This Sunday I’m sort of preaching on the Ten Commandments since it is 10/10/10. What I’ll be doing is grappling with Law and Gospel. I want my people to understand the nature of their relationship to the law because of the gospel.
I’ve had a few of those conversations on the internet lately. It is a difficult issue to grasp and we tend to head toward the extremes of legalism and antinomianism. They are the 2 ditches on the side of the road. And both ditches are deadly. I don’t advise falling into either.
So, I started to listen to Sinclair Ferguson’s Pastoral Lessons from the Marrow Controversy. Here is a short history of the Marrow Controversy. I thought my notes might help a few people to understand what was going on, whetting the appetite about this pastorally important theological controversy.
The History of the Marrow Controversy
1717- the Presbytery of Auchterarder examined a candidate for ordination, William Craig was asked a question unique to that Presbytery.
“Do you subscribe to the following: I believe that it is not sound and orthodox to teach that we forsake sin in order to our coming to Christ.” Craig hesitated and they refused to grant him ordination. This brought the Auchterarder Creed before the General Assembly.
It was condemned by the Church of Scotland “as unsound and detestable doctrine.”
Thomas Boston was there, and he was quite disturbed by the proceeding. He saw this as an attack upon the gospel of grace, falsely accusing it of antinomianism. In 1700 Boston had discovered The Marrow of Modern Divinity which enabled him to grasp the relationship of law and gospel. He recommended it to James Drummond who gave it to James Hog who ended up reprinting it.
Cavman Considers 