In the third volume of this new translation of Petrus Van Mastricht’s Theoretical-Practical Theology,

Mastricht begins with a discussion of the decrees of God and how they establish His eternal purpose for everything. He then shows how the decrees are carried out in creation and in God’s continual providence. The volume concludes with Mastricht’s treatment of the apostacy of Adam from his original estate and the devastating effects of sin that followed. This is an important volume for learning how God governs all things, even the rebellious actions of those good things He created.

Jeff Waddington, Dan Ragusa, and Camden Bucey speak about several of the unique positions Van Mastricht held, including his somewhat mediating view between infra- and supralapsarianism, his argument against Copernicanism, his view of the third heaven, and his view of angelic and demonic activity.

Chapters

• 0:00:00 Introduction
• 0:04:35 Van Mastricht’s Theoretical-Practical
• 0:17:14 Infra- and Supralapsarianism
• 0:26:45 Copernicanism
• 0:36:31 The Third Heaven
• 0:42:59 The Covenant of Nature
• 0:54:44 Right Reason
• 1:00:40 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Dan Ragusa, Jeff Waddington

In this episode, we speak about the ecclesiastical and theological contributions of Dr. Richard B. Gaffin, Jr. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Dr. Gaffin having been elected the chairman of the OPC’s Committee on Foreign Missions. Crossway has also published his latest book, In the Fullness of Time, a revision of his lecture notes from his course, Acts and Paul.

Dr. Gaffin’s history is inextricably linked with two institutions closely identified with J. Gresham Machen: Westminster Theological Seminary and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Taking this opportunity to reflect on the life and works of Dr. Gaffin, the panel comments on his unique contributions.

Chapters

• 00:00:00 Introduction
• 00:08:41 Dr. Gaffin’s 50+ Years of Service to OPC Foreign Missions
• 00:14:21 Meeting Dr. Gaffin
• 00:27:54 Dr. Gaffin’s Bibliography
• 00:32:13 Gaffin and Vos
• 00:37:11 Resurrection and Eschatology: A Festschrift for Dr. Gaffin
• 00:43:12 Gaffin’s Theological Contributions
• 00:57:31 1 Corinthians 15:45 and 2 Corinthians 3:17–18
• 01:00:35 Richard B. Gaffin, Jr. and Charlie Dennison
• 01:03:09 Conclusion

Order the Book

While supplies last, we’re running a big sale on copies of Dr. Gaffin’s book. For the best deal, get a bundle of In the Fullness of Time, Geerhardus Vos by Danny E. Olinger, and Foundations of Covenant Theology by Lane G. Tipton. We’re offering this bundle for $49.99. The combined retail price is $91.97. That’s a savings of more than 45%. You may also save more than 40% on individual copies.

Select Bibliography

Gaffin, Jr., Richard B. By Faith Not By Sight. Bletchley, Milton Keynes, UK: Paternoster Press, 2006.

———. God’s Word in Servant-Form. Reformed Academic Press, n.d.

———. “‘Life-Giving Spirit’: Probing the Center of Paul’s Pneumatology.” JETS 41 (1998): 573–89.

———. “Old Amsterdam and Inerrancy.” Westminster Theological Journal 44, no. 2 (Fall 1982): p 250-289.

———. Perspectives on Pentecost. P & R Publishing, 1979.

———. Resurrection and Redemption: A Study in Paul’s Soteriology. 2nd ed. Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1987.

———. “The Place and Importance of Introduction to the New Testament.” In Studying the New Testament Today, 143–51. Presbyterian and Reformed Pub. Co, n.d.

———. “The Redemptive-Historical View.” In Biblical Hermeneutics: Five Views, edited by Stanley E Porter and Beth M Stovell. Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Academic, 2012.

———. “The Usefulness of the Cross,” The Westminster Theological Journal, Vol. 41 No. 2 Spring 1979, pp. 228–246. (We discussed this article on Christ the Center, episode 585)

Tipton, Lane G., and Jeffrey C. Waddington. Resurrection and Eschatology: Theology in Service of the Church: Essays in Honor of Richard B. Gaffin, Jr. Phillipsburg  N.J.: P&R Pub., 2008.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Danny Olinger, Jeff Waddington, Jim Cassidy, Lane G. Tipton

We turn to the mailbag today to answer questions from listeners. We discuss the “organic” unity of the Scriptures, Van Til’s understanding of the phenomenal world, why the covenant of works and the covenant of grace point to something better than Eden, and vital and formal aspects of covenant membership.

Chapters

• 00:00:00 Introduction
• 00:04:57 Update on Reformed Academy
• 00:15:38 The “Organic” Unity of the Scriptures
• 00:25:04 Van Til and the Phenomenal World
• 00:41:18 Covenant Advancement in the Garden
• 00:48:16 Vital and Formal Aspects of the Covenant
• 01:08:42 Conclusion

Links

• Lane Tipton lesson from Union with Christ: The Benefits of His Suffering and Glory — The Gospel, the Old Testament, and the Two Estates in Romans 1:1–4

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington, Ryan Noha

Jeff Waddington and Camden Bucey discuss the value of reading and studying the works of B. B. Warfield. Jeff has written an article in our forthcoming newsletter wherein he identifies Warfield as a theological “renaissance man.” With significant works covering topics from New Testament textual criticism to apologetics and the doctrine of salvation, the “lion of Princeton” remains a towering figure in the Reformed and Presbyterian tradition.

• 00:00:00 Introduction
• 00:03:06 Warfield the Renaissance Man
• 00:07:58 Warfield’s Biography
• 00:28:19 Measuring Theological Influence
• 00:35:03 Researching Warfield
• 00:39:01 The Influence of Old Princeton
• 00:48:25 Charles Briggs and the Presbyterian Milieu
• 00:56:23 Warfield’s Interests
• 01:03:31 Where to Begin in Studying Warfield
• 01:06:29 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington

It’s that time of year again. Since 2008, we have been taking a beat around New Year’s Day to bring you some of the top moments from the preceding year. We have a bunch of great clips lined up for you today.

Throughout 2021 we continued to develop Reformed Academy, our online learning platform. We doubled our student base from last year to more than 3,800 people in 73 countries. These brothers and sisters are taking our on-demand courses in Reformed theology, and many of their churches are using these resources in study groups and Sunday school courses.

We are committed to having each of our courses translated and subtitled in languages where we have established relationships with Reformed missionaries and indigenous churches.

Over the last two years, we have had many wonderful opportunities but not enough people and time in the day to complete many of these projects. We have grown significantly in terms of our reach, but we need to mature in terms of our ministry’s staff and infrastructure.

Please consider supporting us prayerfully and financially in these efforts. Visit https://www.reformedforum.org/donate

Top Clips from 2021

1. Episode 689 with Christopher Watkin — Foucault on Sexuality and Identity
2. Episode 689 with Christopher Watkin — Foucault on Power
3. Episode 695 with Bruce Pass — Bavinck and Supralapsarianism
4. Episode 706 with Jim Cassidy — Comparing PCA and OPC General Assemblies
5. Episode 687 with Benjamin Gladd — Israel and Dispensationalism
6. Episode 712 — Van Til Group #5 with Lane Tipton and Carlton Wynne — Natural Theology, Experience, and Reason
7. Episode 699 with G.K. Beale and Benjamin Gladd — Inaugurated Eschatology
8. Episode 713 with Danny Olinger and John Muether — Premillennialism among Presbyterian Fundamentalists
9. Episode 709 — Listener Questions with Ryan Noha and Jeff Waddington — Thomas, Van Til, and Classical Theism
10. Episode 696 with Crawford Gribben — Christian Reconstruction and the Religious Right
11. Reformed Forum Hot Ones

Episode Chapters

• 00:00:00 Introduction
• 00:01:13 2021 in Review
• 00:10:19 Foucault on Sexuality and Identity
• 00:16:18 Foucault on Power
• 00:20:32 Bavinck and Supralapsarianism
• 00:23:55 Comparing PCA and OPC General Assemblies
• 00:28:45 Israel and Dispensationalism
• 00:31:35 Natural Theology, Experience, and Reason
• 00:36:16 Inaugurated Eschatology
• 00:44:14 Premillennialism among Presbyterian Fundamentalists
• 00:49:54 Thomas, Van Til, and Classical Theism
• 00:55:09 Christian Reconstruction and the Religious Right
• 00:59:56 Reformed Theology Meets Spicy Wings
• 01:06:14 Looking Ahead to 2022

Participants: Benjamin Gladd, Bruce Pass, Camden Bucey, Carlton Wynne, Christopher Watkin, Crawford Gribben, Danny Olinger, Greg Beale, Jeff Waddington, John Muether, Lane G. Tipton, Ryan Noha

Sandy Finlayson speaks about the life and ministry of Thomas Chalmers. Finlayson is the author of Chief Scottish Man: The Life and Ministry of Thomas Chalmers (Evangelical Press). Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) was a significant figure in nineteenth-century Scotland. Without his vision, organizational skills, and his ability to mobilize opinion, it is unlikely that the Free Church would have come into existence. This new and updated biography—expanded significantly from Finlayson’s Bitesize Biography—tells the story of visionary thinker, minister, and preacher Thomas Chalmers and the many years of struggle for the spiritual independence of the Church of Scotland.

Purchase the book at 10 of Those and receive discounts on bulk orders.

Mr. Finlayson is director of library services and professor of theological bibliography at Westminster Theological Seminary in Glenside, Pennsylvania.

Chapters

00:00:00 Introduction
00:05:43 Developing an Interest in Chalmers
00:12:09 The Chief Scottish Man of His Time
00:18:49 The Establishmentarian Principle
00:23:10 Scotland in Turmoil
00:26:53 Chalmers’ Early Life and Education
00:36:45 Parish Ministries
00:37:36 The Kilmany Bible Society
00:41:07 Chalmers’ Growth and Transition
00:48:40 Time at St. Andrews University
00:51:59 The Disruption of 1843
00:56:04 Lessons for Today
01:07:48 Conclusion

Jeff Waddington reviews Jonathan Edwards and the Immediacy of God by John Carrick.

