JUSTIFIED - Monergism Books

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Information on White Horse Inn White Horse Inn (www.whitehorseinn.org) is a multimedia catalyst for reformation. Our mission is to help Christians “know what they believe and why they believe it” through conversational theology. The conversations take place in talk show, magazine, event, book, blog and social media formats. Our vision is to see a modern reformation in our churches through a rediscovery of God, the gospel, and the classic Christian confessions proclaimed during the sixteenth-century Reformation. More than just a talk show and a magazine, White Horse Inn is a conversation for reformation. C. S. Lewis famously remarked that “mere Christianity” is like a hallway. In this hallway, real conversations between Christians of different convictions can begin and develop over time as we emerge from these various rooms to speak of Christ and his gospel to one another. For twenty years, White Horse Inn has hosted this conversation both on the radio (White Horse Inn) and in print (Modern Reformation) in the spirit of that great hallway of “mere Christianity,” bringing the rich resources of the Reformation to bear on American evangelicalism. At the center of our work are six core beliefs: 1. The five “solas” of the Reformation are more than slogans to be recovered; they are the messages that will renew the church’s mission in our age. The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century was an important effort to recover the biblical gospel of Jesus Christ. It was marked by a focused attempt to understand the doctrines that comprise the gospel message: 1 1 8 Salvation is revealed in Scripture alone (sola Scriptura), accomplished by Christ alone (solus Christus) by grace alone (sola gratia) through faith alone (sola fide), to God’s glory alone (soli Deo gloria). The truth of Scripture can’t be reduced to a few slogans, of course, but these "solas" are still helpful for our narcissistic age, because they redirect our attention away from us and our work to God and his work of redemption. Just as the medieval church obscured God’s Word and work by inventing new doctrines and practices that lacked biblical warrant, today’s Protestants are just as likely to turn to other sources—marketing principles, psychology, pop culture, sociology, and other disciplines not merely to—inform but to determine the content and methods of preaching, worship, outreach, and discipleship.
2. Gospel-centered preaching that rightly distinguishes between law and gospel rescues the church from “Christless Christianity” while enabling Christians to grow in grace. Scripture is of no use to us if we read it merely as a handbook for daily living, without recognizing that its principal purpose is to reveal Jesus Christ and his gospel for the salvation of sinners. All of Scripture coalesces in Christ, anticipated in the Old Testament and appearing in the flesh in the New Testament. In Scripture, God issues commands and threatens judgment for transgressors as well as direction for the lives of his people. Yet the greatest treasure buried in the Scriptures is the good news of the promised Messiah. Everything in the Bible that tells us what to do is “law,” and everything in the Bible that tells us what God has done in Christ to save us is “gospel.” Much like medieval piety, the emphasis in much of Christian teaching today is on what we are to do without adequate grounding in the good news of what God has done for us in Christ. “What Would Jesus Do” becomes more important than “What Has Jesus Done” The gospel, however, is not just something we needed at conversion so we can spend the rest of our Christian life obsessed with performance; it is something we need every day—the only source of our sanctification as well as our justification. The law guides, but only the gospel gives. We are declared righteous—justified—not by anything that happens within us or is done by us, but solely by God’s act of crediting us with Christ’s perfect righteousness through faith alone. 3. Word and Sacrament ministry realigns the church’s mission and identity from program-driven pragmatism to the means of grace that Christ has ordained for the creation, sustenance, and expansion of his kingdom. Following from its human-centered message, the methods that dominate much of Christian outreach and church life today are not grounded in Scripture nor, specifically, in the gospel of Christ. The focus is often on what we are doing and how successfully we can do it, rather than on God and how he justifies and renews sinners through the means of grace that he has appointed and promised to bless. We want to encourage a transformation of concrete church life and mission with a reorientation away from us to the triune God as the agent of redemption in the world today. 4. A properly missional mindset will identify the church as distinct from but engaged with the world, encouraging individual Christians to pursue their God-honoring vocations. Far from diminishing responsibility for active engagement with the world, this emphasis on God’s work over ours is the only proper basis. God saves us by grace alone and therefore we are liberated to look outside of ourselves to our neighbors who need us. Our good works do not go up to God, since the only merits he counts worthy are those of his Son. We cannot do anything to make ourselves acceptable to God, but he has made us acceptable in Christ. Therefore, the only place for our good works to go is out into the world—in service to our neighbor rather than as a selfish opportunity to improve our standing with God. 1 1 9
Page 1 and 2: JUSTIFIED Essays on the Doctrine of
Page 3 and 4: Contents UNION AND PEACE WITH GOD 1
Page 5 and 6: INTRODUCTION Getting Perspective RY
Page 7 and 8: GETTING PERSPECTIVE ation of leader
Page 9 and 10: GETTING PERSPECTIVE discontinuity i
Page 11: GETTING PERSPECTIVE Union and Peace

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