Concise Remarks on Richard Muller's Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics

 

A Few Remarks Regarding Richard Muller’s Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics, Volume 1 (#1)

 

I have been hearing for several years about the great scholarship of Richard Muller.  I finally bought the Logos edition of all four volumes, and I am in the process of slowly and methodically reading through the multi-volume work.  My favorite apologetics multi-volume work is by the late Dr. Carl F. H. Henry, who was a student of Dr. Gordon H. Clark.  But that’s a discussion for another day.  I was suspicious of Muller from all that I was hearing about him from the so-called Reformed experts, namely R. Scott Clark and others who claim to represent the Reformed center, i.e., middle of the road Reformation theology.  Unfortunately, at least a few of my suspicions have been confirmed early on, though I have only read about fourteen percent of the first volume.

Of course, my opinions in regards to Calvinism and Reformation theology were formed early on by my readings from Louis Berkhof, Charles Hodge, and Dr. Gordon H. Clark.  The strongest influence on my theological presuppositions or axioms come from Scripture and reading the commentary on the Westminster Confession of Faith by Dr. Clark, who said that the WCF emphasizes the system of propositional and theological truth in descending order of importance.  Following Dr. Clark’s remarks, then, the primary source of theology for the Westminster divines was the doctrine of Sola Scriptura, which is chapter one.  Second, the next most important doctrine is the doctrine of the trinity, which is chapter two.  And the third most important doctrine of the Westminster Confession is the doctrine of predestination.

Almost immediately Muller begins his downgrading of the doctrine of predestination when he says that was an important doctrine; but in a latitudinarian fashion he wants to emphasize a more broadly Reformed basis for theology.  In other words, he says that predestination is subordinate to Scripture, the Trinity, Christology, and covenant theology.  The WCF does indeed emphasize both Scripture and the Trinity above predestination.  However, in the WCF both Christology and covenant theology are subordinated to predestination.  We do not see a mention of redemption and Christology until chapter eight and even covenant theology in chapter seven is mentioned prior to the doctrine of Christ or Christology.  Though some have argued for an infralapsarian priority of the WCF, I think it could be legitimately argued that the WCF emphasizes the supralapsarian view since God’s eternal decree ranks higher than the doctrine of the fall, which is in chapter six.  Even the doctrine of providence in chapter five, a working out and governing of all things according to God’s eternal decree, occurs prior to the doctrine of the fall.  Even creation precedes both providence and the fall in the priority of the descending order of importance, chapter four.  This would seem to indicate that the logical order of the decrees places everything, including election and reprobation, prior to creation.  This is in fact confirmed by chapter five:

 

God, the great Creator of all things, doth uphold,^a direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things,^b from the greatest even to the least,^c by his most wise and holy providence,^d according to his infallible foreknowledge,^e and the free and immutable counsel of his own will,^f to the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy.^g

II. Although, in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God, the first cause, all things come to pass immutably and infallibly;^h yet, by the same providence, he ordereth them to fall out according to the nature of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently.ⁱ

III. God in his ordinary providence maketh use of means,^k yet is free to work without,^l above,^m and against them,ⁿ at his pleasure.

IV. The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God, so far manifest themselves in his providence, that it extendeth itself even to the first fall, and all other sins of angels and men,^o and that not by a bare permission,^p but such as hath joined with it a most wise and powerful bounding,^q and otherwise ordering and governing of them, in a manifold dispensation, to his own holy ends;^r yet so as the sinfulness thereof proceedeth only from the creature, and not from God; who, being most holy and righteous, neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin.^s[1]

 

The first thing to notice here is that God is the primary and first cause of everything.  Therefore, Muller’s attempt to get God off the hook fails miserably.  Muller, in fact, affirms Amyraldianism, not five point Calvinism:

