Paul's Passing Thoughts

1. Total Depravity: Pertains to the saints also.

2. Justification by Faith Alone: Pertains to sanctification also.

3. Mortification and Vivification: Perpetual death and rebirth for living by faith alone in sanctification to maintain justification. The reliving of our baptism “again and again.”

4. Double Imputation: Christ’s passive obedience to the cross for justification, and His active obedience as a substitution for our obedience in sanctification.

5. Deep Repentance (aka Intelligent Repentance): Seeks the death of mortification in re-experiencing our new birth.

6. New Obedience (aka New Fruit): The experience of Christ’s active obedience in sanctification (vivification).

7. The New Birth: Perpetual mortification and vivification.

8. The Objective Gospel: All reality is interpreted through the redemptive works of Christ.

9. Christ for Us: Christ died for our justification, and lived a perfect life for our sanctification.

10. The Imperative Command is Grounded in the Indicative Event: Biblical commands show forth what Christ has accomplished for us and what we are unable to do in sanctification. Works are experienced only as they flow from the indicative event of the gospel.

11. Neo-Nomianism (New Law, aka New Legalism): The belief that we can please God by obeying the law in sanctification.

12. Progressive Sanctification: The progression of justification to glorification.

13. Progressive Imputation: Whatever is seen in the gospel narrative and meditated upon is imputed to our sanctification, whether mortification or vivification.

14. The Golden Chain of Salvation: See cut 12.

15. Good Repentance: Repenting of good works.

16. In-Lawed in Christ: Christ fulfilled the law perfectly and imputed it to our sanctification.

17. Redemptive Historical Hermeneutics (the Christocentric Hermeneutic, aka the Apostle’s Hermeneutic): The Bible as historical narrative for the sole purpose of showing forth Christ’s redemptive works.

18. Faith: A neutral entity within us with no intrinsic worth that is able to reflect the object of its focus outside of us. The object of focus can be experienced within, but remains outside of us.

19. The Heart: The residence of evil desires and faith. It can be reoriented (the “reorientation of the heart” or “reorientation of desires”) to reflect Christ via mortification and vivification.

20. Flesh: The world realm where evil is manifested and experienced.

21. Spirit: The Spirit realm where the imputed works of Christ are manifested and experienced (not applied through our actions).

22. Christian Hedonism: Seeks to experience the joy of vivification.

23. Obedience of Faith: New Obedience.

24. Christ in Us: “By faith,” and faith only has substance and reality to the degree of the object it is placed in; i.e., Christ outside of us.

25. Vital Union: Makes experiencing the gospel possible. Makes mortification and vivification possible.

26. Eclipsing the Son (aka the Emphasis Hermeneutic): Focusing on anything other than Christ. Anything that is not seen through a Christocentric prism creates shadows that we live in. The obstacles that create the shadows may be truth, but they aren’t the “best truth.” “They may be good things, but not the best thing.”

27. Sabbath Rest: Sanctification. We are to “rest and feed” on Christ for our Christian life. The primary day this is done is Sunday. Through preaching and the sacraments we “kill” (mortification, or the contemplation of our evil and misery) resulting in vivification throughout the rest of the week.

28. The Subjective Power of the Gospel: The manifestation of the gospel that flows from gospel contemplationism. We never know for certain whether it is a result of our efforts or the Spirit’s work (although the Spirit’s work is always experienced by joy); hence, the power of the objective gospel is subjective (Heidelberg Disputation: Thesis 24).

29. Mortal Sin: Good works by the Christian not attended by fear that they may be of one’s own effort (HD 7).

30. Venial Sin: Good works by the Christian attended with fear (HD 7).

31. Power of the Keys (aka Protestant Absolution): Reformed elders have the authority to bind or loose sin on earth (Calvin Institutes 3.4.12).

32. Redemptive Church Discipline: In all cases to convert one to cuts 1-31. This redeems them to the only one, true faith. This can be a long process, and said person is not free to leave a given church until the elders bind or loose.

33. Preach the Gospel to Yourself: See cuts 1-32.