New Calvinism, Reformed Sacramentology, and the New Testament

https://www.str.org/w/will-god-be-in-pain-for-eternity-as-he-watches-people-suffer-in-hell-

I will desist from an extended critique of Greg Koukl and the advice he dispenses on his programme. There are quite a few things that could be said about the other segments of this episode that I found problematic. In fact, I rarely find myself ever agreeing with him about much of anything. But one particular aspect of this show struck me.

John MacArthur Continues to Disappoint

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-ofKxfYqGw

In recent weeks, as the media focused on the seventy-fifth anniversary of Israel's founding, I have been musing on Dispensationalism and its geopolitical influence. I happened to come across a video of John MacArthur appearing on the Ben Shapiro show back in 2018.

A Theonomic Critique of Lee Irons: A Primer in Flawed Theological Method (II)

The various Babylons of the world will to greater or lesser degrees build law codes and ethical systems and they will all be flawed and tainted by idolatry. They will contain grains of truth – some more and some less. This all brings judgment on them. Evil laws condone sin and thus condemn them. Good laws which reflect something of the will and character of God condemn them too in the fashion of Romans 1. They are without excuse. This does not make their society better or help the believer and if anything such legislation can sow seeds of confusion and represent a danger as believers might be tempted to think such a state to be godly, when in fact it cannot be. This is a point Paul emphasizes when he contrasts Christian conduct and imperatives with the Providentially ordered and temporal nature of the state and the sword it bears (Romans 12-13). In terms of Providence, the state rewards 'good' in a highly generalized sense, just as it is a minister or servant in the same way Babylon, Assyria, and other Beastly powers were servants or ministers under the old epoch. This does not mean the state has a positive role in terms of enforcing God's law and the dichotomy established by Paul suggests that Christians should have no part in this. The good of the state is clearly something very different from the kind of 'good' a Christian would define by means of the eschatological ethics of Romans 12.

Larger Works Within the New Testament: Their Tensions and Roles (Part 2)

Hebrews for its part is Redemptive-Historical theology par excellence as it elaborates the nature of the prophetic word, the Sabbath, priesthood and Mosaic order, and the New Covenant, along with questions of faith and its resulting ethics and imperatives.

Larger Works Within the New Testament: Their Tensions and Roles (Part 1)

It is with fondness that I often reflect upon friendships I formed in the 1990's with some fellow Christians. We always marvel that in terms of day to day life we had (and perhaps still have) little in common but what brought us together was Christ and a love for the Scriptures.

The Moral Law: Ezekiel 20, the Sabbath, and the Decalogue

Moreover I also gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them.(Ezekiel 20.12)

The Sabbath was a covenantal sign that was to 'mark out' the people of God as distinct from the Gentile nations. The Sabbath therefore was not universal, it was not a law that was to be applied in all places and at all times. This is actually fairly clear when one reads the Old Testament and it is even explicit in places like Ezekiel 20.12. It was a covenantal sign and as such was only binding upon those in union with Jehovah.

But this presents a real dilemma for some Christian groups today.

Pentecost and the Framework of Redemptive History: Prolepsis, Asynchronicity and Eschatological Ethics (Part 2)

All that said, there is a sense in which Pentecost does have a special significance for NT believers.

I think it safe to say that as New Testament believers we experience life in the Spirit in a greater fullness. Old Testament figures would have the Spirit come upon them for great deeds and yet the True Presence was found with the Shekinah in the Holy of Holies. This again is another mind-bending revelatory truth in that believers possessed the Spirit, but not in its fullness, they were regenerated by the Spirit but the Spirit-Presence in space-time (for want of a better concept) was spatially located in the Temple. The typology and chronology bend, warp and are interwoven with the eternal-eschatological realities that believers participate in. A simple appeal to omnipresence does not alleviate the difficulty.

Christian Nonviolence and Pacifism: Some Badly Needed Clarifications (Part 3)

Christ brings division, even among Christians (1 Cor 11)... the peace we seek, is found only in him. False worldly peace doesn't excuse the gun-toting, gun-enforced pseudo-peace of either the Right wing militarist or the Libertarian, nor does a lack of peace in a world of violence grant permission for Christians to take up the sword. Thousands of pages have been written attempting to defend the Christian war ethic, just war, 'self-defense' and a host of other lies and scriptural distortions.

Christian Nonviolence and Pacifism: Some Badly Needed Clarifications (Part 2)

Non-violent activism is not pacifist but political, a form of manipulation rather than overt coercion. But it is coercive nonetheless. Once again while a number of figures associated with this kind of activity are on a certain level admirable, they are not actually following the ethic of the New Testament.

Christian Nonviolence and Pacifism: Some Badly Needed Clarifications (Part 1)

Pacifism and Nonviolence are controversial and sometimes confusing topics. This is compounded by the fact that they mean different things to different people. Not everyone is in agreement as to what they mean as far as concepts, let alone what are their limits and goals.

Criticisms of Klinean Republication

GPTS president J. Pipa acknowledges there is some historical precedent in the Puritan tradition which understood the Mosaic epoch as containing elements of Edenic symbolism. Meredith Kline and others have argued there is, on a typological level, a replication of the Edenic administration in Israel's presence in Canaan. Israel, a type of the Second Adam was placed in the land of milk and honey and given commands to keep that would determine whether or not Israel would be permitted to stay in the 'holy place'. A failure to do so would result in expulsion and exile.

Signs and Symbols: Israel and Covenant in Romans 9.6

In Romans 9 Paul launches into a discussion regarding Israel and brings up the very important question regarding the fate of the Jewish people. Were these people so long in covenant with God now simply abandoned? With the inclusion of the Gentiles into the New Covenant were the Jews no longer part of God's plan? Paul addresses these questions by probing the plan of God throughout history and unveiling another layer essential to understanding both the Old Testament and the nature of salvation in general. He expands on the message he's already been discussing, that salvation has always been by faith in Christ even before Christ came upon the scene. There is a grand uniting story but it is told in two very different ways and historical settings.

Are we (New Testament) Christians?

Sometimes this charge is made and the implication is that to be labeled a New Testament Christian is a negative thing, it is to neglect the whole testimony of Scripture. The charge is common among those who in particular wish to implement aspects of the Old Testament with regard to law and government. Dominionism which undergirds both Roman Catholic and the vast majority of Protestant thought rests on such an assumption.

The Law-Gospel Hermeneutic and The Great Commission

Recently I heard what I considered to be an extreme example of the Law-Gospel hermeneutic at work. It struck me in the same way Hyper-Calvinist readings of John 3.16 or 2 Peter 3.9 can. It was a clear case of system taking precedent over the text.

John MacArthur, Romans 13 and Christian Attitudes Regarding Law Enforcement Officials

John MacArthur's latest newsletter addresses the current rash of protests and the growing complaint with regard to the police. Citing Ferguson as an example, MacArthur felt compelled to address the issue of obedience to the government and the important role played by the police.

He cites Romans 13 as the passage which delineates the role and responsibilities of government and how God uses it to administer justice and righteousness on earth.

The Cultural Mandate

The Cultural Mandate or sometimes the Dominion Mandate refers to the command in Genesis 1.28 to be fruitful and multiply, to subdue the earth and to take dominion. Those that refer to it today believe it is still in effect and largely unmodified.

The Alternative to Dispensationalism

One of the oldest and perhaps greatest of theological questions is how do the Old and New Testaments relate to one another? Is there total discontinuity, continuity or some combination of the two?