The Calvinist International
Earlier this week, Pastor Tim Keller restarted a minor controversy when he tweeted, “If you see Jesus losing the infinite love of the Father out of His infinite love for you, it will infinitely melt your hardness.” Traditional Christian orthodoxy has maintained that Jesus never lost the love of the Father, and Keller’s rhetoric also […]
(This essay continues a series on the Federal Vision that I have been writing since November, 2019. The first installment can be found here. The second is here. The third is here, and the fourth is here. Though I earlier stated that this essay would be my final one, I see the need for one […]
Classically speaking, there are some truths about God that can be known, or known partially, or grasped, or grasped partially, by reasoned reflection on general revelation. These truths are usually grouped under the domain of natural theology: for example, that there is only one God (monotheism), that he is not a composite being (divine simplicity), […]
Athanasius of Alexandria’s doctrine of the deity of Christ rest upon two basic concepts. These are that the divine nature is simple and incapable of division and that the Son is generated or begotten from the essence of the Father, that divine essence which is simple. When you combine these two concepts, you get a […]
Athanasius of Alexandria actually has a lot to say about the divine nature. He says that it is fruitful. He says that its essence and its existence are identical. He says that it is simple and infinite. And yet, he also says that the divine nature is, in itself, unknowable to us. We have nothing […]
In an most interesting section of his Orations Against the Arians, Athanasius fields an objection against the eternal generation of the Son based on a parallel with creation. Athanasius has been arguing that certain divine names (Father, Wisdom, Word) show us that God must have always had a second hypostasis who was nevertheless consubstantial. For God […]
For good reason, one might find John Calvin referred to as an “anti-speculative” theologian. But as with so many other monikers applied to Protestant theologians (e.g. “anti-scholastic”), one must take the label in its relative rather than its absolute signification. When confronted with biblicism, Calvin could sound a philosophical and “speculative” note. B.A. Gerrish observes […]
Calvin continues to argue that the Son of God is Yahweh by drawing out the implications of various biblical texts. For example: the New Testament contains instances of prayer directed to Christ; therefore Christ must be Yahweh. Translation Otherwise, not only would Stephen have violated the lawful form of prayer when he prayed to Christ […]
In this next installment of the Admonition to the Polish Brothers, Calvin treats Malachi 3.1: if Malachi spoke of Christ in saying that “the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple” (ESV), then Christ must be Yahweh–for Yahweh alone is worshiped in the Temple. Translation Add to this also the fact that, although […]
Calvin continues his discussion in his Brief Admonition to the Polish Brothers and draws the distinction between talking about the Persons of the Trinity in relation to each other and using the term “God” to refer to the divine essence as such. Translation In addition to these things, if there is anything proper to God, it is made […]