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Final Case for Original Sin | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reformed Thinking. This is the show where we take a
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stack of sources, theological articles, historical notes,
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scholarly critiques, and we try to distill the crucial essential
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insights. Our goal is to get you well
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informed and to do it quickly by digging into material you might
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not have the time or you know the immediate chance to
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scrutinize yourself. Today we're doing a pretty
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critical deep dive into a historical theological polemic.
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And for anyone who's not familiar, a polemic is well,
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it's basically a strong, sometimes aggressive written
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attack on someone else's doctrinal position.
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Right. But this one is valuable not
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just for what it's about, but because it really dissects the
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methods of influence that the other side was using We're.
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Looking at a critique that focuses on the strategies of
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this figure they call Doctor T. And his whole approach was
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designed to influence readers not just with arguments, but
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through rhetoric. He was setting the stage for
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people to accept interpretations that frankly undermine
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established Christian doctrines. So we're calling this deep dive
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the Apostle reach when theological praise becomes a
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tactic. That framing is, I think, spot
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on because what we're really looking at is a kind of
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theological warfare, but through a methodological lens.
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The. Core of the fight, as the
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sources laid out, is all about scriptural authority.
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And specifically, how we read the Apostle Paul.
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Yes, the man responsible for, as the source puts it, so
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considerable a part of the New Testament.
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If you can control how Paul is understood, well, you pretty
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much control the doctrine of the church.
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So this is a case study, a calculated one.
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We're going to dissect how self elevation, some very selective
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praise, and even a kind of weaponized contempt can all be
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used together. And the whole point is to
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prepare the reader, especially, you know, someone who's a bit
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less experienced or maybe just not as cautious for these brand
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new interpretations. Interpretations that run
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completely contrary to the plain surface level sense of the
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Bible. It's a study and conditioning
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the mind before you even present the evidence.
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And for you, the listener who is just a constantly hit with new
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ideas, new voices claiming some superior insight, the question
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we have to keep asking through this is this.
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How do we guard ourselves against what the source material
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calls delusive appearances? When a new idea is presented and
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it seems so authoritative, so humble, so sincere, what are the
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red flags? What are the rhetorical traps we
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need to be vigilant about? Because if we don't have the
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time to track down every footnote to examine every line
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of Greek. Then recognizing the tactic is
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our first line of defense. It has to be.
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OK, so let's start by setting up the battlefield.
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Our sources make it absolutely clear that the doctrines Dr. T
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is opposing are the more peculiar doctrines of
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Christianity. When we talk about peculiar
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doctrines, what are we actually referring to here, and why does
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that immediately raise the stakes so high?
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That's a critical clarification for the listener.
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When the sources say peculiar, they don't mean strange or odd,
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right? They mean the doctrines that are
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distinctive to revealed Christianity, the things that
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separate it from, say, philosophical morality or just
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general deism. So what's on that list?
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You're talking about concepts like, well, original sin, the
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necessity of supernatural grace, justification by faith alone
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through Christ's atoning work, and the sovereign administration
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of God's redemptive plan. The big ones.
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They're the hinges. The whole structure of the
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gospel hangs on them. So when an opponent targets
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these specific doctrines, it's not just a minor disagreement.
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No, the very integrity of the Christian message, the nature of
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salvation itself, is what's on the line.
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This isn't a fight over church governance or modes of baptism.
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This is a fight over whether human nature is fundamentally
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fallen. And whether salvation is
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fundamentally a gift. Given those high stakes, the
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choice of Paul as the main point of attack starts to make a lot
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of sense. Doesn't.
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It it's completely logical. To really get the sophisticated
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strategy that Doctor T and his allies were using, you have to
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understand the scriptural function of the Apostle Paul.
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His letters are chosen for this specific concentrated attack for
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one reason, because these distinctive doctrines,
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justification, election, sanctification, are revealed.
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And this is the key phrase from the source, more plainly and
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fully in his writings than anywhere else in the Bible.
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Even more than in the Gospels. Even more systematically, yes,
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you can think of Paul as the primary theological architect of
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the New Testament revelation. Christ is the subject, of
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course, but Paul is the principal interpreter.
