Reformed Forum

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Christianity and Liberalism: God and Man Mar 10, 2023

Show notes

This is the 100th anniversary of the publication of J. Gresham Machen’s book, Christianity and Liberalism. Danny Olinger and Camden Bucey speak with Lane Tipton about the third chapter of Machen’s classic, which addresses the relationship between God and man.

In this chapter Machen responds to the theological views of Schleiermacher and Von Harnack, which focus on religious experience rather than God’s supernatural acts in history. Machen argues that the doctrine of God and man revealed in Scripture is the basis for the gospel. It forms the presuppositional substructure of Christianity, to which modern liberalism is diametrically opposed. He affirms a natural knowledge of God in conscience and history. Jesus’ use of the words of prophets and psalmists reveals the character of God and gives significance to the Old Testament heritage of Jesus’ teaching. Machen envisions this revealed theology as the “root of Christianity,” not a natural religion, and one that rests on the teaching of the Old Testament as interpreted by Jesus Christ and his apostles.

Chapters

00:00:07 Introduction
00:07:34 Machen and the Shorter Catechism
00:12:12 Schleiermacher and Von Harnack
00:30:15 Liberalism, Barthianism, and Knowing God
00:35:49 The Universal Fatherhood of God and the Universal Brotherhood of Man
00:44:54 The Problem with Liberalism’s Doctrine of God
00:53:00 Machen Considered Liberalism as Pantheistic
01:02:08 Christian Experience with the Living God
01:08:07 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Danny Olinger, Lane G. Tipton

Mentioned in this episode:

Christ the Center 1000

Christ the Center 1000 Summit

Christ the Center 1000 Live in Austin, TX

Christ the Center 1000 Summit

[2 Peter] End-Time Enemies along the Path (1): Foretelling Their Doom (2:1–10a) Mar 06, 2023

Show notes

This episode is a lesson from Exploring 2 Peter: The Promise and the Path, a course taught by Daniel Ragusa.

Daniel Ragusa is the pastor of Messiah's Reformed Fellowship (URCNA) in New York City. He received his M.Div. from Mid-America Reformed Seminary and is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Westminster Theological Seminary.

In this course, Rev. Ragusa explores 2 Peter with special attention to Peter's use of redemptive history in his depiction and defense of the Christian life as oriented toward Christ and the future. By the righteousness of Jesus Christ, we have embarked on an eschatological pilgrimage down a path out of this world (1:4) and into his eternal kingdom (1:11).

But along the path are cunning enemies, scoffers and mockers, who would cause us to turn back in unbelief, misattributing eternity to the present world order rather than to the kingdom (3:4).

Alert to this danger, Peter mounts a defense that will endure these "last days" (3:3) in which we find ourselves by reminding the church of Christ's promise to come again in power with new heavens and a new earth—a promise given long ago through the prophet Isaiah (1:4; 3:13) but now more fully confirmed by the corroborating witness of the apostles (1:19; 3:1–2).

Peter exhorts the church not to overlook the Holy Spirit-inspired history of special revelation as it foreshadows this coming reality (1:21), including Noah and the flood (2:5), Lot and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (2:6–8), the restraint of Balaam (2:15–16), the approaching Day of the Lord (3:11), and even the transfiguration of Jesus Christ on the mountain as a witness to his royal sonship (1:17–18).

This course will demonstrate what Geerhardus Vos meant when he said, "The Bible is not a dogmatic handbook but a historical book full of dramatic interest." It will also explain the typological use of the Old Testament. Finally, it will shape and transform us as our minds are set on the eternal kingdom—where Jesus is and so our hearts too.

Video lessons and supporting course materials are available at https://reformedforum.org/courses/exploring-2-peter-the-promise-and-the-path/

Mentioned in this episode:

Christ the Center 1000

Christianity and Liberalism: Doctrine Mar 03, 2023

Show notes

This is the 100th anniversary of the publication of J. Gresham Machen’s book, Christianity and Liberalism. Danny Olinger and Camden Bucey welcome D. G. Hart to discuss the second chapter of Machen’s classic, which addresses doctrine. The heart of the matter is that Christianity is a supernatural religion built on the fact that Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, accomplished redemption for his people in history. Machen understood that both are essential: the supernatural and the fact that it occurs in history. Machen wrote:

But if any one fact is clear, on the basis of this evidence, it is that the Christian movement at its inception was not just a way of life in the modern sense, but a way of life founded upon a message. It was based, not upon mere feeling, not upon a mere program of work, but upon an account of facts. In other words it was based upon doctrine (Machen, Christianity and Liberalism, 20).

