Tag: Justification by Faith
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Luther Preached the Gospel So Objectively that It Sounded Universalist
A recent visitor to my church explained to me his understanding of the Christian Gospel: The visitor was earnest, lovely, a kind and gentle soul. The only problem is this: What he said is not the Christian Gospel. Point 2 is absolutely true, and is the teaching of God’s Law. Points 1 and 3 are…
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Calvin’s Confusion about Predestination: 7 Don’t Climb into Heaven
How do I know God has chosen me? In the apostle Paul’s clearest discussion of predestination, the middle chapter is all about preaching the Gospel. But in John Calvin’s key chapter on predestination, he barely mentions proclamation at all. This contrast is crucial for understanding Calvin’s confusion about predestination. This is part seven of a…
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The Tyranny of Visible Fruit
The reality of life is that people implicitly assess Christian ministry through visible fruit, institutional momentum, relational success, and perceived stability. Even when they explicitly deny that—they do it. Even Christians who highly value the Bible do it. Because, as much as people may say that faithfulness is measured by the Bible: when pressure is…
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God is Good. I Am Not.
God’s positive attitude to you doesn’t depend on you—not even on your faith. So much so that in Our Father, when explaining the request about forgiveness, Martin Luther—the “justified by faith alone” guy—doesn’t even use the word “faith” once! In life, people are so used to conditional relationship and qualified love, that God’s unconditional, unqualified,…
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Every Teaching Claims to Be Ancient—Law and Gospel Actually Is
Catholics point to Mary.Pentecostals point to tongues.Baptists point to decision theology, exclusive to adults. Luther’s most distinctive teaching was the distinction between Law and Gospel. All are justified in Christ. This is received through faith alone. And so the Bible is only rightly understood when we recognise the distinction everywhere between God’s commands and God’s…