Jonathan Edwards is one of the outstanding figures in the history of the Christian church—he was, quite simply, a man of towering intellect and towering spirituality. But it has been noted, even by his friends and admirers, that his thought is also marked at times by certain idiosyncrasies which inevitably introduce certain complexities into his philosophical-theological system.

This study contends that the theme of divine immediacy is the controlling theme and the correlating principle within Edwards’s thought. It analyzes the theme of divine immediacy in the thought of Jonathan Edwards under four major heads: creation, the will, ecclesiology, and spiritual experience. Indeed, Dr. Carrick claims that the theme of the immediacy of God is the Ariadne’s thread, which runs with consistency through the multiple aspects of Edwards’s philosophical, theological, ecclesiological, experiential, and homiletical interests.

But sometimes a man’s strength is also his weakness, and it would appear that Edwards’s profound commitment to the concept and the reality of the immediacy of God entails significant problems for his entire philosophical-theological system. Edwards’s concept of divine immediacy finds its supreme expression, surely, in his doctrine of continuous creation; but is it not the case that this doctrine of continuous creation is in conflict with his determinism, that its tendency is to destroy the moral responsibility of man, and that it makes God both the author and the actor of sin? In short, is it not the case that Edwards’s Ariadne’s thread is, in fact, also his Achilles’ heel?

Chapters

00:00 Introduction
00:45 Jonathan Edwards and the Immediacy of God
04:32 Occasionalism and Continuous Creationism
10:30 The Context of Edwards’ Theology
13:52 The Ariadnes Thread of Edwards’ Thought
17:33 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington

Jeff Waddington reviews A Goodly Heritage: The Secession of 1834 by Cornelis Pronk.

In A Goodly Heritage, Cornelis Pronk surveys the history of the Secession of 1834, beginning with the events leading up to this important spiritual movement and subsequently following its long journey through the Netherlands and North America until 1892. He then focuses on a small minority that decided to continue as the original Christian Reformed Church, considering its growth and how it formulated theological positions in relation to several other Reformed denominations. Throughout, special attention is given to the doctrines of covenant, baptism, and the Holy Spirit’s ministry in applying salvation. This work not only explains the concerns of De Cock and other fathers of the Secession. It presses beyond the early years of the reform movement to present a larger picture of the developments of Secession theology and the contributions made by its main representatives.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction
00:29 Cornelis Pronk, A Goodly Heritage
01:41 The Secession of 1834
10:17 Identifying the True Church
12:33 Dutch Pietism
13:39 Dutch Settlement in Pella, Iowa
14:58 Summary and Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington

Ryan Noha poses several questions submitted by our listeners and views. Along with Jeff Waddington and Camden Bucey, the panel discusses Thomas and Van Til on the doctrine of God, how the eternal decree relates to the well-meant offer of eschatological life in the covenant of works, aspects of our union with Christ, and several matters of eschatology.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington, Ryan Noha

Since Christ the Center began nearly thirteen years ago, we have taken time to look back on the highlights of the year. Continuing the update to our tradition from last year, here this year’s top ten clips from Christ the Center as determined by YouTube views.

1. Ep. 633 – What Is Christendom? with David VanDrunen
2. Ep. 655 – 1689 Federalism and Reformed Covenant Theology with Jeremy Boothby
3. Ep. 638 – John Frame and Two Divine Existences with James Dolezal
4. Ep. 659 – Why Study Karl Barth? with Jim Cassidy
5. Ep. 633 – The Noahic Covenant with David VanDrunen
6. Ep. 630 – The Importance of Discourse Analysis with Matthew Patton
7. Ep. 641 – The Ancient Understanding of Baptism as Washing and Regeneration with Glen Clary
8. Ep. 629 – Abridged Bavinck with Carlton Wynne and Charles Williams
9. Ep. 666 – John Nelson Darby and Dispensationalism with Michael Glodo
10. Ep. 631 – What Is Public Theology? with Jordan Ballor

Participants: Camden Bucey, Carlton Wynne, Charles Williams, David VanDrunen, Glen Clary, James Dolezal, Jeff Waddington, Jeremy Boothby, Jim Cassidy, Jordan Ballor, Matthew Patton, Michael Glodo

In this episode, we discuss a new online course wherein Dr. Lane G. Tipton teaches a thorough introduction to the theology and innovative apologetic method of Cornelius Van Til (1895–1987), a pioneer in a distinctly Reformed approach to defending the faith.

This course investigates the context, structure, and significance of Van Til’s theology and apologetics. It is designed to introduce students to the main influences and fundamental concerns of Van Til’s theological approach to apologetics. Topics include a general introduction, Trinity, image of God, covenant, revelation, worldview, antithesis, common grace, and idealism. Special attention is given to the programmatic deep structures of Van Til’s thought, distinguishing his views from Roman Catholicism, Barth, and Evangelical approaches to theology and apologetics.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington, Lane G. Tipton

Biblical exegetes have long discussed the relationship of justification in James to that of Paul. On the surface, James 2:24 appears even to contradict many of the key Pauline passages that speak clearly of justification as occurring by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone and not by works of the law. In this episode, we discuss the different uses of the words “justification” and “justify” in James, specifically, and in the Bible, generally.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Glen Clary, Jeff Waddington

We discuss the doctrine of the covenant of works, including its biblical basis (Gen. 2:15–17 et al) as well as common objections to it. The Reformed tradition has spoken of the relationship between God and Adam as a covenantal relationship. The Westminster Shorter Catechism 12 asks:

• Q. 12. What special act of providence did God exercise toward man in the estate wherein he was created?
• A. When God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him, upon condition of perfect obedience; forbidding him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, upon the pain of death.

Without the covenant of works, we cannot rightly understand man’s relationship to God in the garden. Neither can we understand the gospel, for the work of our Lord Jesus Christ was a redeeming work necessitated by the fall into sin.

Links

• Christ the Center, episode 516 — The Tree of Life and the Covenant of Works
• Introduction to Covenant Theology course

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington

William Reddinger speaks about strands of resistance theory in the American Revolution, considering Lockean, Continental, and Anglo interpretations of Romans 13. Dr. Reddinger has authored “The American Revolution, Romans 13, and the Anglo Tradition of Reformed Protestant Resistance Theory” in the Summer 2016 issue of American Political Thought.

Some scholars argue that the theology of the American Revolution was fundamentally Lockean and largely incompatible with Christianity, a view that this article calls the Lockean view; more recently, others who advocate what this article calls the Lockean–Reformed view argue that the American Revolution was both Lockean and Reformed and that there is no incompatibility between these sources. This article critiques the Lockean–Reformed view and argues that there were two traditions of resistance theory in early Reformed Protestantism—the Continental tradition and the Anglo tradition. While these two traditions were not monolithic, the distinction is helpful in understanding how the theology of resistance during the American founding was different from the Continental tradition of resistance. It also allows one to be aware of the strengths and weaknesses both of the Lockean view and of the Lockean–Reformed view.

—Article abstract

Dr. Reddinger is Associate Professor of Government, History, and Criminal Justice at Regent University. Prior to coming to Regent, he taught political science at Wheaton College in Illinois and at South Texas College. He received his undergraduate degree from Grove City College in Pennsylvania before completing his M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science at Northern Illinois University, where his studies focused on the history of political philosophy and American political thought.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington, William Reddinger

Editor, teacher, and translator, Ryan M. Hurd speaks about the theology of Gisbertus Voetius. Hurd has translated a significant disputation of Voetius’ published as “Gisbertus Voetius: God’s Single, Absolutely Simple Essence” in The Confessional Presbyterian Journal (Volume 15, 2019).

Gisbertus Voetius (1589–1676) was a Dutch theologian born in Heusden, Netherlands, and educated at Leiden. He became a professor of theology at the University of Utrecht and wrote several significant works, including Politica ecclesiastica (3 volumes, published 1663–1676) and Selectae disputationes (theologicae) (5 volumes, published 1648–1669).

In his treatment, Voetius mediates between two of the major Medieval schools of thought—Thomistic and Scotistic. Hurd writes,

Yet the early modern period saw the rise of the Socinians and Vorstians, and this was to the dismay of all orthodox regardless of their communion. The emergence of this heterodox movement met with immediate response that would last until the eclipse of Reformed orthodoxy in the darkness of the modern age. In our own context today, we observe similarly that among the Reformed there are likewise those who uphold orthodoxy and affirm divine simplicity, and likewise those who have emerged and put themselves against it. As a historical testimony, Voetius’s disputation underlines several points to both sides.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington, Ryan Hurd

James Duguid speaks about the doctrine of divine simplicity and its roots in the Old Testament. While the pages of the Old Testament are not typically the first place one would go to build the case for this orthodox doctrine, Duguid demonstrates how the uniqueness of the biblical account establishes a foundation for understanding the Lord who reveals himself through it.

Duguid is the author of “Divine Simplicity, the Ancient Near East, and the Old Testament” in The Lord Is One: Reclaiming Divine Simplicity edited by Joseph Minisch and Onsi A. Kamel and published by The Davenant Press.

Participants: Camden Bucey, James Duguid, Jeff Waddington

After having created Adam in his image and placing him in the Garden of Eden, God entered into a covenant with him (Gen. 2:16–17). In Westminster Confession of Faith 7.1, the divines wrote,

The distance between God and the creature is so great, that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto him as their Creator, yet they could never have any fruition of him as their blessedness and reward, but by some voluntary condescension on God’s part, which he hath been pleased to express by way of covenant.

There are several important things to note in this passage. First, upon creation and prior to the establishment of the covenant, Adam already knew God and owed him obedience merely from the fact that he was created in God’s image. God did not owe Adam anything, and Adam could in no way place God into his debt. Second, the type of fruition that the covenant affords is that of God as “blessedness and reward.” Adam already owed God personal, perfect, exact and entire obedience, though God voluntarily condescended to establish the covenant of works by which Adam could consummately come to know God in glory. In other words, he could ascend God’s holy hill (Psalm 24) through the gratuitous means God provided.

Westminster Confession of Faith 7.1 is not describing covenant as the means by which God ontologically or metaphysically condescends to creation. God does not assume new properties, attributes, or characteristics to do so. Neither does the confession speak of the covenant as the means by which Adam comes to know God generally—as if Adam would not even know that God existed apart from a covenant. The covenant is the means by which he may come to know God specifically as his blessedness and reward.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington, Jim Cassidy

In this episode, we continue our discussion of Justin Martyr’s account of ancient Christian worship, focusing this time on the Lord’s Supper (eucharist) and Lord’s Day worship.

