Quote:
Originally Posted by KMK  I think that your desire to limit discussion to the confession alone is problematic. I understand what you are trying to do, but phrases like, "this law" may need to be fully fleshed out (not proven necessarily) by looking at the intent of the Divines themselves. This is no easy task and can be difficult to argue on a discussion board because everyone can pull their favorite quote out of their hat when they need it. |
I'm not saying that looking at the historic milieu in which the Confession was drafted is wrong.
It is helpful, no doubt, in bringing out the meaning of the Confession. But what this or that Westminster divine said doesn't
define what the Confession says (as you seem to admit). The Standards were written as a summary of what the church believes and, thus, they can be interpreted in their right.
The big question of this thread is:
Do the Westminster Standards teach the (Klinean) republication of the CoWs at Sinai, the (Lutheran/Klinean) two-kingdom doctrine, and the (Lutheran/Klinean) law-gospel dualism?
Now to answer that question, I take it for granted that you don't start opening books by the various Westminster divines. Rather, the Standards themselves need to be looked at. Will any Klineans who believe the above doctrines please demonstrate that these are taught in the Westminster Standards? That's really all I'm asking. I keep hearing that these are Reformed doctrines; please prove that these are
confessional doctrines.
Something like the quote from Dr. Clark above is what I'm looking for. It's at least an attempt to show the Confession teaches this (even if I don't believe the reasoning is valid).