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The one who systematically explains the nature of Christ's
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work and how it applies to us. So if you want to diminish these
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core concepts, or obscure them, or even make them void, you
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can't just attack the ideas on their own.
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You have to go after the source. You have to neutralize the
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source that speaks about them with the greatest clarity and
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vigor and system. And that source is Paul.
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So it's a strategic choice, maximum doctrinal damage with,
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in a sense, minimum textual effort.
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That's a good way to put it. If you can successfully muddy
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the clearest water source, then the entire body of belief that
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depends on it becomes suspect. And the critique also mentions A
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quantitative factor, right? It's not just the clarity.
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Right, Paul isn't just some minor writer.
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He wrote a considerable part of the New Testament.
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He was also the principal instrument for propagating
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Christianity. The great church planter.
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The missionary to the Gentiles. His influence set the doctrinal
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consensus for the early church far and wide.
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So when you target Paul's clarity, you're attacking the
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original Apostolic mandate. You're trying to unmore the
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Church from its doctrinal heritage.
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When you look at it from that angle, it's clear Doctor T
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wasn't just interested in a small exegetical debate.
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Oh no. He was aiming for a doctrine or
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revelation. He had to convince his readers
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that the most influential, prolific, and systematic writer
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in the New Testament had been fundamentally misunderstood for
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1500 years. That's a.
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That's a massive hill to climb. It is, and it requires more than
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just better Greek skills. It requires psychological
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conditioning. Which sets up our main question
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for this section. If the plainest source for these
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critical beliefs is suddenly made unclear, or we're told it's
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been misunderstood for centuries, that threatens the
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whole structure. It creates this huge void, yes,
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but Doctor T had to do something more than just offer a different
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interpretation. He needed to influence the
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reader's judgement before they even got to the footnotes,
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right? So what did he do to obscure
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that clarity? How did he make it something
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other than just a difference of opinion?
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How did he make it a calculated influence?
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Well, that's when we get into the realm of rhetoric, which is
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influence that operates, as the source says, besides arguments.
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Let's unpack that besides arguments.
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Right means using psychological and emotional tools to bias
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someone's judgement. Dr. T used very specific ways of
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presenting himself and very specific ways of dismissing
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others to create a favorable environment for his
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revolutionary ideas. And he targeted a specific
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audience. Yes, especially, the source
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says, juvenile and unwary readers, people who might be
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educated theologically but who lack the historical or critical
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caution to see the trap being set.
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OK so one of the most obvious non argumentative influences
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that the sources point out is Doctor TS very calculated public
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self presentation. The virtue veil.
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The virtue veil. He's constantly making these
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explicit professions of virtue in his book, and he links these
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moral qualities directly to his search for truth.
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Yes, he's establishing the moral high ground before he even tries
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to establish the intellectual high ground.
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And the source material lists them out.
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It does. The specific virtues he
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professes are sincerity, humility, meekness, modesty, and
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charity. If you just read the preface to
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his work, he sounds like the ideal Christian scholar.
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He's free from prejudice, just trying to present the truth as
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he sees it. No malice toward those who
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disagree. It creates this immediate,
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almost gut level trust with the reader.
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The reader thinks this person isn't some partisan zealot
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pushing an agenda. He's a humble, sincere seeker of
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light. So if he disagrees with the
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established Church, he must be doing it reluctantly, out of
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pure intellectual honesty. And that presentation is
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designed to make the reader receptive to lower their guard.
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But wait a minute. If he's claiming sincerity,
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humility, modesty, those are admirable qualities.
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But the critique points out this striking contradiction.
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Despite all this stated virtue, Dr. T also displays what the
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source calls magisterial assurance on different
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occasions. So if he's genuinely humble, how
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can he also speak with such absolute authority?
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Shouldn't that contradiction be an immediate red flag?
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Shouldn't it defeat the whole purpose of the Virtue Veil?
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It is a contradiction, but it's a clever one because it works on
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different parts of the readership at the same time.