And from the beginning, the meaning of the happening was set forth; and when the meaning of the happening was set forth then there was Christian doctrine. “Christ died”—that is history; “Christ died for our sins”—that is doctrine. Without these two elements, joined in an absolutely indissoluble union, there is no Christianity (Machen, Christianity and Liberalism, 27).

Links

OPC Ruling Elder podcast
D. G. Hart, Machen and the Presbyterian Controversy (YouTube playlist)
D. G. Hart, Machen’s Christianity and Liberalism (Christ the Center, episode 609)
Audio version of Christianity and Liberalism, chapter 2

Participants: Camden Bucey, Danny Olinger, Darryl G. Hart

Mentioned in this episode:

Christ the Center 1000

Christ the Center 1000 Summit

Christ the Center 1000 Live in Austin, TX

Christ the Center 1000 Summit

Ephesians 1:11–14 — The Believer’s Inheritance Mar 01, 2023

Show notes

In Eph 1:11–14 the Apostle Paul describes the glorious heavenly inheritance of the Christian. He seeks to encourage the Ephesian Christians—many of whom had given up earthly glory—by reminding them of an even greater glory in Christ. May Paul’s words be a wonderful encouragement to the church today!

Participants: Jim Cassidy, Mark A. Winder, Robert Arendale

Summary of Christian Doctrine: Man in the State of Sin Mar 01, 2023

Show notes

This week on Theology Simply Profound, Rob and Bob discuss Louis Berkhof’s little book, Summary of Christian Doctrine. We come to the third section of this book entitled, “The Doctrine of Man in Relation to God.” Chapter 12 of this third section brings us to a discussion of “Man in the State of Sin,” including topics like the origin of sin, the nature of sin, and the connection between Adam’s and that of his natural descendants.

Participants: Rob McKenzie, Robert Tarullo

[2 Peter] The Path Illumined (2): A Lamp in the Darkness (1:19–21) Feb 27, 2023

Show notes

This episode is a lesson from Exploring 2 Peter: The Promise and the Path, a course taught by Daniel Ragusa.

But along the path are cunning enemies, scoffers and mockers, who would cause us to turn back in unbelief, misattributing eternity to the present world order rather than to the kingdom (3:4).

Video lessons and supporting course materials are available at https://reformedforum.org/courses/exploring-2-peter-the-promise-and-the-path/

Mentioned in this episode:

Christ the Center 1000

Van Til, Barth and Bridging Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy Feb 24, 2023

Show notes

On the heels of teaching a course on Cornelius Van Til’s interpretation of the theology of Karl Barth, Lane Tipton speaks with Camden Bucey about Barth’s theology and the surprising architectonic similarities with features of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.

Chapters

00:00:07 Introduction
00:11:59 Van Til and Barth
00:15:16 Including Barth in an Apologetics Curriculum
00:22:00 Learning More about Barth This Time Around
00:29:52 Ecumenical Possibilities between Barth and Post-Vatican II Catholicism
00:47:15 Definitional vs. Systemic Agreement on Justification and Thomas Aquinas
00:55:16 Wood, The Whole Mystery of Christ: Creation as Incarnation in Maximus the Confessor
01:02:47 White, Trinitarian Theology
01:07:25 Machen, the Presbyterian Conflict, and the Afscheiding
01:22:27 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Lane G. Tipton

Mentioned in this episode:

Christ the Center 1000

Christ the Center 1000 Summit

Christ the Center 1000 Live in Austin, TX

Christ the Center 1000 Summit

Summary of Christian Doctrine: Man in His Original State, Part 2 Feb 22, 2023

Show notes

This week on Theology Simply Profound, Rob and Bob discuss Louis Berkhof’s little book, Summary of Christian Doctrine. We come to the third section of this book entitled, “The Doctrine of Man in Relation to God.” This third section begins with chapter 11, “Man in His Original State.” We discuss the second two topics concerning the image of God and the Covenant of Works.

Participants: Rob McKenzie, Robert Tarullo

Mentioned in this episode:

Christ the Center 1000

[2 Peter] The Path Illumined (1): Eyewitnesses (1:16–18) Feb 20, 2023

Show notes

This episode is a lesson from Exploring 2 Peter: The Promise and the Path, a course taught by Daniel Ragusa.

But along the path are cunning enemies, scoffers and mockers, who would cause us to turn back in unbelief, misattributing eternity to the present world order rather than to the kingdom (3:4).

Video lessons and supporting course materials are available at https://reformedforum.org/courses/exploring-2-peter-the-promise-and-the-path/

Mentioned in this episode:

Christ the Center 1000

Running the Race Feb 17, 2023

Show notes

We discuss Geerhardus Vos’s sermon on Hebrews 12:1–3, “Running the Race,” from his collection Grace and Glory: Sermons Preached at Princeton Seminary.