3. The breadth of the Reformed orthodox phenomenon. In the high orthodox era, orthodoxy continued to be defined in terms of the major confessional trajectories of the Reformation as a churchly theology in academic and popular forms, whether positive or polemical, exegetical, catechetical, or dogmatic, conceived in the context and within the doctrinal boundaries set by the Reformed confessions. This understanding of orthodoxy (which, arguably, belongs to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries) has not been consistently obliged by modern discussions of post-Reformation Reformed thought. Thus, if one anachronistically draws a rather strict and narrow line of development from Calvin to Turretin and denominates only what fits in this particular Genevan trajectory as “orthodoxy,” then various Reformed views, developed entirely within the confessional understanding of the sixteenth and seventeenth-century Reformed, can be cordoned off and identified as opponents of the Reformed orthodox.¹¹² Bullinger’s covenantal thought can be segmented off from “Calvinism,” and Cocceius’ form of covenant theology can then be set against the strictly “orthodox,” as if they (or, indeed, Calvin!) objected to an emphasis on covenant.¹¹³ Infralapsarian and supralapsarian forms of the doctrine of predestination can become identifiers of alternative orthodoxies—which, however bitter the debate, they clearly were not. Indeed, any variation of doctrine incapable of being accommodated to Calvin’s 1559 Institutes can come to be viewed by the older scholarship as a deviation from the norm of Reformed theology—without any recognition of the fact that doctrinal variations and even highly polemical debates over doctrinal formulae that took place within the confessional boundaries all belonged to the broad stream of Reformed orthodoxy.^[2]

While Muller is indeed a thorough scholar, this short quote illustrates his overall presupposition that Reformed theology is not Calvinist at all.  Instead, Muller wants to marginalize what is called Calvinism today and upstage Calvin by those who disagreed with the Scriptural emphases of hardcore predestinarians.  Ironically, even Martin Luther was a hardcore predestinarian as anyone reading the Bondage of the Will can see.  Modern Reformed theologians wish to emphasize the bondage of humanity to sin, but that is not the only thing that Luther was highlighting in his book written against Erasmus and libertarian free will:

 

Sect. IX.—THIS, therefore, is also essentially necessary and wholesome for Christians to know: That God foreknows nothing by contingency, but that He foresees, purposes, and does all things according to His immutable, eternal, and infallible will. By this thunderbolt, “Free-will” is thrown prostrate, and utterly dashed to pieces. Those, therefore, who would assert “Free-will,” must either deny this thunderbolt, or pretend not to see it, or push it from them. But, however, before I establish this point by any arguments of my own, and by the authority of Scripture, I will first set it forth in your words.  (See:  Covenanters:  Bondage of the Will).

Of course, I do not have the time or resources to refute and rebut everything Muller has written.  I am not a professional scholar.  I have a secular job and must do my scholarly reading on a part-time basis.

The reader should also be aware that I do not agree with the doctrine of common grace, which is another area of contention between the semi-Calvinists and conservative and classical Calvinists.  Common grace accepts the legitimacy of liberal scholarship under the pretense that liberal scholars are objective at least some of the time.  However, there is really no such thing as objective scholarship, since everyone brings axioms and presuppositions to their work.  It is therefore important that Reformed scholarship begin with the axiom of Scripture.  This is the doctrine called Scripturalism by some of Gordon Clark’s supporters.  Even textual criticism is subordinate to Scripture.  This means that we must have a presupposed standard text for biblical translations.  The Westminster divines accepted the Textus Receptus and the Hebrew Masoretic Text as the basis for English translations of the Bible, including the canonical issues raised by the longer ending to Mark 16 and the trinitarian verses of 1 John 5:7-8.

 

 

#1.  Muller, Richard A. Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics: The Rise and Development of Reformed Orthodoxy;  Volume 1: Prolegomena to Theology. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2003. Print.

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^a Heb. 1:3. Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.

^b Dan. 4:34. And, at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. Ver. 35. And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? Psal. 135:6. Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places. Acts 17:25. Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things, Ver. 26. And hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation. Ver. 28. For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Job, Chapters 38, 39, 40, 41.

^c Matth. 10:29. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. Ver. 30. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Ver. 31. Fear ye not therefore; ye are of more value than many sparrows.

^d Prov. 15:3. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. Psal. 104:24. O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. Psal. 145:17. The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.

^e Acts 15:18. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. Psal. 94:8. Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise? Ver. 9. He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see? Ver. 10. He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know? Ver. 11. The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.

^f Eph. 1:11. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. Psal. 33:10. The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought; he maketh the devices of the people of none effect. Ver. 11. The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.

