Tried With Fire

This past weekend, we were blessed to have Dr. William VanDoodewaard speak at our annual theology conference - The Marrow of Salvation. The title makes reference to "The Marrow of Modern Divinity," a 17th century English book that caused a controversy in Scotland 50 years later. Why does this old book written by a dead guy and argued over by more dead guys matter to us? I'm glad you asked, and I will answer the question by giving a snippet of each talk. Session 1 - This session was about the book itself. The Marrow was written to help the reader find the middle ground between the 2 ditches of legalism and antinomianism. It was written in the form of a dialogue between a legalist, an antinomian, a new believer, and a minister. This book was recommended by the official government censor and went through several reprintings. Then why the controversy? The Presbyterian church in Scotland in the early 1700's began to drift away from the gospel of free grace in Christ in...

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction - Newton's 3rd law We're familiar with this law in the physical world, but I believe it holds true for the metaphysical and in particular, theology. In other words, "for every faulty belief there is an equal and opposite faulty belief." Does this sound familiar? It may not for you, but I can point to several instances in my own life. Have a bad experience with church leadership? Leave the local church and be a lone ranger. See people you know fall for the prosperity gospel? Make a certain level of remorse and repentance a necessary requirement for salvation? See people misuse the love of God as a license to sin? Make God's love parsimonious and conditional on behavior. Probably the two primary opposite categories in which many of the previous examples fall are antinomianism versus legalism . But unfortunately, we have a propensity to over-correct. Or as my wise daughter says, if we're afraid of b...

I've been listening to The Whole Christ: Legalism, Antinomianism, & Gospel Assurance - Why the Marrow Controversy Still Matters by Sinclair Ferguson. It was a freebie from Christian Audio and is read by someone with a British accent. I know this is a minor point, but given the author, a North American accent would never do. I also got a copy of the book for the church library, which will be on the book nook on Sunday. I'm halfway through the audio, and it's so good.  Unfortunately, I can't mark an audio book or the church's copy, so alas and yet again, I will need to get my own. Ferguson points out that we veer into legalism because we doubt the character of God. We are skeptical that He is a loving Father. We distrust what He says because it seems too good to be true. So it is safer to take things into our own hands and do our bit in case He doesn't come through. The same lie from the garden still deceives us today. "Has God said?..." So our u...

Galatians For You , Timothy Keller, The Good Book Company, 2013, 208 pages . Galatians For You by Dr. Timothy Keller is the first title in the God's Word For You series published by The Good Book Company .   This book isn't intended to be a commentary but an expository guide that unfolds the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ in Paul's letter to the Galatians. In each chapter, Dr. Keller unpacks the text verse by verse. His writing is clear and accessible. The passages are explained in their historical context, but he also includes practical application for us today. The only people I can think of who wouldn't benefit from this book are believers who are never tempted to revert to legalism and works righteousness. But for the rest of us who haven't reached that blessed state, Keller's exposition of the gospel is very helpful especially when "gospel" is becoming just another buzzword. He contrasts the true gospel with religions legalism and cultur...

Here's a quote from Tim Keller's new book, Galatians For You . I'm halfway through, and a review will be forthcoming next week, God willing. Peter's sin was basically the sin of nationalism. He insisted that Christians can't be really pleasing to God unless they become Jewish. But nationalism is just one form of legalism. Legalism is looking to something besides Jesus Christ in order to be acceptable and clean before God. Legalism always results in pride and fear, psychologically, and exclusion and strife, socially... One way is to be sectarian. Every Christian group or denomination necessarily has many distinctions of belief and practices that have less to do with the core gospel beliefs and more to do with specific convictions about ethical behavior or church policy. It is extremely easy to stress our distinctions in order to demonstrate to ourselves and others that our church is the superior or best one. Another way is to bring class-ist, nationalistic, o...

If you wandered around the blogsphere recently, you've seen the critical posts and counterposts about the purity movement. To be clear, I believe the Bible commands believers to flee sexual immorality. At the same time, I believe that the sin of sexual immorality is not beyond the reach of gospel. However, as I pull out my worm-can opener, I think many of the criticisms are valid. Granted the purity movement is varied, but from what I have seen and read, there's too much emphasis on "doing it right" and very little gospel grace. Shame as a tactic to promote desired behavior is nothing short of legalism. I've seen people crushed under self-condemnation because they failed to live up to every jot and tittle and perceived themselves as "damaged" good. I've known others who have followed the prescription and expected heaven-on-earth only to be shocked when picture perfect courtship does not guarantee happily-ever-after. As my daughter and I were dis...

The quote I posted yesterday by Kevin DeYoung hit me like a ton of bricks. Even with a greater awareness of the gospel, I still fall back into legalism so easily. There's still a "I need to get it right before I can [fill in the blank]". We're almost finished the women's hermeneutics class. It's been very, very helpful, and it's raised my awareness of the importance of interpreting the Word correctly. Unfortunately, the "I need to get it right" is raising it's ugly head again. To quote my astute daughter who nailed it on the head, "You're afraid to presume, so you're afraid to trust His promises." As much as I hate the prosperity gospel, there's an outcome-based view of God that still lurks deep in my heart. Pray right and God will answer my prayers. Read the Word and believe His promises correctly, and then good will happen. Now there's nothing wrong with praying open and honestly about the burdens on my heart. ...