Press Release for New Westminster Project

January 28, 2010 at 4:28 pm (Books (reviews and recommendations))

The Westminster Assembly Project and Reformation Heritage Books

The Westminster Assembly Project, best known for the edition of Assembly minutes and papers to be published by Oxford University Press, has now entered an extensive publishing agreement with Reformation Heritage Books.

John Bower has joined historian Chad Van Dixhoorn in launching three new series of books by the Westminster Assembly, and one series of new and classic studies on the Assembly, all being published by Reformation Heritage Books. It is hoped that both texts and studies will stimulate further research in the Assembly and the religious dimension of English civil war politics. Certainly future publications on British post-Reformation theology and Puritanism will be enriched by these publications, briefly described here.

Principal Documents of the Westminster Assembly. This series will produce the six chief works authored by the Assembly for covenanted uniformity of religion in England: the Confession of Faith, Larger Catechism, Shorter Catechism, Directory for Public Worship, Directory for Church Government, and The Psalter. Each volume will contain a historical introduction, a critical text, and multi-column comparisons of original manuscripts and early editions. The inaugural volume, The Larger Catechism, has been prepared by John Bower and scheduled for a launch in March 2010.

Writings of the Westminster Divines. The aim of this series is to provide scholarly editions of texts by Westminster Assembly members and commissioners. Volumes will include previously unpublished manuscripts as well as republications of rare editions. Carefully determined editorial standards will be used to ensure an authoritative product that is accessible to modern readers, while remaining reliable for students and scholars.

Westminster Assembly Facsimiles. With this new series, Reformation Heritage Books and the Westminster Assembly Project are providing electronic and print access to publications by Assembly members in their original form. Free PDF downloads will be made available through the Westminster Assembly Project website. The same text can be purchased for your collection in paperback and hard cover from Reformation Heritage Books.

Studies of the Westminster Assembly. Complementing the primary source material in the other series, the Assembly studies will provide access to classic studies that have not been reprinted and to new studies, providing some of the best existing research on the Assembly and its members.

For more information on the Westminster Assembly Project, visit www.westminsterassembly.org. Information on Reformation Heritage Books can be found at www.heritagebooks.org and www.heritagebooktalk.org.

Leave a Comment

An Answer to TE Rayburn, part 3

January 28, 2010 at 1:45 pm (Federal Vision)

The next point at issue here is whether the SJC was wrong in attributing to TE Leithart confusion of justification and sanctification. TE Rayburn argues that TE Leithart is not doing this, but is merely positing a joining of justification and definitive sanctification. Definitive sanctification here is defined by John Murray. TE Rayburn’s point is that TE Leithart was not confusing progressive sanctification and justification, but was merely seeking to combine definitive sanctification and justification under one act. That TE Leithart does the latter can hardly be denied. It is his explicit program in his article “Judge Me, O God” in The Federal Vision. On this article, see my critique of TE Leithart here.  With regard to the SJC’s point, one could definitely wish that the distinction between the two aspects of sanctification had been clarified a bit more in their critique. However, the SJC’s point is still valid, when one digs a little deeper.

The first point to realize here is that John Murray, in his explication of definitive sanctification, did not consider it as completely separated from progressive sanctification. Note that he says, “It would be, therefore, a deflection from biblical patterns of language and conception to think of sanctification exclusively in terms of a progressive work.” This indicates that under the rubric of sanctification, one can consider two aspects: definitive and progressive. In fact, as WTS professors typically formulate it, the definitive and progressive aspects of sanctification can be analogous to the already/not yet aspects of salvation that one finds elsewhere in the ordo salutis. Definitive is already, progressive is not yet. The point here is that definitive and progressive cannot be so easily severed. And they would have to be severed completely for there to be no confusion on the issue of justification and sanctification. One may simply ask this question: on what biblical basis would TE Leithart and/or TE Rayburn yank definitive sanctification away from its organically connected progressive other half? Presumably, TE’s Rayburn and Leithart both would agree that progressive sanctification cannot be included under the rubric of justification, which is explicitly Rome’s position. But on what basis can one exclude progressive sanctification from justification if one has already included definitive sanctification?

The second point to realize here is that John Murray never included definitive sanctification under the rubric of justification. The language of “justified from sin” was not speaking at all about justification, according to Murray. He did not argue as TE Leithart does, in other words. As I argued in response to Leithart, and as the WTJ also noted (70.1, Spring 2008, pp. 105-110), you cannot simply add up all the occurrences of the word “justification” and say that the doctrine of justification has to include all the uses of that word. It is odd here, because I feel like I’m arguing like the FV does. It is usually the FV who is claiming that words are used in a broader sense in Scripture than they are in the confessions. Here, TE Leithart is arguing the reverse: according to him, our doctrine of justification has to account for all the uses of the word “justify” in Scripture.

13 Comments

Does God practice temporary forgiveness?

January 28, 2010 at 11:50 am (1 Corinthians, Federal Vision, Justification, Matthew, New Testament, Reformed, Theology, Westminster standards)

Posted by Bob Mattes

I read Dr. Rob Rayburn’s letter to the PCA Standing Judicial Committee with some interest. I was curious to see how a church officer defends someone who holds virtually identical views to a man who was a hair’s breath from indictment a short time ago before fleeing the denomination. I found the read, though, greatly disappointing and even disturbing. I found the theological arguments to be more like blind assertions, and support was entirely lacking when Rayburn seemed to be making assertions about particular Scriptural texts.

I found the assertion that God forgives temporarily particularly disturbing, and that will be the subject of this post. Rayburn:

Justification – whatever else it is – is the forgiveness of sins. It is perfectly obvious that there is such a thing as temporary forgiveness because the Bible says there is (cf. Num. 14:20 with 1 Cor. 10:5; Ezekiel 16:1-14; Matthew 18:32-34; etc.). Whether we are entirely satisfied with Dr. Leithart’s effort to incorporate this biblical material into the larger picture of the way of divine grace, the fact is, temporary forgiveness is a biblical datum.

I’ll deal with his view of justification in another post. The assertion above, made without support, is that temporary forgiveness is perfectly obvious in the Bible – a given. Really? I’ve never seen it, and neither did Calvin, the Westminster Divines, or any other orthodox Reformed scholar I can find.

Let’s look at the Scriptures cited, starting with the most challenging. Matthew 18:32-34 (ESV) says: Read the rest of this entry »

890 Comments

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 148 other followers