Tag Archives: Sola Scriptura

You Elitist, You

You Elitist, You

This entry is part 14 of 63 in the series Ten Mangled Words You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Since this series has dealt with “mangled” words such as tolerance, freedom, and authority, I was tempted to include elitism among them. Elitism, though, is really a misused word inseparable from the word authority. When the meaning of authority is mangled, be sure that a sorely maimed and deformed version of the meaning of elitism… Continue Reading

Biblical Authority and the Aesthetics of Scripture

Biblical Authority and the Aesthetics of Scripture

This entry is part 1 of 6 in the series Biblical Authority and the Aesthetics of Scripture You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

I’d like to take a few posts over the next several weeks to respond to one criticism of something I wrote, but did not develop, in a very brief section in By the Waters of Babylon: Worship in a Post-Christian Culture, published last year by Kregel. In that book, I suggest that instead of our worship… Continue Reading

People of the Book

People of the Book

This entry is part 1 of 10 in the series Back to Basics You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Christians are people of the book. Conservative Evangelical Christians, in particular, demand that their beliefs and lives be governed by Scripture. Yet what, exactly, that means is not always clear, particularly when dealing with matters of Christian living. On the one hand, some Christians believe that the Bible is an exhaustive list of prescriptions and… Continue Reading

Accepting sola scriptura and arguing musical style

Accepting sola scriptura and arguing musical style

This is a little intro piece that I’ve written for some friends who have asked for a basic defense of musical conservatism. It hardly gets us to full-blown conservatism, but at least offers the structure of why I think the Bible, while not addressing musical style, still gives us a standard for musical style. _____… Continue Reading

How Scripture is Insufficient

How Scripture is Insufficient

Tuesday I linked to an important article by Carl Trueman about the sufficiency of Scripture. I believe this article is so important that I’d like to highlight a few of his points here. Trueman makes an intriguing statement in his article: There is a sense in which we might say that Protestants believe in the insufficiency of… Continue Reading

The founders of the first church had a proper respect for Scripture

The founders of the first church had a proper respect for Scripture

This entry is part 3 of 4 in the series Characteristics of the Founders of the First Church You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Last week we discovered that the founders of the first church were characterized by united, fervent prayer. But prayer is not the only thing with which these founders of the first Church occupied their time, and Luke uses the event of choosing Judas’ replacement to highlight the second characteristic of these men. What was it that… Continue Reading

Elephant Room 2, Biblicism, and the Importance of Tradition

Elephant Room 2, Biblicism, and the Importance of Tradition

If you aren’t at least somewhat familiar with the recent controversy over T. D. Jakes, James MacDonald, Mark Driscoll, and the Elephant Room, you’ve probably been hibernating in a cave somewhere. Others have given helpful responses from various perspectives including ecclesiastical separation, unity, ministry associations, the African American angle, and one from Carson and Keller… Continue Reading

Some concluding thoughts on discernment (Part 8)

Some concluding thoughts on discernment (Part 8)

This entry is part 8 of 8 in the series Discernment for the Glory of God You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

I was pushed to write a series on discernment when I heard a famous evangelical pastor define discernment as the ability to see, allegedly by the Spirit of God, obscene things on a kind of imaginary “movie screen.”1 I also wanted to respond with sound exegesis to the opinions of some that any extra-biblical moral… Continue Reading

Maturity and Discernment (Part 6)

Maturity and Discernment (Part 6)

This entry is part 6 of 8 in the series Discernment for the Glory of God You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Discernment is a biblically informed judgment whether certain extra-biblical moral actions are good or evil. Last week, we looked at discernment in Eph 5:7-11 and pushed forward our argument that discernment is a crucial element of New Testament ethics. This argument is sound (and I am not the first to make it), and it is… Continue Reading

The Pastor and Sola Scriptura

The Pastor and Sola Scriptura

This entry is part 24 of 32 in the series Toward Conservative Christian Churches You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

If pastors are to shepherd churches in which there is a desire to understand the meaning of the world and apply it to worship, obedience and ministry, some will need to adjust their understanding of their doctrine of Scripture (or their theories of applying Scripture). A strange paralysis has come over many evangelical pastors. They… Continue Reading

Discernment and Good and Evil (Part 4)

Discernment and Good and Evil (Part 4)

This entry is part 4 of 8 in the series Discernment for the Glory of God You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

To this point, the passages studied in our series on discernment have been pretty straight-forward. Whether Philippians 1:9-11, Romans 12:1-2, or Colossians 1:9-10, each passage has clearly taught the importance of discerning the will of God. In each context, knowing the will of God (which I define to be discerning God’s will as to how… Continue Reading

Discernment as spiritual wisdom and understanding (Part 3)

Discernment as spiritual wisdom and understanding (Part 3)

This entry is part 3 of 8 in the series Discernment for the Glory of God You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

This is a series on Christian discernment. My first post argued that Christian discernment is necessary for living for the glory of God (Phil 1:9-11). Last week I argued that the ability to choose between right and wrong is a crucial part of spiritual worship to God in living holy lives (Rom 12:1-2). In Romans… Continue Reading

Discernment and worship (Part 2)

Discernment and worship (Part 2)

This entry is part 2 of 8 in the series Discernment for the Glory of God You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Last week I argued from Philippians 1:9-11 that discernment is of great importance to the believer as an important part of living for the glory of God. This week my thesis is that as believers give themselves as a sacrifice to God in an act of sacred worship, discernment is an important act that flows… Continue Reading

Sola Scriptura arguments should be put to rest

Sola Scriptura arguments should be put to rest

One of the most abused doctrines in evangelical Christianity is Sola Scriptura. Everybody uses it to prove their side of some argument, and as I’ve been thinking about it lately, I’m convinced it really proves very little for anyone. Now one caveat before I move to my main point: the doctrine obviously does prove something;… Continue Reading

The Sola Scriptura trump card

The Sola Scriptura trump card

Some recent internet discussions, some sprung from Ken Brown’s very fair review of my book, have once again led to all sorts of folks slapping their “Sola Scriptura” trump card down on the table, as if playing that card gives them the high ground and silences all argument. Don’t get me wrong; I firmly believe… Continue Reading

Sola Scriptura and Form: What I’m Not Saying

This entry is part of 4 in the series Sola Scriptura and Form You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

The purposes and positions of Religious Affections (the ministry and blog, not [necessarily] the book) are not obscure; this granted, I expect that our readers are primed to hear the strains of grinding axes in all our posts. Everything we say looks like a camel’s nose in your tent. You have the gnawing suspicion that… Continue Reading

Sola Scriptura and Form: Biblical Form

Sola Scriptura and Form: Biblical Form

This entry is part of 4 in the series Sola Scriptura and Form You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

In this discussion, I am using the term form, quite broadly, to denote those features of the biblical text that express (in additional to their propositional content) a mood or manner about the propositional content. This means, therefore, that I am not using form in any sort of strict literary sense. Let me explain why… Continue Reading

Sola Scriptura and Form: Theology as a Problem

Sola Scriptura and Form: Theology as a Problem

This entry is part of 4 in the series Sola Scriptura and Form You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

In the first post of this series, I offered this thesis: “because the Bible is itself expressed in certain forms, and because the Bible is our final authority for faith and practice, we have an obligation to mirror biblical forms in our own expression of biblical truth.” I will continue this practice of clearly stating… Continue Reading