue. How integrated is that?

Andrew Webb: On the Observation of Holy Days

Here is an excellent historical theological treatment of the observance of holy days in the Presbyterian and Reformed tradition. Here's an excerpt:

In 1973 many conservative Southern Presbyterians faced with the prospect of the union of the body they belonged to (the PCUS) with the more liberal Northern UPCUSA opted instead to withdraw and form a new theologically conservative Presbyterian Church. This new church, the Presbyterian Church in America, opted not to adopt the liturgically oriented Book of Common Worship of the PCUS, its revised Directory of Worship, or any of the alterations that had been made to the Presbyterian Standards since adoption in 1789. Instead the PCA adopted the 1789 revision of the Westminster Standards and set to work on creating their own Directory of Worship. The non-binding Directory they created – while it is far more liturgical than the original Directory for Publick Worship, and includes sample forms for special occasions – does not contain a single reference to the Church year. In fact at no point in the history of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) has the practice of observing Holy Days been officially authorized by the General Assembly, nor does anything in the Constitution of the Church legitimate the practice. To the contrary, since the constitutional documents of the PCA uphold and endorse the original Puritan concept of the Regulative Principle of Worship as it is set forth in chapter 21.1 of the Westminster Confession of Faith, the practice of observing Holy Days in worship is logically forbidden as no one has ever been able to prove that the practice of their observation was instituted by God in His Word. What is odd in light of this is that very few, if any, members of the PCA view the observance of Holy Days as an exception to the teaching of the Westminster Standards.

So while we can answer clearly why Presbyterians who belong to the PCUSA observe Holy Days, for they changed their doctrinal standards to allow for the practice, one cannot answer that question when it comes to members of other bodies that have not, such as the PCA. Their doctrinal standards clearly do not permit the practice, and yet it would seem that the majority of PCA churches observe Holy Days anyway. Why is that? Well one might be tempted to conclude that it is because the General Assembly has never tackled the subject, but the far more obvious answer is that they observe them because the Church they left observed them and the vast majority of modern evangelical churches around them observe them. In most cases no-one living can remember a time when Holy Days were not observed and most Presbyterian clergymen seem unaware that there was once a time when they were not observed. Even the oldest of PCA saints might be reasonably tempted to conclude that a notion that Holy Days should not be observed represents the thought of a crackpot.

Miscellanies 13: On Confessional Maximalism

The esse of Christian unity is based on a minimal credible (i.e. truthful) confession of faith. But the bene esse of Christian unity is based on the fullness and precision of one's confession of faith. That's why an excerpt from the current case before the PCA's SJC regarding the NWP and Peter Leithart reads:

The only conclusion that a court should reach, given the excellent work product produced by the PNW Study Committee, would be that there is a strong presumption of guilt that some of the views of Leithart are out of accord with some of the fundamentals of the system of doctrine taught in the [Westminster] Standards. This does not mean that Leithart is a heretic. He is not. This does not mean that Leithart is not or whether he is a Christian. He is. This does not necessarily mean that Leithart is outside the broader reformed community. The sole question to be determined is whether Leithart's views place him outside of the Standards, as adopted by the Presbyterian Church in America.

Jason Stellman Reports on the Ruling of the PCA's SJC

In a word, the complaint filed against the Pacific Northwest Presbytery's findings with regard to TE Peter Leithart's doctrinal views was upheld. You can read the whole post and find a link to the official ruling here. Here's an excerpt from the SJC's ruling:

Did PNW err in its handling of the reports from the PNW Study Committee appointed to examine Leithart's fitness to continue as a PCA Teaching Elder?

Yes. The Complaint is sustained, and the case is sent back to PNW with instructions to institute process and appoint a prosecutor to prepare an Indictment of TE Leithart and to conduct the case (BCO 31-2).

Interesting Conversation with a Roman Catholic Writer

In the comments under this post.

By the way, along the way in our discussion I refer to the CCC. That is the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition (1994). If you see the designation CCC 85, the "85" is the paragraph number. Every paragraph in the CCC has a number assigned to it for quick reference.

The Confessional Presbyterian

I recently subscribed to The Confessional Presbyterian and also purchased the four back issues. They are wonderful. I highly recommend them, especially to pastors in the Presbyterian and Reformed tradition. General Editor Chris Coldwell opens the inaugural volume (Vol. 1, 2005) writing:

In a day when it appears that Presbyterians are drifting further and further from the doctrines of the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms, we hope The Confessional Presbyterian journal will provide a forum for inter-denominational discussion among Presbyterians, wishing to defend closer adherence to these old standards of biblical Christianity. To facilitate such an environment we have assembled a fine board of contributing editors from several denominations (see page 184). Our goal, as hopefully reflected in this first issue, is to publish a range of theological, practical and historical material, supportive of the Westminster Standards, while allowing for courteous discussion where disagreements may exist. Our hope is to publish one volume annually (2).

