The Whole Christ - Sinclair Ferguson - Ligonier Ministries
Since the days of the early church, Christians have wrestled with the relationship between the law and gospel. If, as the apostle Paul says, salvation is by grace and the law cannot save, what relevance does the law have for Christians today?
By revisiting the Marrow Controversy - a famous but largely forgotten eighteenth-century debate related to the proper relationship between God's grace and our works - Dr. Sinclair B. Ferguson sheds light on this central issue and why it still matters today. In doing so, he explains how our understanding of the relationship between law and gospel determines our approach to evangelism, our pursuit of sanctification, and even our understanding of God himself.
Dr. Ferguson shows us that the antidote to the poison of legalism on the one hand and antinomianism on the other is one and the same: the life-giving gospel of Jesus Christ, in whom we are simultaneously justified by faith, freed for good works, and assured of salvation.
Messages Included in This Series:
1. How a Marrow Grew
2. Grace in the Gospel
3. Preparation, Distortion, Poison
4. Danger! Legalism
5. The Order of Grace
6. Suspicious Symptoms
7. Faces of Antinomianism
8. Causes of Antinomianism
9. Cures for Antinomianism
10. The Marrow of Assurance
11. Toward Assurance of Salvation
12. Hindrances Strew All the Way
Study Guide: https://store.ligonier.org/the-whole-christ-study-guide
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How a Marrow Grew - E.1 - The Whole Christ
Controversy erupted in eighteenth-century Scotland over the Auchterarder Creed and a work titled The Marrow of Modern Divinity. In this lesson, Dr. Ferguson recounts the history of this debate and its relevance for the Christian life.
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Grace in the Gospel - E.2 - The Whole Christ
The Marrow Controversy raised fundamental questions about the gospel, how it is to be presented, and what exactly it is. In this lesson, Dr. Ferguson clarifies the relationship between the doctrine of election and the free offer of the gospel.
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Preparation, Distortion, Poison - E.3 - The Whole Christ
There is nothing that can qualify someone to come to faith in Jesus Christ, a truth that is vital to grasp if one is to understand the Marrow Controversy. In this lesson, Dr. Ferguson highlights the distortions that rejecting this truth creates, including doubt concerning God’s love for us.
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Danger! Legalism - E.4 - The Whole Christ
Legalism is a problem as old as the garden of Eden. Even when God had only given one prohibition, it was being added to. In this lesson, Dr. Ferguson defines legalism and the underlying dangers that accompany a failure to see how God’s law is intimately connected to God’s character.
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The Order of Grace - E.5 - The Whole Christ
To be sure, repentance is necessary for salvation, but to make it a condition for faith in Christ is a distortion of the gospel. In this lesson, Dr. Ferguson bridges a great divide in the Marrow Controversy: the relationship between repentance and faith.
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Suspicious Symptoms - E.6 - The Whole Christ
Legalism, in order to be cured, must be diagnosed, and it cannot be diagnosed if we do not know its symptoms. In this lesson, Dr. Ferguson identifies the various symptoms of legalism using three well-known parables of Jesus.
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Faces of Antinomianism - E.7 - The Whole Christ
The legalist and the antinomian are one and the same, in that they both operate out of a deeply ingrained misreading of God’s law and character. In this lesson, Dr. Ferguson looks at the different faces of antinomianism and their distinctive features.
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Causes of Antinomianism - E.8 - The Whole Christ
The assertion that all antinomians are fundamentally legalists may raise a certain level of suspicion, being that they appear to be so different. In this lesson, Dr. Ferguson reinforces this claim by examining the causes of antinomianism.
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Cures for Antinomianism - E.9 - The Whole Christ
The only cure for antinomianism is the gospel—nothing short of Jesus Christ. In this lesson, Dr. Ferguson explains our relationship to the law and discusses the gospel cure for antinomianism, which is found only in Christ and by the enabling power of the Holy Spirit.
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The Marrow of Assurance - E.10 - The Whole Christ
Along with the free offer of the gospel, legalism, and antinomianism, assurance was the fourth issue that fueled the Marrow Controversy. In this lesson, Dr. Ferguson explains how assurance relates to the other concepts and how the church throughout the centuries has understood assurance of salvat...
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Toward Assurance of Salvation - E.11 - The Whole Christ
A question dear to every Christian’s heart is this: How do we grow in assurance? In this lesson, Dr. Ferguson examines how our understanding of justification and the Christian life leads to this question’s answer and thus prompts growth.
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Hindrances Strew All the Way - E.12 - The Whole Christ
The quest for assurance isn’t free of difficulties, so we need to be made aware of the obstacles along the way. In this lecture, Dr. Ferguson helps us anticipate the common snares that trip us up when we take our eyes off of Jesus Christ.
