Tried With Fire

This true/false quiz is courtesy of  Dr. James Renihan : 1. The sovereign God exercises sovereign control over Himself. True or false? 2. The doctrine of God's aseity teaches us that God has His being from Himself. True or false? 3. Since man is made in the image of God, we may say that in certain ways God's being is like man's being. True or false? 4. Christian monotheism teaches that God progressively reveals Himself first as Father, then as Son, and finally as Holy Spirit. True or false? 5. The incarnation binds the eternal God to the timeline of His people. True or false? So how did you do?

We were blessed to have Dr. James Renihan as the speaker at my church's annual theology conference. Dr. Renihan is dean of the Institute of Reformed Baptist Studies at Westminster California, and the topic was "Baptists: Rooted in Covenant Grace." I'm in the process of listening again to the talks, and I wanted to highlight one question from the brief Q&A at the end of the fourth session. Dr. Renihan's answer is worth considering for all believers regardless of whether you are Reformed, Baptist, or not. Question: Why is it important for Reformed Baptists today to go back to and understand our historical roots? Practically and theologically? Answer: "We must beware of chronological snobbery. By that, I mean thinking that our day and our generation is the best, and we have the answers and why do we need anyone else? We believe in the communion of the saints, and that doesn't just mean the fellowship that we have with people on earth who ar...