Sola Scriptura and Tradition (Vanhoozer/Muller)

There is some misunderstanding in evangelicalism about the meaning of "sola scriptura" (Scripture alone). It would take a bit of time and space to go into detail on this statement. For now, I just want to point out one aspect of sola scriptura that people almost always forget: the important place of tradition in biblical…

Divine Mercy, Divine Goodness (Muller)

One thing I very much appreciate about historic Reformed theology is how it's applicable to everyday life. For one example, I was just reading Richard Muller's summary of how the Reformers and Reformed scholastics explained God's mercy (misericordia or clementia Dei). After looking at the biblical aspects of God's mercy, Muller gives a section on…

The 3 Uses of the Law

(NOTE: this is a repost from March, 2009) When the Reformed and Lutheran scholastics talked about God’s moral law (lex moralis), they taught that there are three basic uses of the law (usus legis).  They are - as Richard Muller describes them in the Dictionary of Latin and Greek Theological Terms - these three: 1)…

Rome, the Radical Reformation, and Exegesis (Muller)

 Among other things, the Protestant Reformation was brought about by a return to Scripture and it's teachings.  Obviously, this is a huge discussion and it's even hard to know where to begin when discussing this topic.  What got me thinking of this today is a paragraph I read in Richard Muller's volume on "Holy Scripture"…

For the Establishment of True Religion (Calvin)

 I realize many evangelicals do not like the term "religion" and even use it primarily in a negative way.  However, we have to remember that the word is found in Scripture (e.g. James 1:26).  Granted, we do have to define it properly, but we shouldn't by default think of "religion" as a bad thing.  For…