Theology & Principles

The following is a brief statement of my theological positions and worldview principles. It is not comprehensive. If my readers have a question or seek clarification, they are invited to contact me.

I. Theology & Ecclesiology

1. I accept the Apostles', Nicene, and Athanasian creeds as orthodox expositions of doctrines and dogma binding on all Christians. I also embrace the Anglican Thirty-nine Articles of Religion as a basic explanation of Christian belief and Apostolic ecclesiology and worship. However, like Fr. John Wesley, I do not accept the Reformed (or Calvinist) perspective on the relationship between the sovereignty of the Almighty God and human free will, specifically in the context of soteriology. Instead, I embrace the Arminian position. That is, God loved the world so much that the Savior died to extend salvation to whosoever would receive it. (John 3:16) While man is certainly depraved, he is afforded the prevenient grace whereby all are able to make an act of the will freely to repent, avoid willful sin, and attain to salvation.

2. I firmly embrace the historic Church's position on Apostolic Succession. That is, the succession is comprised of two facets: a.) the orthodox and historic Apostolic and catholic Faith, handed down by the Apostles by both word (Sacred Scriptures) and tradition, and passed on by their successors and Church Fathers, b.) the tactile conferral of spiritual authority to preach, teach, rule over Christ's Church, and administer the Sacraments, coming from an unbroken line traced back to one of Christ's twelve Apostles. I embrace the historic orders of the Church as coming down to us from the Apostolic age as necessary for the pastoral care of the Faithful; the primary orders being Deacon, Priest, and Bishop.

3. I affirm that God can be known by the natural light of reason from the creation (Romans 1:19), and that His existence is readily demonstrated thereby. I reject the theory of human evolution and assert that man was created by God from the dust of the earth on the sixth day of creation, in His image and likeness, and has given him dominion over the earth and all things upon the earth. (Genesis 1:26-27)

4. I also affirm that God has blessed man with divinely inspired self-revelation (Sacred Scripture), inerrant in its original autographs, and that these writings, both Old and New Testaments, are "profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness." (2 Timothy 3:16) These writings are the primary way we know orthodox doctrine, practices, and to a lesser extent, polity. As Fr. John Wesley said, “O give me that book! At any price, give me the book of God.”

5. I affirm the biblical supernatural worldview as opposed to Modernism, Atheistic Naturalism, and Materialism. That is, I accept and acknowledge the external evidence of God's self-revelation, which manifests as divine acts, such as prophecy and miracles, as significant signs of the divine origin of the Christian Faith, and that such divine acts continue regardless of human era. Furthermore, I affirm the reality of the supernatural realm; that is, the reality of angels, some of whom interact with man for God's purposes, as well as demons, properly known as the preternatural realm, those fallen beings who seek the ruin of souls and afflict man through diabolic temptation, obsession, and even possession.

6. I believe that the Church, the guardian and teacher of God's self-revelation, was personally instituted by the historical Jesus, the Christ, when He dwelled among us bodily, and that the Church was built upon the testimony of Christ that the twelve Apostles bore, and which their successors, first among them the Church Fathers, treasured, taught, and for which, in some cases, were martyred. Therefore, I firmly assert that the doctrines of the Faith were handed down faithfully from the Apostles to the Apostolic Fathers.

7. I condemn any heretical deviation from the historic Faith, including any notion that doctrine evolves or changes with the current age, or which, in place of the divine deposit of doctrine and tradition, there is placed any mere human philosophical or theological idea or practice not witnessed to in the orthodox historic Church, nor made plain in Sacred Scripture. 

8. I assert that faith in Christ is not an emotion, nor is it blind, but rather is the genuine assent of the intellect to truth received from an external source. By this assent, we acknowledge and submit to the authority of the absolutely truthful God and believe to be true that which He has revealed.

9. I affirm that liturgical worship is both the ancient and Apostolic model for corporate Christian worship and an abandonment of that liturgical tradition compromises the Apostolic Faith, since we worship as we believe. I reject such novelties as worship bands, communion monthly or yearly, replacement of the altar and sanctuary with a stage, and the entertainment style of church services.

