Tuesday, May 20, 2025

It is the 20th of May 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

How about we start today’s show with me reciting a very short creed, that caused a lot of controversy and is terribly worded such that we are affirming a negative and of course this would lead to a big to-do in 18th century Scotland. But stick with this, as the controversy is amongst the most often occurring in the church, and for good reason.  

The occasion for our one-sentence creed was a meeting in Auchterarder and the Church of Scotland Presbytery. Here we go, do you affirm or deny that “it is not sound and orthodox to teach that we must forsake sin in order to our coming to Christ”? 

Wait, what? Do you need to forsake sin in order to come to Christ? William Craig had been denied entrance to the ministry for denying the Auchterader creed- that is, he denied it. If your head is spinning, that’s ok- Craig was one of the ministers who taught that you had to show evidence of a desire to repent before being offered the free gift of salvation. He held to an extreme view of “limited” or “particular” atonement that taught that because Jesus only died for the sins of the elect, one must show evidence of being elect before they could be offered the Gospel.

This was part of the so-called “Marrow” controversy- yes, like “bone marrow” it was a reference to the “essentials” of something and from a mysterious book called “the Marrow of Modern Divinity” written by, or partially written by, one “E.F.” it has long been taught that this was the mysterious barber-theologian and son-of-a-knight Edward Fisher. The book is written as a dialogue between four people: Evangelista (a minister of the gospel), Nomista (a legalist), Antinomista (an antinomian), and Neophytus (a young Christian).

The book would have been largely forgotten had it not made its way into the belongings of an English soldier who came to Scotland, and the book was incorporated into a small library of a man in Simprim, Scotland. The Presbyterian church in Simprim had just called the minister, Thomas Boston, and when he was visiting this unnamed parishioner, he spied this obscure book and asked to borrow it. According to Boston’s own autobiography, this book saved his ministry, taught him the “gospel of free grace,” and made him the lightning rod for the so-called “Marrow Controversy,” and made Boston one of the preeminent “Marrowmen”.

Thomas Boston was born in Duns, Scotland in 1676. He learned Latin and biblical Greek as a young man and was off to the University of Edinburgh, after which he was ordained into the Church of Scotland.

Upon discovering the Marrow of Modern Divinity, he encouraged a friend to reprint it, which he did and which helped ignite the controversy over the claims of “universalism” and “antinomianism”- that is, the idea that Christ died for all and that the gospel should be offered freely to all. Amidst the controversy, Boston decided to reprint the Marrow, this time with extensive notes, whereby Boston includes quotes from over 60 theologians, from Calvin and Luther and others, to show that the teaching was neither universalism nor “antinomianism”. It could be argued that the Scottish Presbyterian church had leaned so heavily into the doctrines of election that they began to obscure the doctrines of grace. And, if someone is arguing against someone who is trying to defend the doctrines of grace, there will be the charge of “anti-nomianism” (we can see this predicted by the Apostle Paul in the book of Romans).

Nonetheless, the Presbytery that used the baffling denial of a negative Auchterader Creed would officially condemn the book and this has, to the knowledge of church historian Sinclair Ferguson never been reversed such that while a minister would in the Church of Scotland wold be forbidden to read the original they could technically read Boston’s version which is, according to him- more helpful anyway.

Boston and the Marrowmen would defend the doctrines of Grace and a general call to all to repent and believe, and this would lead to the Seceding movement and the favorite pastime of Presbyterians- continually splitting into smaller and more exclusive groups.

Boston would die before the first Secession- he died on this, the 20th of May in 1732, a year before the split. But it was his eye, spying an obscure book, and then encouraging its reprint and defending its doctrine, which shook the Scottish church in the 18th century and is credited with helping the Presbyterians adopt something like a law/gospel distinction.

Thomas Boston, born in 1676, was 56 at his death on this day.

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and a curious little story tucked into the 11th chapter of Acts:

27 During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) 29 The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea. 30 This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 20th of May 2025, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who I’m sure would tell you that he’s called “Saul” here still, as this was a mission to the Jewish community where he would have gone by that, before his mission to the Gentiles. He is Christopher Gillespie. 

The show is written and read by a man who just put all of that in Christopher’s mouth because I got curious, and sometimes I can’t think of a dumb pun or joke. I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.