Justin Martyr wrote an early account of ancient Christian worship. It was written by a believer for an unbeliever. He does not assume that his intended reader—the Emperor Antoninus Pius (138–161)—knows anything about Christian worship. Second, while Pliny describes the worship practices of the Christians in Pontus, Justin describes the liturgical customs of the church in Rome. Justin lived and worshiped in Rome, but he didn’t convert in Rome. He most likely converted to Christianity in Ephesus around 130 A.D. So he was familiar with the liturgical customs of both Western and Eastern Christians. Third, Justin’s account is descriptive not prescriptive. It’s not a church order (e.g. Didache, Apostolic Tradition). It is simply a description of what Christians were already doing not what Justin thought they ought to do.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Glen Clary, Jeff Waddington

In his first apology (ca. 150–155 A.D.), Justin Martyr wrote an early account of ancient Christian worship, describing ancient practices regarding the sacraments and Lord’s Day worship. It was written to an unbeliever, and therefore Justin does not assume that his intended reader—the Emperor Antoninus Pius (138–161)—knows anything about Christian worship. Moreover, while Pliny describes the worship practices of the Christians in Pontus, Justin describes the liturgical customs of the church in Rome. Justin lived and worshiped in Rome, but he didn’t convert in Rome. He most likely converted to Christianity in Ephesus around 130 A.D. So he was familiar with the liturgical customs of both Western and Eastern Christians. It is also important to understand that Justin’s account is descriptive not prescriptive. It is not a church order (e.g. Didache, Apostolic Tradition). It is simply a description of what Christians were already doing not what Justin thought they ought to do.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Glen Clary, Jeff Waddington

Shawn Ritenour, Professor of Economics at Grove City College, speaks about the basics of economics and the Christian principles upon which the study must be based. Dr. Ritenour is the author of Foundations of Economics: A Christian View (Wipf & Stock).

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington, Shawn Ritenour

David Woollin of Reformation Heritage Books and Matthew Robinson of Media Gratiae discuss Puritan: All of Life to the Glory of God. Centered around a feature-length film, the full box set includes books, thirty-five Sunday school lessons, and other resources for education.

Participants: Camden Bucey, David Woollin, Jeff Waddington, Matthew Robinson

Jeff Waddington, Glen Clary, and Lane Tipton speak with Camden Bucey about his book, Karl Rahner, and contemporary issues regarding Rahner, modern Roman Catholicism, and contemporary theology.

Arguably the most influential Catholic theologian of the twentieth century, Karl Rahner (1904–1984) developed a theology that has influenced much of post-Vatican II Catholicism and its modern inclusivist approach to missions. 

Despite his impact, little has been written on Rahner from a Reformed perspective. In this introduction and critique, Camden Bucey guides readers to an understanding of Rahner’s theology as a whole. Beginning with Rahner’s trinitarian theology, he moves through each of the traditional departments of theology to show how Rahner developed one basic idea from beginning to end.

Rahner set out to explain how God communicates himself to humanity, whom he created specifically for the purpose of fellowship with him. Once we trace this thread, we gain a deeper understanding of his thought and its reach today.

Buy the Book

• P&R Publishing
• Amazon
• WTS Books

Endorsements for the Book 

“If you want to understand present-day Roman Catholicism, you must come to terms with Vatican II (1962–65). Everything that Rome now teaches and does is filtered through it. But if you want to understand Vatican II itself, you need to know about Karl Rahner. . . . Part of the confused and naive attitude of contemporary evangelicals toward Rome depends on the lack of awareness of both Vatican II and Karl Rahner. This lucid book is a helpful introduction to this seminal Roman Catholic theologian whose language contains all the key Christian words (e.g., Trinity, Christ, humanity), but whose meaning is significantly different from that of straightforward biblical teaching. It is time that Reformed theologians do their homework in grasping what is at stake with contemporary Roman Catholicism.”

—Leonardo De Chirico, Pastor, Breccia di Roma; Lecturer, Historical Theology, IFED, Padova, Italy; Director, Reformanda Initiative 

“Roman Catholic apologists often boast about their church’s antiquity but seldom mention modern Roman Catholic theology, which often sounds as modern as liberal Protestantism. Karl Rahner, one of the most influential Roman Catholic theologians of the twentieth century, whose prominence was evident at the Second Vatican Council, is one of the best examples of Roman Catholicism’s modernity. Camden Bucey’s fair-minded and careful assessment of Rahner’s theology is valuable in itself, but doubly so for anyone wanting an introduction to modern Roman Catholicism’s own contribution to liberal Christian theology.”

—D. G. Hart, Distinguished Associate Professor of History, Hillsdale College

“Though Karl Rahner is among the most significant Roman Catholic theologians of the twentieth century, he is little known (and seldom read) by evangelical and Reformed theologians. Camden Bucey’s fine study offers an excellent summary of Rahner’s Trinitarian theology that promises to redress this problem. He not only provides a helpful explanation of Rahner’s well-known Trinitarian axiom (‘the “economic” Trinity is the “immanent” Trinity’), but also locates it within the broader context of Rahner’s anthropocentric theology. While Bucey critically engages Rahner’s theology from a Reformed perspective, he does so throughout in a careful, irenic, and constructive fashion.”

—Cornelis P. Venema, President and Professor of Doctrinal Studies, Mid-America Reformed Seminary

Participants: Camden Bucey, Glen Clary, Jeff Waddington, Lane G. Tipton

Healthy churches have healthy elders and deacons. When a local congregation is blessed with faithful officers the results are bountiful (Acts 6:7). William Boekestein and Steven Swets speak about ordained ministry in its manifold dimensions. Boekestein and Swets have edited, Faithful and Fruitful: Essays for Elders and Deacons (Reformed Fellowship), which provides current and future church leaders with an exciting opportunity of personal development. 

Like its companion (Called to Serve), this collection of essays offers biblical and practical essays written by seasoned churchmen drawing upon a wealth of leadership knowledge, experience, and wisdom. Engaging study questions for each essay can help readers make the most of the Bible’s instruction and encouragement for those tasked with the responsibility and privilege of leading Christ’s church.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington, Steven Swets, William Boekestein

Jeff Waddington, Lane Tipton, Glen Clary, Jim Cassidy, and Camden Bucey answer questions at the Reformed Forum Theology Conference held at Hope OPC in Grayslake, Illinois on October 12, 2019.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Glen Clary, Jeff Waddington, Jim Cassidy, Lane G. Tipton

Dr. Jeffrey C. Waddington delivers a plenary address at the 2019 Reformed Forum Theology Conference held at Hope OPC in Grayslake, Illinois.

Participants: Jeff Waddington

Will Wood discusses various approaches to higher criticism, including source, form, and redaction criticism. This conversation dives into a topic that was covered briefly in an episode on the authorship of Isaiah.

Biblical higher criticism demonstrates several presuppositions that are contrary to orthodox understandings of history and the Bible. For example, predictive prophecy cannot exist. As a result, there is no a priori reason in their view for the Bible to have been written in the form we now possess.

Source criticism seeks to investigate how the various Bible books came into being through the use of disparate sources.

Form criticism does not look for written precursors to biblical texts but to oral precursors. Form critics believe earlier Israelite society was pre-literate. Therefore, sources that supposedly came to comprise the Bible were passed down through different oral forms, or getungen, which help to access the sitz im leben, or setting in life of the community.

Tradition-historical criticism uses methods from both source and form criticism. It distinguishes between traditium, which is the particular tradition content passed down, and traditio, which is the process of transmission.

Redaction criticism asks how the biblical books were brought into the full text we have today. Redaction critics are not merely concerned with oral or written sources, but with the activity of a type of editor, who brought them together.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington, Will Wood

Mountains appear throughout the Bible as an important symbol of God meeting with man. In this episode, we trace the biblical-theological theme of mountains in an effort to understand more deeply God’s plan and purpose in bringing his covenantal people to glory.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Glen Clary, Jeff Waddington

Doctrine is not optional for the body of Christ. Yet, neither is it to be pursued in abstraction. Christians must speak the truth in love, applying that truth in the changing circumstances of daily life.

Using the biblical metaphors of a shepherd and a pilgrim, Jeff Waddington and Camden Bucey comment on a variety of challenges in the ministry and the importance of presenting every person mature in Christ (Col. 1:28).

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington

Travis Fentiman and James M. Garretson speak about the new book, God, Creation, and Human Rebellion: Lecture Notes of Archibald Alexander from the Hand of Charles Hodge (Reformation Heritage Books). Fentiman discovered the handwritten notes through the Internet Archive and embarked on a crowdsourcing project to transcribe the notes. Dr. Garretson contributed a wonderful introduction.

In this episode we discuss the historical context of American Presbyterianism in the late-eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the unique contribution of Archibald Alexander, and the significance of Princeton Seminary to both American and global presbyterianism.

Participants: Camden Bucey, James Garretson, Jeff Waddington, Travis Fentiman

The New Testament cites the book of Isaiah more than any other Old Testament book. Scripture itself treats the book as a literary work by a single author. In this episode, Will Wood, discusses critical approaches to this prophecy that tend to view the book of Isaiah as a composite work of many different people and even different groups. All the while, we will come to see that the question of authorship is not self-contained; it raises significant issues regarding fundamental matters of the faith.

