To Distinguish is To Avoid Trouble: Or Counterbalancing (Manton)

(This is a re-post from June 2020. NOTE: I'm in the process of selling my complete set of Thomas Manton's Works. They're in like new condition. Let me know if you're interested in a good deal for a great set!) In his treatise "The Life of Faith" Thomas Manton (d. 1677) spent a few paragraphs …

Legalism: A Complex & Deadly Spiritual Disease

(This is a re-post from August, 2017)Legalism is not a rare thing in Christian circles.  It's not confined to a certain denomination, age, gender, race, or class.  Legalism is not rare because it's the default mode of the sinful human heart.  Thomas Boston said it is "engrained in man's corrupt nature." From one angle, then, …

Faith, Justification, and the Law/Gospel Distinction (Walther)

This morning on my reading list was the "twenty-first evening lecture" by C. F. W. Walther in his book, The Proper Distinction between Law and Gospel. In this chapter the 19th century Lutheran theologian discussed the following thesis: "The Word of God, the law and the gospel, is not rightly divided, but commingled [mixed], when …

The Law and All Good Works Must Be Utterly Excluded… (Fisher)

After explaining the differences between the law and the gospel, Edward Fisher (in The Marrow of Modern Divinity) went on to relate these differences to the doctrine of justification. This section struck me again toady; I really appreciate it and wanted to share it. Here's what Fisher wrote: And now, knowing rightly how to distinguish …

A Deadly Brew: Mixing Law and Gospel (Luther)

(This is a re-post from May 2015) In November 1532, some princes of Germany who were sympathetic to the Reformation invited Martin Luther to preach for them in Worlitz.  His text was 1 Timothy 1:5-7.  In the sermon, among other things, Luther explained to the princes the dangerous error of mixing God’s judgment seat and …