Category: Law
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ot believers… regenerate… roms 7
One of the difficult questions to answer is the status and experience of OT believers. This post does not pretend to answer this question but I hope it points to fruitful fields of inquiry. Old Testament believers were justified by faith (Roms 4: Gen 15:6). Abraham’s faith=justification serves as the template for all future justification…
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roms 7 … life under law (1)
Romans 7 In Ch 5, Paul has demonstrated that humanity is divided into two different peoples united to two humanity heads. One group belongs to Adam and is dominated by sin and death. By natural birth everyone belongs to Adamic humanity. The second group is in Christ where, by contrast, grace, righteousness and life reign.…
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the word became flesh
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he…
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romans 8:1-4 the righteous requirement of the law fulfilled in us
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own…
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sussing the sermon on the mount
It seems that The Sermon on the Mount has a negative press in large segments of evangelicalism. Some insist it is pure law and its purpose, like the Mosaic Covenant, is only to kill (Lutheranism and variants of it). Others also see it as law but think its primary focus is to instruct believers during…
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christ the end of the law
Romans 10:4-13 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. 5 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. 6 But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in…
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i am crucified with christ (2)… dead to law
If we are dead and our life is hid with Christ in God we will discover that this death is not simply to sin. Our death, in Christ, has even farther-reaching implications. We have died not only to sin but to every power and authority that would seek to control us in a fallen world. …
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funerals, fasting, feasting, and the first day of the week
Emergents (enchanted by the ‘Big Tradition’), some Old Life Reformed (emphasising the institutional church and sacraments), some Federal Vision folks like Peter Leithart (with a similarly high ecclesiology), the rising influence, in the States at least, of evangelical Lutheranism (which tends to stress liturgy), our ecumenical romance with Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, the popular…
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the samaritan, the law, and grace
We are all, I guess, familiar with the parable of ‘the good Samaritan’. If we were asked its point we would probably say it illustrates ‘neighbourliness’. And we would be right. Jesus says as much in his punchline question. Here is Luke’s record of the parable. Luke 10:25-37 (ESV) And behold, a lawyer stood up…
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works of law and works of grace
In a recent blog I argued that Christianity is all grace. The OT Law, by contrast, was a covenant of works. It did not function on the premise of grace or faith but human achieving. Paul makes this crystal clear in Galatians. Gal 3:10-14 (ESV) For all who rely on works of the law are…
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the church and fellowship after the apostolic age (2) the apostasy of the church from grace
My contention is that the apostasy of the Christian Church, already underway before the demise of the apostles, led to the Judaizing of the church – a tendency already present during the lives of the apostles. The NT church was plagued by both Jewish (Judaistic) and gentile (Greco-Roman) notions from early days. Many of the…
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ot and nt worship
Since I am writing a few intermittent blogs considering the Judaizing of the Christian Church, I thought I would post an extract from an article ‘Worship Wars’ I wrote a few years ago. It seems relevant to the topic. The article in full can be sourced here. OT Worship The old covenant ‘form’ of worship,…
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the obedient life of christ was not vicarious
I know we should not use the weakest expression of a position to criticise it. I know it is easy to knock straw men. The following example is both. However, it is a view that I hear echoed regularly online; it may be a weak expression of a belief but it is certainly a prevalent…
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luther and law
I have come to understand Luther’s view of Law as law= imperative. This is the view promulgated by many online lutherans and indeed by WestCal representatives. Apparently it was not Luther’s view. Jono Linebaugh has a very helpful and illuminating post on Tullian Tchividjian’s blog discussing Luther’s view of Law. Well worth the read. It seems…
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the love of law and the love of grace
The Law of Moses demanded love. Love was a fulfilling of the law. And so, we are told this love which the law demanded is the love which as Christians we should reflect. But is this so? It is true that the heart of the commandment was love for God and neighbour. And it is…
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the justification/sanctification debate and a biblical voice
I have been following the debate over at the Gospel Coalition Website on the relationship between justification and sanctification. At the heart lies the place of the law in the Christian life. This link (here) should get you started if you are interested. There is a lot of confusion in some Reformed and Reformed/Lutheran quarters…
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how would you persuade christians to turn away from adultery?
