Module review

The church did not create the canon but recognised it: a book is Scripture because God breathed it out (2 Tim 3:16), just as a jeweller recognises a diamond but does not make it one. Jesus held Israel accountable to the Old Testament long before any council (Luke 24:44; Rom 3:2), Peter already counted Paul's letters as Scripture (2 Pet 3:16), and later councils such as Hippo and Carthage confirmed a list already received. Scripture's authority depends 'wholly upon God' and not on any man or church (WCF 1.4), and the church heard its Shepherd's voice (John 10:27) rather than conferring authority on him. Sola Scriptura does not mean 'just me and my Bible'; that is 'solo Scriptura', which the Reformers rejected. It means Scripture is the only infallible rule, while creeds, councils and teachers are real but subordinate authorities that 'may err' (WCF 31). Many denominations differ only on secondary matters while sharing the same gospel, and churches with a magisterium also have disagreements over interpretation. The alternative to sola Scriptura is not unity but a fallible human authority placed beyond correction, which Jesus rebuked (Mark 7:13).

• Recognised, not created: canonical because God-breathed (illustration such as the jeweller and diamond)
• Evidence: Jesus and the Old Testament (Luke 24:44), 2 Pet 3:16, councils confirmed an existing list
• Authority from God, not the church (WCF 1.4; John 10:27)
• Distinguishes sola from 'solo' Scriptura, with creeds and councils as subordinate authorities
• Answers the denominations charge fairly and warns against tradition over the Word (Mark 7:13)

The Trinity is not a contradiction, because God is one in essence (what he is) and three in persons (who he is): one 'what' and three 'whos', not one and three in the same sense. Scripture teaches three truths that only the Trinity holds together: there is one God (Deut 6:4; Isa 43:10), there are three distinct persons who speak to and send one another (Matt 3:16-17; John 14:16), and each is fully God. The Son is the Word who 'was God' and through whom 'all things were made', so he cannot be one of the things made (John 1:1-3); Thomas calls him 'My Lord and my God' (John 20:28). The Spirit is a person who speaks, wills and can be grieved (Acts 13:2; 1 Cor 12:11; Eph 4:30), and lying to him is lying to God (Acts 5:3-4). Nicaea (325) did not invent this but defended it against Arius by confessing the Son homoousios, of the same essence as the Father, not merely similar. Christians already baptised in the one name of Father, Son and Spirit (Matt 28:19) and worshipped Jesus long before 325. And it matters, because only God can save, so the Saviour must be God.

• One essence, three persons: mystery, not contradiction
• Three biblical truths, each with a text
• John 1:1-3 answers 'first creation'; Acts 5:3-4 and personal actions answer 'active force'
• Nicaea defended rather than invented the doctrine; homoousios explained
• Gentle, clear tone that brings the conversation to salvation

Christians do not say Jesus is God and not God in the same respect. The eternal Son, without ceasing to be God, took to himself a true body and a reasonable soul (WSC Q22), so he is one person in two distinct natures for ever. This is the hypostatic union, which Chalcedon (451) guarded by confessing the natures united without confusion or change (against Eutyches) and without division or separation (against Nestorius). The attributes belong to the natures and the actions to the one person, so the same Son knows all things as God and grew in knowledge as man (Luke 2:52; Mark 13:32). Because both natures belong to one person, Scripture can even say that God obtained the church 'with his own blood' (Acts 20:28): the divine nature did not bleed, but the person who died is God. The Mediator had to be both: only a man could stand in for men, obey the law and die (Heb 2:14-17), and only God could give that death infinite worth and save (Ps 49:7-8). So the very things my friend raises show how truly God became one of us to rescue us.

• One person, two natures; a true body and reasonable soul
• Chalcedon's four 'withouts' and the errors they exclude
• Mark 13:32 explained as a limit of his human knowledge
• Communication of properties (Acts 20:28 or 1 Cor 2:8)
• Why the Mediator must be both God and man

Scripture treats Adam as a real man, specially created (Gen 2:7), whose real act as our federal head brought sin and death on all (Rom 5:12-19). If we reject representation in Adam, we lose the logic of representation in Christ. Since the fall every person is born guilty and corrupt in every part (Ps 51:5; Eph 2:1-3), though still bearing God's image. So the cross had to deal with guilt, not just set an example: Christ was 'pierced for our transgressions' and 'the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all' (Isa 53:5-6). God put him forward as a propitiation so that he might be 'just and the justifier' (Rom 3:26), made him to be sin who knew no sin (2 Cor 5:21), and in him redeemed us by his becoming a curse for us (Gal 3:13). This is not child abuse, because the Son freely lays down his life (John 10:18), the Father's love sends him (1 John 4:10), and the one God acts together in our rescue. Christus Victor and example are real aspects of the cross, but they flow from substitution: the powers are disarmed because our record of debt is cancelled (Col 2:13-15), and we can follow his example only because he first bore our sins (1 Pet 2:21-24).

