Reformed Churchmen

We are Confessional Calvinists and a Prayer Book Church-people. In 2012, we remembered the 350th anniversary of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer; also, we remembered the 450th anniversary of John Jewel's sober, scholarly, and Reformed "An Apology of the Church of England." In 2013, we remembered the publication of the "Heidelberg Catechism" and the influence of Reformed theologians in England, including Heinrich Bullinger's Decades. For 2014: Tyndale's NT translation. For 2015, John Roger, Rowland Taylor and Bishop John Hooper's martyrdom, burned at the stakes. Books of the month. December 2014: Alan Jacob's "Book of Common Prayer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Common-Prayer-Biography-Religious/dp/0691154813/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417814005&sr=8-1&keywords=jacobs+book+of+common+prayer. January 2015: A.F. Pollard's "Thomas Cranmer and the English Reformation: 1489-1556" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-English-Reformation-1489-1556/dp/1592448658/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420055574&sr=8-1&keywords=A.F.+Pollard+Cranmer. February 2015: Jaspar Ridley's "Thomas Cranmer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-Jasper-Ridley/dp/0198212879/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422892154&sr=8-1&keywords=jasper+ridley+cranmer&pebp=1422892151110&peasin=198212879

Friday, February 21, 2014

Prof. Gerald Bray's "Faith We Confess: 39 Articles:" (18) Obtaining Eternal Salvation Only By Christ

Bray, Gerald. The Faith We Confess: An Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles. London: Latimer Press, 2009.

This 229-page volume is meekly serviceable to get oriented, briefly, to the Thirty-nine Articles. We’ve been told it has been helpful to the Evangelical variety in the Church of England (whatever that means or is...Mr. Welby is called an "evangelical"). Prof. Bray does a lot of fly-overs. The volume is available at:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Faith-Confess-Exposition-Thirty-Nine/dp/0946307849/ref=pd_sim_b_2

"XVIII. Of obtaining eternal Salvation only by the Name of Christ.

"They also are to be had accursed that presume to say, That every man shall be saved by the Law or Sect which he professeth, so that he be diligent to frame his life according to that Law, and the light of Nature. For Holy Scripture doth set out unto us only the Name of Jesus Christ, whereby men must be saved."

We get 3 pages.

Of note, the term “accursed,” a term that has long left the Church of England in their effort at “being nice.” Modern Episcopo-Anglicoes choke here. So do many others. Nice, middle-class folks can hardly believe the term “accursed” for things they believe—God will grade on a curve and, by all means, such law-abiding chaps will never find themselves "accursed." Horrors no! The 1994 Romanist CCC affirmed precisely the opposite of Article XVIII. If Mr. Welby genuinely believed this, this would be on his radar screen in visits to Rome—it won’t be on his radar screen. (We’ll need to track the CCC reference, but we know it’s there.)  The ecumenists can bring this up at their next effort at paper-over-the-cracks-chat.

Not just the exclusivity of Christ alone as the Savior, but this also—collaterally—rules out justification by any works of the law, noted earlier in Article XI—Justification—as well as the Homily on Salvation. 

 
Sorry, unbelieving Jews, Muslims and others. Acts 4.12 obtains. We would add that Mr. (Bp.) JC Ryle long noted this issue in his Gospels. Bp. Ryle was at frequent pains on this point. It is not—repeat, not—a mistake that (Evangelical) Anglicans (and other groups) engaged in theological missions. As a result, we have African Anglicans that uphold the Thirty-nine Articles. As for the West, we’ve had enough bites on the apple.

Prof. Bray enjoins the missionary principle of the need to preach far and wide. 





As usual, Prof. Bray gives a minimalist bibliography. We genuinely wish he would issue another edition with 3-4 pages of a working bibliography. (BTW, he is a double predestinarian and holds to definite atonement.)

 Baker, David W., ed. Biblical Faith and Other Religions: An Evangelical Assessment. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 2004. Article XVIII.
http://www.amazon.com/Biblical-Faith-And-Other-Religions/dp/0825420261/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393025308&sr=8-1&keywords=baker+biblical+faith+and+other+religions

Morgan, C. W. and R.A. Peterson. Faith Comes By Hearing: A Response to Inclusivism. Nottingham: IVP, 2008. Article XVIII.



Some reviews.


"Meticulously crisscrossing the arena of recent evangelical debate, these essays make a compelling case against Christian hypotheses of salvation for some apart from faith in Christ. This is the book against which self-styled inclusivists will henceforth have to argue." (J. I. Packer, Regent College)

"Is personal faith in Jesus Christ the only way of salvation, and what does this mean for this mission of the church in the twenty-first century? No two questions are more urgent on the evangelical agenda today, and this book deals honestly and forthrightly with both of them. A superb collection of essays reflecting biblical wisdom and churchly theology in the service of the gospel." (Timothy George, founding dean, Beeson Divinity School, Samford University, and senior editor, Christianity Today)

"The fate of those who have never heard the gospel is one of the great mysteries of our faith. Christians have long speculated about whether and how God may have spoken to those who have not been exposed to the church's preaching of salvation through Christ alone. This book deals respectfully with the different views of the subject which are found among evangelical believers while seeking to remain faithful to the teaching of Jesus himself. It is a model of how we should discuss such a delicate matter and come to a decision which upholds the uniqueness of the one and only Savior of mankind." (Gerald Bray, Research Professor, Beeson Divinity School)
http://www.amazon.com/Faith-Comes-Hearing-Response-Inclusivism/dp/0830825908/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393025396&sr=8-1&keywords=morgan+faith+comes+by+hearing

Muck, T.C. Christianity Encountering World Religions: The Practice of Missions in the Twenty-first Century. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2009.
http://www.amazon.com/Christianity-Encountering-World-Religions-Twenty-first/dp/0801026601/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393025644&sr=8-1&keywords=muck+christianity+encountering+world+religions


In Lent 2014, we bring this (although a good pipe organ needs to interpret this).  Christ alone, the only name by which anyone may be justified, liberated and brought into the Light and Love of God.


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