I have regularly argued that the way to holiness is not through teaching that the Mosaic law is binding on the Christian conscience and that it must be obeyed. A mentality of ‘law-keeping’ is not the way to grow in grace. This does not mean that we cannot learn from the OT law. We can. …
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gospel obedience, the obedience of sons
I am writing to you children, because you know the Father. 1John 2:13 (ESV) Many Christians struggle deeply with their failure and sin. We know we ought to be like Jesus (or perfect as our heavenly father is perfect) but we know just as surely that we are not. As a result we often…
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law love and gospel love – what’s the difference?
Sometimes we are told that legal love (the love that the Law demanded) is the same as gospel love (the love that the gospel supplies). Is this the case? I don’t believe it is. Legal love or law love is founded on the demands of a relationship; I must love the Lord my God and…
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murray and double imputation
All Protestant Christians believe in imputation. That is, they believe we are constituted righteous by God on the basis of the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ; righteousness is from without. Many Reformed Christians, however,will not allow that it is simply the death of Christ that justifies; they insist Christ’s death only cancels our guilt it does…
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imputed active obedience (IAO), a must or a misdirection? (12)
The intention of the last couple of posts (here and here) on this topic has been to demonstrate that the Bible does not support the reformed construct of IAO. We have seen that the OT knows nothing of a law-keeping life lived on behalf of another. In the OT, when the law is broken only…
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horton, hood, turk… law and gospel
Some of you may have been following the online debate involving Michael Horton, Jason Hood, Frank Turk and others. It is a debate about the relative weighting of indicatives and imperatives. Some concerned that the gospel is being turned into mere moralism (calls for holy living), a legitimate concern, stress vehemently the ‘done’ aspect of…
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do this and live
The Law, that is, the Sinai Covenant, in the words of the NT, is ‘not of faith’ (Gals 3:11). God’s covenant with Abraham relied on God’s promise for its fulfilment received simply by faith (Gals 3:17-19, 22). Law, by contrast, depends on human ‘works’. It is a covenant of works and so Paul speaks regularly…
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imputed active obedience (IAO), a must or a misdirection? (10)
The Bible and IAO. My intention in the next few posts is to demonstrate that the Bible locates justification in the infinitely valuable death of Christ and his subsequent resurrection without reference to IAO. Indeed, I hope to show that IAO is not only absent but does not fit as presented into the biblical contours…
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the law and moses
Moses is the Law-giver. He is the one who mediates the covenant. He it is who at Sinai receives the tablets of stone. He, directed by God, drafts the civil administration of Israel and all the religious rules and regulations. He is the one who writes the first five books of the OT, the ‘Torah’. …
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justification constitutive but also transformative
Have you noticed that in Galatians, a letter written to champion the gospel of justification by faith, that Paul’s first allusion to the gospel defines it not in justification language but redemption language. Gal 1:3-5 (ESV) Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our…
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imputed active obedience (IAO), a must or a misdirection? (6)
In my first blog on this topic I suggested the claim that IAO is integral to evangelical orthodoxy is historically weak. At the moment I am on the second of three blogs making a case for this claim. My case is necessarily heavily dependent on secondary sources. I am, however, endeavouring to use sources recognised…
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imputed active obedience (IAO), a must or a misdirection? (5)
Advocates of IAO often insist that it is integral to evangelical orthodoxy. The implication being, to reject it is to forfeit the right to the label evangelical, or at least, orthodox evangelical. Of course the burden of proof lies with those who so claim to prove their case and it appears an exceptionally hard case…
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piper on the law of liberty and law of Christ
When the fulfilling of the Law it is called the “law of liberty” it means that as Christians we pursue love in liberty from law-keeping as the ground of our justification or the power of our sanctification. Instead we pursue it by the “law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:2). We…
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are you antinomian enough?
Paul was charged with preaching antinomianism (against-law, that his gospel promoted freedom to sin). Rom 3:8 (ESV) And why not do evil that good may come?-as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just. If Paul taught that the Law was a rule of life for all believers then it is hard…
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reformed judaism!
