How should a local church make use of their confession of faith?

In this post for @BrokenWharfe, I gave at least 5 ways confessions are useful in the church.🧵

https://twitter.com/ibcsac/status/1962705729074385366

2/ As an interpretive starting point for reading the Bible.

If Scripture interprets Scripture (and it does!), a confession helps to articulate “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27) that is to be kept in mind while reading any given passage.

What can we conclude about the history of infant baptism and the early church?

The detailed study of historians David Wright and Everett Ferguson lead to at least the following 10 conclusions.🧵 2/ The biblical paradigm for baptism in the early church was Jesus' baptism, not the apostolic pattern in Acts.

Jesus never commanded the baptism of infants and His blessing of children (Mk 10:13-16) was not used as a prooftext for paedobaptism until the 7th or 8th centuries.

What’s wrong with biblicism?🧵

Dr. Renihan argues: "[Biblicism] is based upon a form of personal independence, or even self-confidence. Doesn’t it ever cross anyone’s mind that they aren’t necessarily the wisest theologian, the best exegete?" sermonaudio.com/sermons/221514… 2/ Graham Shearer identifies its corrosive scepticism:

"... biblicism is an acid in which no aspect of Christian orthodoxy, whether ethical or doctrinal, can long survive. This is because at the heart of biblicism is scepticism.” gjshearer.com/2020/01/30/the…

Was Cornelius Van Til’s teaching on the Trinity consistent with the creeds?🧵

“Van Til may affirm traditional creedal formulas, but he also promotes erroneous formulations that conflict with both the ecumenical creeds and Reformed confessions when he writes… 2/ “e.g., ‘We speak of God as a person; yet we speak also of three persons in the Godhead.... God is a one-conscious being, and yet he is also a tri-conscious being’ [Introduction to Systematic Theology, 220].

Francis Turretin on Mary as Theotokos, “Mother of God.”🧵

“Mary is rightly called the Mother of God (theotokos) in the concrete and specifically because she brought forth him who is also God, but not in the abstract and reduplicatively as God. 2/ “Although this is not expressly stated in the Scriptures, still it is sufficiently intimated when she is called the mother of the Lord (Lk. 1:43) and the mother of Immanuel. If the blessed virgin brought nothing to the person of the Logos (Logou) absolutely considered,

Cyril of Jerusalem on the witnesses to the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:5-8🧵

“‘He appeared to Cephas; and after that to the twelve’ [v. 5]. So if you disbelieve one witness, you have twelve witnesses. 2/ “‘Then he was seen by more than five hundred people at once’ [v. 6]—if they disbelieve the twelve, then listen to the five hundred. ‘After that he was seen by James’ [v. 7], his own brother and the first overseer of this [Jerusalem] diocese.

We must not say the Son left heaven in the incarnation.🧵

Christ's natures are "without conversion, composition, or confusion" (2LCF 8.2). So when the Son assumed humanity, it didn't change the divine nature. If it had, it wouldn't have been an incarnation (nor would He be God).

https://twitter.com/albertmohler/status/1903076793432805609

2/ "... even while he was in the bosom of the virgin that bore him, as God he filled the whole of creation and was fellow ruler with him who begot him. For the divine is without quantity and dimension and cannot be subject to circumscription."

-Cyril of Alexandria

George Swinnock on what we give to God when we give our praises.🧵

“God is also above our praises and blessings. What does a fountain gain if people drink its water and commend it rather than despise it? “What would God gain if He were to make millions of worlds to magnify Him? What would God lose if there were no world at all?

‘Who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?’ (Rom. 11:35). /2

What is "biblicism"? 🧵

D.B. Riker may define it best:

“...biblicism is the rejection of everything not explicitly stated in the Bible, and the concomitant dismissal of all non-biblical witnesses (Fathers, Creeds, Medieval Doctors, councils, etc.)." amazon.com/Catholic-Refor… 2/ In this helpful lecture, Renihan builds on Riker:

"[Biblicism] is based upon a form of personal independence, or even self-confidence. Doesn’t it ever cross anyone’s mind that they aren’t necessarily the wisest theologian, the best exegete?" sermonaudio.com/sermons/221514…

I’m glad the ESV is returning to a proper translation of Gen 3:16, “Your desire shall be *for* your husband.” 🧵

“For” is the best rendering of the Hebrew preposition (אל) there and in the parallel in 4:7 - the reading of sin’s desire “is contrary to you” was a bit nonsensical. 2/ In fact, I think the parallel between Gen 3:16 & 4:7 is often misread, that is, it’s read backwards.

