A Baptist study on the Westminster Larger Catechism, Question 40, held at the Old Paths Christian Church on 6 January 2020. Topics include Christology and the Trinity; ancient creeds and councils; Nestorianism and other ancient heresies; Greek philosophy, essentialism, realism, metaphysics and existence; Roman Catholic teaching; the problem of the one and the many; and more!

Q. 40. Why was it requisite that the Mediator should be God and man in one person? 

A. It was requisite that the Mediator, who was to reconcile God and man, should himself be both God and man, and this in one person, that the proper works of each nature might be accepted of God for us,t and relied on by us, as the works of the whole person.u

(t) Matt 1:21,23; Matt 3:17; Heb 9:14
(u) 1 Pet 2:6

Resources

+https://www.chapellibrary.org/book/lbcw/the-london-baptist-confession-of-faith-of-1689-with-preface-baptist-catechism-and-appendix-on-baptism

+https://reformedbrotherhood.com/trb-113-nestorianism/

“Human nature, therefore, although endowed with intelligence and will, may be, and in fact is, in the person of Christ impersonal. That it is so is the plain doctrine of Scripture, for the Son of God, a divine person, assumed a perfect human nature, and, nevertheless, remains one person.” (Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, https://www.ccel.org/ccel/hodge/theology2.html)

+Bruce Shelley, Church History in Plain Language, Fourth Edition Zondervan Academic, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GCG55EM/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_awdb_t1_x_V8cfEbQNFNPY7

+J.N.D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines: Revised Edition, https://www.amazon.com/dp/006064334X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_YBnNEbZ1WRQ8W

Roger Olson, The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition & Reform, https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/372001517

+The Distinctiveness of Baptist Covenant Theology: A Comparison Between Seventeenth-Century Particular Baptist and Paedobaptist Federalism [Revised Edition] by Pascal Denault, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23827777

+Gordon H. Clark, “Atheism,” http://www.trinityfoundation.org/journal.php?id=50

+Gordon H. Clark, The Trinity, http://www.trinitylectures.org/trinity-the-p-78.html; and The Incarnation, http://www.trinitylectures.org/incarnation-the-p-92.html

A Baptist study on the Westminster Larger Catechism, Question 39, held at the Old Paths Christian Church on 30 December 2019. We covered a myriad of topics including Christology, salvation, Covenant Theology, Dispensationalism, Adam and Even, Moral Law, the Covenant of Works and the works principle, the law/gospel distinction, final judgment, sanctification, the flesh, and more!

Q. 39. Why was it requisite that the Mediator should be man?

A. It was requisite that the Mediator should be man, that he might advance our nature,n perform obedience to the law,o suffer and make intercession for us in our nature,p have a fellow feeling of our infirmities;q that we might receive the adoption of sons,r and have comfort and access with boldness unto the throne of grace.s

(n) Heb 2:16; 2 Pet 1:4
(o) Gal 4:4; Matt 5:17; Rom 5:19; Phil 2:8
(p) Heb 2:14; Heb 7:24-25
(q) Heb 4:15
(r) Gal 4:5
(s) Heb 4:16

Resources

+https://www.apuritansmind.com/westminster-standards/larger-catechism/

+https://www.chapellibrary.org/book/lbcw/the-london-baptist-confession-of-faith-of-1689-with-preface-baptist-catechism-and-appendix-on-baptism

+Carlos Montijo and Tim Shaughnessy, “SRR 85 The Covenant of Works & New Covenant Theology, Part I,” Semper Reformanda Radio, https://thorncrownministries.com/srr/2018/6/24/srr-85-the-covenant-of-works-new-covenant-theology-part-1.

+____“SRR 86 The Covenant of Works & New Covenant Theology, Part II,” https://thorncrownministries.com/srr/2018/7/15/srr-86-a-biblical-defense-for-the-covenant-of-works-part-2.

+Carlos Montijo, “When Protestants Err on the Side of Rome: John Piper, “Final Salvation,” and the Decline and Fall of Sola Fide at the Last Day,” https://thorncrownministries.com/blog/2018/5/6/john-piper-final-salvation-and-the-decline-and-fall-of-sola-fide-part-i

+https://thorncrownministries.com/blog/2017/03/22/semper-reformanda-radio-new-covenant-theology-playlist-resources

+Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will, https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/254994425

+Paul Washer, “Being What You Are: Having Too Low a View of Regeneration - Romans 6,” https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=428082310290

+The Distinctiveness of Baptist Covenant Theology: A Comparison Between Seventeenth-Century Particular Baptist and Paedobaptist Federalism [Revised Edition] by Pascal Denault, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23827777

+Hodge's Commentary on Romans 5, http://www.reformed.org/books/romans/rom_5b_hodge.html

+Richard Barcellos, Getting the Garden Right, https://press.founders.org/shop/getting-the-garden-right/

In this episode we analyze the conversion testimony of Taylor Marshall, former Presbyterian turned Anglican turned Roman Catholic. We first look at the historical viability of his personal interpretation of Matthew 16:18, and then examine his criticisms of what are ostensibly Protestant practices regarding the Lord’s Supper, and his desire to return to the ancient liturgy of the apostolic church. What we discover in the the ancient church, however, is an essentially Protestant approach to Matthew 16:18 and the Lord’s Supper, and thus, Taylor Marshall is left appealing to late-4th, 5th, 6th, 11th and 13th century novelties in order to justify the “apostolicity” of his novel Roman Catholic religion.

Episode notes:

My Canterbury Trail to Rome (My Conversion from the Anglican Priesthood to Catholicism)

Did the Church Fathers Practice Communion in the Hand? (Not Exactly)

Liturgical Abuse in the Novus Ordo Mass [Podcast]

Nicæa and the Roman Precedent

Recovering Irenæus

The Great Write-in Write-out Campaign

In this episode, we analyze the conversion testimonies of Jeff Cavins, former nondenominational pastor who reverted back to Roman Catholicism, and Dr. Joseph Johnson, a former Presbyterian minister. Both men related a dramatic experience with the Eucharist, each thinking that he had encountered an ancient apostolic truth. Neither realized that the “ancient apostolic” liturgy he encountered was actually a novelty of the latter part of the fourth century, and some of the “ancient” practices Jeff Cavins rediscovered actually originated in the 5th and 11th centuries. In both cases, they thought they were returning to the teachings of the early church fathers, and believed that by becoming Roman Catholics, they were finally “deep in history.” As we point out in this episode, both were still quite shallow in their knowledge of history—which is a prerequisite for converting to Rome.