Classic Reformed Churches house many godly Christians. Some of the most able preachers of the gospel are found in their pulpits. Yet running through this rich gospel lode is a streak of anomalous legalism that causes more than a little head-scratching and hair-pulling. Some of these C21 gentile believers seem almost as zealous for the…
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Law and Gospel: continuum or contrast (3) torah and the spirit
Gordon Fee helpfully points out in his tome on the Holy Spirit, ‘God’s Empowering Presence’, that the counterpart to OT Torah (law) is not NT Torah but the Holy Spirit. In Romans 8, Paul does not take us from one Law (Old Covenant Law) in Roms 7 to another Law (New Covenant Law) in Roms…
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denney on the law
In his article on the “Law” in the Dictionary of the Bible, James Denney asks, “What is the relation of the Christian to the Law?” He answers… ‘…the Christian has nothing more to do with law in any way. …law only enslaves to sin; but grace gives the quickening spirit and liberates. In the Christian…
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romans 7: dead to law (1)
I have written a few blogs previously related to ‘the law’ and to a related topic ‘flesh and spirit’. These are somewhat of a background to a few intermittent blogs that I intend to write on Romans 7 (God willing). At the moment, I want simply to flag up a couple of major blinders that…
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flesh and spirit in romans, and beyond (5)
If you look at the preceeding blogs on this topic you will be better placed to grapple with the issues in this one. The fundamental point made is that Christians ought to view themselves not as ‘in the flesh’ but as ‘in the Spirit’. This is a biblical distinction between two realms or two worlds. …
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there is no ‘third use of the law’
Tullian Tchividjian was recently interviewed by Justin Taylor on the relationship between law and gospel. Much of what TT says I heartily endorse and recommend the blog interview for reading. He advocates clearly a law gospel distinction and spells out well what this means. My only gripe is that TT doesn’t go quite as far…
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law and gospel:continuum or contrast… (2)
Tullian Tchividjian has a great blog on gospel/law contrasts. Below are a couple of quotes from the blog and an insightful poem by Ralph Erskine a C17 Scottish churchman. ‘… I used to think Christian growth happened as we go out and get what we don’t have–if we’re going to grow we have to go…
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adam, the mosaic law, and faulty logic
Some writers speak of the Mosaic Covenant as a republication of the covenant of works God made with Adam. Now it is true that the Mosaic Covenant (the Law) is a covenant of works. It is true too that Adam in Eden was in probation, a sort of covenant of works (though I suspect the…
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law and gospel:continuum or contrast… a compendium (1)
The relationship between Law and Gospel, or, perhaps more accurately, between the Mosaic Covenant and the New Covenant, is of continual interest to me. Not least, I confess, because it seems to me a lot of people get it badly wrong. Now I am presumptuous enough to think I have got at least the big…
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is the first commandment relevant to pagans?
One of the things I am always chipping away at is what seems to me to be the thoughtless and, worse still, unbiblical way that many impose the Mosaic Covenant, on folks today – pagan or Christian folks. Now there are lots of issues here. Let me focus on one. We are told the Ten…
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the law of Christ
Gal 6:2 (ESV) Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. For Paul to speak of the Christian life in terms of a ‘law’ is unusual. Paul doesn’t normally speak of the Christian life as ‘law’ (nor do most other NT writers) largely because ‘law’ conveys wrong idea about who a Christian…
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tell me you who desire to be under the law, do you listen to the law… a covenant of works
Sometimes I am tempted to think that those who wish to make the Law a binding rule of life for believers and who insist the Mosaic Covenant is a covenant of grace rather than a covenant based on the principle of works have not only failed to read the NT but have never read the…
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what was wrong with C1 judaism?
What was wrong with C1 Judaism? Was anything wrong? There must have been something wrong since Israel rejected her Messiah. About what was wrong, scholars are divided. Surprise, surprise! The traditional answer (the old perspective) is Judaism was legalistic; it taught salvation by works. The modern answer ( the new perspective) is it was nationalistic;…
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not law works, not any works
Rom 3:19-20 (ESV) Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the…
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iao and probation
One of the concerns that some have who argue for IAO is that without it we are left in a probationary state. The death of Christ clears us of our guilt, however, without ‘active obedience’ imputed we are left like a new Adam still in a state of probation, or so the argument goes. Actually…
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iao under friendly fire
I must draw your attention to a great blog by Nicky Mackison over at Restless and Reforming. It is courageous for it goes against the flow of Reformed orthodoxy (though not, in my view, biblical orthodoxy). He makes his points succinctly. I hope you will read the blog and engage with what he writes. The…
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the guardian and the helper
In the Roman world, until the son of a wealthy Roman citizen came of age he was overseen by an appointed Guardian. This Guardian was often a slave in the household. The Guardian’s duty was to discipline and train the child, and as with any child, this meant in large part laying down rules and…
Cave Adullam 