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November 2007

Legalism, Racism, and the First Century Jew

November 13, 2007

In his book, The Future of Justification, John Piper addresses the issue of legalism and the first century Jew. Piper responds to some of the notions of the New Perspectives people who claim that first century Jews had not drifted from the grace message of the Old Testament into legalism. He explains . . . [...]

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Hard and Soft Legalism

November 12, 2007

There is a very interesting quote from Matt Perman, one of John Piper’s students, which Piper includes in his book, The Future of Justification. It addresses N. T. Wright’s view that Judaism was not legalistic. Matt argues that there are, in fact, two types of legalism. Speaking of Wright and others he says: “They appear [...]

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A Time for War and a Time for Peace

November 11, 2007

Today is remembrance day. It is the day which we hope ended war forever in the main countries of Europe. It is a day for silence, contemplation, and gratitude. The thought that strikes me is that what is true of nations is also true of individuals. We war and fight with one another, and just [...]

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Mark Driscoll Apologizes For Not Being Humble

November 10, 2007

UPDATEThis sermon clip is making a stir in the blogosphere for all the right reasons—a great example of the typical reaction comes from Josh Harris. The influence of C. J. Mahaney on Mark Driscoll is becoming ever more plain. In this clip Mark ‘steals’ an outline of practical advice on how to be humble from [...]

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Legalism Versus Grace in First Century Judaism

November 9, 2007

Anyone who has read anything about the New Perspectives on Paul will realize that one of the key arguments is that we have misunderstood the Pharisees through the perspective of the Reformation. The first century Jews were never legalists, we are told. There are a number of problems with that position. The first is looking [...]

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John Piper: Is N. T. Wright Preaching Another Gospel?

November 8, 2007

We are continuing to look at John Piper’s elegant exposure of the heart of the differences between his position and that of N. T. Wright’s. For those without the time to read massive volumes written by the current Bishop of Durham, Piper has done a great service. His scrupulous attempts to be fair to Wright [...]

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Piper and Wright: Does Justification by Faith Save Us?

November 7, 2007

So far in this series we have looked at the following: John Piper, N. T. Wright, and Gracious Discernment John Piper Challenges N. T. Wright on Justification Piper Explains the Classic View of Justification Versus N. T. Wright’s View Today I want to share a quote from The Future of Justification in which Piper responds [...]

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Piper Explains the Classic View of Justification Versus N. T. Wright’s View

November 6, 2007

Today I will take you further into Piper’s argument where he explains the long-held position, which Wright denies, that God cannot simply ‘forgive’ the guilty, but instead an exchange between guilt and righteousness must take place: An omniscient and just judge never “finds in favor” of a guilty defendant. He always vindicates the claim that [...]

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John Piper Challenges N. T. Wright on Justification

November 5, 2007

On Friday I introduced a series on John Piper’s response to N. T. Wright in The Future of Justification. We saw that to Piper the most critical difference between N. T. Wright and himself is that Wright does not believe that Christ’s righteousness is in any way transferred to our account. This is a vital, [...]

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Is Ephesians the Greatest Book in the Bible?

November 4, 2007

Fred Sanders has a great post interacting with Thomas Goodwin’s exalted view of Ephesians. Goodwin is not alone. In the “Introduction” to his series on Ephesians, Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote this: “It is very difficult to speak of [Ephesians] in a controlled manner because of its greatness and because of its sublimity. Many have tried to [...]

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Of Tone, Discernment, and the Charismatic Question

November 3, 2007

Phil Johnson has a second post answering my two-paragraph criticism of him. My schedule does not permit me to make a full reply as I am traveling on business. (All the posts you will see for the next few days were written before I left.) All I will say in reply, therefore, is this: Thank [...]

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John Piper, N. T. Wright, and Gracious Discernment

November 2, 2007

Bishop Tom Wright has long been the darling of many evangelicals. He is praised particularly for his work on the resurrection. But there is another side to Wright which is coming increasingly to the fore. His ability to woo evangelicals has, according to some observers, made it easy for him to subtly change some key [...]

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Mark Driscoll Firm, But Kind, About Joel Osteen on Prosperity Teaching

November 1, 2007

In the context of my ongoing debate with the fire-lovers about the best way to critique those from other churches, the following clip is most illuminating. Mark Driscoll is not known for being a weak feminist man. In this video he gives us a fantastic example of how to call out the errors of the [...]

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Prayer, Preaching, and the Anointing of the Spirit

November 1, 2007

Over at Unashamed Workmen, there are a number of great quotes on the vital place of prayer in preaching. The one that really stood out was in the comments section. I think this quote expresses perfectly why we need to plead with the resurrected Jesus to pour out his Spirit on us before we dare [...]

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