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How so? The humility is for the unwary
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reader, the person who values Christian decorum, But the
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magisterial assurance? That's for the discerning
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reader, the one who values intellectual strength and
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confidence. So he's trying to project both
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things at once. The meekness of a scholar and
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the unshakable certainty of a master.
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The source calls it magisterial assurance, this kind of absolute
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confidence that suggests his conclusions are beyond debate,
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even while he's claiming to be open minded.
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What is that signal to the reader?
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It functions almost like a claim to revelation.
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I know the truth, even if I claim I arrived at it humbly.
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It tells the reader that following Doctor T isn't a risk,
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it's joining the ranks of the truly enlightened.
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And then we get to the other side of the strategy, the
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negative tactic he uses against people holding traditional
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views. It's not enough to build
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yourself up. You have to tear down the
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competition. Doctor T expresses what our
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sources call high contempt for the opinions and arguments of
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very excellent divines and fathers in the Church of God,
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the ones holding to those traditional peculiar doctrines.
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Why is that contempt so critical to the strategy?
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It serves 2 functions. First, it's psychologically
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frees the reader from feeling any obligation to respect
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historical tradition. If the divines of the past are
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contemptible, then their wisdom is negligible.
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And the second function. It grants the reader sense of
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intellectual superiority just by agreeing with Doctor T.
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If the traditional views are held by a herd of short sighted
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thinkers, which is a phrase we'll get to later, then
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adopting the new view instantly puts the reader into the
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elevated enlightened class of Doctor T.
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So the dynamic is very carefully constructed.
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The public display of virtue softens the reader suggests
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sincerity. While the authoritative contempt
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for established figures creates a clear hierarchy and gives the
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reader a reason to feel some intellectual pride.
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The message is simple, I'm humble and seeking truth so I
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must be correct. They are the bigoted short
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sighted past so they are contemptible.
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Exactly. The reader gets a choice between
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an enlightened, virtuous modernity represented by Doctor
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T and a dark, intellectually inferior past represented by the
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Church Fathers and Reformers. So he discredits them
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rhetorically. It sets the stage for accepting
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the new views. Not because the arguments are
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stronger. We haven't even seen them yet.
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But because the traditionalists have already been dismissed
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intellectually and morally. It effectively creates this
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false dichotomy. The new interpretation becomes
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the only intelligent, virtuous and, well, modern option.
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It's a framing technique. It's designed to bypass careful
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methodical thinking and appeal directly to a reader's sense of
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their own intellectual liberation.
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But even this, the sources say, is just the warm up act.
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That's right, the real tactical stroke is the calculated
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approach to the Apostle Paul himself now.
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We move from managing the perception of the new author.
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To managing the perception of the sacred text.
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This is the most critical section of the critique because
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it targets what it calls the a single most exceedingly specious
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tactical move. Specious.
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That's a keyword. It is.
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It means something that looks plausible on the surface, maybe
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even brilliant, but is fundamentally wrong or
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deceptive. And the tactic is.
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The strategic, almost over the top high praise directed toward
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the Apostle. Paul, And the reason it's so
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specious is because the praise itself is completely true, which
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makes the manipulation almost impossible to spot.
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Doctor T and his allies aren't fools.
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They know Paul was brilliant, so they justly catalog his
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qualities. They recognize his eminent
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genius, his admirable sagacity. Sagacity, meaning his sharp
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perception and good judgement. Right.
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And his strong powers of reasoning, his acquired
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learning. They describe him as a writer of
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masterly address, of extensive reach and deep design in every
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single word he says. And if you're a reader, you're
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nodding along. Yes, Paul was a genius.
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Yes, his reach was extensive. The praise has a plausible
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appearance of Christian zeal and devotion to Scripture.
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It looks like reverence. But the sources just show us the
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function that's hidden under all this praise.
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It isn't an end in itself. It's a rhetorical device.
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It's designed to subserve a purpose.
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A tool of misdirection. Wrapping A subversive idea in
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the language of theological difference, we have to ask the
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question, what is the specific purpose of elevating Paul to
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such an extreme level of intellectual esteem right before
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you introduce a novel interpretation?