Will Wood is Assistant Professor of Old Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary in Atlanta, Georgia.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington, Will Wood

J. V. Fesko has written Reforming Apologetics: Retrieving the Classic Reformed Approach to Defending the Faith (Baker Academic, 2019). In the book, Dr. Fesko criticizes, among others, Cornelius Van Til. In this conversation, we interact with the book and compare its claims with those of Van Til. A central claim of Dr. Fesko’s is that Van Til rejects “common notions.” He writes:

in the middle of the seventeenth century, philosophers such as John Locke (1632–1704) rejected the idea of common notions. In the twentieth century, this rejection made its way to liberal and conservative Reformed theologians alike, including Karl Barth (1886–1968) and Cornelius Van Til (1895–1987).”[1]

He draws particular attention to Van Til’s discussion of authority and reason on pages 168–169 of Defense of the Faith (3^rd edition).[2] On those pages, Van Til makes an important distinction:

A word must now be said about the idea of ‘common notions’ referred to in the quotation given above. The present writer made a distinction between notions that are psychologically and metaphysically, that is revelationally, common to all men, and common notions that are ethically and epistemologically common.[3]

Van Til continues, “All men have common notions about God; all men naturally have knowledge of God.”[4] So, what is Van Til getting at? There are notions common to all men, but there are some things common to believers and others common to unbelievers. Van Til explains what is also common to natural man as a consequence of total depravity:

It is this actual possession of the knowledge of God that is the indispensable presupposition of man’s ethical opposition to God. There could be no absolute ethical antithesis to God on the part of Satan and fallen man unless they are self-consciously against the common notions that are concreated with them. Paul speaks of sinful man as suppressing within him the knowledge of God that he has. . . . It is these notions of human autonomy, or irrational discontinuity and of rationalistic continuity that are the common notions of sinful or apostate mankind.[5]

[1] J. V. Fesko, Reforming Apologetics: Retrieving the Classic Reformed Approach to Defending the Faith (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2019), 24.

[2] Fesko, 24n56.

[3] Cornelius Van Til, Defense of the Faith, 3rd ed. (Philadelphia: P & R Publishing, 1967), 168.

[4] Van Til, 168.

[5] Van Til, 168.

[6] Van Til, 168.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington, Jim Cassidy

Reformed Forum exists to present every person mature in Christ (Col. 1:28). We do that specifically by supporting the Church in her God-ordained task of accomplishing the Great Commission. In this episode, we discuss our mission and vision and share exciting news about the future of our ministry including Camden Bucey’s transition to become our full-time Executive Director.

Reformed Forum is an organization committed to providing Reformed Christian theological resources to pastors, scholars, and anyone who desires to grow in their understanding of Scripture and the theology that faithfully summarizes its teachings. We are committed to the principles of the Reformation and a redemptive-historical approach to Scripture. We believe these faithfully represent the teachings of the Bible, which is our only standard for faith and practice.

During the Modernist-Fundamentalist Controversy of the early twentieth century, E. J. Young wrote to J. Gresham Machen, the founder of Westminster Theological Seminary and key figure in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, which had yet to be formed:

Within the church there should be an organization, entirely independent of the formal church, which would act as leaven. This organization should be composed of ministers, elders and laymen of the new church alone, who not only believe the Westminster Confession but who are on fire with it. The purpose of this organization should be to propagate and to defend the Reformed faith, to point out the errors of modernism, sacerdotalism, premillennialism, Arminianism, Trichotomy, and so much of the anti-Scriptural evangelism of today. Furthermore, this group would seek to propagate Reformed literature, such as your book, Christianity and Liberalism, Boettner’s book and works of that type. It would seek to propagate this literature not only among the clergy but also among the laity. In other words, it would be a missionary agency whose primary field is the church. Further, it would eventually seek to promote truly Reformed Bible Conferences and Evangelistic Campaigns, would seek to start Reformed Bible classes and prayer meetings and would seek to encourage Reformed radio broadcasts, etc.

E. J. Young, letter to J. Gresham Machen, October 2, 1935.

Seventy-three years passed before Reformed Forum was founded and much has changed regarding technology, but providentially we have become such an organization. There is a need today just as there was then, because the theological challenges persist. We are committed to be faithful to Scripture to the end that Christ would be glorified in the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington, Jim Cassidy, Mark Van Drunen

We welcome Richard M. Gamble, Professor of History, Anna Margaret Ross Alexander Chair in History and Politics at Hillsdale College, to speak about Julia Ward Howe’s poem, which came to be know as “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Gamble is the author of A Fiery Gospel: The Battle Hymn of the Republic and the Road to Righteous War (Religion and American Public Life), which discloses the history of the hymn as well as its position within an overall intellectual history of civil religion within the United States.

Other Books by Richard M. Gamble

• The War for Righteousness: Progressive Christianity, the Great War, and the Rise of the Messianic Nation. Wilmington, DE: ISI Books, 2003.
• The Great Tradition: Classic Readings on What It Means to be an Educated Human Being. Wilmington, DE: ISI Books, 2007.
• In Search of the City on a Hill: The Making and Unmaking of an American Myth. New York: Continuum/Bloomsbury, 2012.

From the Publisher

Since its composition in Washington’s Willard Hotel in 1861, Julia Ward Howe’s “Battle Hymn of the Republic” has been used to make America and its wars sacred. Few Americans reflect on its violent and redemptive imagery, drawn freely from prophetic passages of the Old and New Testaments, and fewer still think about the implications of that apocalyptic language for how Americans interpret who they are and what they owe the world.

In A Fiery Gospel, Richard M. Gamble describes how this camp-meeting tune, paired with Howe’s evocative lyrics, became one of the most effective instruments of religious nationalism. He takes the reader back to the song’s origins during the Civil War, and reveals how those political and military circumstances launched the song’s incredible career in American public life. Gamble deftly considers the idea behind the song―humming the tune, reading the music for us―all while reveling in the multiplicity of meanings of and uses to which Howe’s lyrics have been put. “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” has been versatile enough to match the needs of Civil Rights activists and conservative nationalists, war hawks and peaceniks, as well as Europeans and Americans. This varied career shows readers much about the shifting shape of American righteousness. Yet it is, argues Gamble, the creator of the song herself―her Abolitionist household, Unitarian theology, and Romantic and nationalist sensibilities―that is the true conductor of this most American of war songs.

A Fiery Gospel depicts most vividly the surprising genealogy of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” and its sure and certain position as a cultural piece in the uncertain amalgam that was and is American civil religion.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington

In the incarnation, the eternal Son of God assumed a human nature. He did this without giving up his divinity. He retains his immutability, omniscience, omnipresence, and all the attributes according to his eternal, divine, and necessary existence.

In this episode, we discuss how these two natures relate to the person in the hypostatic union. By looking at Scripture, the Council of Chalcedon, and our confessional tradition, we review an orthodox grammar for speaking about these matters.

An error in the doctrine of God or Christology, however minor it may seem, will inevitably compound as other doctrines are developed. We should always seek to maintain confessional orthodoxy by reviewing the basics from which we never graduate.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington

We gather around the table in Wimberley, Texas to discuss the authority of the self-contained Triune God of Scripture. The absolute, self-sufficient God nevertheless established a covenant with man by an act of special providence. In that act, the authority of God’s word is diplayed—entirely independently of man’s response. Whether Adam obeyed or disobeyed, God’s infallible word would be proved.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Glen Clary, Jeff Waddington, Jim Cassidy, Lane G. Tipton

Dr. Ransom Poythress has written Richard Dawkins in P&R Publishing’s Great Thinkers series. Poythress speaks about Richard Dawkins’s system of thought. Since the early 2000s, Dawkins has been an outspoken advocate of what has been termed the New Atheism. Poythress discusses Dawkins’s beliefs and advocates methods for approaching those who believe likewise. Dr. Poythress is assistant professor of biology at Houghton College in Houghton, New York.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington, Ransom Poythress

Carl Trueman speaks about the Marburg Colloquy, a meeting called by Philip I of Hesse to unite the Protestant states in a political alliance. To accomplish such a union, he sought theological agreement between Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli. While Luther and Zwingli could agree on fourteen theological points laid out at the meeting, they could not come to terms on the real presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper.

Dr. Trueman is professor of biblical and religious studies at Grove City College.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Carl Trueman, Jeff Waddington

Thank you to everyone who visited reformedforum.org/donate throughout the year. We are tremendously grateful for your generous support. Be assured that we’re setting the stage for another big year as our board continues to think and pray about our next steps.

We’re looking forward to another full year of Christ the Center. January 25 marked our 10th anniversary. Jeff, Jim, and I recorded that first episode during my first year in seminary—three homes and three children ago. Things have changed over the years, but our goal has stayed the same. Our mission is to present every person mature in Christ (Col. 1:28).

Episodes

• 524 — Marcus Mininger, Uncovering the Theme of Revelation in Romans 1:16–3:26
• 533 — Michael Kruger, How the Second Century Shaped the Future of the Church
• 540 — The Nature of Apostasy in Hebrews 6
• 542 — Bill Dennison, Karl Marx
• 551 — The Impeccability of Jesus Christ
• 555 — Darryl Hart, Still Protesting
• 556 — The Deeper Protestant Conception
• 566 — Glen Clary, The Liturgies of Bucer, Calvin, and Knox
• 570 — Danny Olinger, Geerhardus Vos: Reformed Biblical Theologian, Confessional Presbyterian
• 571 — Cory Brock and Nathaniel Gray Sutanto, Bavinck’s Philosophy of Revelation

Participants: Adam York, Bill Dennison, Camden Bucey, Cory Brock, Dan Ragusa, Danny Olinger, Darryl G. Hart, Glen Clary, Jared Oliphint, Jeff Waddington, Jim Cassidy, Lane G. Tipton, Marcus Mininger, Michael Kruger, Nathaniel Gray Sutanto

Jeff Waddington speaks about the characteristics of natural and special revelation and their relationship to one another. Jeff recently delivered a lecture at Westminster Theological Seminary on the subject.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington

The Westminster Larger Catechism, Question and Answer 154 describes the ordinary and outwards means of grace as the Word, sacraments, and prayer. We discuss these ordinary means and how they apply to the day-to-day ministry of the local church.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington, Jim Cassidy

Jeff Waddington spoke at the fifth annual Reformed Forum Conference, which was held October 5–7, 2018 at Hope OPC in Grayslake, Illinois. The theme of the conference was “Seeing God: The Deeper Protestant Conception.” The speakers addressed important theological challenges and controversies facing the contemporary Reformed church by exploring the theologies of Thomas Aquinas, Karl Barth, and Geerhardus Vos on the beatific vision and glorification of man.

Participants: Jeff Waddington

Jeff Waddington previews his address for the 2018 Theology Conference. He speaks about Pseudo-Dionysius, a key influence upon Thomas Aquinas. Dionysius attempted to integrate neoplatonism with Christianity. The result was a Christianization of the great chain of being. Register for the upcoming conference.

