Let's be reasonable with one another, shall we?

Thursday, November 05, 2009

A Head Scratcher

This is such an interesting quote.  Do you think  Dabney speaks for most Reformed folks?  If so, I am a little but flummoxed because most that I talk to insist that they have assurance of salvation... but Dabney is calling that an error of Calvin that has since been corrected by Reformed leadership (Westminster mentioned specifically).  Hmmmm?  What to make of this?

The cause of this error [the teaching of assurance of salvation] is no doubt that doctrine concerning faith which the first Reformers, as Luther and Calvin, were led to adopt from their opposition to the hateful and tyrannical teachings of Rome. These noble Reformers... asserted that the assurance of hope is of the essence of saving faith. Thus says Calvin in his Commentary on Romans, "My faith is a divine and scriptural belief that God has pardoned me and accepted me."

Calvin requires everyone to say, in substance, I believe fully that Christ has saved me. Amidst all Calvin's verbal variations, this is always his meaning; for he is consistent in his error... for as sure as truth is in history, Luther and Calvin did fall into this error, which the Reformed churches, led by the Westminster Confession of Faith, have since corrected.  - (Discussions of Robert L. Dabney, Vol. I, pp. 215-16)

 

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