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OK, help us see that connection. How does saying Paul is a genius
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become a way to reject what Paul plainly wrote?
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It creates this brilliant rhetorical leap.
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The high praise prepares in cautious readers to believe that
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because Paul was a man of no vulgar understanding, his
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meaning cannot possibly be simple.
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It must by necessity, lie very deep.
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If a writer has masterly address and deep design everywhere, then
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the most obvious surface level reading can't possibly capture
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his true intention. That surface reading must be
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only for the vulgar, for the common divines.
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So the logic becomes Paul is too smart for the common reader to
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understand. And since the common reader and
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the historical church they all see A, the true hidden meaning
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must be B. That is the crux of the master
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tactic. It's a calculated denial of
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clarity that's derived from acknowledged genius.
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It moves the argument from Paul wrote clearly about
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justification to this hidden proposition.
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Paul was too intelligent for his meaning to be understood clearly
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by the masses, especially on those complicated, peculiar
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doctrines. And this rhetorical preparation
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is critical. It is because it makes readers
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receptive to the idea that previous understandings of
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Paul's writings, the ones that seem perfectly plain for
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centuries, are inherently too shallow and therefore.
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Incorrect, they were missing. The deep design and once you
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plant. That seed, that the plain sense
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is only for the short sighted. The door just swings wide open.
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The new writers can. Then claim that they are the
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first ones capable of mining that previously hidden depth.
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They can usher in interpretations that, in the
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words of the source, lay entirely out of sight before
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this is so. Psychologically effective
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because it weaponizes the reader's own intellectual
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deference. That's it.
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A common reader looks at a passage in Romans or Galatians
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and sees justification by faith clearly taught.
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But now they're told Your deference to Paul's genius
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requires you to admit that your understanding is too vulgar, too
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superficial, to grasp the real meaning.
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So their. Intellectual piety toward Paul's
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status becomes the very. Mechanism that allows them to
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abandon the obvious sense of Paul's words they're being.
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Convinced to trade clarity for what they perceive as
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sophistication, it. Redefines what it means to be a
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faithful reader. Instead of seeking the plain
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sense, the reader is now trained to look for the hidden, the
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obscure, the subtle. And this is what?
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Makes the tactic so specious it uses a verifiable truth.
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Paul's brilliance as the bait for a colossal error.
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The denial. Of scriptural perspicuity, of
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clarity. And this isn't.
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Just some academic exercise? Not at all.
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The whole reason for this profound elevation of pulse
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complexity is to solve a doctrinal problem.
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If the plain meaning of Paul teaches original sin and
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justification by faith, and Doctor P rejects those doctrines
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he has to make. The plain meaning go away and
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the most. Respectable way to make it go
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away is to say the meaning is so deep it is eluded 1500 years of
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scholars. It stops the.
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Reader from just saying, but the text says a instead the.
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Reader now has to ask, what secret meaning does Paul, the
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man of masterly address, truly intend?
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And once that. Question is asked, the reader is
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already standing on Doctor TS ground, prepared to accept the
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novel answer. The battlefield shifts from what
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does Paul say to what can. Paul possibly mean If he's such
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a genius, it's a remarkable piece of rhetorical preparation.
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So. Doctor T has used the virtue
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veil to win trust content to discredit the opposition and
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strategic veneration of Paul to prime the reader for hidden
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meanings. Right.
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The next logical step in this whole strategy is to explain why
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this hidden meaning hasn't been discovered until now.
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Yes, this leads. Us into the coordinated strategy
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of insinuations they're used to elevate the new writers own
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discernment by systematically tearing down past theological
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authorities this is the crucial. Apologetic move, isn't it?
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If Paul's writings have this new deep meaning that lay out of
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sight, Doctor T has to provide a rock solid explanation for why
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no one from Augustan to the reformers saw it before.
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And the explanation. They provide focuses on 2
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points. It attacks both the competence
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and the environment of past divines.
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So what's the? First insinuation.
