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Examined Doctrine
PASSAGE · BSB

Ephesians 2

18 positions in the corpus lean on this chapter. Cited verses are marked.

1And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,

2in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience.

3All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.

4But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,

5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved!

6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

7in order that in the coming ages He might display the surpassing riches of His grace, demonstrated by His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

8For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God,

9not by works, so that no one can boast.

10For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.

11Therefore remember that formerly you who are Gentiles in the flesh and called uncircumcised by the so-called circumcision (that done in the body by human hands)—

12remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

13But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

14For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has torn down the dividing wall of hostility

15by abolishing in His flesh the law of commandments and decrees. He did this to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace

16and reconciling both of them to God in one body through the cross, by which He extinguished their hostility.

17He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.

18For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

19Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household,

20built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.

21In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

22And in Him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God in His Spirit.

Who leans on it

Augustine on the nature of saving faithPRIMARY SOURCEAFFIRMS°Faith is itself a gift, not something a person originates and God merely rewards. Augustine argues thinking necessarily precedes believing, so if a person cannot even think anything of themselves toward God, they cannot …Augustine on justificationPRIMARY SOURCELEANS°Justification makes the sinner actually righteous, not only declares them so — but Augustine's fuller argument is subtler than that headline. The good works that earn eternal life as a 'reward' are themselves gifts of gr…Voddie Baucham on original sin & the human willSTANDARD ACCOUNTAFFIRMS°Total depravity.Calvin on authority of scripturePRIMARY SOURCEAFFIRMS°Scripture is the final norm, and its authority is not conferred by the church. Calvin calls the contrary claim — that Scripture matters only so far as the church concedes it — "a most pernicious error" (Institutes I.vii.…M. Heiser on original sin & the human willPRIMARY SOURCEAFFIRMS°Holds that before regeneration a person cannot choose the gospel and that the quickening which enables that choice is irresistible — which is the substance of the bondage position. But he arrives there while denying inhe…M. Heiser on the nature of saving faithPRIMARY SOURCEAFFIRMS°Frames saving faith as believing loyalty — trust in the true God that shows itself as allegiance rather than as moral performance. Works are the validation of genuine faith and never its meritorious cause, and the object…Josh Howerton on justificationPRIMARY SOURCEAFFIRMS°By grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, always with the rider 'with the words properly defined.' Good works are the fruit of salvation, not the root. Salvation has three tenses: from sin's penalty, power, and…Tim Keller on original sin & the human willSTANDARD ACCOUNTAFFIRMS°Total depravity.Second London Baptist Confession on original sin & the human willPRIMARY SOURCEAFFIRMS°Chapter 6 has Adam's guilt imputed and corrupt nature conveyed to all his posterity, leaving them 'utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good' (6.4). Chapter 9 then answers the will question directly: na…John MacArthur on original sin & the human willPRIMARY SOURCEAFFIRMS°Total depravity with explicit federal headship: humanity was united with Adam as its representative, so both the guilt of his sin and a corrupted nature are transmitted to every subsequent person. The corruption is total…Philip Melanchthon on the nature of saving faithPRIMARY SOURCEAFFIRMS°The Apology argues the case that later Lutheran dogmatics compressed into notitia, assensus and fiducia. Faith is not bare knowledge of the history, which the devils have; it is assent to the promise; and lest assent its…John Owen on original sin & the human willPRIMARY SOURCEAFFIRMS°The will is in bondage and no bestowed ability short of regeneration frees it. Owen distinguishes a remote power — the bare faculties of mind and will, which remain — from a next power, an actual ability to believe, and …John Piper on original sin & the human willSTANDARD ACCOUNTAFFIRMS°Total depravity; heavily indebted to Edwards.R.C. Sproul on indwelling of the holy spiritPRIMARY SOURCEAFFIRMS°Regeneration precedes and causes faith, so the Spirit's entry is prior to the conscious moment of believing rather than a response to it. Argued from the force of the Greek behind John 6:44 — 'draw' read as compulsion ra…Westminster Confession on authority of scripturePRIMARY SOURCEAFFIRMS°Chapter 1 settles the question by naming a judge and excluding the rivals by name. Councils, the ancient writers, doctrines of men and private spirits are all placed under examination rather than alongside Scripture, and…Westminster Confession on original sin & the human willPRIMARY SOURCEAFFIRMS°Chapter 6 supplies the anthropology - fallen nature 'utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good' (6.4) - and chapter 9 draws the conclusion about the will. The loss in 9.3 is total but bounded: what is l…Westminster Confession on indwelling of the holy spiritPRIMARY SOURCELEANS°The Confession fixes the order rather than the moment. WCF 10.2 makes the person 'altogether passive' in effectual calling until quickened and renewed by the Spirit, and only then 'enabled to answer this call' - regenera…Zwingli on original sin & the human willPRIMARY SOURCEAFFIRMS°The will is in bondage and cannot free itself — but Zwingli reaches that by a route no other Reformer took. He argues that original sin is not sin in the strict sense, because sin means guilt and guilt means a deed done …