^g Isa. 63:14. As a beast goeth down into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest; so didst thou lead thy people, to make thyself a glorious name. Eph. 3:10. To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. Rom. 9:17. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Gen. 45:7. And God sent me before you, to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. Psal. 145:7. They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness.

^h Acts 2:23. Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.

ⁱ Gen. 8:22. While the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease. Jer. 31:35. Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night; which divideth the sea, when the waves thereof roar; the Lord of hosts is his name. Exod. 21:13. And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand; then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee. With Deut. 19:5. As when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbour to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth from the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbour, that he die; he shall flee unto one of those cities, and live. 1 Kings 22:28. And Micaiah said, If thou return at all in peace, the Lord hath not spoken by me. And he said, Hearken, O people, every one of you. Ver. 34. And a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness: wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand, and carry me out of the host, for I am wounded. Isa. 10:6. I will send him against a hypocritical nation; and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire in the streets. Ver. 7. Howbeit, he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and cut off nations not a few.

^k Acts 27:31. Paul said to the centurion, and to the soldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved. Ver. 44. And the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship: and so it came to pass that they escaped all safe to land. Isa. 55:10. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: Ver. 11. So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Hos. 2:21. And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the Lord; I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth. Ver. 22. And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and they shall hear Jezreel.

^l Hos. 1:7. But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen. Mat. 4:4. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Job 34:10. Therefore hearken unto me, ye men of understanding: Far be it from God, that he should do wickedness, and from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity.

^m Rom. 4:19. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb. Ver. 20. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God: Ver. 21. And being fully persuaded, that what he had promised he was able also to perform.

ⁿ 2 Kings 6:6. And the man of God said, Where fell it? And he showed him the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast it in thither, and the iron did swim. Dan. 3:27. And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king’s counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was a hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.

^o Rom. 11:32. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. Ver. 33. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! Ver. 34. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counsellor? 2 Sam. 24:1. And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them, to say, Go, number Israel and Judah. With 1 Chron. 21:1. And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel. 1 Kings 22:22. And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so. Ver. 23. Now therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee. 1 Chron. 10:4. Then said Saul to his armour-bearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and abuse me. But his armour-bearer would not, for he was sore afraid. So Saul took a sword, and fell upon it. Ver. 13. So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the Lord, even against the word of the Lord, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of it; Ver. 14. And inquired not of the Lord: therefore he slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David, the son of Jesse. 2 Sam. 16:10. And the king said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? so let him curse, because the Lord hath said unto him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Wherefore hast thou done so? Acts 2:23. Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. Acts 4:27. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together, Ver. 28. For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

^p Acts 14:16. Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways.

^q Psal. 76:10. Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. 2 Kings 19:28. Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears: therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.

^r Gen. 50:20. But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Isa. 10:6. I will send him against a hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Ver. 7. Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few. Ver. 12. Wherefore it shall come to pass, that, when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion, and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.

^s James 1:13. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: Ver. 14. But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Ver. 17. Every good gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. 1 John 2:16. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. Psal. 50:21. These things hast thou done, and I kept silence: thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.

^[1] Westminster Assembly. The Westminster Confession of Faith: Edinburgh Edition. Philadelphia: William S. Young, 1851. Print.

¹¹² Note Armstrong’s consistent reading of Amyraut in this way, in Calvinism and the Amyraut Heresy, pp. xvii–xix, 158–226, 263–269, et passim.

¹¹³ As is typical of such studies as Charles S. McCoy, “The Covenant Theology of Johannes Cocceius” (Ph.D. Dissertation, Yale University, 1956); idem, “Johannes Cocceius: Federal Theologian,” in Scottish Journal of Theology, XVI (1963), pp. 352–370; and J. Wayne Baker, Heinrich Bullinger and the Covenant: The Other Reformed Tradition (Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1980); idem, “Heinrich Bullinger, the Covenant, and the Reformed Tradition in Retrospect,” in Sixteenth Century Journal, 29/2 (1998), pp. 359–376.

^[2] Muller, Richard A. Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics: The Rise and Development of Reformed Orthodoxy;  Volume 1: Prolegomena to Theology. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2003. Print.