In 4:7, God is referring back to the nature of marriage in 3:16 to give Cain an analogy for the nature of sin - he is “married” to it.

Here are some helps to better understand what it means to be confessional. 🧵

I usually recommend this stack of suggested reads - perhaps read in this order: Parsons, Fesko, Trueman, Renihan, Holcomb, Mathison, Fairbairn & Reeves, Hall.

https://twitter.com/stevemeistervdm/status/1890493255575543983

In ‘23, I joined @Petty_France and Jim Renihan of @IRBS_1689 on “Confessing the Faith” at #VictoryCon2023.

In my two talks, I addressed these questions:

“Is There a Biblical Precedent for Confessionalism?”

“Do Confessions Undermine Sola Scriptura?” sermonaudio.com/series/180500

1/ As news spreads of another well-known preacher who is morally disqualified, Christians may be tempted toward cynicism of all pastors. It can help them to understand just how atypical the celebrity conference speaker is. 2/ It's not true of them all, but many are manufactured media personalities, no different from celebrities in film or music. Their books are ghostwritten, their constant platforming is not earned by observable competence, but backroom croneyism and the crowds they draw, and...

Pastors, don’t miss the @CenterClassical Q&A on how the doctrine of God matters for our ministry today.

Good example from @MattMBarrett [at 24:50]:

“Our doctrine of God extends to every facet of the Christian faith in some way, shape, or form…. 🧵
“How do we apply the doctrine of God to the current crisis in anthropology? In one sense, it’s quite easy, God is His essence.

Good discussion on the incarnation at @CredoMagazine. This explanation by Legge was clear. 🧵

“In His divinity, the person of the Son doesn’t change, God as a whole doesn’t change. Creation doesn’t involve any changing in God.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cre… “The change is entirely on the side of the creatures, in the created realm. But what does happen is that some creature now is related to the person of the Son in a new way, in a way that’s ontologically dependent from the side of the creature back to the person of the Son.

At our Mens' Fellowship at @IBCSac last night, we had about 30 brothers discussing Peter Sanlon's Simply God. It was a small moment of perspective for me as I was frankly surprised by how conversant the men have become on classical, confessional categories. 🧵 They were ably discussing the Creator-creature distinction, divine aseity & simplicity, Triunity and the eternal relations of origin, so that they could engage reflections by Augustine and Richard of St. Victor on divine love. It was wonderful.

The growing number of pastoral intern programs in churches is a great thing. For too long, churches have abdicated their responsibility (I've written on this at the link).

However there are some cautions for pastors and churches as they train🧵
tabletalkmagazine.com/posts/the-nece… 1. Patience and time matter. Never neglect the scriptural warning, "Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands" (1 Tim 5:22). Remember it's possible to thrust a young Christian into a place that his pride cannot bear (1 Tim 3:6).

Timothy Ward on the hidden traditions and popes in communities holding to “Tradition 0” (ie, naive biblicism). 🧵

“Everyone who reads the Bible does so with a set of expectations and assumptions, some consciously held and some subconscious, that have been handed on to them. “It is dangerous, of course, if these are misleading expectations and assumptions. What is often equally dangerous is to deny that one has them at all.

Nothing is more essential than a theologically literate people.🧵

“We too often assume potential church members already know the fundamentals of their faith, whereas in reality they are usually incapable of explaining the basics of ‘the pattern of sound teaching’ (2 Tim. 1:13). “This need for equipping cannot be displaced in favor of simply giving one's own testimony any more than to say a personal experience of the faith can be substituted for a reasonable grasp of that faith.

“God is the Head of Christ [1 Cor 11:3], not in respect of his essence and Divine nature, but in respect of his office as Mediator.”

- Matthew Poole “Christ, as God, is equal to his Father, and is possessed of the same divine perfections with him; nor is his Father the head of him, in that sense; but as to his human nature, which he formed, prepared, anointed, upheld, and glorified”

- John Gill (on 1 Cor 11:3)

One of the most grievous aspects of disorderly and divisive conduct in churches is how much pastoral time, attention, and energy it consumes.

David Garland’s comments on 2 Cor 2:13, “my spirit was not at rest,” are apt. 🧵 “Most ministers know firsthand that the demands and pressures of the ministry can pull them in different directions. Thus they may sympathize with Paul, who could not put his distress about Titus and the Corinthians out of his mind.

The Lord Jesus raised Himself by His own divine power. “… in three days I will raise it up.’” (Jn 2:19)

“… I have authority to take it up again” (Jn 10:18)

“… declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness [ie, “a spirit of holiness,” referring to His holy, divine nature] (Rom 1:4).