Mark Thompson: Guarding the Gospel | Theological Theology

At last I see Dr. Mark Thompson drawing some lines in the sand.  I am thankful that he is now the new principal of Moore Theological College:

 The challenge almost always comes in reasonable dress. Rather than directly assaulting the convictions of a particular group, more often than not the call is for more nuance, room for disagreement, a re-description in terms of 'thick' and 'thin' perspectives. I remember asking one of the leading evangelical scholars of the day to speak to a group of postgrad students at Oxford on Challenges to Evangelical Theology Today. I can remember his words almost verbatim: 'The devil is not stupid. He doesn't front up and say, "Here's the truth", while pointing 180º in the opposite direction and saying, "But this is what you should believe". No, he is more subtle than that. He can, after all, disguise himself as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14). Instead he says, "Of course that's true, but you have to understand it in its wider context ..." and gradually what is central is pushed to the periphery and before you know it what you're believing bares little resemblance to the historic evangelical gospel of grace." The sad thing is, the next day I attended a lecture in the university where almost exactly those words were used: 'Of course penal substitution is an important part of an evangelical understanding of the atonement, but you need to understand it in its wider context ...'

Of course, the penal substitutionary atonement presupposes the doctrine of particular atonement.  Any idea of a universal atonement would preclude the substitutionary atonement.  Anyway, that aside I recommend Dr. Thompson's article.  You can read it by clicking here: Guarding the Gospel | Theological Theology