The Personal Website of Christopher Brown
Defining Incomprehensibility Incomprehensibility is that theological concept that, negatively, means what cannot be known of God, and, positively, means that only particulars can be known of God without fully circumscribing the entirety of Him. I don’t want to commit an etymological fallacy, by any means, but I’ll just mention that the Latin form had connotations…
“But before the foundation of the world were we, who, because destined to be in Him, pre-existed in the eye of God before, —we the rational creatures of the Word of God, on whose account we date from the beginning; for ‘in the beginning was the Word.’” -Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Heathen
How did Christ atone for His People? Protestant Theologians debate whether it was in an Equivalent or Exact Sense: Equivalent: “Not indefinite as to the duration, still…equivalent as to the value on account of the Person suffering.” -Turretin Exact: “Christ “made satisfaction by undergoing the same punishment…they themselves were bound to undergo…essentially the same in…
“The Son’s sponsio was not an expromissio (surety) [disagreeing with Berkhof], such that the guilt of sin was transferred without further ado from the elect to the Son and they had already become guiltfree through the pact itself. Rather it was a real fideiussio (bail), a guarantee which was already effective from the start, even…
We’ve been working through 1 Corinthians in our evening sermon series at my Church. I’m thinking back through a previous passage I preached on, and ran across this quote by Calvin. It is really excellent, and so I thought I’d put it up here. The natural arts and all the sciences by which wisdom is…
What does the Geneva Bible have to say about the relation of Church and State?
He Died for Me: Limited Atonement & the Universal Gospel by Jeffrey D. Johnson My rating: 3 of 5 stars One of the more complex works on inter-Calvinistic debates that I have read. This book would be helped by further editing and formatting, as well as more explanation with less subdivisions. It would also be…
Compel Them to Come in: Calvinism and the Free Offer of the Gospel by Donald MacLeod My rating: 4 of 5 stars MacLeod’s new work echoes much of what is said in Murray’s much-shorter work, albeit in a more readable format. It has an interesting structure, addressing divine sincerity in the middle of the book…
Richard Baxter: 400 Years Later, Still a Model Pastor
I am a conservative Protestant, but I follow a good number of blogs by Roman Catholics, liberal Protestants, and a number of other people as well. Recently, though, I’ve noticed two major ideas that have been the subject of repeated and sustained attack. From the Roman Catholic blogs, I’ve seen a continued critique of the…