February 8, 2019
by John Fonville
According to Andy Stanley, the 21st century church must “unhitch the Christian faith from their Jewish scriptures.” Is this correct? No! We know this from Jesus' attitude towards the Old Testament, as well as the Apostles' and NT writers. We also object to Stanley's suggestion because of the nature of progressive revelation and the Scriptures central witness to Christ and His saving work....Keep Reading
Tags: Old Testament, covenant theology, graeme goldsworthy, Authority, Christ-centered hermeneutic, inspiration, Andy Stanley, Marcion, Marcionism, Aesop's Fables, Bibliology, evangelicalism
January 14, 2019
by John Fonville
Assurance lies in the very direct act of faith as one is presented with Christ, the object of faith. The reflex act of faith can support our profession but it cannot become the ground our assurance....Keep Reading
Posted in: Assurance Tags: assurance, Christian Freedom, lordship salvation, direct act of faith, reflex act of faith, pietistic nomism
October 9, 2018
by John Fonville
In Hebrews 12:18-24, the author of Hebrews expresses deep concern about where his readers stand in relation to the God who asks, “Adam, where are you?” To prevent his readers from a calamitous reversion to Jewish beliefs and practices, the author of Hebrews sets forth two contrasting relationships with God, determined by two antithetical covenants. By contrasting the old and new covenants, the author demonstrates the superiority of the new covenant over the old covenant. This superiority not only stresses the disastrous consequences of reverting under the old covenant (10:26-31; 12:25-29) but also provides the motivation for his readers to progress and move forward rather than drift and fall away from God (2:1-3; 3:12)....Keep Reading
Tags: sanctification, hebrews, perseverance, obedience, holiness, adam, judgment, jews, jewish, old covenant, new covenant, jesus, mediator, assurance, covenant theology
June 20, 2018
by John Fonville
Why does understanding the movement of baptism matter?...Keep Reading
Tags: faith, assurance, covenant of grace, baptism, sacraments, promise, Confession, Faithfulness, sign, seal, pledge
June 7, 2018
by John Fonville
The doctrine of eternal functional subordination (hereafter EFS) has been growing in support in evangelical circles in recent years. EFS claims that the Father and the Son are eternally distinguished by an “authority-submission structure”1 such that the Son eternally submits to the Father and the Father eternally has au- thority over the Son. This structure is the pattern for all created male-female relationships.
Advocates of EFS are confident in their theology. We are told that “if we do not have economic subordination, then there is no inherent difference in the way the three persons relate to one another,” such that, if we reject EFS, “we do not have the three distinct persons existing as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for all eternity.”2 Those who reject EFS are said to be “condemning all orthodox Christology from the Nicene Creed onward” because the Nicene Creed affirms that the Son is eternally begotten.3 This paper will suggest against such claims that EFS is completely contrary to classical Christology, but it will do so using a different argument than the standard one presented by opponents of EFS....Keep Reading
Tags: Trinity, Christology, Athanasian Creed, Subordinationism, ESS, EFS, eternal functional subordination, male and female relationships, eternal subordination of the Son, Nicene Christianity, manhood, womanhood
May 14, 2018
by John Fonville
Why is the covenant of grace important for the Christian life? We will consider two radically different days in a Christian's life to understand....Keep Reading
Tags: sanctification, covenant of grace, covenant of works, legalism, justification, imputation, blessing, gospel-centered, Jerry Bridges, good-day-bad-day scenario, obedience, gospel-driven
October 13, 2017
by John Fonville
Collapsing the covenants into one overarching theme of grace confuses law and gospel and effectively eliminates an explicit law-gospel distinction in Scripture....Keep Reading
Tags: moralism, merit, treasury of merit, roman catholic, infused righteousness, inherent righteousness, rc sproul, faith, belgic confession, heidelberg catechism, covenant theology, covenant of grace, covenant of works, covenant of redemption, law and gospel, mosaic covenant, abrahamic covenant, adamic covenant, davidic covenant, new covenant, moses, jesus christ, john murray, michael horton, andrew mcgowan, norman shepherd, robert traill, scott clark, benjamin franklin, glenn beck, legalism, antinomianism, creed, immortal, grace, law, righteousness, justification, redemption, propitiation, lordship salvation, imputation, active obedience of christ, passive obedience of christ, atonement, assurance, eternal security, evangelicalism, evangelical, thomas boston, scottish covenant theology, wwjd, zacharias ursinus, graeme goldsworthy, ebenezer erskine, ralph erskine, self justification, theodore beza, john calvin, martin luther, galatians, judaizers, john colquhoun, adamic administration, federal theology, messianic administration, headship theology, royal grant, suzerainty treaty, self-maledictory oath, cut a covenant, typology, hittite treaty, preamble, historical prologue, stipulations, sanctions, invocation, deposit of the treaty, monocovenantal, anathema, geerhardus vos, delbert hillers, covenant of promise, covenant of law, unconditional covenant, conditional covenant, meredith kline, obedience, blessing, curse, israel, mount hagar, mount sinai, mount calvary, mount zion, jesus, son of god, son of man, ten commandments, 10 commandments, resurrection, incarnation, nt wright, john piper, new perspective on paul, ep sanders, covenantal nomism, ge mendenhall, timothy george, t david gordon, bryan estelle, david van drunen, modern reformation, white horse inn, the gospel coalition, sola fide, solus christus, sola gratia, sola scriptura, soli deo gloria
October 13, 2017
by John Fonville
Does placing primary emphasis upon justification for assurance understate the importance and necessity of good works (i.e., sanctification)? Does this emphasis dishonor the Holy Spirit’s indwelling work?...Keep Reading
Tags: sanctification, good works, assurance, moralism, inherent righteousness, covenant of grace, antinomianism, justification, Holy Spirit, Union with Christ, antecedent conditions, consequent conditions, duplex beneficium, substance of the covenant, imputed righteousness
October 9, 2017
by John Fonville
John Calvin discusses the four "causes" of salvation (i.e, the efficient cause- God the Father's mercy; the material cause- Christ's obedience/death; the formal/instrumental cause- faith alone; the final cause- the glory of God)....Keep Reading
Tags: john calvin, sola gratia, sola scriptura, soli deo gloria, Mercy, Salvation, Glory of God, formal cause, material cause, faith alone, Reformation 500, sola Fidea, efficient cause, Christ's obedience, Christ's death, instrumental cause, final cause, 5 Solas, soulus Christus
October 7, 2017
by John Fonville
Walter Marshall on how true saving faith embraces Christ for both justification and sanctification. He shows that God's grace is twofold (i.e., the duplex [twofold] beneficium [benefit]). Justification is the first benefit (beneficium) and sanctification is the second benefit (beneficium). ...Keep Reading
Tags: sanctification, holiness, justification, walter marshall, antecedent conditions, consequent conditions, duplex beneficium, progressive sanctification