• Historical Adam and federal headship (Gen 2:7; Rom 5:12-19)
• Original sin and total depravity defined accurately
• Penal substitution shown from Isaiah 53, Romans 3:25-26, 2 Corinthians 5:21 and Galatians 3:13
• Answers 'child abuse' through the Trinity's unity and the Son's willing self-giving
• Christus Victor and example placed around substitution as the centre

First, we share the same gospel: both of us believe we are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone, and my friend does not deny grace but understands differently how it works. The Reformed view is that salvation is of the Lord from first to last: God chose a people in Christ (Eph 1:4-5), calls them effectually (John 6:44), gives new birth, brings them to faith, justifies them by Christ's imputed righteousness, and keeps them to glory (Rom 8:29-30). Election is not tyranny but mercy to the undeserving; no one is condemned who did not deserve it, and Scripture still holds people responsible for rejecting Christ (Rom 9:14-16; John 3:18-19). It does not make evangelism pointless, because God ordains the means as well as the ends: Paul prayed and preached, and the Lord told him 'I have many in this city who are my people' (Acts 18:10). Nor are we puppets: regeneration gives a living heart that comes willingly (Ps 110:3), and faith and repentance are truly our acts, enabled by God (Phil 2:12-13). This is an in-house debate to argue from Scripture with humility and warmth, never by suggesting my brother believes in salvation by works.

• Affirms the shared gospel and treats the friend as a brother
• States the order of salvation and unconditional election accurately
• Answers 'tyrant' with mercy and responsibility (Rom 9)
• Answers 'evangelism pointless' with means and ends (Acts 18:9-10)
• Answers 'puppets' with effectual grace that makes us willing

God has always saved one people by grace through faith in the promised Christ: Abraham was counted righteous by faith before circumcision and centuries before Sinai (Gen 15:6; Rom 4:9-12). The Mosaic covenant was given to a people already redeemed (Exod 20:2), and Paul says the law was a guardian until Christ came (Gal 3:17-24); belonging to Abraham's family is now by faith, for all in Christ are 'Abraham's offspring' with no distinction of ethnicity (Gal 3:28-29). The new covenant promised in Jeremiah 31 was inaugurated in Jesus' blood (Luke 22:20), and the old order is now obsolete (Heb 8:13). Within the law, the moral law summarised in the Ten Commandments still binds all, but the ceremonial laws were shadows fulfilled in Christ: Jesus declared all foods clean (Mark 7:19), and Sabbaths and festivals are 'a shadow of the things to come' (Col 2:16-17). The church met on the first day, the Lord's day of resurrection (Acts 20:7; Rev 1:10), long before Constantine, and Christians differ only on how the Sabbath principle applies to it. No one is justified by works of the law (Gal 2:16); we keep God's commands as the fruit of salvation, not its ground. Racial division has no place in Christ's body, and the invitation is the same for him as for me: come to Christ by faith.

• One covenant of grace; Abraham justified by faith (Rom 4; Gal 3)
• Covenant identity by faith in Christ, not ethnicity (Gal 3:28-29); rejects racism
• Moral, ceremonial and civil distinction with Mark 7:19 and Col 2:16-17
• Lord's Day evidence, with Sabbath views noted as in-house
• Law and gospel: works as fruit, not ground; ends with an invitation to Christ

To the Witness: Scripture says 'this Jesus' will come 'in the same way' he went (Acts 1:11) and 'every eye will see him' (Rev 1:7), so the return is personal, bodily and visible, not an invisible presence in 1914, and Jesus said no one knows the day or hour (Matt 24:36). On judgement, Matthew 25:46 places 'eternal punishment' beside 'eternal life' with the same adjective, Revelation 14:11 speaks of 'no rest, day or night', and 2 Thessalonians 1:9 describes destruction as being 'away from the presence of the Lord', so the punishment of the unrepentant is conscious and everlasting, which is also why we plead with people now. To my church friend: the millennium and the timing of the rapture are in-house debates. Amillennial, postmillennial, historic premillennial and dispensational premillennial views are all held by faithful believers, such as John Piper (historic premillennial) and John MacArthur (dispensational). Dispensationalists hold their view because they read prophecy literally and expect God's promises to national Israel to be fulfilled, and that deserves respect, not mockery. What all orthodox Christians confess together is essential: Christ will return bodily and visibly to raise the dead, judge the world and make all things new.

• Visible, bodily return (Acts 1:11; Rev 1:7) against 1914
• Eternal conscious punishment (Matt 25:46; Rev 14:11; 2 Thess 1:9)
• Names the four millennial views and treats rapture timing as debated
• Represents dispensationalism accurately and charitably
• Separates the shared essentials from in-house questions

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, true God, who speaks, wills and can be grieved (Acts 13:2; 1 Cor 12:11; Eph 4:30; Acts 5:3-4). He applies Christ's redemption: he gives new birth (John 3:5-8), works faith and so unites us to Christ (WSC Q30), opens our eyes to Scripture, bears witness that we are God's children (Rom 8:16) and makes us holy. Paul says all believers have been baptised in one Spirit (1 Cor 12:13) and that not all speak in tongues (1 Cor 12:30), so the evidence of the Spirit is faith in Jesus as Lord, love for his Word and people, a fight against sin and the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23). The Reformed tradition has a rich doctrine of the Spirit, from Calvin's teaching on the Spirit as the bond of union with Christ to Owen's great treatise. On the gifts, cessationists such as John MacArthur hold that the revelatory and sign gifts authenticated the apostolic foundation and ceased (Eph 2:20; Heb 2:3-4), while continuationists such as John Piper hold that all the gifts continue until 'the perfect' comes at Christ's return (1 Cor 13:8-12), with prophecy tested and subordinate to Scripture. Both reject the prosperity gospel and any new revelation that adds to Scripture, and many Pentecostals are brothers who share the gospel, so we discuss this with charity.

• The Spirit's personhood and deity with texts
• The Spirit's work in applying redemption (new birth, union, illumination, assurance, holiness)
• Answers subsequence and tongues from 1 Cor 12:13, 30 and Rom 8:9
• States cessationism and continuationism fairly, with representative holders
• Common ground and a charitable tone toward Pentecostal brothers