Posts Tagged ‘ Justification ’

St. Augustine on Faith Without Love

Jun 3rd, 2010 | By | Category: Blog Posts

ā€œFor this reason Lutherā€™s phrase: ā€œfaith aloneā€ is true, if it is not opposed to faith in charity, in love.ā€ – Pope Benedict XVI Reformed Professor R. Scott Clark in response to Pope Benedict: “That conditional, that ā€œif,ā€ makes all the difference in the world. That one little conditional is the difference between Rome and […]



Can God Lie?

Mar 6th, 2010 | By | Category: Blog Posts

When I was younger, I used to think that God actually could lie if He wanted to, but He simply chose not to because of His goodness. I didn’t realize, and I think many people still don’t, that He literally cannot lie. Some theological errors can be avoided by understanding that God cannot lie. For […]



Romanism, Dispensationalism, and the Soteriology of Dr. John Gerstner

Mar 4th, 2010 | By | Category: Blog Posts

Ligonier Ministries recently posted an excerpt from the late John Gerstner’s Primer on Justification.Ā  This article, taken together with things he has written elsewhere concerning the nature of faith, manifests an interesting and important inconsistency in Dr. Gerstner’s thinking about justification. Before turning to that problem, I want to make a few comments on the […]



Justification: The Catholic Church and the Judaizers in St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians

Dec 17th, 2009 | By | Category: Blog Posts

Steve Hays has claimed that what I recently said about justification is at odds with what Robert Sungenis has said about justification. But, in fact, there is no contradiction between what I have said and what Robert has said on this subject.



Ten Questions for N.T. Wright regarding Catholicism, Justification, and the Church

Nov 30th, 2009 | By | Category: Blog Posts

This post originally appeared at the Canterbury Tales blog. Let me begin by saying that I am honored to have received a response from N.T. Wright in Christianity Today last month. He is a giant and he has probably influenced me more than any other living theologian (yes, even more than Ratzinger/Benedict XVI). At the […]



A Reply from a Romery Person

Oct 27th, 2009 | By | Category: Blog Posts

Last week as I was preparing to go out of town for a conference, I received an interview request from Michael Spencer (aka IMonk) regarding the recent announcement by the Vatican concerning the establishment of Personal Ordinariates. These Personal Ordinariates will allow former Anglicans to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while retaining distinctive […]



Review of Scott Hahn’s Kinship by Covenant (Yale, 2009)

Oct 12th, 2009 | By | Category: Blog Posts

Dr. Scott Hahn’s Kinship by Covenant is a revised and updated version of his 1995 doctoral dissertation Kinship by Covenant: A Biblical Theological Study of the Covenant Types and Texts in the Old and New Testaments published for the Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library. The great biblical scholar, David Noel Freedman (d. 2008), recognized that […]



John Calvin’s Worst Heresy: That Christ Suffered in Hell

Sep 15th, 2009 | By | Category: Blog Posts

Years ago while listening to Hank Hanegraaff’s Bible Answer Man radio program, a caller called in about “Christ suffering in Hell.” Hank rightly explained that “Christ suffering in Hell” is not a biblical doctrine, but noted that the doctrine was held by John Calvin. Hank respectfully disagreed with Calvin. We can argue back and forth […]



Does the Bible Teach Sola Fide?

Sep 3rd, 2009 | By | Category: Blog Posts

One primary impediment to the reconciliation of Protestants and Catholics concerns the doctrine of justification. Protestants endorse justification by faith alone (sola fide), while the Council of Trent condemned justification by faith alone. (Session 6, Canon 9) The question I ask here is this: Is there any Biblical evidence for “justification by faith alone”?



Is the Catholic Church Semi-Pelagian?

Aug 30th, 2009 | By | Category: Blog Posts

There are certain charges which are worthy of a defense only on account of their frequent repetition.Ā  If someone refers to a Calvinist as a hopeless determinist, the well rounded Calvinist might decline to defend such an uneducated attack after hearing it once or twice, but there is a point at which the accused party, […]