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Insinuation number. 1 is a Brad sweeping attack on competence.
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The first reformers and expositors for the previous 15
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or 1600 years were simply too unlearned and short sighted.
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That is an astonishing. Claim it is.
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It dismisses the entire historical Church from the
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Apostolic Fathers through the Reformation as intellectually
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deficient, not just mistaken on a point, but fundamentally
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incapable of understanding the main expositor of the New
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Testament and a claim. Like that is calculated to
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generate immediate intellectual pride in the modern reader, of
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course. If I, the reader, can see the
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new deep meaning that Augustine, Luther, and Calvin missed, I
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must be exceptionally brilliant adhering to.
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Doctor TS view becomes a sign of superior insight and
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intelligence. And then there's.
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Insinuation #2 This one addresses the character or maybe
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the circumstances of past authorities, which is the past
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divines were confined to a cave of bigotry and superstition.
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This prevented them from using their understanding freely.
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The implication is that even if they had the intellect, they
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lack the necessary light and liberty to read scripture
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impartially, so they were shackled.
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By dogma enslaved by systematic theology, afraid of dissenting
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from the consensus it sets up. This idea of theological
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emancipation, the new movement, casts itself as the Liberator,
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breaking the chains of tradition.
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But this attack? Gets much more specific than
18:50
just the Fathers in the church. The sources point out the
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explicit targeting of these consensus forming systematic
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bodies, and this is where. We really need to pause,
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especially given the historical context and the concerns of our
19:03
sources. The new writers suggest that the
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superficial observation of the herd of common divines such as
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the Westminster Assembly, falls vastly short of the apostles
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reach. Let's stop right there.
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The Westminster assembly Why is that such a specific and
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strategic target? Why not just target one person
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like Calvin? Because the Westminster.
19:25
Assembly represents the exact opposite of Doctor TS method.
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OK, it wasn't a body driven by some individual revolutionary
19:32
insight. It was a massive collective
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methodical effort that spanned years.
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It included some of the most learned scholars of the 17th
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century and their task. Was to synthesize and present
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the plainest of Scripture across the entire range of doctrines
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especially. The peculiar doctrines we
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mentioned earlier, their goal was clarity, system and
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corporate consensus based on what the text obviously says so
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to. Dismiss them as a herd of common
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divines whose observation is superficial is to claim.
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That the pinnacle of established corporate systematic theological
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reflection is irrelevant. If the assembly representing the
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best of the reformed mind was too short sighted and too
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bigoted, then any historical creed, confession or catechism
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loses its authority immediately. It makes the.
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Individual revolutionary insight of Doctor T appear to be the
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only viable theological path forward.
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So the critique. Isn't just about undermining the
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doctrine, it's about undermining the methodology of arriving at
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doctrine. They attack the communal,
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systematic, consensus driven process that produced the
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reformed standards, and they replace.
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It with the supposed singular genius of the modern liberated
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individual that is the core. Conflict.
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And once you've demolished the authority of the past and the
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tradition, it allows this new group to make their grand claim
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of superiority. What's the claim?
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They assert that they have risen up now at length, in this happy
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age of light and liberty, and they possess a more free and
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generous turn of mind, a more inquisitive genius, and better
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discernment. The implication?
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Is Clear History was a theological dark age and we, the
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modern thinkers reading are the first generation to be truly
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free. Yes.
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And these insinuations are calculated too.
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As the source says, palliate and recommend the most unreasonable
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and extravagant interpretations of Scripture.
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How does that work? If you can.
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Convince the reader that the 1st, 15th centuries were
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characterized by short sighted digitry.
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Then your novel interpretation, no matter how strange or
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contrary to the surface text, suddenly appears as enlightened,
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objective scholarship it becomes.
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The only way for the discerning reader to break free from The
21:40
Cave of orthodoxy and think about the.
21:42
Psychological effect For the reader who buys into this
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narrative, they don't just get a new doctrine, they get a new
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identity. They're no longer.
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Part of the short sighted prejudice heard of common
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divines. They become part.
