Gospel Metanarrative and Personal Gospel Salvation

September 19, 2011 • Pen & Parchment • by
0 Comments

J.I. Packer:

In recent years, great strides in biblical theology and contemporary canonical exegesis have brought new precision to our grasp of the Bible’s overall story of how God’s plan to bless Israel, and through Israel the world, came to its climax in and through Christ. But I do not see how it can be denied that each New Testament book, whatever other job it may be doing, has in view, one way or another, Luther’s primary question: how may a weak, perverse, and guilty sinner find a gracious God? Nor can it be denied that real Christianity only really starts when that discovery is made. And to the extent that modern developments, by filling our horizon with the great metanarrative, distract us from pursuing Luther’s question in personal terms, they hinder as well as help in our appreciation of the gospel. (In My Place Condemned He Stood, 26-27)

(HT: Kevin DeYoung)

Christian Community: Cultivate a Heart of Gratitude

June 2, 2011 • Pen & Parchment, Pilgrims & Parish • by
0 Comments

“If we do not give thanks daily for the Christian fellowship in which we have been placed, even where there is no great experience, no discoverable riches, but much weakness, small faith, and difficulty; if on the contrary, we only keep complaining to God that everything is so paltry and petty, so far from what we expected, then we hinder God from letting our fellowship grow according to the measure and riches which are there for us all in Jesus Christ.”

“This applies in a special way to the complaints often heard from pastors and zealous members about their congregations. A pastor should not complain about his congregation, certainly never to other people, but also not to God. A congregation has not been entrusted to him in order that he should become its accuser before God and men. When a person becomes alienated from a Christian community in which he has been placed and begins to raise complaints about it, he had better examine himself first to see whether the trouble is not due to his wish dream that should be shattered by God; and if this be the case, let him thank God for leading him into this predicament. But if not, let him nevertheless guard against ever becoming an accuser of the congregation before God. Let him rather accuse himself for his unbelief. Let him pray to God for an understanding of his own failure and his particular sin, and pray that he may not wrong his brethren. Let him, in the consciousness of his own guilt, make intersession for his brethren. Let him do what he is committed to do, and thank God.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, pg. 29, 30

Christian Community: A Gift of Grace

May 30, 2011 • Pen & Parchment, Pilgrims & Parish • by
0 Comments

“It is easily forgotten that the fellowship of Christian brethren is a gift of grace, a gift of the Kingdom of God that any day may be taken from us, that the time that still separates us from the utter loneliness may be brief indeed. Therefore, let him who until now has had the privilege of living a common Christian life with other Christians praise God’s grace from the bottom of his heart. Let him thank God on his knees and declare: It is grace, nothing but grace, that we are allowed to live in community with Christian brethren.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, pg. 20

Pen and Parchment: Cornelius Van Til

March 4, 2009 • Pen & Parchment • by
0 Comments



Philosophy deals with no concepts that theology does not deal with. It is but a matter or terminology. We emphasize this point because a minister of the gospel should not be in jeopardy every hour lest his theological structure crumble to the ground because of advances in the fields of science and philosophy of which he knows nothing or very little. He should rather realize that in his presentation of Biblical truth he had dealt with all the concepts that any human being can possibly deal with. Not as though he can pose as a scientist or a philosopher in the technical sense of the term. It is not necessary for him to be able to do so. He has a right to feel confident that there are no unknown trenches from which the enemy may suddenly pounce upon him. Now this is exactly what may be one of the chief benefits of a course in metaphysics for a theological student. In it he ought to learn that his opponents have exhausted themselves in trying to find a solution for the problems with which he is dealing, and have found no such solution. He ought to see the limits of their thought. He ought to examine the tools with which they labor. He ought to survey the field upon which they operate. If he does this thoroughly he will return with confidence to the propagation of his own position, or if he should feel inclined to reject it, he would at least do it intelligently.

A Survey of Christian Epistemology by Cornelius Van Til

Pen and Parchment: J. Gresham Machen

February 20, 2009 • Pen & Parchment, Theologia • by
0 Comments

It is not enough to ask whether the Church is moving smoothly, one must also ask the question whether it is moving in the right direction.

The raising of that question, in the past history of the Church, has often been the precursor of great spiritual advance. It has always, indeed, caused disturbance, as in the great upheaval of the Reformation, but without it there would be death. Sad is the condition of the Church when “controversy” is discouraged and men refuse to look beneath the surface in order to discover what, at bottom, the Church is in the world to do. Let us not be afraid, therefore, of the basic question, the question what Christianity really is.

This quote was taken from Machen’s essay, “What is Christianity?”. It was published as part of a collection of his sermons and articles entitled, “Historic Christianity.”

Pen and Parchment: Gandalf the Grey

February 17, 2009 • Pen & Parchment • by
0 Comments

“It is not our part here to take thought only for a season, or for a few lives of men,  or for a passing age of the world. We should seek a final end of this menace, even if we do not hope to make one.” – Gandalf the Grey from The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

Pen and Parchment: Mr. Lewis Berkhof

February 14, 2009 • Pen & Parchment, Personal Reflection • by
0 Comments


In Schleiermacher the emphasis shifts from the objective to the subjective, from revelation to religion. The term “revelation” is still retained, but is reserved as a designation of the deeper spiritual insight of man, an insight which does not come to him, however, without his own diligent search. What is called revelation from one point of view, may be called human discovery from another. this view has become quite characteristic of modern theology. – Systematic Theology by Lewis Berkhof


I would like to add one brief comment in addition to the statement from Dr. Berkhof. (Not that he needs my help!) 

As the church has been influenced by post-modernity, we have shifted further from objective revelation towards an emotional subjectivism. Instead of applying the text to our critical thought process, the question is now posed, “How does this make you feel?” This concept is even applied as a mantra in many evangelical circles by using the catch phrase, “Christianity is not a religion, it’s a relationship.” Our own emotional experience now determines personal faith and practice. Truth is no longer outside of us, but rather something we feel as experience dictates. This is the ultimate decent into an irrational piety which is completely ignorant of the normative authority of scripture. 

Even more concerning is that this practice of religion attempts to self-vindicate it’s rejection of dogmatics by claiming a true or pure spirituality. Dissenters who raise an objection to these practices are labeled as oppressive, mean-spirited, legalistic, and the all famous, Pharisaical. In most cases, a corrective prescriptions are dismissed and/or ignored. 

Scripture remains as the only authority by which we can justify our knowledge of God. Apart from scripture the human heart is an idol factory. Our inherent fallen disposition is to create and define gods to suit our own desires. We exchange the truth of God for a lie. This is our natural condition. However, God in his mercy, condescends to us through means of mediated revelation and, by the power of his Spirit, illumines our heart and mind, calling us to repent of our narcissistic idolatry.