Reading List

• Daria Spezzano, The Glory of God’s Grace: Deification According to St. Thomas Aquinas
• Dominic Legge: The Trinitarian Christology of St. Thomas Aquinas
• Lawrence Feingold: The Natural Desire to See God According to St. Thomas and His Interpreters
• Hans Boersma, Seeing God: The Beatific Vision in Christian Tradition

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington

The impeccability of Christ is an important, though debated point. It involves not only the sinlessness of our savior, but whether it was possible for him to sin. As we consider the issue, we turn to F. W. Kremer’s article, “The Impeccability of the Lord Jesus Christ” published in Reformed Quarterly Review, Volume 26, April 1879. We discuss the tendency to consider Christ’s humanity independently of his divinity. It’s not merely that people recognize the natures are distinct, but that they implicitly acknowledge that his humanity can be abstracted from his divinity. In the abstract, we could acknowledge that Jesus’s human nature had the capability of sinning. For example, his body was physically capable of taking a sword and murdering someone. But we cannot consider Christ’s human nature in the abstract. He is the second person of the trinity who has assumed a true body and a reasonable soul. Sin involves a moral agent. Does the human nature of Christ constitute a full moral agent apart from the person of the son? This also raises serious issues regarding God’s decree. Throughout the episode, we maintain that if it was possible for Christ to sin, it was possible for Christ to fail.

Links

• R.C. Sproul and Sinclair Ferguson discuss the impeccability or peccability of Christ

