Simon Murphy on the Gospel and your money

My friend Simon has preached a very good sermon etitled The Gospel and Your Money, which can be heard here. If you are sick about hearing sermonettes about money that sound like a fund-raising speech, this is a sermon you would not want to miss.

Genesis 1: Plenty of room on the slippery slope

Justin Taylor over at his new Between Two Worlds blog over at The Gospel Coalition has highlighted the fact that Dr. Tremper Longman, a "professor of OT at Westmont College, author of numerous commentaries, and co-author of the acclaimed An Introduction to the Old Testament", "explains in the following video that for him it’s an open question as to whether or not Adam was a literal, historical figure, and that to “insist” that Gen 1-2 conveys this is dependent on a “very highly literalistic” reading."

Rick Philips over at the Reformation21 blog has commented on this issue as follows:

When I was in seminary, I learned from my professors that even though Moses believed the days of creation were normal week days (as evidenced by his application of Genesis 1's chronology in the fourth commandment, Ex. 20:11), God was just using Moses' primitive cosmology to teach us something different from what the text said. I was not surprised, therefore, when one of these professors recently appeared on the internet insisting that we need not maintain a historical Adam and Eve. The slippery slope is broad enough for us all, my friends, not just for known "liberals".

I wholly concur. The fight for 6-day creationism is the fight for the inerrancy and authority of Scripture. Concede it, and one might as well be a liberal/neo-orthodox. As Justin Taylor mentioned in one of his comment:

1. Jesus and Paul both believed in a literal, historical individual named Adam.
2. Jesus and Paul based arguments on this belief and intended to convey this belief in teaching the implications of it (for covenant headship, marital headship, the marriage ideal, common humanity, etc.).
3. If there was no [sic] literal, historical individual named Adam, then Jesus and Paul were not only mistaken in a belief, but taught an incorrect belief.
4. If so, Jesus and Paul were in error on this, and so is the Bible.

See also Was Adam a real historical individual?

R. Scott Clark: What is the Federal Vision?

Dr. R. Scott Clark had written an article introducing the Federal Vision some time back. In light of John Piper's compromise in his recent DG conference 2009 with Federal Visionist Douglas Wilson, this article would help us know more about the pernicious error of the Federal Vision. An excerpt:

The FV is 33-year old movement that originated, at least in this episode, with the Rev Mr Norman Shepherd who was then teaching systematic theology at WTS/P. In 1974 he defined faith, in the act of justification, to be "faith and works." It wasn't that, in justification, faith is "receiving and resting" and works are evidence and thus a sort of vindicatory justification of the claim that one believes. Nothing so nuanced or Reformed. Rather, he flatly claimed that there are two parts to faith in justification. When that created a predictable uproar, he modified his language to "faithfulness." At the same time he, and others, was about revising covenant theology. In baptism, he wrote, we are all united to Christ and receive the benefits of Christ temporarily and conditionally. What is the condition of retaining them? Faithfulness!

...

In baptism every baptized person receives all the benefits of Christ (election, union with Christ, justification, adoption) so that one is in "the covenant" by grace but one retains these benefits and either remains or becomes (they've said both) elect, united to Christ, and justified by cooperating with grace through trusting and obeying. This was their scheme to combat evangelical antinomianism. Of course it's an old brew called moralism and it's been on tap forever. At the same time, the FV movement also re-defines covenant theology to say that there is but one covenant. Historic Reformed theology had affirmed three covenants:

• a pre-temporal covenant between the Father and the Son (and implicitly the Holy Spirit) to accomplish the redemption of the elect and to apply it to them;
• a covenant of works before the fall;
• a covenant of grace after the fall.

The FV affirms only one covenant: a gracious conditional covenant before the fall and a conditional gracious covenant after the fall. The FV generally rejects the pre-temporal covenant. This version of covenant theology has also had support among certain Dutch Reformed theologians in the 20th century (which served a a background to the current controversy). This re-construction of covenant theology served the FV movement well as it allows them to emphasize grace -- who can criticize grace? -- and it allowed them to insinuate conditions into the covenant of grace which supported their doctrine of justification through faithfulness (trust, Spirit-wrought sanctity, and cooperation with it in good works).

