Saved by Faith, or by Faith Formed by Love?
By Shawn Lazar Sola fide or fides caritate formata? Are we saved by faith alone, or faith formed by love? During the Reformation, that was one of the questions faced by Martin Luther, and it is an objection that the Free Grace movement still hears today. Faith in Jesus isn’t enough, some people say, you […]
Can Christians Wield the Sword?
Recent News has been dominated by stories of war. War in Israel. War in Ukraine. War in Syria. Currently there is a movement led by the Islamic State to establish a new Caliphate in Iraq, and thousands of Christians have been murdered or exiled in the process. In light of this news, a reader asked: […]
The Current Crisis in Assurance: An Interview with David J. Engelsma
Doubt. For some of us, it is a momentary feeling of anxiety that eventually passes when our circumstances change. For others, it is a way of life born out of the barrage of insecurities created by our families, jobs, the economy, or the current state of the world. Life is full of doubt. But of […]
Donald Webb’s Basic Bible Doctrines
Donald Webb, Basic Bible Doctrines (West Lafayette, IN: Day of Grace Ministries, Inc., 2006). I’m always on the lookout for theologians who agree with Free Grace positions. To that end, I recently came across Donald Webb’s Basic Bible Doctrines. Webb is a Mid-Acts Dispensationalist. Some people in that camp hold to what are essentially Free […]
“Reformed” Is Not Enough: Recovering the Objectivity of the Covenant
“Reformed” Is Not Enough: Recovering the Objectivity of the Covenant. By Douglas Wilson. Moscow, ID: Canon Press, 2002, 2010. 208 pages. Paper, $17.00. What does it mean to be a Christian? In “Reformed” Is Not Enough, Douglas Wilson argues that theologians should think of the covenant in more objective terms, where being a Christian means […]
Civil Government: God’s Other Kingdom
Civil Government: God’s Other Kingdom. By Daniel M. Deutschlander. Milwaukee, WI: Northwestern Publishing House, 2001. 215 pages. Paper, $16.50. Daniel M. Deutschlander is a Lutheran pastor and retired professor of history, German, and religion at Martin Luther College. His book, Civil Government: God’s Other Kingdom, defends a distinctly Lutheran view of the role of civil […]
These Are the Generations: The Story of How One North Korean Family Lived Out the Great Commission for More Than Fifty Years in the Most Christian-Hostile Nation in Human History
These Are the Generations: The Story of How One North Korean Family Lived Out the Great Commission for More Than Fifty Years in the Most Christian-Hostile Nation in Human History. By Mr. and Mrs. Bae with Eric Foley. Colorado Springs, CO: DotW Publishing, 2012. 120 pages. Paper, $9.95. To most people, North Korea is shrouded […]
Election for Baptists: Why Biblical election is to service and privilege, not to eternal life.
Few debates among Baptists are livelier than the ones over divine election. Interestingly, despite their other disagreements, Calvinistic Baptists and Arminian Baptists both assume that Biblical election is about God choosing individuals for eternal life or death. But is that assumption Biblical? Free Grace Baptists increasingly deny it. To “elect” something, simply means to “choose” […]
Clarity in Evangelism for Baptists
Baptists need to do some soulsearching about our search for souls. We (I am a Baptist myself) love talking about Jesus. We emphasize evangelism. But we aren’t always clear when we present the gospel. We all know that some ways are clearer than others, but how do we tell the difference? How to Present the […]
TULIP or ASSURE?
By Shawn Lazar and Bob Wilkin We are all familiar with the Calvinistic acronym TULIP which stands for: Total depravity Unconditional election Limited atonement Irresistible grace Perseverance of the saints. At a recent meeting of Wesleyan scholars Shawn heard a paper presenting an Arminian response to TULIP, called ACURA. That stands for: All have sinned […]