A Hot Pepper Corn: Richard Baxter’s Doctrine of Justification in Its Seventeenth-Century Context of Controversy by Hans Boersma

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A difficult yet rewarding read about the unique views of Richard Baxter regarding justification. Baxter’s controversies with John Owen are set within their appropriate historical context, and due diligence is paid to Baxter’s well-meaning intent in rejecting the High Calvinist doctrine of eternal justification. Boersma gets to the heart of the matter when he suggests that Baxter’s two-fold view of the will of God is at the essence of his alternate understanding. The author comprehensively traces Baxter’s two-fold understanding as derived from Twisse, as developed in regards to God’s will (will of favor, will of law), Christ’s two-fold acquisition (new law of ownership, new law of command), and the believer’s two-fold justification (personal and universal righteousness).



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