Edward Sim's review of my CREDO500 article on New Evangelical Calvinism, and my response

In just a few minutes time, the official publication of my modified paper on the New Evangelical Calvinism would be done. Edward Sim, a good brother in Christ, has reviewed my paper and the review has been published as well here. In response to Sim's review, I have written a response to it as follows:

I am grateful for Edward Sim’s review of my article on the New Evangelical Calvinism. Though I would most definitely not be in agreement with him on some of the issues he raised, I appreciate his frankness and his desire for the truth. In a culture which desires peace at all costs, those who are willing to disagree and do it in a Christian manner as based upon the authority of Scripture are indeed rare, and it is in this sense that I appreciate Sim’s review (cf Prov. 28:23).

It must first be reiterated that this paper was initially written in response to the attack of Tim Challies on “watchbloggers” on his blog. This paper was not therefore intended to be a full-scale analysis of the current Calvinist Resurgence, and thus of the positives and negatives found in it. Also, being a movement, it is definitely the case that the movement is not monolithic and thus not everything stated would apply to everyone. The article therefore was meant to be a clarion call towards the New Calvinists of the concerns with regards to possible deficiencies in the movement itself, which of course may or may not apply to them as individuals. It must be said that I am sympathetic to the movement, being able to identify with them on certain issues like the need for having a dynamic and passionate faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, after all having experienced the transformation that comes with embracing the Doctrines of Grace later in the Christian life.

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Tim Keller compromising the Gospel

It seems that Tim Keller, a poster child of the Calvinist Resurgence, has came back from a conference held at Willow Creek, and blogged about how he appreciates "The 'Kingly' Willow Creek Conference". Using John Frame's "tri-perspectivalism", Keller states that Willow Creek has a "kingly" emphasis, Reformed churches have a "prophetic" emphasis, while Emerging churches have a "priestly" emphasis.

In response, Rick Phillips has responded to Keller's post in an irenic tone on the Reformation21 site here. Phillips asked the pertinent question:

Did one of the founders of the Gospel Coalition (of which I, like many of us at Ref 21, am a member) really just suggest that gospel clarity is non-essential to a church? (Bold added)

I would like to offer some additional thoughts on the matter; readers can read Phillips excellent response to Keller at the Reformation21 blog post.

In response to Keller's ecumenical post, the question we should ask ourselves is: What defines a true church? According to the Reformed tradition [It can be shown in Calvin's Institutes also but I do not feel like searching for the reference], a biblical church is defined by three essential marks: The pure preaching of the Word, the proper administration of the sacraments, and the exercise of church discipline. Before being mushy about the greatness of different "churches" and their different emphasis, do these churches first qualify as true churches?

With regards to sound doctrine, let us be as maganimous as possible. I can grant for the sake of argument that pure preaching refers to getting the Gospel correct, and that only. After all, since the whole idea is about being Gospel-centered, shouldn't this be the main emphasis? So how would the churches mentioned grade based merely on this one criteria?

The Emerging churches, and most definitely the Emergent churches will automatically fail the test. There are many examples of Emergents denying the Gospel outright, with the most recent case being that of Rob Bell. Instead of the biblical Gospel which proclaims the wrath of God against sinners, and the necessity of repentance from sin and belief in Jesus Christ as the only way of salvation, the Gospel is painted as social justice and ushering in "a new creation", or whatever liberal nonsense that can be recycled by the latest guru in the Emerging Movement.

Willow Creek church unfortunately fails the grade as well. A Gospel message without the depravity and wickedness of Man, the wrath of God against sinners, the necessity for sinners to repent and turn from their life of sin, the command to be holy as God is holy etc etc is NOT a biblical Gospel. Instead of preaching the biblical Gospel, Willow Creek through their seeker-sensitivity are only interested in reaching "unchurched Harry and Mary" through meeting their felt-needs. If a gospel, it is the "Gospel of Pelagius"; even Rome does not officially sink to that level.

So therefore, based upon the New [Evangelical] Calvinist idea of Gospel-centeredness, the churches mentioned by Keller (besides the Reformed churches), have all failed the test of being a true church. Such being the case, what kind of "kingly" and "priestly" ministry can false churches have?