10. I reject completely the idea that women may be ordained to any office of the Church, or may hold any position of authority over men, or may teach or preach. These are roles limited by divine authority to men called of God to the priestly or religious vocations.

11. I believe that God calls all believers to entire sanctification in a moment of full consecration and faith subsequent to their new birth in Jesus Christ. By the Holy Spirit’s filling, their hearts are purified from inherited depravity, and they are empowered for continued growth in their relationship with Christ, victorious living, and fruitful service. Entire sanctification is both preceded and followed by growth in grace, dynamically expressed in advancing holiness and increasing spiritual maturity. Thus, the Church has a rich history of Saints.

12. I affirm the unchanging truth of Scripture: there is one God, one Mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5), and one people of God united in the New Covenant. I reject every form of political or theological Zionism that treats the modern nation-state of Israel as a distinct covenant people with special promises apart from faith in Jesus Christ. Instead, I embrace biblical Covenant Theology, which teaches that all the promises of God find their “Yes” in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20) and that the Church is the true Israel of God—composed of believing Jews and Gentiles as one new man in Him. The Lord Jesus is the true Seed of Abraham (Galatians 3:16). In Him, the dividing wall of hostility has been broken down so that Gentiles, once “strangers to the covenants of promise,” are now “fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:11-19). There is neither Jew nor Greek... for all are one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise (Galatians 3:28-29). The Old Covenant, with its shadows and types, has been fulfilled and superseded by the superior New Covenant in Christ’s blood (Hebrews 8:6 13; Jeremiah 31:31-34). The kingdom has been taken from unbelieving Israel and given to a people producing its fruits—the Church of Jesus Christ (Matthew 21:43). This understanding echoes the early Church. St. Justin Martyr (c. 100–165 AD) declared in his Dialogue with Trypho: “We, who have been quarried out from the bowels of Christ, are the true Israelite race... For the true spiritual Israel, and descendants of Judah, Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham... are we who have been led to God through this crucified Christ.” He affirmed that Christians are the heirs of the promises through faith in Christ, the true Israel. St. Augustine (354–430 AD) similarly taught the fulfillment of the Old in the New while upholding a protective stance toward the Jewish people in their current state of unbelief. He interpreted their preservation as a divine testimony to the truth of the Scriptures and the Gospel, drawing on Psalm 59:11 (“Slay them not”). His “witness doctrine” emphasized that Jews should not be destroyed or forcibly removed but preserved as a living witness, even as he called them to faith in Christ. We wholeheartedly desire and pray for the salvation of the Jewish people. My heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved (Romans 10:1). Like the Apostle Paul, a Jew himself, I grieve over their current unbelief yet rejoice that “a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:25-26)—understood as the full number of the elect remnant from Israel being gathered in through faith in their Messiah. Many Church Fathers anticipated a future turning of the Jewish people to Christ in keeping with this mystery. Jews are saved in exactly the same way as Gentiles: by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him” (Romans 10:12). There is no salvation for anyone in Judaism and apart from Christ. I proclaim the Gospel to them with urgency and love, for “if you do not believe that I am he you will die in your sins” (John 8:24).

-More to come.

II. Christian Social Teaching

1. I affirm the Kingship of Christ over nations and cultures, and that every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that He is Lord and Sovereign.

2. I assert that there are a set of moral principles that are universal and objective, that they are part of human ontology, and they are of divine origin.

2. I assert that some cultures are objectively superior to others, as they operate on assumptions that are inherently better and stem from objective moral and social principles that are absolute and apply to all people, in all nations, at all times. 

3. The elements of a culture that reflect these objectively good principles should be supported, celebrated, and preserved. All assumptions that do not reflect these objectively good principles should not be supported, should be protested, and eradicated.

4. I believe that God has instituted the family as the foundational unit of human society and it begins with the legitimate marriage of one man and one woman. Within its structure, as He has ordained, parents are responsible to instruct their children in Christian faith and conduct, to set before them godly and consistent examples of the same, and in every way to “bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” In the ordering of family life, Scripture requires: “Wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord . . . husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it . . . children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.”

-More to come.