John Woodhouse speaks about the important theme of kingship in the books of Samuel. Rev. Dr. Woodhouse is Principal at Moore Theological College in Sydney, Australia and has written the commentary 1 Samuel: Looking for a Leader in the Preaching the Word Series (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2008).
Participants: Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington, Jim Cassidy
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Thanks for a great show, gentleman. Moore College is a bright beacon of the gospel here, and my own parents learned the faith in the Anglican diocese of Sydney in the 1950s and 60s. I liked what Dr Woodhouse had to say about the danger of separating the study of Old Testament books from the whole of Scripture. For the record, Ridley College (the Leon Morris one) is an Anglican theological college down here in Melbourne. Both Moore and Ridley are near their city’s respective “old” universities, close to the centre of each city.
I developed an interest in the Sydney Anglicans and Moore Theological College because I was a member of Christ Church Longwood, an Episcopal congregation in the Orlando, Florida area. The pastor there is David Paul Knox, son of the late David Broughton Knox, former principle of Moore College and the founder of George Whitefield College in South Africa.
While the Sydney Anglicans and Moore College are solidly Evangelical there a few theological deviations with which I am not comfortable. The majority of Sydney Anglicans are Amyraldians or 4 point Calvinists due to the influence of the late David Broughton Knox, who taught many of the leaders in Sydney. Another quirk with DB Knox is that he rejected water baptism and said that it is optional and not necessary. He justified that position by saying that Matthew 28:18-20 and other passages traditionally understood as referring to water baptism were actually metaphors referring to a “baptism” with the Spirit whereby one believes in Jesus and becomes a Christian.
There are many five point Calvinists in Sydney, of course. But another problem with DB Knox is his understanding of the objective genitive as a subjective genitive in reference to the “faith in Jesus” as opposed to the “faithfulness of Jesus.” The reason for this is that DB Knox places more emphasis on following the example of Jesus rather than on justification by faith alone and the imputed righteousness of Christ. In other words, there is a confusion between justification and sanctification among many Sydney Anglicans despite their low church stance on the liturgy and the sacraments.
In Christ,
Charlie J. Ray