Transcript

[showhide more_text=”Show Transcript (%s words)” less_text=”Hide Transcript”]Camden Bucey: 00:07 Welcome to Christ The Center, your weekly conversation of reformed theology. We’re now in episode number 551. My name is Camden Bucey. I serve as the pastor of Hope Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Grayslake, Illinois. I’m back with Jeff Waddington, who serves as stated supply at Knox Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Lansdowne Pennsylvania. I’m advocating that we now call it Orthoknox Presbyterian Church. Camden Bucey: 00:33 Welcome back Jeff, it’s good to have you with us. Jeff Waddington: 00:35 Good to be here, Orthoknox Presbyterian Church, that would save time. Camden Bucey: 00:40 That would save some time. We’re thankful for you joining us and for your ministry down there. Jeff Waddington: 00:40 Glad to be here. Camden Bucey: 00:45 We also have with us Adam York, our friend, who is the pastor of Providence OP in Kingwood Texas. Welcome back Adam, it’s good to speak with you. Adam York: 00:55 Well what a blessing it is to be here with your brothers. Camden Bucey: 00:57 Yeah, it’s good to have you back on this side of the podcast divide. We have Proclaiming Christ, one of our favorite programs out there, alongside Theology Simply Profound, and then we have Christ The Center, as our three regular weekly programs. We’re delighted that the those are going strong, but to have Adam, who is a regular on Proclaiming Christ come on over here to Christ The Center, is always a delight. We need not have dividing walls like the Jews and Gentiles did prior to the work of Christ. Adam York: 01:30 We’re tearing down the dividing wall of hostility. Camden Bucey: 01:33 Yeah, no hostility here, but it just so happens the way that we often schedule. I guess Jim and Glenn are flipping over, they’re regulars over on PC2. So it’s good to have you with us Adam, and we’re glad that you brought with you a wonderful topic. Today we’re going to be speaking about the impeccability of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is an issue of whether or not Jesus was capable of sinning in his human nature, and all of the details and the attendant circumstances therein. Camden Bucey: 02:07 So we’re going to speak about that. It’s a probably more contentious issue than you think. But there are different people, even within the reform community that have differing views. So we hope to unpack that and speak about the importance of Christ’s impeccability and what that actually means, in just a few minutes. But I do want to mention that Christ The Center is listener supported, and we do rely on the generous support of our listeners and our viewers, everyone involved with what we’re doing here to help us to produce and distribute all of our programs, free of charge, as well as to host events and do some other things. Camden Bucey: 02:41 We’ve got a lot planned for reform forum over the next six to 12 months. We’re very excited about the things going on. But one of those big things is our theology conference, October 5th through 7th, here in Grayslake, where are our topic this year is: Seeing God, The Deeper Protestant Conception, Aquinas, Bart, Vos & the Beatific Vision. Camden Bucey: 03:02 We’ve gotten a lot of interest on Facebook, people are taking a look at possibly coming and asking their friends if it would be a good event to come to. I do want to encourage people to check it out. We have a lot of information on the website. If you go to reformforum.org, there’s a big ole’ banner right on the front homepage. You can click on that and go to our event information. It may sound like an esoteric subject we’re going to bring it down to the level of people that are going to be there in attendance, we’re not just going to be speaking about abstract things, these are things that really matter, that really matter. And the beatific vision, more or less, is that wonderful blessing that we will enter into when our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ returns. And when we see him, we will be like him, First John 3:2. Camden Bucey: 03:48 The question is how is that? And there are several theological options, that have been presented, even within the reformed community, you know. And there are many people that would say that we participate in the divine essence, our intellect perceives and participates in the divine essence, so that we behold it, not just by knowing and understanding it, but in one way, shape or form, namely by participation, becoming god. And that might seem like wacko and out there, but that is a [inaudible 00:04:19] view, and we’re going to develop that. Camden Bucey: 04:22 We’ve all been reading a ton of Thomas and reading Thomas himself on this subject, and learning quite a bit, so we hope to share that research with people. But on the far other end, you might ask: Well, does God somehow change himself in order to accommodate this new blessed relationship? And then we of course have the Bartian side of things, where God identifies himself with humanity through the revelatory Christ event, you know, in God’s time for us. Camden Bucey: 04:51 So these are extremely practical issues, we’re not just speaking about things that engage the abstract mind, but things that, this is where the rubber meets the road, this is where theology matters. And how we answer these questions, how we develop them, and then what we do about it, has a lot to do with the work of the church. And we want to speak about those things. It’s a little bit of a foretaste. But if you go to the conference page, you can see not only a schedule of events, titles and the speakers who will be in attendance, but also we’re working on providing very succinct thesis statements for each lecture, and then in some cases also a brief little abstract or summary for the topic. Camden Bucey: 05:33 So our early bird registration is in effect until the end of August. You can come to the main conference session for $55. It’s gonna be a full day and a lot of wonderful material for $55. We also have some tickets available for our VIP dinner that Friday night, where you can come, and we’re gonna have roughly about 25 people at a very long single table. But we’re gonna hear a lecture from Danny Olinger on the nature and destiny of from Vos to Gaffin. He’s going to be speaking. It’s gonna be a wonderful kind of Vos event. And there’s a surprise in store, we’re working hard. Not quite ready to announce it, because we want to get a few things finished and a few things ready to make sure that we can deliver. But we’re looking forward to it. All of this online, October 5th through 7th. Camden Bucey: 06:26 You can learn more at reformforum.org. And also save the date, I don’t want to overload everybody, listen in, and don’t want to talk forever, we want to get through our subject. But save the date, April 1st through April 6th in Wimberley Texas, that’s the year 2019, for those who might be listening many years into the future. But the first week of April 2019, we are going to have an entirely new format of an event, something we’ve never done before. And we’re going to have a seminar that’s going to be taught, April 2nd, 3rd and 4th. So in the day, and so at the late morning, probably around 10:00 or so, we’re gonna have two half hour lectures by Lane Tipton is teaching the class, it’s going to be in some respects an intro to reformed theology/biblical theology. Camden Bucey: 07:18 He’s gonna teach 12 total, 30 minute sessions that we are going to record on video and eventually turn into an adult Sunday school course. If you want to be part of that, if you want to be there, come and visit us. We’re gonna host the event at the Old Glory Ranch in Wimberley, Texas. But we also will be renting out cabins, they’re really kind of tiny houses, they’re not rustic cabins, but cabins on site in Wimberley, Texas, where reform forum people will be staying. And you can also rent a cabin and stay on site where not only will you attend the sessions in the daytime, but you also can can spend time with us, hang out with us over dinner, barbecue, whatever we’re doing in the mornings and evenings. So that’s gonna be a wonderful event. We’re gonna have more information on that and registration available soon. But save the date, April 1st through 6th, 2019. Camden Bucey: 08:15 Okay guys, I think that’s enough of my marketing. But I just can’t talk enough about these things, I’m so excited about what we’re able to do. It’s kind of a new era in reform forum, and we’re very thankful for the ways that the Lord has provided for us, so that we are able to support the church in her work of the great commission. She’s been given that mandate by the Lord to make disciples of men. Then we also are designed to support the church specifically by assisting her in presenting every person mature in Christ. That’s our mission statement, right out of Colossians 128. And everything we do is directed toward that, helping people know Jesus better, through a radical consistency to scripture. So that’s our all-encompassing idea, and we want you to be part of that too, everybody who’s listening. So one way to do that is, come to an event. We’d be happy to meet you. Camden Bucey: 09:08 So brothers, one thing that’s important know about our Lord Jesus, is that he was perfect, he was not a sinner. He became sin on our behalf, so that he would also die to sin and triumph over it through his death and resurrection. But he committed no sin. But the question isn’t within orthodoxy, I should say within orthodoxy, the question is not did Christ sin? We’re on a different level if that’s the question we’re going to talk about. Camden Bucey: 09:36 But today, we’re not asking the question did Christ sin? We’re asking the question, was it possible for Christ to sin, and then maybe to put a finer point on it, was it possible for him to sin in his humanity. So those are some of the issues, but Adam I’d like for you to introduce to us, because you brought to us an older article, that that’s now been collected into book form, we’re reading it on Google books, by the Reverend [F. W. Kramer 00:10:07], The Impeccability Of The Lord Jesus Christ. It appeared, I believe, if my info is correct here, in the reformed quarterly review, volume 26, April 1879. Camden Bucey: 10:20 So Adam, how’d you find this, and why has this been on your mind lately? Adam York: 10:25 Well yes, and so it’s an older article, but it’s a good article. And the reason why I came to this brothers, is because in seminary, going back to my seminary days, I can remember my beloved professor Dr. Robert Strimple, addressing this topic. He spoke about it in his lecture notes. And we might also get a link to that, I think that is available online, that may be helpful. Camden Bucey: 10:57 I’m listening to a class of his now, I’ve imported into one of my apps on my phone, and that’s kind of my running listening and driving listening now. He’s brilliant, love Dr. Strimple. Adam York: 11:11 Now with respect to this question, unfortunately he decided, or fortunately, whatever way you want to look at it, I don’t believe he actually lectures on this topic on the MP3’s, he gave an outline. Most of the outline is kind of fill in the blank, very scant. But this section on impeccability is completely filled out, his full thoughts on this. And he simply assigned it as a matter of required reading to show up on the test, but because not being able to cover everything in class, he picked and chose. Adam York: 11:49 But I found him to be imminently clear, as always very good. And I didn’t really give it much more thought, until I got into the pastorate, and I found that I would make just really occasional references to Christ’s impeccability, not only that he was sinless, but that he was unable to sin, and it was a little befuddling to people, they weren’t sure about that. Is that right? Is that orthodox? Do we really hold to that? So I found the need to go into a little more depth on it, at least on a pastoral level. And I’ll just sort of stop at that. There’s more I could say, but it- Camden Bucey: 12:39 Well it’s an important point, and it is kind of befuddling to many of the people in churches, but not just the members in churches, but also ministers and others. There is debate about this issue, and very well respected men, people that we look up to in many ways, and people that are very reliable theologians, have even had different answers to this. Camden Bucey: 13:02 We hope to discuss this, you know, with great charity today. But Adam shared with us a video clip from a 2012 Ligonier event, where R. C. Sproul and Sinclair Ferguson were speaking on this issue, and taking the view that we would not hold. So this isn’t to say that everyone has the same view top to bottom, even within our [inaudible 00:13:25] circles as it were, but that there are some differences. But we want to raise that issue and start to look into this, and see not only what people’s answers are to the questions, but maybe some of their motivation for answering that way. And then, when we start to unpack this, you know, at a very deep level, I hope that we can see and arrive at a more consistent systematic theology. Camden Bucey: 13:50 It’s not only the answers that we provide, but we need to be thoroughly reformed in the way we get there, in our method. And I think what we may find when we start to look at people who want to affirm the impeccability of our Lord’s humanity, that the conclusions are arising from a slight misstep in the way they consider our Lord in his divine human nature. Adam York: 14:16 We could say that they arrived at their conclusion perhaps out of a legitimate concern, and that is that they think that the doctorate of the impeccability of the Lord Jesus Christ undermines the reality of his temptations. In other words, the temptations become a show, a charade if you will, a farce or a sham, I think some of the words that appear in the article. Camden Bucey: 14:48 Or make him somehow subhuman. We wan to to affirm entirely that Christ has assumed a true full human nature. A true body and a reasonable soul. Adam York: 15:02 And the charge that kind of bubbles up to the surface, both in the Kramer article and interestingly in Dr. Sproul’s concern. And look, I love Dr. Sproul, learned so much from him. But I think I’d have to part ways from him on this, but the concern is that if you affirm an impeccable Christ, you’re affirming a docetic Christ, docetic in he only appeared to be [inaudible 00:15:34]. Camden Bucey: 15:36 And the other side is, we also don’t want to affirm a Nestorian Christ, or a Nestorian Christ. Adam York: 15:41 Exactly. Camden Bucey: 15:43 So if we want to throw terms out there, we can play that game. Adam York: 15:49 Our argument in a nutshell, is going to be, and this is probably important so that folks don’s lose the forest for the trees, our argument has to do with the hypostatic union and the integrity of the person of Christ. And so if you go down this road, you end up sundering, and that’s the reference to Nestorianism, but you end up separating the divine and human nature, so that they’re no longer united in one person. Camden Bucey: 16:22 Let’s back up a little bit, we’ll slow down and start walking into this, because these are all the things at stake, and I hope people are interested in this and realize the significance of what we’re speaking about. This is very important material. Camden Bucey: 16:35 So impeccability here is this idea that Christ, not only he didn’t sin, but also that he is unable to sin in his human nature. But here let’s speak about the hypostatic union. Maybe Jeff, you can describe to us very briefly what the hypostatic union is and sketch that out for us, so that we have all of these proper categories, orthodox, confessional, ecumenical categories in our minds. Jeff Waddington: 17:01 So the hypostatic union is the belief that the Son of God, the Word in John Chapter one, took the second person of the Trinity, the trine, in God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, became incarnate, that is in time, took to himself to use the language of the Westminster Standards and earlier doctoral standards, a true body and a reasonable soul. So that in one person, so we don’t have a schizophrenic Christ, we have one person with two natures. Those two natures, the human and the divine are able to retain their properties and integrity, all the while being united in one person. And so we can say things about the person, that may seem odd if- Jeff Waddington: 18:00 That may seem odd if we were just to think about the natures. In other words, Paul, I think in Acts Chapter 2 talks about God shedding his blood. Of course, God as a spirit doesn’t have a body apart from the incarnation, and therefore, has no blood to shed. But that’s because Paul is talking about, has in view the incarnation of the son of God and his death on the cross Jeff Waddington: 18:28 Sometimes we’ll say that that’s speaking improperly. Doesn’t mean wrongly. It just means improperly in terms of technical understanding of these matters. So you have the two natures in the one person. Remember that the person of the son, there’s not two persons. It’s the … Make sure I get this right, Camden. There is the an-hypostatic and then there’s the en-hypostatic. Camden Bucey: 19:02 Yeah, it’s basically the similar idea. I think the positive one being a negator. The ‘an’ is the negative. Jeff Waddington: 19:10 That is the human nature of Christ didn’t exist apart from the union. Camden Bucey: 19:14 Right. Right. Yes. Jeff Waddington: 19:15 And The person of the son, that is the logos, is the person. Camden Bucey: 19:22 Yes. Jeff Waddington: 19:22 Of Christ. Okay? It’s not an amalgam of the two natures. Camden Bucey: 19:30 Right. Here would be a false view, that somehow there was a human embryo or just a walking, talking human person out there, that the Son adopted as his own and took it over. That would be a false view. What we need to maintain, according to scripture and the ecumenical tradition that we uphold, is that the Holy Spirit worked within the womb of the Virgin Mary and conceived Christ. Christ was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit. And so there never was a moment, a split second or anything, any conception in which we could say that the human nature that Christ came to bear, that he assumed, somehow existed independently of that hypostatic union. Camden Bucey: 20:21 So it’s not only a hypostatic union, we must also go beyond that and say it was an en-hypostatic and an-hypostatic, because this human nature never did, never will, exist apart from the person of the Son. Now, the person of the Son is eternal, and his divine nature is eternal. He didn’t adopt a divine nature, but that person now is united to, or I should say, put it the other way around, the human nature is united, hypo-statically. That is to the person, to the hypostasis of the son, not to the divine nature, properly speaking. And that’s where Chalcedon can come in and describe the inseparable union, but yet the distinction between the human and the divine nature. That would lead into us all other discussions with Lutheranism to talk about how the natures relate. But, at this point, we’re speaking about how each nature relates to the person. Adam York: 21:20 Correct. So, well stated and I think you really boil it down to I think two important issues to think about here, and they’re Christological issues. That’s where it’s really helpful to focus things and reform people, you know, maybe we think hardly about the theology of the Reformation not realizing, as you were saying all the way along, that our Christology is formed pretty much intact, creedily in the early church. The reformers don’t seek to change or challenge, but they build on that such that the common way that people think today, that Christ is, you take a divine nature and you take a human nature and you add them together and you get the divine human person. And that’s not the way our creeds and confessions and our theology thinks. That, as you say, the divine person assumes a human nature which never existed. Was never hanging in the air. Can not be considered abstractly apart from his assumption of that nature, and secondly then, that the locus of personality therefore resides in the divine person. Jeff Waddington: 22:45 Right. Camden Bucey: 22:46 Yes. Jeff Waddington: 22:47 And that’s what would be, the theologians have meant by the logos being the person. All right? It’s the second person of the godhead, who is the person who has taken to himself, or assumed, a true body and a reasonable soul. This is what we would argue is undermined if we affirm peccability, that is the ability of Lord Jesus Christ to sin. Camden Bucey: 23:16 Yeah. Let’s speak about that. Let me give a just a mental exercise example, ’cause this will provide a sounding board or something that we can discuss in the concrete. Now, I imagine that we all would acknowledge this, and affirm this, that the human nature … let’s just take the body of Jesus while he was alive, and he still is alive, but I’m just saying as an adult, he certainly was capable in his … His body was physically capable of picking up a sword and theoretically thrusting someone with it and murdering them. I mean, his body wasn’t somehow deficient where he wouldn’t have been able to do such a physical act in a hypothetical world. That’s not a question, at least here. I’m wondering if that might be a question for some people who affirm peccability. Say, well his body could have sinned. Well yes, in that sense. That’s not precisely what we’re speaking about, at least I’m not. Adam York: 24:15 No. Camden Bucey: 24:15 So, what is the question then, and how then does our theology of the