Paul's Passing Thoughts

Joel Taylor over at 5 Point Salt .com has written some decent articles lately that have been brought to my attention via a mutual Facebook friend. Taylor doesn’t like “New Calvinists” since his falling out with New Calvinist Paul Washer. However, he recently defended Washer in reference to some of my posts, and referred to Washer as a “man of God.”  So, I am not sure where his relationship stands at this time with the Washer New Calvinist, but this post makes it clear that he believes the Tchividjian New Calvinist teaches “heresy.” He also calls Tchividjian’s theology “brutish stupidity.”

Gee, I am beginning to take a liking to Tchividjian for two reasons: Taylor has tweeted similar things about me, so I feel his pain; and this I can say about Tchividjian and other New Calvinists; they know exactly what the Reformers taught. Really, I am beginning to feel sorry for some of these guys because of the berating they receive from “real Calvinists.” For crying out loud, at least they know what they believe, and the way they abuse people accordingly comes from conviction. I like conviction.

The focus of Taylor’s post is a Tchividjian tweet:

“Just as I am without one plea” is just as true for sanctification as it is for justification.

Joel Taylor, the “Calvinist” (note the name of his blog), noted that “With his own words he combines sanctification with justification.” Well, ya, that’s exactly what the Reformers did; compare Tchividjian’s quote with some stuff written by Luther that I was reading today in preparation for my next book project:

God wants sinners only….God has nothing to do with holy men because a holy man is a self-contradiction. God accepts believing sinners rather than sanctified saints (V.H.H.Green: Luther And The Reformation, p. 55).

Any questions?

The reemergence of authentic Reformed theology in the form of New Calvinism poses a huge problem for the professing Calvinists of our day. This recent resurgence has lasted way too long in the information age. These guys have been so loud, and so abusive for so long, that they have provoked an unfortunate number of people wanting answers with research following.

So, go easy on Tchividjian, after all, he’s only being faithful to the original article.

paul