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Of the liberated, insightful few, and that sense of
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intellectual iteration is often a much stronger motivator than
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the technical arguments themselves.
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This rhetorical. Strategy is so dangerous
22:04
because, as the source suggests, it allows the new writers to
22:07
justify almost any interpretation, no matter how
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remote it is from the text. They've secured the.
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Premise If the past was wrong, the only truth must be the new
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interpretation. Which brings us to.
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What this method actually does to the text they claim to
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Revere, right? We've seen the rhetorical
22:25
preparation, the virtue veil, the contempt, the tactical
22:28
praise. Now we have to look at the
22:30
exegetical result, the sources. Shift to a direct critique of
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the novel interpretations themselves.
22:37
They assert they are often extremely absurd in many things.
22:40
And demonstrably inconsistent with Paul's real design, with
22:44
the language he commonly uses, and with the overall doctrines
22:47
taught in his letters. The critique of.
22:48
Technique here is not just that the conclusions are wrong, no,
22:52
it's that the. Method used to get to them is
22:53
destructive. Doctor TS criticisms are and
22:57
this is a great line, far more subtle than solid, more subtle
23:00
than. Solid this excessive.
23:02
Subtlety is the operational art that allows them to take extreme
23:06
liberties with the text. It lets them override the
23:09
obvious sense in favor of a complex, layered, and often
23:13
self-serving meaning that conveniently avoids the
23:16
doctrines he dislikes. There's a big.
23:18
Difference between real theological depth and this kind
23:21
of destructive complexity a critical.
23:24
Difference genuine depth affirms the plain meaning, shows its
23:28
connection to the rest of scripture, and explores its
23:30
ramifications for life but this. Excessive subtlety.
23:34
It denies the. Plain meaning it finds
23:35
microscopic loopholes, maybe a specific word choice, an unusual
23:39
bit of syntax, or some obscure historical reference, and it
23:43
uses that tiny detail to contradict the overall thematic
23:46
thrust of the passage. It sounds like a.
23:47
Specialized tool for evasion, not explanation.
23:51
That's what it is. Academic sophistry, an art form
23:53
of making the simple complex, but for the purpose of denial
23:56
and the critique. Details the destructive effect
23:59
of this subtle methodological art.
24:01
It says the. Writers analyze the plainest and
24:03
most nervous discourse until it either dissolves into nothing or
24:06
becomes a thing of little significance.
24:08
Can you? Unpack nervous discourse for the
24:11
listener? Sure.
24:12
In this context, nervous doesn't mean anxious.
24:15
It's an older usage, meaning vigorous, strong or powerful,
24:19
full of sinew. So a.
24:21
Passage of Scripture, where the doctrinal statement is clear,
24:24
forceful, potent. A text that seems immune to
24:27
misinterpretation and to dissolve.
24:29
A nervous discourse is to rob it of its intrinsic force.
24:33
It's to render clear doctrinal statements meaningless, or
24:37
reduce them to these vague, noncommittal moral generalities
24:41
that almost any philosopher could agree with.
24:43
So if a text. Strongly states that
24:45
justification comes through faith.
24:46
Apart from works, this subtle method analyzes it until that
24:50
statement just means something trivial, something like it's.
24:52
Nice to have faith and also good to have works.
24:54
Or Paul was only arguing against ceremonial Jewish laws, not
24:58
genuine moral effort. The force is gone, the source
25:02
says. That nothing seems strong enough
25:03
or perspicuous enough to withstand these kinds of
25:06
liberties. And that's the.
25:07
Crucial observation about the methodology.
25:10
If a critical art can be applied universally to make any text
25:14
mean something foreign to its obvious sense, then the problem
25:17
is with the method, not the text.
25:20
It means language. Itself is losing its commutative
25:22
ability under this kind of relentless, subtle critique.
25:27
If Paul. 'S writings, which are the most
25:29
systematic, can be rendered useless for establishing fixed
25:32
doctrine. What hope is there for the rest
25:35
of Scripture and that leads? Right into the concluding
25:37
metaphor used in the critique, which is very powerful.