Here's the list of contributing editors from page 184:

Dr. Richard E. Bacon (Amer. RPC)
Dr. W. Gary Crampton (RPCGA)
Dr. J. Ligon Duncan, Ph.D. (PCA)
John T. Dyck (BPC)
Dr. David W. Hall, Ph.D. (PCA)
R. Sherman Isbell (FCSC)
Ray B. Lanning (ARPC)
John R. Muether (OPC)
Thomas G. Reid (RPCNA)
Dr. Frank J. Smith (CRPC)
Wayne Sparkman M.A.R. M.Div. (PCA)
Alan Strange (OPC)
C.N. Willborn, Ph.D. (PCA)

Robert Letham: On the Catholicity of the Reformers

I'm about half way through Robert Letham's recently published book The Westminster Assembly: Reading Its Theology in Historical Context. This is the third book in The Westminster Assembly and the Reformed Faith series edited by Carl Trueman. It is so good! This should be required reading for every officer in the Presbyterian and Reformed tradition. On the catholicity of the divines Letham writes:

All the Reformers, including Calvin, and the later Reformed orthodox operated in the context of their inheritance from the late Middle Ages. To understand them, it is necessary to have a grasp of the scholastic method, and of the history of medieval exegesis. The Assembly's Reformed context establishes its Catholic credentials, for the Reformers were at odds, not with the Catholic tradition, but with its immediate representatives. Evidence abounds from Luther, Calvin, and their contemporaries. This is abundantly demonstrated from the minutes [of the Westminster Assembly], where the records we have show beyond the slightest doubt that every theological question was debated from the foundation of biblical exegesis, in dialogue with the history of exegesis reaching back to the early days of the church. So pervasive is the focus on biblical exegesis that it would be futile here to list the texts on which the debate turned--the evidence is literally overwhelming. However, it was not carried on in isolation; it took place self-consciously as part of the great tradition of the church (96-97, emphasis added).

R.C. Sproul: On the Manhattan Declaration

Here. And an excerpt:

In answer to the question, “R.C., why didn’t you sign the Manhattan Declaration?” I offer the following answer: The Manhattan Declaration confuses common grace and special grace by combining them. While I would march with the bishop of Rome and an Orthodox prelate to resist the slaughter of innocents in the womb, I could never ground that cobelligerency on the assumption that we share a common faith and a unified understanding of the gospel (emphasis added).

D.G. Hart: Defending the Faith

Today I started reading a book that's been on my "to read" list for more than a year, Darryl Hart's biography of J. Gresham Machen entitled Defending the Faith: J. Gresham Machen and the Crisis of Conservative Protestantism in Modern America. I'm only a chapter into it and I can already tell I'm going to love this book. Here's an excerpt:

Machen was indeed concerned about the dangers that "cultural modernism" posed to traditional faith. But he was even more worried about the "modernism" of American Protestantism and the cultural outlook upon which Protestant reconstructions of Christianity rested. For Machen, the moves by Protestants to "modernize" the faith--and not the efforts of "cultural modernists" to move beyond Christianity--comprised the greatest danger to Christianity. For by refashioning Christianity mainline Protestants hoped to maintain the churches' role as cultural guardian. But in the process, Machen believed, they had confused influence with faithfulness. In fact, he held that theological integrity and cultural authority were inversely related: a theology eager for public influence invariably compromised the Christian faith, while principled theology could at best benefit society indirectly.

Machen's cultural concerns, thus, made him in the 1920s a reluctant ally of secular intellectuals but in the 1930s would cost him the support of fundamentalists. Like Machen, though for different reasons, cultural modernists also bristled under mainstream Protestantism's moral code, rejected its cheery estimate of human nature and the universe, and opposed its bid to Christianize American society. The subtext of Machen's theological critique of Protestant modernism--that the churches had no business meddling in society--was good news to secularists who thought that America's Protestant ethos impeded intellectual and cultural life. Fundamentalists, in contrast, were virtually deaf to Machen's ideas about the relationship between Christianity and culture. To most conservatives throughout the 1920s, Machen was a champion of orthodoxy who had reestablished the theological foundations for Christian civilization in America. By the 1930s, however, his understanding of the church's limited role in public life began to alienate fundamentalists. When Machen's efforts to reform the Presbyterian Church were finally thwarted and he withdrew in 1936 to form a new denomination, his church attracted few fundamentalists. They stayed away at least in part because they, unlike Machen, shared with modernizing Protestants the belief that Christian values constituted the bedrock of American society (8-9, emphasis added).

Nick Batzig: More on the Manhattan Declaration

This is the most thorough analysis of the debate over the merit of signing the MD I've seen.

