02 Jun 2020 
Posted by Mark Jones
“God hates the sin but loves the sinner.” To make sense of this statement one would have to have a fairly sophisticated understanding of how this can be both true and false. The statement assumes a certain context and then an explanation within that context. It reminds me of the phrase, "God helps...
Read more → 17 May 2020 Posted by Steven Wedgeworth
Christian sex and gender conversations are back. They never really went away, but the past few weeks have seen a number of new essays and other contributions on the topic. Recently, Dr. Scott Swain added a helpful essay to this ongoing discussion. In it, he explains the variety of categories necessary...
Read more → 11 May 2020 Posted by Mark Jones
Aimee Byrd, Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: How the Church Needs to Rediscover Her Purpose (Zondervan, 2020). Aimee Byrd has written a book with a specific focus: as a member in a confessional Reformed denomination (OPC), she asks her readers “to look at the yellow wallpaper in the church...
Read more → 06 Mar 2020 Posted by E.J. Hutchinson
In today’s selection, Melanchthon affirms both that the church has never ceased to exist, from its establishment in the time of Genesis all the way up to the present, and that it nevertheless has often been quite small. This he proves from, for example, the case of Noah. Still, God does not let the church...
Read more → 05 Mar 2020 Posted by E.J. Hutchinson
In today’s post, Melanchthon cites one more patristic source (Origen) as an example of how the church’s authority is rightly deployed. He then proceeds to sketch his understanding of the relation of the church to the Word and to give his definitions of what the church (1) is not, and (2) is. The church...
Read more → 04 Mar 2020 Posted by E.J. Hutchinson
In today’s post, Melanchthon begins to marshal patristic support for his understanding of the relative weight of various authorities in theology. Melanchthon’s high view of both Scripture and patristic antiquity are clear in what follows from his use of Tertullian, Irenaeus, and Basil. On the Church...
Read more → 03 Mar 2020 Posted by E.J. Hutchinson
This is just a short one for today. In this passage, Melanchthon sketches how one ought to affirm the supreme authority of Scripture without going overboard. His concern for antiquity echoes Zanchi’s wonderful statement that “I, certainly, do not depart from antiquity unless I have been compelled.” Of...
Read more → 02 Mar 2020 Posted by E.J. Hutchinson
A new week; time for a new series. This one, which will last for a while, will be on Melanchthon’s treatise De ecclesia et autoritate verbi dei (“On the Church and the Authority of the Word of God”), first published in 1539. My translation, which will be the first into English (I think? I could...
Read more → 01 Mar 2020 Posted by E.J. Hutchinson
I missed last week (sorry!) but here is the Collect for this week (Invocavit Sunday) from the Order of Worship for the Reformed Church in the United States, to accompany the Gospel reading from Matthew 6.1-11 and 2 Corinthians 6.1-10. Invocavit Sunday THE COLLECT WE beseech Thee, O Lord, by the mystery...
Read more → 28 Feb 2020 Posted by E.J. Hutchinson
This post wraps up the series on Hemmingsen on the Sabbath and Christian festivals. In these four assertiones, he concludes with some remarks on change, continuity, and authority. Of special significance is the hard distinction he makes between “worship” (cultus) and “ceremonies” (ceremoniae)...
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