25:40
It is. Through this subtle technique,
25:42
the Holy Scripture is subtle eyes into a mere mist, or made
25:46
to evaporate into a thin cloud that can easily be shaped just
25:50
as the manager pleases. That metaphor.
25:52
Is chilling. It perfectly captures the
25:54
consequence for the authority of God's revelation.
25:57
A mist is. Formless.
25:59
It lacks clarity. The doctrine might still be
26:01
there, sort of dissolved in the atmosphere of the text, but it's
26:04
ungraspable. It's shapeless and if scripture.
26:06
Becomes a thin cloud. It has no weight, no fixed
26:09
direction it can be moved. By the puff of wind of the
26:13
latest intellectual fad, or by the will of the interpreter, the
26:17
manager, the certainty of the revealed word is replaced by the
26:20
arbitrary opinion of the exegete.
26:23
This shows. How the new methodology
26:25
effectively abates the force and prevents the due effect of the
26:29
clearest scripture evidences that support those peculiar
26:32
doctrines of Christianity. They don't just.
26:34
Reinterpret the doctrines. They destroy the clarity
26:37
necessary for the doctrines to be affirmed by the common
26:40
reader. The attack moves from
26:42
questioning content to destroying clarity.
26:44
And that makes. The Bible unusable for
26:46
establishing fixed certain belief, and it leaves.
26:49
The reader entirely dependent on the better discernment of the
26:52
new masters and that level. Of dependency is exactly what
26:55
the entire rhetorical strategy was designed to achieve from the
26:58
start, yes. So this deep dive into the
27:01
historical critique of Doctor T shows that theological
27:05
opposition often relies very heavily on tactics besides
27:08
arguments and for the listener. Who's trying to remain grounded
27:11
in a clear scriptural understanding?
27:13
These tactics are worth identifying and studying because
27:16
they're used. Today, just as much as they were
27:17
centuries ago, we saw. A clear sequence of strategic
27:21
manipulation. First.
27:23
The virtue veil to establish trust 2nd.
27:26
Contempt for tradition to clear the historical field and grant
27:29
the reader a sense of intellectual superiority.
27:32
Third. The strategic veneration of the
27:34
Apostle Paul, which primes the reader to believe that the plain
27:38
meaning must be superficial and. Finally, the use of excessive
27:42
subtlety to dissolve powerful clear doctrines into a near
27:46
mist. Primary danger that's exposed
27:49
here is the reader's vulnerability, the listener.
27:51
Is extremely vulnerable to what the source calls delusive
27:54
appearances if they are unwary, incautious, or just lack of
27:58
leisure and time to thoroughly examine complex material.
28:02
This really? Stresses the ongoing need for
28:03
vigilance, for a healthy skepticism toward intellectual
28:07
elitism, and for a settled reliance on the clearest,
28:10
plainest understanding of a core scriptural doctrines.
28:13
If an. Interpretation requires you to
28:14
believe that the previous 15 centuries of careful corporate
28:18
scholarship, like the work of the Westminster Assembly,
28:21
misunderstood a text that seems plain on its surface then.
28:24
Extraordinary scrutiny of the new method is required the.
28:27
Critique we've been looking at asserts that the true gospel of
28:30
Christ will finally be victorious.
28:33
The authors of the critique held a very strong conviction that
28:35
God's Word, once it goes out of his mouth, shall not return to
28:39
him void, but shall accomplish that which he pleaseth.
28:42
So here's a final thought to consider as you reflect on this
28:45
material. The certainty of that divine
28:47
promise that the written Word is efficacious and will prosper and
28:51
accomplish God's purpose, that informs how we should approach
28:54
arguments that seek to turn clear written doctrine into a
28:59
mere mist if the Word. Is guaranteed to accomplish
29:02
God's purpose. What does that say about the
29:04
ultimate futility of techniques designed just to dissolve its
29:07
clarity and prevent its due effect?
29:09
The clarity. May be obscured for a time by
29:12
subtle art, but the truth itself must ultimately prevail.
29:15
What does that faith in the words efficacy mean for your
29:18
current reading habits?