Michael Horton: On the Manhattan Declaration

At the White Horse Inn Blog. And an excerpt:

When we confuse the law and the gospel, there is inevitably a confusion of Christ and culture, and there is considerable evidence in Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and evangelical histories to demonstrate the real dangers of this confusion. In this otherwise helpful declaration, the confusion is evident once more. Alongside the theological claims that witness to the dignity of all people created in God’s image, Christianity seems to be defended as a major stake-holder in Western culture and society. By tending to confuse the gospel with the law, special revelation with general revelation, and Christianity with Western civilization, the document actually undermines its own objective—namely, to defend the dignity of human life as a universal moral imperative. Not only Christians, but non-Christians, are recipients of this general revelation.

The church has a responsibility to proclaim the gospel of free justification in Christ and to witness to God’s universal rights over humanity in his law. This law is sufficient to arraign us all before God’s court, pronouncing every one of us guilty for failing to love God and our neighbor, and it remains the rule for all duties and responsibilities that we have to contribute to the flourishing of our culture and the good of our neighbors. Yet the gospel itself is the testimony to God’s act of redemption in Jesus Christ, which delivers us from guilt, condemnation, and the tyranny of sin. The commands of the law, both natural and clarified in Scripture, ring in the conscience of everyone, but the gospel is the only “power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes…” (Romans 1:16).

If we undermine the universal moral imperative of God's law, we also undermine the basis of God's general condemnation and therefore the power of the Gospel to save. In terms of Romans 1, the wrath of God against all men due to their lawlessness must be true before the righteousness of God apart from the Law can be revealed as powerful. The Law must condemn before the Gospel can save.

What is the Federal Vision?

Here.

Hart and Muether: On the Rewards of Presbyterian Faith and Practice

In Seeking a Better Country: 300 Years of American Presbyterianism D.G. Hart and John R. Muether conclude:

The real rewards of Presbyterian faith and practice are not to be found in a golden age of American Presbyterianism but in an expression of Reformed Christianity that sustains pilgrims longing for a better country (256).

Hart and Muether: On the Quandary of PCA Identity

In Seeking a Better Country: 300 Years of American Presbyterianism D.G. Hart and John R. Muether say this about identity in the PCA:

The quandary of identity is not limited to the mainline. The exodus that created the Presbyterian Church in America was frustrated with the cold, organizational bureaucracy of the mainline as much as its theological decline. The PCA's grassroots intimacy is what many of its members miss most about its founding, as the PCA increasingly resembles the organizational machine that its founders fled. Assessment centers find experts subjecting ministerial candidates to intense psychological profiling, bureaucratic caucusing has replaced Assembly deliberation, and ministries of mercy trump the spirituality of the church.

Of course, the PCA is not in numerical decline, but rather it claims to be among the fastest growing denominations in America. In twenty years it has grown to more than fifteen hundred congregations and more than three hundred thousand members. The denomination supports five hundred full-time missionaries and over one hundred chaplains in the military, hospitals, and prisons. Still those numbers, impressive though they are, beg the question of whether the PCA is contributing to the growth of Presbyterianism in America. The PCA is more concerned with being on the cutting edge of "culture-formation" than fostering Presbyterian consciousness, and its growth often requires the disguise of its Presbyterian identity. The same may be said of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (252-53).

Thoughts?

Lewes Bayly: On the Market Day of the Soul

Yesterday I read James T. Dennison, Jr.'s fine book The Market Day of the Soul: The Doctrine of the Sabbath in England 1532-1700. It is an excellent historical theological work on, what has become in our hyper-recreational age, the dying practice of Sabbath observance. Anyone unsure of exactly what the Westminster divines meant when they wrote . . .

As it is the law of nature, that, in general, a due proportion of time be set apart for the worship of God; so, in His Word, by a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment binding all men in all ages, He has particularly appointed one day in seven, for a Sabbath, to be kept holy unto him: which, from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, was the last day of the week: and, from the resurrection of Christ, was changed into the first day of the week, which, in Scripture, is called the Lord's Day, and is to be continued to the end of the world, as the Christian Sabbath.

This Sabbath is to be kept holy unto the Lord when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering of their common affairs beforehand, do not only observe an holy rest all the day from their own works, words, and thoughts about their wordly employments and recreations, but also are taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of His worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy (Westminster Confession of Faith, Ch. 21, Sect. 7-8).

. . . should read Dennison's work for immediate remedy. Dennison offers this rich quote from the 17th century Puritan Lewes Bayly:

The Sabbath day is God's market-day for the week's provision, wherein He will have us to come unto him, and buy of him without silver or Money, the Bread of Angels, and Water of life, the Wine of the Sacraments, and Milk of the Word to feed our souls: tried Gold, to enrich our Faith: precious Eyesalve, to heal our spiritual blindness: and the white Raiment of Christ's Righteousness, to cover our filthy nakedness (63-64).

I'm an INTJ Too

This post by Sean Lucas was encouraging to me. I need to get this book: Introverts in the Church: Finding Our Place in an Extroverted Culture.