Part 2 of Matthew Pinson’s book, 40 Questions About Arminianism, answers questions nine through fourteen, and it deals with questions about the atonement and justification, in two sections. Section A discusses “The Nature of the Atonement and Justification,” and Section B treats “The Extent of Atonement.” Q 9: Did Arminius Affirm Penal Substitutionary Atonement? Pinson […]
Category: Soteriology
Ten months ago, I started to write about Matthew Pinson’s very fine book, 40 Questions About Arminianism. At that time I indicated that my progress would not likely be rapid, but I did not then expect that it would take me this long to get back to it. A move across the country, from Ontario […]
About eight years ago, after decades of affirming the “limited atonement” which John Owen had defended at length, I became convinced that the “hypothetical universalism,” which was espoused by the classic moderate Calvinist contingent of the English Reformed delegates to the Synod of Dort, better represented biblical teaching. I believe that this still makes me […]
In his book, Salvation Accomplished by the Son: The Work of Christ, Robert Peterson has given us a very fine piece of biblical theology. Because of the way the book is organized it will serve as an excellent reference work, but it is also fine devotional reading. I’ve been working my way through it slowly, […]
McKnight’s suggested translation of torah A few weeks ago, I very much enjoyed a podcast by Scot McKnight, regarding his translation project for the “second Testament.” I heard many interesting comments on decisions he had been making, but one particularly caught my attention. I was especially delighted with his suggestion that “covenant obligation” is the […]
When I wrote Who Can Be Saved?, everything I had read by William Lane Craig regarding his Molinist understanding of the situation of the unevangelized fell within the gospel exclusivist position. (See my “Typology of Positions Concerning the Salvation of the Unevangelized.”) At that time, he posited that “God in his providence so arranged the […]
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Is conversion a process or an event?
Like Louis McBride, I have often pondered this question, and I like the perspective he has cited from Joel Green’s book on Conversion in Luke-Acts. Again, this approach to the question takes as its point of departure the consequences of a particular approach to the human situation: What is the human ‘problem’ that needs to […]
Daniel Sinclair has shared what he learned at the 2015 Rethinking Hell Conference. Since I was not there myself, I read his comments with interest, but I was surprised when my name showed up in his second point. I think that the ideas cited from Walls definitely merit some consideration, and I offer […]
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Is Mormonism Christian?
Roger Olson has written a long post in answer to the question of whether Mormonism is Christian. That question will probably seem to many evangelicals to be hardly worth asking, but Olson’s answer is carefully nuanced and it grows out of much greater knowledge of Mormonism than most evangelicals possess. I commend the whole post to […]
I am not a Southern Baptist, but I am a Baptist, and I watch with interest theological developments within the Southern Baptist Convention. Like many other Baptist associations, they have not clearly identified themselves as either Particular or General Baptists, that is, as Calvinistic or Arminian in their theology. This has caused significant tension in […]