hypostatic union come into a scenario such as that. Where would someone who is thinking along those lines, let’s just think about the possibility of the human body, where is the slight misstep in theological method at that point? Adam York: 24:41 Right. And I think, again, I mean maybe this is just circling around what we’re saying, but trying to understand, Christ is fully human, but he’s not just, if I can put it this way, any human, right? His humanity never exists for one moment apart from the divinity. Camden Bucey: 25:07 Right. Adam York: 25:09 So we have to think about it in those terms, but also, and I’m not sure if this is exactly scratching where you’re itching, Camden, but another thing to consider is that his human nature is also not exactly like ours ’cause even though Paul can say in Romans eight that he is born in the likeness of sinful flesh, that he does not have a fallen nature. So the temptations which are real, and we want to make sure that we affirm that he was really and truly tempted. Those temptations do not arise from within Christ as they would us. Camden Bucey: 25:58 Yeah, well you’re touching on a related issue that’s very important, especially when we consider works of modern contemporary protestants. Guys like T.F. Torrance and others would hold to the notion that Christ is a fallen human nature. That’s another redemptive historical question that we’d like to answer and discuss. But I think perhaps the mental exercise, thinking about what Christ’s human nature, or even just more concretely, what his body could have done as a human body, is thinking about his human body or his human nature independently of the person. Human bodies don’t just act on their own. They’re not automatons. So when we’re speaking about peccability or impeccability, I find it to be a misstep, and more than that, a problematic error that has an effect in a whole other range of areas, to think that in his human nature, he was peccable, because peccable is something that can only be predicated, in my understanding, of a person. Adam York: 27:10 Yes. Right. Camden Bucey: 27:12 A person who also has a nature. To think of Christ’s human nature independently of the person is something that’s just, it ought not to compute is what I’m trying to suggest. Jeff Waddington: 27:27 Right. Even if we think of, say, something about the divine nature or the human nature, it’s okay to think about that in the hypothetical, but then we have to bring it back. We have to ask the question, how does this square with or relate to the unified person. Camden Bucey: 27:44 Yes. Jeff Waddington: 27:44 In other words, the divine person. And that’s really the question we’re asking of those who affirm the peccability of Jesus Christ is, how do you square that with the personhood of the son who is both divine and human. Adam York: 28:06 You know, brothers, one way that [Kramer 00:28:09] puts this, and I think this is a good orienting question in his article, is after looking at the affirmation creed, the Heidelberg Catechism, the Westminster Confession, he says this, “The question now comes up. Were these two natures ‘inseparably joined together’ as the church has always held? Or, was it possible for the union to be dissolved?” Or in other words, was it possible for Christ to sin? Jeff Waddington: 28:40 That is the question at the end of the day. Camden Bucey: 28:43 Yeah. And I think those need to be connected. We can’t think of those independently. Those issues aren’t related, and it’s important, not again, to rag on anyone, but to illustrate why this is a significant point, and not just on this question, but why the method behind addressing the question can have impacts in other areas. Our year long intern here at Hope, Mr. [Danajekanda 00:29:10] raised the very important issue, and when we were speaking about this, he even brought up Dr. Sproul’s view of the second commandment. And Dr. Sproul believes it’s perfectly fine and okay to make images of Christ because Christ did assume a true and real human nature, so the image of Christ is therefore not a violation of the second commandment, because it’s an image of his humanity, not of his divinity. Adam York: 29:38 Right. Camden Bucey: 29:38 But I find that there’s the same error being made in this reasoning, because you are considering his human nature independently. In effect, in method, I believe, have sacrificed the en and an hypostatic union, because you believe that you can make an image of the humanity with no conception of the person and also the united divine nature. And then that leads you also into other issues regarding the third commandment in terms of, can you contemplate the human nature of Jesus without worshiping him? Jeff Waddington: 30:16 Right. Right. Camden Bucey: 30:16 And then are we violating the third commandment by in effect, according to our tradition, taking the Lord’s name in vain by not offering to him what is due to him? We always need to maintain the distinction between the divine and human natures, but we can never separate them, not even in the way that we think about our Lord, and I think that’s happening here, and it’s something that I think we need to reform a little bit. Adam York: 30:43 Here the issues is again, impeccability is vitally important, vitally important, but it’s the bigger issue of Christology, and do we as a church and particularly a reformed church, are we fully on board with the church’s affirmation regarding the unity of the Savior expressed at say, Chalcedon. So for example, in our Presbytery, I’ll ask candidates whether Christ was peccable or impeccable, not so much just to get the answer on that particular issue, but to expose and to better understand their Christology. Camden Bucey: 31:26 Oh, that’s brilliant. Yeah. Asking leading questions like that, that are not trick questions. I don’t care so much about those things. When I’m on the floor and hearing brothers who are examined asking a question, you just want to hear them think out loud. Adam York: 31:40 Yeah. Camden Bucey: 31:40 Even if the guy doesn’t have the right answer, it’s not a quiz show. We want to see, okay, well walk me through it. You don’t know the answer? What Bible verses might you appeal to? What are some things going on in your mind right now, some things about theology that you do know are true? How might that inform your view? When you hear a brother walk through the issue, that’s just a glorious thing. That’s so encouraging, so that’s a very good question to ask not to trip somebody up or give them a gotcha. We shouldn’t have gotcha questions on the floor, but to hear someone work out the theology that they live and breathe. Adam York: 32:18 It teases out the much broader Christology, and brings into view the unity of the divine person, of the divine human person. Jeff Waddington: 32:29 Right. Camden Bucey: 32:29 I agree. Jeff Waddington: 32:30 Now think, not only in terms of the unity of the person, but also the unity of God’s plan. Camden Bucey: 32:37 Oh, that’s a great point. Jeff Waddington: 32:38 Kramer brings this up, and Jonathan Edwards himself argued this way for the impeccability of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is, that if it’s possible to, we would say, to dissolve the union of the two natures into one person, then it’s also possible to undermine the plan of redemption. Camden Bucey: 33:00 Yeah. Jeff Waddington: 33:01 And think about this, and this is where Kramer raised an element … Well, Edwards talks about, it undermines the prophetic element in scripture. Right? But Kramer goes even further and says that undermines the salvation of the Old Testament saint. Camden Bucey: 33:17 Yeah. Jeff Waddington: 33:18 Potentially, right? In other words those saints who are already gathered around the throne of God in heaven, worshiping him per Revelation, their salvation would be undermined by the potentiality … I mean, everybody’s salvation would be undermined, but in particular the Old Testament saints. Camden Bucey: 33:37 Sure. Jeff Waddington: 33:38 So that you would be involved in something like changing the past. Camden Bucey: 33:44 Well, if you can put a point on it, you can just ask … let me ask this very pointed, simple question, to our listeners, to anyone listening, was it possible for Christ to fail as Savior. Just ask that question. Is anyone gonna want to say, “Yeah, he could’ve failed.” God was metaphorically up in heaving having decreed things, but he’s got his fingers crossed just hoping Jesus doesn’t mess up. Because if you say it was possible for Christ to sin, then it must, by consequence, good and necessary consequence, it must be possible for Christ to fail as savior. You can’t separate those two. Adam York: 34:27 Yes. Jeff Waddington: 34:27 No. It’s right. As I thought about this, and I hadn’t come to this conclusion before, but really the only theology that really meshes well with this is open deism, the idea of the peccability of the son of God. Camden Bucey: 34:43 Again, we’re separating ourselves from hypothetical notion of what the physical body of Jesus was able to do, hence, he could pick up a sword, he was capable of doing things, but that’s something we’re separating off here because it makes the body, the human nature independent. But I think you’re right on, Jeff. Adam York: 35:04 Yes. Jeff Waddington: 35:04 Yeah, I mean, you think about the … what was I gonna say? Edwards made a distinction, and I may or may not be using it rightly, but he talks about the distinction between, with regard to the fall, moral inability and natural inability, and he says the fall results in moral inability, but natural ability. In other words, he’s recognizing that the fall doesn’t change the human being in terms of his physical structure. Camden Bucey: 35:44 Other than being subject to death and decay and stuff. Right. Jeff Waddington: 35:48 Right, but it doesn’t change him in terms of the capabilities, the intellect, the will, those kinds of things. Camden Bucey: 35:48 Right. Right. Jeff Waddington: 35:57 We still have those, and I think that’s what he’s getting at, and that ties in to what we’re talking about. Adam York: 36:00 And that ties in to what we’re talking about. Adam York: 36:04 I’m glad that Kramer brings up the issue of the decree. I’m glad that he focuses more Christologically. I think there should be probably a point of emphasis there, just in terms of our theologizing as a whole. We always have to bring into view God’s Decree. But, being careful to not do our theology first and foremost decreedally, which can bring, into view some problems. But, just to go back and touch base on what we were affirming in terms of the unity of the person. Adam York: 36:45 Another way to turn the diamond here and to look at it, and I think this may really bring into view and crystallize the huge concern that exists here to our listeners. Is that if we are really saying that the human nature does not exist for one moment, hanging in the air as it were, existing by itself. But, is at all points united to the Divine person and that there is one person, one actor, one savior, who saves us? Adam York: 37:22 To affirm that Christ could have sinned, and this is what Kramer brings out in his article, is ultimately to affirm that God could have sinned. I think that’s a vitally important point to bring in view. Let me just read a quote that he makes here on 264. He says, “The trials and temptations of Christ involved his person. Sinful proposals were made not to a quality or a nature in Christ, but to Christ himself. Had he therefore sinned, he would have sinned as Christ, the God man, the son of God. Unless therefore, the divine in Christ could sin, he could not sin at all. That he could sin as God, no one is willing to admit.” Adam York: 38:20 I think again, that’s just so vitally important to see. To affirm that Christ could have sinned. If you’re being fully Caledonian, and Westminster Chapter 8, and other passages we could look at, that’s really to say that God could have sinned. Because the human nature nowhere exists independently of the divine person. I know we said that a couple of different ways. But bringing it back to the question that our listeners should recoil from, if we just ask them could God sin? No. Jeff Waddington: 38:55 Yeah. Adam York: 38:56 Yeah, our tendency will always be to veer to one or the other and not to do … It’s like with the Trinity, right? It’s either you stressed the persons, and you become a Tritheist, or you stress the nature and you become a Sabellian. In this case, the temptation is to forget the unity of the divine person. So when we talk about the two natures we have to be very careful that we don’t abstract. Jeff Waddington: 39:27 I finally remembered what I wanted to say. That gets to the question that I think is behind the whole discussion. That is the reality of the temptations. Okay, we’ve already made note of the fact that the Son of God, the Jesus the God man did not possess a sinful human nature. Therefore, the language that I use … Dr. Kramer uses different language, but he’s saying the same thing. There is no Velcro internally for temptations to grab onto. Okay? For Christ. Jeff Waddington: 40:05 What the additional thing that I’m going to say, we need to take into consideration that the Son of God did not have a sinful human nature. Much of the problem with our dealing with temptation is that we do have a sinful human nature. So right there we have a major difference between us and Christ. I mean if for Christ to relate to us and be our Sympathetic High Priest requires that he have a sinful nature, then we’re in trouble. Or we have to go back and start over again. Jeff Waddington: 40:43 Now, the second thing is that the Son of God, is the only human being to never give into temptation. Adam York: 40:52 Yeah, that’s true. Jeff Waddington: 40:52 So he actually feels the full extent of the temptation where we don’t. In other words, we give in at some point prior to the full onslaught of the temptation. Whereas, Christ held on to the very end, and withstood the temptation. So it doesn’t undermine the reality and the severity of his temptations to say that he couldn’t sin. Because he’s the only one who has ever actually withstood temptation. Resisted temptation to the very last measure. Adam York: 41:32 Amen. Amen. We can bring this in now or later, but you see, that’s exactly what we want to affirm when we appeal to him in the midst of our trials and temptations. That he is the savior who overcame, and could in fact have never fallen and failed. That’s the savior whom we want to appeal to in the midst of our struggles and trials. Adam York: 42:08 I have another thought that I want to bring up, but in case you men want to think about that a little bit more. Adam York: 42:13 Well no, it’s just to say that he … Hebrews 4:15 for example, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Yeah, we all affirm that, even I think many of the people who hold to peccability affirm peccability because of that verse. But I think it’s a misunderstanding of the nature of our Lord, and his person. So I affirm that with you, Adam, that we have a savior. Adam York: 42:46 This is all the more reason we can go to him and worship him for all that he’s done for us. Because since he himself is our savior, he has endured all of this for us. Yet has triumphed, and he has been victorious. Adam York: 43:02 That’s why the Son of God became man. That’s why one of us couldn’t do this. Jeff Waddington: 43:09 Amen. Amen. Adam York: 43:11 Now, the other thought that I was gonna get at, so Kramer is good because he turns this subject a number of different ways, but he encounters the objection. Which says, “That to be …” In essence the objection is this, to be human is to be able to sin. He says, “No, that’s not necessarily true, especially if you’re coming from the reformed background of let’s say the four fold state.” Adam York: 43:43 We are never gonna cease to be humans. We’re never going to cease to be creatures. But are we always going to be able to sin? Jeff Waddington: 43:53 Right. Adam York: 43:53 Right. Jeff Waddington: 43:54 Well, and this is an analogous to Peter [inaudible 00:43:58] error on scripture. Is he would identify sin with error. Not saying it’s exclusively error, but he would link the two. Therefore, if scripture is to also be in servant form and have a human element then it must be messy. It must also then have attended error, or at least the possibility of it, therefore we need to deny inerrancy. Adam York: 44:23 Yeah, so this it I think a good point here. Because if you cannot say definitively, even with respect to us, we are not God men, and yet it’s not through without qualification that we will never be able to sin. There will be a time in the final state when we are unable to sin. So if you can’t affirm that of us, and we will not lose our humanity, how could you affirm that of the God man? That’s an interesting way of approaching the argument. It takes a little bit out of the wind of the sails of those who want to affirm peccability must go along with humanity. Jeff Waddington: 45:11 Humanity. That’s a good point. Adam York: 45:12 Right, right. I like that a long-term. That’s a different approach, but one that illustrates the point. That’s very insightful. Jeff Waddington: 45:23 Yep. Adam York: 45:25 That’s not just because we partake of the divine essences. Jeff Waddington: 45:31 No, no. Adam York: 45:33 Okay, good. You’re not a [inaudible 00:45:35]. Adam York: 45:37 Yeah, but it’s again saying, “Look, not even considered on your premises, where your premise is to be human entails peccability. That’s not even true of the image of God of- Adam York: 45:53 Right. As the image of God himself in Jesus Christ, who is God himself? Yeah, that’s- Adam York: 45:57 In the final state. Adam York: 45:59 We’ve talked about different issues that can come to bear on this, Docetism, Nestorianism. One that I think can trip us up is, if we’re not careful, is a commitment to rationalism. Jeff Waddington: 46:14 Oh yes, right. Okay. This is really the impeccability doctrine is an instance of what Dr. Van Til referred to as limiting concepts. In other words, the divine in human nature, or we affirm both as the scriptures require that we affirm both. But one of the implications that we might be tempted to draw, and in fact many have been, and have drawn, is this idea that if Christ assumed the real human nature, a full human nature, then he must have the ability to sin. So we need to challenge that and subject our thinking to the scriptures and the limits they put on our ability to think. Adam York: 47:19 And in particular, I think the rationalist impulse comes out very strongly here is when we put things this way. Is to say that if Christ was unable so sin then his temptations could not be real, right? Because let’s face it, I mean there’s some challenge in harmonizing those things completely. I think there’s a number of things that we can say, and should say, we have said about those things. But there’s some mystery there going on. Adam York: 47:59 In the final analysis we can see very clearly by virtue of our theology of the divine human person matters that we’ve already brought up that prevent the possibility of Christ sinning. Yet, in Hebrews in particular, the reality of his temptations are thoroughly affirmed at every point. How do we fit those two together? If we must be able to exhaustively explain how those things go together then we’re probably gonna end up on the peccable side. Jeff Waddington: 48:34 That’s right on. That the temptation, you will be able to explain every last detail. The two extremes. That’s the one extreme. Of course, the other is to be intellectually lazy. We’re not interested in that, but we’re simply recognizing the incomprehensibility of God. And by definition that includes the incomprehensibility of the God man. Adam York: 49:01 Are those two things taught in scripture either directly or by good and necessary consequence. We can say they are. Yeah. Jeff Waddington: 49:13 No. That’s a very good point, Adam. Again, it comes back to our initial concern that we not only want to arise at a conclusion. But we want to get there according the the scriptural and biblical methods. It’s important that we would be controlled by God’s word, by his revelation, and think God’s thoughts after him. Adam York: 49:36 Yeah, you should. Camden Bucey: 49:38 But at a created level. That’s our revelatory epistemology. It just comes back to why we love Van Til so much, because he always pointed us back to that. This has been a wonderful discussion, and I hope people have enjoyed it. Discussing peccability and impeccability of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the virtues of the view thereof. So Adam, thanks for bringing this to the floor. And for unearthing this article from 1879 for us. I’ll have a link to the Google Books segment in the episode description. Camden Bucey: 50:10 I also hope to put a link to the Ligonier reviews so people can follow up, or video I should say. And look at things themselves, and maybe carry on a conversation. We have a comment section on the website, so even if you’re listening on your phone. Or if this podcast has been automatically downloaded somewhere, you can follow the links back to areformedforum.org, and comment there. Camden Bucey: 50:35 You can also subscribe to our other programs, or get in touch with us by sending us an email at mailatreformedforum.org. Again, we want to remind everyone of our events, October 5th through 7th, 2018. Then the big one in Wimberley, Texas April 1st through 6th, 2019. So we hope to meet you. Hope to see you, and get in touch with us. I do want to thank everybody for listening. I hope you join us again next time on Christ the Center.[/showhide]