Dr. Phillips has called Keller to task for implying that Gospel clarity is non-essential to a church. This is in fact the best reading of Keller's endorsement not only of Willow Creek (which is bad enough), but Emerging churches. I will go further to say that Keller's endorsement of such "churches" as being legitimate churches implies that the Gospel itself is non essential to a church. Is this what the "Calvinist Resurgence" is all about; that the Gospel is not essential to a church!?

[HT: BiblicalThought]

Phil Johnson on the heresy of Rob Bell

Phil Johnson has posted an excellent article here exposing the heresy of Emergent Rob Bell as seen in his interview with the Boston Globe. I honestly do not thnk there is any way anyone can spin this sort of nonsense and pass it as historic Evangelicalism.

Q: OK, how would you describe what it is that you believe?

A: I embrace the term evangelical, if by that we mean a belief that we together can actually work for change in the world, caring for the environment, extending to the poor generosity and kindness, a hopeful outlook. That's a beautiful sort of thing.

Q: Is religion a part of that?

A: At the heart of the Christian story is resurrection, the belief that this world [sic] is good, and that, as a follower of Jesus, a belief that God hasn’t abandoned the world, but is actively at work in the world. Even in the midst of what can look like despair and destruction there is a new creation present.

Nothing about the Gospel there. The world is good? Oh well, Rom. 3 it seems does not exist in Bell's 'bible'.

An excellent excerpt from John MacArthur's new book

Over at the Shepherd's Fellowship blog, Pastor John MacArthur has posted an excellent excerpt from his latest book, which addresses the Zeitgeist in the area of "niceness". Was Jesus always "nice"? Check it out.

Here it an excerpt:

Jesus’ compassion is certainly evident in two facts that bracket this declamation. First, Luke says that as He drew near the city and observed its full panorama for this final time, He paused and wept over it (Luke 19:41-44). And second, Matthew records a similar lament at the end of the seven woes (23:37). So we can be absolutely certain that as Jesus delivered this diatribe, His heart was full of compassion.

Yet that compassion is directed at the victims of the false teaching, not the false teachers themselves. There is no hint of sympathy, no proposal of clemency, no trace of kindness, no effort on Jesus’ part to be “nice” toward the Pharisees. Indeed, with these words Jesus formally and resoundingly pronounced their doom and then held them up publicly as a warning to others.

This is the polar opposite of any invitation to dialogue. He doesn’t say, “They’re basically good guys. They have pious intentions. They have some valid spiritual insights. Let’s have a conversation with them.” Instead, He says, “Keep your distance. Be on guard against their lifestyle and their influence. Follow them, and you are headed for the same condemnation they are.”

This approach would surely have earned Jesus a resounding outpouring of loud disapproval from today’s guardians of evangelical protocol. In fact, His approach to the Pharisees utterly debunks the cardinal points of conventional wisdom among modern and post-modern evangelicals — the neoevangelical fondness for eternal collegiality, and the Emerging infatuation with engaging all points of view in endless conversation. By today’s standards, Jesus’ words about the Pharisees and His treatement of them are breathtakingly severe.

(Bold added)

CREDO500 article on the PD paradigm

I have just came back from a good holiday. In my absence, Pastor Jonah has been taking care of the CREDO 500 blog conference. Yesterday saw the publishing of my CREDO500 article on the Purpose Driven paradigm, which is a more thought-out article on the entire PD paradigm than my book (being after all written this year instead of 2006). The article can be found here. An excerpt:

The center of Christianity is the person of Jesus Christ, and His Gospel by which we are being saved. Apart from Christ, there is nothing but darkness and death. In Him we have life (Jn. 6:35) and hope (Mt. 12:21; Rom. 5:2) and peace (Jn. 14:27). As wicked sinners who are by nature justly under the wrath of God (Jn. 3:36; Rom. 1:18, 3:10-18), we have now been justified (Rom. 5:1) and changed by the Holy Spirit who now resides in us (2 Cor. 3:18). Such love as this should birth in us gratefulness and love unto our Lord, that Christ “may dwell in [our] hearts through faith”, that we “being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that [we] may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:17-19). Amen.

In recent times, a new wave has swept up upon our shores. From the pen of Evangelical pastor Rick Warren has come the best-selling books The Purpose Driven Church [1] and The Purpose Driven Life [2]. Together with readily available resources from pastors.com, Pastor Rick Warren has created a movement around the world in an attempt to grow the Church and impact the world for Christ. Serving to promote this movement are the teachings and programs (such as the 40 Days of Purpose, the 40 Days of Community, and the 40 Days of Vision) from Warren, Saddleback Church and her associates, which together promote a ministry paradigm hereby entitled the Purpose Driven paradigm. Attempting to so impact the world, Warren has even engaged in a crusade to fight what he calls the ‘Global Giants’, as outlined in his P.E.A.C.E. plan [3].

Within Evangelicalism, many churches have for various reasons embraced in part or the whole of the Purpose Driven paradigm within the life of the Church. As Christians, we are to evaluate everything according to the Word of God (Acts 17: 11-12; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; 1 Jn. 4:1), so how does this paradigm measure up to Scripture? More importantly, since Christianity is about Christ and the Gospel, how does the Purpose Driven paradigm measure up to Scripture in this respect?

[more]

Pastor Peter Wong, a graduate from London Reformed Baptist Seminary, who is currently a minister of Brunei Reformed Baptist Churh, has reviewed my paper and his response can be seen here.

The illogicity of those who promote the WMO

I am currently reading a book by David H. J. Gay entitled Particular Redemption and the Free Offer (Biggleswade, UK: Brachus,20008), a book written to promote the theory of the Well-Meant Offer, or the Neo-Amyraldian position that God desires the salvation of ALL MEN. I guess I shouldn't be expecting much in terms of logical consistency, but this eats the cake.

In attempting to refute the "Owenite" position of "sufficient for all because of the worth of Christ's person", but "efficient only for the elect" (of which I hold to a variation), Gay states:

Of course, as I have noted, the work of Christ is of infinite worth, and of course he is an all-sufficient Savior — a perfect Redeemer for all the elect, for all their sins, for ever. But this does not mean we can — or should — speculate about its 'sufficiency for all'. In fact, I repeat, however fine it sounds, the concept is, in the end, illogical and meaningless (p. 101)

Gay might as well says that he believes that the sky is blue and not blue at the same time in the same place. Such illogicity shows the utter intellectual bankruptcy of the position of the Well-Meant Offer men.

Introduction to the CREDO 500 blog conference

The CREDO 500 blog conference is just days away now. My co-organizer and the founder of this conference Jonah Tang has written a short succinct introduction to this upcoming two months blog conference, which can be read here.

For those of us who are either not fluent enough in Chinese, those who prefer to read it in English, and those who do not read Chinese, I have spend some time translating the text, as we wish to make this conference by and large available to non-Chinese speakers as well. Without further to do, here is my translation, which is also posted on the blog site itself here:

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INTRODUCTION:

Knowing and glorifying God, whom John Calvin served

by Jonah Tang

trans. by Daniel Chew

Name and beginning

On July the 10th 2009, Christians in the Reformed tradition around the world gathered in the city of Geneva, Switzerland, to commemorate the 500th anniversary (1509-2009) of the birth of the French Reformer John Calvin, breathing new life into the embers in this once thriving spiritual center of the Reformation. Although not everyone had the opportunity to attend this ceremony, churches around the world have resounded with various events to be held in remembrance of this iconic figure of the Reformation era.

The CREDO 500 blog conference is initiated by this present author and co-organized together with brother Daniel Chew, with Dr. Stephen Chan (陈佐人), Dr. Zhi Yong Wang (王志勇) and Dr. Keng Ann Lee (李健安) graciously agreeing to be the project’s guides and advisers. On the one hand, the weak faith of many suffer from the onslaught of postmodernism and the rapid growth of all manner of heresies, while on the other, the 21st century is witnessing the rapid increase in the Church as many ethnic Chinese are coming to the Lord . In order to provide a platform for the exchange of ideas in light of these facts, and in the hope of continuing the proclamation and development of Calvinist theology and the rich heritage of the Reformed tradition, this conference has been organized.

The original meaning of the word in the Latin, “Credo”, is “I believe”. “CREDO 500” get its meaning from the first five centuries of the early church, linked together with the Reformation and Post-Reformation era of the recent five centuries to make up a pair of two five centuries of faith, which can be termed as the “ecumenical Reformed faith and tradition”. At this blog, the CREDO motif is developed further as the acronym for “Chinese Reformed Evangelical Discussion Online”, with the goal of planting the Reformed faith in the new generation of Chinese Evangelicals. It is hoped that the strict confessionalism and godly piety of the 16th and 17th century Reformers and the English Puritans, together with the faithful witness of the Apostles and the believers of all ages, will find new adherents. Utilizing the ability of the Internet to flatten the world, believers are enabled to interact and learn together this Christian historical orthodox faith. For unless we know and understand the Reformation and its necessity and beginning, we will never be able to be one substantive household of faith founded on the Truth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Objective and Purpose

This author strongly believes that the influence of Calvin did not end with the Modern and Western world, but continues to impact and transform the Post-modern and Chinese-speaking world. We are honored to be able to invite Christians around the world from different denominations and backgrounds: be they scholars, pastors, researchers and theologians, to contribute to this blog conference and engage in interaction and mutual guidance on various technical topics. The conference would be done in the following format: Every other day a paper would be uploaded together with its attendant response, after which all and sundry are invited to actively participate in the discussions on that paper. All are invited to affirm, ask for further clarification or suggest points for more thought and reflection, with regards to the content and manner of writing of any of the papers. We eagerly anticipate creative engagements and constructive responses, to aid the authors in correcting and improving their articles.

In principle, all discussions are to be purely factual and objective. However, all attendees are to abide by the proper attitude of glorifying God. In expressing one’s thoughts and opinions, one is not to compromise on the foundational truths, but also to respect differences of opinions over minor points of doctrine. In all things, we are to be loving and speak words of edification to build up others. In this light, this author desires and exhorts the practice of the following beliefs and principles of Reformed orthodoxy: 1) To be based on the Bible, 2) To be Christ-centered, 3) with the sole aim of glorifying the triune God, 4) to be done for the good of the Church. These are also the desired result for the conference: that through studying the legacy of John Calvin, we may glorify God, whom Calvin served.

The theme of this blog conference is “Calvin to the modern Chinese Churches” 「从加尔文看今日华人教会」. We have collected a total of 20 papers to be spit into two sections, the first being “The legacy of Reformed Theology” and the second being “The Reformation and John Calvin”. Lord willing, we plan to publish the results of this conference in a volume, which is to be separately published in English and Chinese. Listed below in the next section are the short biographies of the authors and reviewers of the papers for this conference.

Lastly, we would like to express our appreciation to all who have contributed to this conference in one way or another. We look forward to this historical blog conference, and hope it will provoke thought to edify the Chinese churches, to bring about a unity between the intellect and the spirit, and to narrow the distance we have from our Reformed forefathers such that we are connected to our past. Amen.

[NOTE: I have not included the bio in this post because I have not translated them. I will include that in a later post]

Shall we show deference to false pastors?

Interesting short article by Phil R. Johnson on this topic here.

Matt Redman on romantic language in worship

Matt Redman weighs in on the isse of using romantic language in worship.

I couldn't agree more.

[HT: Worship Matters]

Article: Countering 10 arguments against the Law-Gospel Paradigm

Lee Irons has written a good article here refuting the Federal Vision's denial of the principle of works in the Mosaic Administration, and thus the Law-Gospel paradigm characteristic of Reformed Covenant Theology. As both a defence of the principle of works in the Mosaic Administration and a defence against certain arguments of the Federal Vision, this would be a good article to read.

[HT: Between Two Worlds]

On the CREDO500 conference

During my trip to Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia over the weekend, I met up with Pastor Jonah Tang to discuss various issues, especially the upcoming CREDO (Chinese Reformed Evangelical Discussion Online) 500 blog conference to be held over the months of September and October. With less than a month left, and many things still to be completed, I would be focusing my energies on that task, thus leaving little time for anything else. This blog therefore would be less frequently updated especially in this month.

With this, here is the latest announcement (translated) on this upcoming CREDO500 blog conference:

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The schedule of the 500th Calvin anniversary blog conference has been tentatively proposed. The 19 articles we have received for the conference will be distributed into two groups — the first group having the theme 'The legacy (lit. continuance) of Reformed theology', and the second having the theme 'The Reformation and John Calvin (lit. The Reformation era's John Calvin)'. The conference will now be prolonged till October 2009, with the intention of giving at least two days for discussing each article, and having a rest from our discussion on the Lord's Day (Sunday).

The names of our contributors have been mostly finalized, barring unforeseeable last minute changes. Also, a new article by Daniel Chew analyzing the 'New Evangelical Calvinism' is specially included. [Note: The inclusion was suggested by Pastor Jonah, not me - DHC]. The names of the reviewers on the other hand would be confirmed and listed in the near future. All reviewers are to hand in their reviews before 1st Sept. In the event that more time is needed, please get back to us at credo500@gmail.com.

The Chinese section of the conference would be headed by Pastor Jonah Tang, while the English section would be headed by Daniel Chew. Publication wise, both articles and reviews would be separately published - one volume in Chinese and a separate volume in English, for the convenience of our Chinese and English readers. [Note: A mixed language volume would only be accessible to readers of both English and Chinese, which is not ideal - DHC]. It is hoped that we would be able to publish the articles in a book by the end of this year; all who desire to help out in the English to Chinese translation work are welcome to contact us.

Part I: The legacy of Reformed Theology (7th - 28th Sept 2009)

I. Scripture and Tradition

Sept 7th Mejlina Tjoa, Scripture and Tradition (Response: To be confirmed)

Sept 9th J.J Lim, The Place and Necessity of Creeds and Confessions in The Modern World (Response: To be confirmed)

II. Scripture and Theology

Sept 11st Daniel Chin Choy Wong, An Analysis and Critique of Signs and Wonders (Response: Daniel Chew)

Sept 14th David Chong, Evaluate the "New Perspective" on Paul's Exposition of the Doctrine of Justification by faith alone (Response: Tsun-En Lu)

III. Scripture and Counseling

Sept 16th Gideon Teo, The Tradition of Counseling and Physiology through the eyes of Richard Baxter and Archibald Alexander (Response: Andrew Teo)

Sept 18th Andrew Teo, Reclaiming The Biblical Care of Souls in The Body of Christ (Response: Gideon Teo)

IV. Scripture and Apologetics

Sept 21st Benjamin Ho，Francis Schaeffer and Reformation (Response: Mejlina Tjoa)

Sept 23rd Daniel Chew，Evaluating The Purpose Driven Paradigm: Recapturing The Vision of The Centrality of The Gospel (Response: Peter Wong)

V. The Gospel and Culture

Sept 25th Linus Chua, Reformation and Education (Response: David Chen)

Sept 28th Tsun-En Lu，John Rawl’s Justice as Fairness and The Pluralistic Society (Response: David Chong)

Part II: The Reformation and John Calvin (5th - 23rd Oct 2009)

I. The historical legacy of John Calvin

Oct 5th Yao Hing Wong, Calvin's life and place in history (Response: To be confirmed)

Oct 7th Jack Sin，The Spiritual Influence and Legacy of John Calvin to The Modern World (Response: To be confirmed)

Oct 9th Daniel Chew, New Evangelical Calvinism: An analysis of the Calvinist Resurgence (Response: To be confirmed)

II. Joh Calvin's theology of God's Sovereignty

Oct 12nd Alex Tseng, Karl Barth's Doctrine of Election (Response: Joel Tay)

Oct 14th Ang Lai Hoe, Biblical Consistency of Calvin’s Work on Election (Response: To be confirmed)

Oct 16th David Chen，Has Turretin been faithful to John Calvin’s Doctrine of Election? (Response: Alex Tseng)

III. The practical theology of John Calvin

Oct 19th Fook Seong Ten, Calvin's Institutes and the Practices of Piety (Response: Lemuel Hii)

Oct 21st Zhi Yong Wang, Calvin and the Psalms: Singing the songs of Jehovah (Response: To be confirmed)

Oct 23rd Cathy Tan，The quest for Calvin's essence of worship: Passion and love of God — A journey away from ritualistic worship (Response: Paul Gao)

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Do note that translations of Chinese article titles are tentative and liable to change.

Off to Sarawak

I would be flying over to Sarawak over the weekend to meet Pastor Jonah Tang, so this blog will be quiet until earliest Monday.