Fred Sanders

@DemarsSean "Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds... Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them." Matt 5:16 & 6:1 (but I left out some of the best parts)

Resist the urge to virtue signal, but do be virtuous in public.

@bartonkyle Yeah, the transitions and key sections seem to be verbatim his dissertation. I emphasize that I'm only talking about the Oxford Press packaging, not the content. No endorsements, etc. Just a really minimal approach to publishing here. Still, congrats to Chang on OUP pub.

@FredFredSanders I don’t know what to tell you. Its a modified version of his diss

Excited to read Paul Chang’s new bio of Watchman Nee! First critical bio of him, published by OUP

@middlenamesmith I take it to be an obvious error that creates false paradoxes. The best question I've come up with to help people grasp the problem without doing any metaphysics is, if the Son of God has always been a 30 year old human, how old was he on Christmas day?

@FredFredSanders Have you come across the argument that because God is eternal and timeless then the Son has been eternally incarnated? If so what reply would you give to those who think the incarnation is eternal? PS I’ve enjoyed many of your books on the Trinity.

"After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high." Heb 1:3. Because the Bible speaks this way of Christ completing his work, we should mostly avoid using "seated at right hand" language to characterize his eternal pre-existent glory.

@JonMcK1647 @scottrswain Beeke & Jones A Puritan Theology 310-312

@FredFredSanders @scottrswain Where is the commentary from?

This 1654 draft of a confession (Beeke & Jones, p. 311) reads like Piper wrote point 14 and a perfectionist wrote point 15. But apparently it's Goodwin, Owen, Manton, Cheynell? Has this been subjected to discoursification?

@scottrswain @JonMcK1647 Nice. IIRC the commentary said Baxter disliked *that* point!

@FredFredSanders @JonMcK1647 The fact that point 12 is distinct from point 14 is what preserves its Prot bona fides. Gotta protect that alone instrument, even as we honor its connection to concomitant acts!

"He who is aiming at knowledge, let him establish the foundations of his soul as immovable with the Lord, just as God said to Moses: “But you, stand exactly here, with me.” (Deut. 5:31) -Maximus the Confessor

"No bird of grace ever lit on Auntie Grizeldaaaaa." 1967 youth rebellion, made for TV.

@llevol_leumas You can say it, but you will suck half the power out of the other things you ought to say. Then you'll have to apply paradox distractingly where scripture doesn't ("the seated one sat," wow). It's like saying the Son sent himself or was always sent or was greater than himself.

@FredFredSanders F, I think? Whilst the incarnation, cruxificion, resurrection, ascension, and return are all undoubtedly temporal events, He is also "the lamb slain before the foundation of the world" and in that sense I think we can speak of His eternal "seatedness". What do you think?

I don't understand people with annoying voices. You don't have to talk that way. You can just talk another way. Just keep doing a fake (non-annoying) voice until that becomes your normal voice.

the internet is forever unless you wrote an article for a website in 2015

@natt941 I'll be there

Do I know anyone coming out to Denver in November for ETS/EPS/AAR/SLB?

@scottrswain YES, in fact that's why I think it could be beneficial to start with "He's the King on the throne, right? Always was." You can affirm that image (Ps 47) and go on to say "but wait there's more" (Ps 45, incarnation, etc).

@FredFredSanders Gotta have a strong single subject Christology or it sounds a wee bit N*st*r**n. But I’m persuaded of its usefulness.

@DavidFish7 @TorreyHonors 1:10, with its oikonomia, pleroma, & anakephalaiosis is just impossible to do brief justice to: NIV's "to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things" & ESV's "plan to unite" are both fine hooks to hang some big-picture explaining on.

@DavidFish7 @TorreyHonors No real gripes; there's just imprecision baked in. "Before the creation of the world" (1:4) is a fine clear interpretive paraphrase for "foundation of the world," but Paul knew how to say "creation" when he wanted to. Incredibly rich text to work with, including in NIV.

Today a student recited Ephesians from memory as a final project for her @TorreyHonors College semester. Perfectly! A great academic and devotional experience all around. (She chose the NIV, which is distractingly loose in places, but sure has a nice natural tone for the ear.)

@scottrswain Yeah, that's a great answer. It probably strikes people as starting with Kingship and then carving it up via distinctions, one of which is the essential/mediatorial distinction. But that's almost certainly a plus.

@FredFredSanders Do you think the distinction between essential kingship and mediatorial kingship is helpful here? Combines perpetual divine enthronement and the event of human enthronement.

@zugzwanged @echoing_eden @jamesrwoodtheo @DZRishmawy @mattleeanderson I'm thinking about becoming Catholic because I heard they don't have perennial elite discourse over there and that sounds super attractive ngl.

@echoing_eden @jamesrwoodtheo @DZRishmawy The perennial evangelical elite discourse will not be happening on Mere Fidelity. @mattleeanderson would come back to haunt us.

because we are doing a Discourse...

When kids ask, "I thought he was already enthroned at the right hand of God; what's the difference?" you'll wish you had set it up a little different. Obviously you can still explain what's the difference--it's a great question! I'm just saying plan ahead and set it up well.

Reserving "seated" language for the ascension is just helpful for clear communication of the full scope of doctrine. Of course there's no absolute rule against thinking of the eternal Son as always enthroned, at the right hand, or alongside the Father in majesty.