Participants: Adam York, Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington

David Owen Filson joins us to speak about Dr. J. Oliver Buswell, theologian and former president of Wheaton College and Covenant College and Seminary. Buswell was involved with the early modernist-fundamentalist controversy and the founding of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, though he joined the Bible Presbyterian Church when it split with the fledgling OPC over premillennialism and teetotalism. He continued to be an interlocutor with members of the OPC and faculty at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. Interestingly, he coined the term “presuppositionalism” while debating with Cornelius Van Til over apologetic and theological method. Dr. Filson is teaching pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee. He previously spoke on the subject in episode 316, January 17, 2014.

Participants: Camden Bucey, David Filson, Jeff Waddington

Pierce Taylor Hibbs speaks about language and the Trinity. His book, The Trinity, Language, and Human Behavior: A Reformed Exposition of the Language Theory of Kenneth L. Pike is available in P&R Publishing’s Reformed Academic Dissertations series. Hibbs describes Kenneth Pike’s linguistic theory and compares it to the theology of Cornelius Van Til, demonstrating shared Trinitarian themes. Pierce Hibbs is the Assistant Director of the Theological English Department at Westminster Theological Seminary. He writes at piercetaylorhibbs.com.

Links

• Who is Kenneth Pike?

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington, Pierce Taylor Hibbs

In this episode, we speak about the free offer of the gospel. The real point in dispute in connection with the free offer of the gospel is whether it can properly be said that God desires the salvation of all men. This issue was related to several theological controversies of the 1940s and stemming back decades earlier. Much of this particular issue comes the split of 1924 within the Christian Reformed Church which led to the formation of the Protestant Reformed Church under the leadership of Herman Hoeksema. For some, the antithesis is so absolutized that there can be no real transition from wrath to grace and no free offer of the gospel. Cornelius Van Til spoke of the antithesis as an ethical rather than metaphysical antithesis. In a letter to Jesse de Boer, he indicated that it was merely another way to speak of total depravity. As we walk through a study committee report delivered to the 15th General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, we are confronted with the great mystery of God’s will and his infallible revelation to us in Scripture.

Links

• OPC Study Committee Report (15th General Assembly, 1948)
• Abraham Kuyper, Common Grace
• Cornelius Van Til, Common Grace and the Gospel

Participants: Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington, Jim Cassidy

We speak with Dr. Stephen G. Myers about Ebenezer Erskine and the important events of Presbyterian history with which he was involved.Dr. Myers is Professor of Historical Theology at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In his book, Scottish Federalism and Covenantalism in Transition: The Theology of Ebenezer Erskine, he touches upon many significant issues, including the Marrow Controversy, the relationship of law and grace, covenant theology, and church-state relations. In learning about this era of Presbyterian history, we come to understand how Erskine also serves to refine modern understandings of still controversial theological issues.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Glen Clary, Jeff Waddington, Jim Cassidy, Stephen Myers

Participants: Camden Bucey, David Woollin, Glen Clary, Jeff Waddington, Jim Cassidy

William VanDoodewaard speaks to us about Martin Bucer, John Knox, and the development of pastoral care during the Reformation. Dr. VanDoodewaard is professor of church history at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is the author of 1 & 2 Peter: Feed My Sheep (Welwyn Commentary Series), The Quest for the Historical Adam, and The Marrow Controversy and Seceder Tradition.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Glen Clary, Jeff Waddington, Jim Cassidy, William VanDoodewaard

Bill Dennison speaks about Karl Marx, leading us through his biography, influences, and his intellectual effects upon social and political history. Dr. Dennison is Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at Covenant College and the author of Karl Marx in P&R Publishing’s Great Thinkers series.

Participants: Bill Dennison, Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington