Digital Logos Edition
Michael Horton, a preeminent voice for reformation in the church, has drawn together a group of leaders in the Reformed and Lutheran traditions to weigh in on the free grace and Lordship positions on salvation. Offering a “Reformation response” to these controversies, the writers draw on Scripture, theology, and church history to address the issue from a mainly historical perspective. They explain their positions clearly, finding a path between legalism and antinomian feelings.
Looking for more from Michael Horton? See the Michael Horton Collection (6 vols.).
“Faith, according to Reformation theology, is not conversion, obeying God’s commands, repentance, or commitment to live a new life. It produces inevitably all of these effects (contra Hodges), but it is not itself to be confused with its effects (contra MacArthur). This is an essential issue, of course, because what is at stake is the biblical and evangelical doctrine of sola fide (faith alone).” (Page 39)
“Our ‘determination of the will to obey truth,’ our repentance, our surrender, and our commitment—none of this has anything whatsoever to do with our justification. All these things are simply necessary (that is, inevitable) fruits of justification. The tendency to condition justification on moral transformation is always a departure from the biblical message.” (Page 43)
“Discipleship is given to and required of all the justified, but it is not itself the good news in which we place our confidence, trust, and hope. Repentance ought indeed to be preached along with the call to faith, as the flip side of the coin of conversion, but these two must be distinguished if we are to maintain ‘faith alone.’” (Page 49)
“They need to hear that there are not two classes of Christians, but that they own all of the blessings of salvation regardless of the level of their piety or devotion. We are not either carnal Christians or spiritual Christians; rather, all Christians are simultaneously sinful and spiritual—not because of their ‘surrender,’ but because of Christ’s. We are all in the same category, simply at different points along the way.” (Pages 32–33)
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