Tag Archives: justification

Where’s Waldo Wednesday: Precision Puh-leeze

By D. G. Hart | Published: September 14, 2011

So why is it that justification prioritists (JPs) regularly receive the charge of making justification the CAUSE of sanctification when in fact they don’t? But to the unionists’ ear, to assert the logical priority of justification to sanctification (and no cheating by sneaking in definitive sanctification) is to say that justification CAUSES sanctification (often, anyway).… Read More→

Posted in Application of Redemption | Also tagged , , , | 52 Comments

Where’s Waldo Wednesday: Dazed and Confused

By D. G. Hart | Published: August 17, 2011

Why is it that discussions of the law and sanctification invariably circle back to union with Christ? My own hunch, expressed several times, is that union becomes the way to cement sanctification to justification, especially if neither is prior to the other but union precedes both. This way, supposedly, Protestants can look Roman Catholics straight… Read More→

Posted in Application of Redemption, The Hinge | Also tagged , , , , , | 46 Comments

Where’s Waldo (A Day After) Wednesday: Someone Needs to Call A Union Summit

By D. G. Hart | Published: June 16, 2011

Over at Justin Taylor’s blog comes word that Dane Ortlund has published an article on the relationship between justification and sanctification in the writings of Bavinck and Berkouwer. The summary point is as follows: . . . these two Dutch Reformed thinkers are united in their understanding of justification as the self-conscious means of sanctification.… Read More→

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Where’s Waldo Wednesday: Can Union Comfort the Way Justification Does?

By D. G. Hart | Published: June 1, 2011

The following passage from Luther’s daily readings left me thinking: What more could God do? How could a heart restrain itself from being happy, glad, and obedient in God and Christ? What work or suffering could befall to which it would not gladly submit, singing with love and joyful praise to God? If it fails… Read More→

Posted in Application of Redemption | Also tagged , | 81 Comments

Forensic Friday: Calvin on Trent

By D. G. Hart | Published: February 11, 2011

We, indeed, willingly acknowledge, that believers ought to make daily increase in good works, and that the good works wherewith they are adorned by God, are sometimes distinguished by the name of righteousness. But since the whole value of works is derived from no other fountain than that of gratuitous acceptance, how absurd were it… Read More→

Posted in The Hinge | Also tagged , | 2 Comments

Where’s Waldo Wednesday

By D. G. Hart | Published: September 22, 2010

I am still wondering about the advisability of turning union into a polemical doctrine that divides Reformed Protestants and Lutherans. Benjamin Warfield supplies support for that wonder. CALVINISM AND LUTHERANISM It is unfortunate that a great body of the scientific discussion which, since Max Goebel (“Die religiose Eigenthumlichkeit der lutherischen und der reformirten Kirchen,” Bonn,… Read More→

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Where’s Waldo Wednesday: Cornering the Market on Suffering

By D. G. Hart | Published: August 18, 2010

During interactions with advocates of union with Christ I have frequently heard remarks that suggest this doctrine takes account of the believer’s suffering in breathtaking ways. In fact, union is apparently so effective in accounting for the miseries of this life that it needs to be a regular part of counsel and preaching to Christians.… Read More→

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Forensic Friday: Hodge on Romans 5: 1-11

By D. G. Hart | Published: August 13, 2010

The first consequence of justification by faith is, that we have peace with God, ver. 1. The second, that we have not only a sense of his present favour, but assurance of future glory, ver. 2. The third, that our afflictions, instead of being inconsistent with the divine favour, are made directly conducive to the… Read More→

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Where’s Waldo (Two Days After) Wednesday: WSC on Union

By D. G. Hart | Published: August 6, 2010

Historically Reformed theologians have recognized that union with Christ is not merely one aspect of the order of salvation but is the hub from which the spokes are drawn. One can find such conclusions in the theology of Reformed luminaries such as John Owen, Herman Witsius, and Thomas Boston, to name a few. That union… Read More→

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Fesko’s Forensic Friday

By D. G. Hart | Published: August 6, 2010

Why does Paul insist upon the imputed active obedience of Christ in our justification? Why is this necessary aside from the fact that the Scriptures teach its necessity? The answer lies in the nature of our justification. We must recognize that the ground of our justification is not our sanctification, or the transformative aspect of… Read More→

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