Justin Taylor's Blog, page 294

We Need Theology and Prose That Sing

Hear, hear.

The Pastor's Role

The continuation of a conversation with Matt Chandler, Tim Keller, and Michael Horton at The Gospel Coalition:

Wind in Our Sails and Direction from Our Dashboard

Mike Horton:

While I believe that it's generally true that those who are forgiven much love much and that those who are in view of God's mercies will present their bodies as a living sacrifice, we have to recognize the deep depravity in our own hearts even as regenerate believers. Often I find myself reveling in the glories of the gospel for my own delight, oblivious to the "reasonable service" that it yields toward my neighbor.  I can be writing a paragraph on the wonders of grace while I snap at my wife or children for interrupting me. We do need Christ to remind us, by his Spirit, through his law, that the gospel doesn't stop at our own personal security and welfare, but drives us out to our neighbors in love and service.  A good Shepherd guides his sheep.  A good Father rebukes those whom he loves.  We need to hear the very specific and uncomfortable rebukes of the law as well as the tender comfort of the gospel.

We always need the gospel wind in our sails and the directional equipment on our dashboard.  Without the former, we're dead in the water; without the latter, we're blown all over the map.

Luther's Saying: "Justification Is the Article by Which the Church Stands and Falls"

In the past we've looked at the origins of the TULIP acronym, whether Bunyan really said the "Run, John, run" poem, and Luther's quote about the importance of defending the smallest truth at the very point at which the Devil is attacking.

So what about the phrase attributed to Luther than justificatio est articulus stantis et cadentis ecclesiae—"justification is the article by which the church stands and falls."

From what I've been able to find, the first use of this exact phrase was by Lutheran theologian Balthasar Meisner who said that it was a "proverb of Luther" (Anthropôlogia sacra disputation 24, [Wittenberg: Johannes Gormannus, 1615]). [Source: Arthur Carl Piepkorn / Jack Preus]

In 1618 Reformed theologian Johann Heinrich Alsted wrote articulus iustificationis dicitur articulus stantis et cadentis ecclesiae (in Theologia scholastica didacta [Hanover, 1618], p. 711)— "The article of justification is said to be the article by which the church stands or  falls." [Source: Alister McGrath]

We don't have record of Luther using the exact phrase, but very close: quia isto articulo stante stat Ecclesia, ruente ruit Ecclesia—"Because if this article [of justification] stands, the church stands; if this article collapses, the church collapses." (WA 40/3.352.3) [Source: Alister McGrath]

Luther certainly expressed the same thought in numerous ways, but this is the closest I've seen to the famous quote.

(Thanks to Carl Trueman for the translations.)

The Difference Between Protestants and Catholics on Tradition

Carl Trueman:

Protestants tend to be very suspicious of any talk of tradition as playing a role in theology as it would seem to stand somewhat in tension with the Reformation's view of scripture alone as the authoritative basis for theological reflection.

In fact, the Reformation itself represented a struggle over two types of tradition, that which scholars call T1, tradition based upon scripture as the sole source of revelation (the position of Protestants such as Luther and Calvin, and of some pre-Tridentine Catholics) and that which they term T2, tradition based upon two sources, namely, scripture and an oral tradition mediated through the teaching magisterium of the Church. This latter was arguably the position codified at the Council of Trent, although it would seem that the boundary between T1 and T2 is in practice often blurred, and very difficult to define in any formal or precise sense; nevertheless, as a heuristic device the distinction is useful and it is really only as Protestants come to understand exactly what the Catholic view of tradition is (i.e., T1 plus T2) that they can come to properly understand how tradition (T1) does not subvert the notion of scripture alone.

A moment's reflection on Protestant practice should demonstrate the truth of this. Every time a Protestant minister takes a commentary off his shelf to help with sermon preparation, or opens a volume of systematic theology, or attends a lecture on a theological topic, he practically acknowledges the importance of T1, whether he cares to admit it or no. A belief in scripture as a unique and all-sufficient cognitive foundation for theology does not, indeed, cannot, preclude the use of extra-biblical and thus traditional sources for help.

Protestantism and Catholicism both value tradition; the difference lies in the source and authority of this tradition: Protestant tradition is justified by, and is ultimately only binding insofar as it represents a synthesis of the teaching of the one normative source of revelation, holy scripture.

Catholicism is more flexible. Though, as noted above, the boundary where T1 ends and T2 begins is not an easy one to formalize or define, Catholicism has proved far more open to the development of dogmas not immediately justifiable on the basis of scripture; and has also been willing to take more seriously ancient practice as a significant guide. Thus, the practice of praying to saints has no apparent scriptural warrant, but was something evident very early on in the post-apostolic era, a point used by Catholics to argue for its validity (a good example of a T2 dogma).

The difference on tradition, of course, connects to other differences on authority. Undergirding Protestant notions of scripture is a belief in the basic perspicuity of the Christian message. This lay at the heart of Luther's dispute with Erasmus. Erasmus saw scripture as complicated and obscure and thus as requiring the teaching magisterium of the church to give definitive explanations of what it teaches; Luther saw the basic message as clear and accessible to all who had eyes to see and ears to hear. The basic Erasmus-Luther dispute epitomizes the Catholic-Protestant divide on this issue and also reminds us of why the papacy and the teaching magisterium of the church are so crucial in Catholicism. The problem of the Anglican, John Henry Newman, as he wrote his masterpiece on the development of doctrine, was not that doctrine developed, but how Protestantism could discern which developments were legitimate and which were not. By the time the work was published, Newman was a Catholic, having become convinced that the authority of Rome, not the scriptural perspicuity of Wittenberg, was the only means to resolve the problem.

Preach Like an Arminian, Pray Like a Calvinist

Joe Thorn explains why this is a good statement to avoid.

Tradition vs. Traditionalism

"Tradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. And, I suppose I should add, it is traditionalism that gives tradition such a bad name."

Jaroslav Pelikan, The Vindication of Tradition (Yale University Press, 1984), p. 65.

Charles Spurgeon Preaching

Doug Whitley, whose ministry is portraying historical and biblical characters through sermons and drama, tells some of Charles Spurgeon's own story and then preaches Spurgeon's sermon "Prodigal Love for Prodigal Sons":

Was the Apostle Paul a Widower?

Denny Burk makes the case. His main points are outlined below. Read the whole thing for explanation and defense.

Paul puts himself in the category of being "unmarried" in 1 Corinthians 7:8.
The word "unmarried" translates the Greek word agamos.
Paul uses the term agamos to refer to those who have been married but now are no longer married.
The context of agamos in 1 Corinthians 7:8 is dominated by Paul's instructions to those who are married or who have been married.
The Greek word for "widower" was not in use during the Koine period.
The word for "unmarried" appears to be the masculine word for someone who has lost a spouse.
As a good Pharisee, it is highly unlikely that Paul would have been single his entire life.

The Deeds and Words of Jesus

"The deeds and words of Jesus are the deeds and words of God;

if this be not true the book is blasphemous."

—C.K. Barrett, The Gospel According to St. John, 2nd ed. (Westminster John Knox, 1955), pp. 155-56.

Professor Barrett died last week (August 26, 2011) at the age of 94.

HT: Mike Bird