The opening paper on day 2 of this year's Westminster Conference was given by Sam Waldron on "The Uneasy Relationship of Repentance and Sola Fide in the Reformed Tradition"
He began provocatively by speaking of how he had noticed similarities between Calvin and Norman Shepherd, the successor to John Murray at Westminster Seminary, eventually dismissed from his post because of the division his views on salvation were causing. We were given an outline of the paper which I have reproduced here.
Introduction: Method of Treatment
I. Reactions to Legalism
A. Sofa Fide and Repentance in Calvin
See diagram above
B. Faith and Then Repentance in the Marrow Men
1. The Marrow Controversy and the Marrow Men
2. The Distinctive View of Faith and Repentance of the Marrow Men
C. Faith and Then Repentance in the Sandemanians
II. Reactions to Easy-Believism
A. Repentance and Then Faith in R. L. Dabney, A. W. Pink, and D M Lloyd-Jones*
B. Repentance and Sola Fide in Norman Shepherd
III. Resolution: Repentant Faith and Believing Repentance
A. Historical Representation: Spurgeon, Ryle, Gerstner, and John Murray
B. Relational Considerations
1. Response to Calvin
2. Response to the Marrow Men
3. Response to the Sandemanians (and Easy-Believism)
4. Response to Dabney, Pink, and Lloyd-Jones
5. Response to Shepherd
*It was suggested in the discussion that Lloyd-Jones shifted on this one to putting faith first.
This was a very thorough, sometimes difficult, paper helping us to think this issue through. Perhaps John Murray spoke best when he said
“Repentance is the twin sister of faith - we cannot think of the one without the other, and so repentance would be cojoined with faith.”
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