David Chong on Evaluate the “New Perspective” on Paul’s exposition of the doctrine of justification by faith alone

The current debates regarding justification reflect a readiness to explore new perspectives that hold the promise for ecumenical convergence or even consensus. The importance of these contemporary discussions of justification can hardly be exaggerated. This paper was written by David Chong in attempt to sort out the daunting task of the contemporary state of theological discussion regarding justification here. An Excerpt：

Since the groundbreaking work in E. P. Sanders’ monograph, “Paul and Palestinian Judaism”, a paradigm shift had taken place within New Testament scholarship with regards to the center of Pauline theology. Although by no means a monolithic movement, the New Perspective represents a fundamental rethinking of what the gospel really means. The present paper sought to analyze and evaluate New Perspective views on the doctrine of justification sola fide primarily through interaction with major proponents.

Our reviewer Pastor Lu Tsun En of the Westminster graduate, his review in chinese here, and the newly[4/10] english translated version by Daniel Chew here. Excerpt:

随着英国圣公会Durham主教与首席新约学者汤姆‧赖特（N.T.Wright）的作品陆续被翻译为中文，例如校园出版的〈再思保罗神学争议〉，近年来英美神学界「新观点派」(New Perspectives)的神学观点逐渐受到华人教会的注意。David Chong弟兄用非常简洁而流畅的文字摘要了新观点派的特色...

[This paper is now opened for discussion]

Daniel Wong on An Analysis and Critique of Signs and Wonders

救赎历史与神迹奇事有着怎样的关系呢？古晋归正福音团契创办人，吉隆坡归正福音教会主理，王俊才牧师愿在本文中探讨，圣经中所记载有关上帝所施行的神迹奇事与救赎历史事件的关系。摘要:

灵恩神学并没有正确解释神迹奇事。John Wimber因着错误延用Ladd的神国的神学，脱离救赎历史角度去理解神迹奇事，相信今天的基督徒依然能如耶稣基督和使徒时代，在传道时能继续以神迹奇事的配合来印证福音的大能。

Our reviewer is Daniel Chew, and his review can be read in english here.

Rev. Wong critiques various aspects of the Signs and Wonder movement which are at variance from the teachings of Scripture. In preparation for further analysis of the issue, Rev. Wong gave a brief overview of the biblical teachings of the Covenants and the relationship between the Old and New Covenants/ Testaments.

[This paper are now opened for discussion in both chinese and english.]

JJ Lim on the place and necessity of Creeds and Confessions

Are Creeds and Confessions necessary? What is their role and place in the life of a Church? In our second paper, Rev. J.J. Lim of Pilgrim Covenant Church attempts to answer the question in his paper here. An excerpt:

In this short article therefore, we would like to examine, as the questions: Is there a Biblical Basis for Creeds and Confessions? What are the Uses of Creed and Confessions in the Church? To what extend should Creed or Confession be binding to members?

Many modern evangelical Christians are quick to say that they believe in no creeds but the Bible. But this statement is in itself a creedal statement, and therefore makes it self-contradictory.

[more]

David Chang responds to this paper here.

[This paper is now opened for discussion]

Mejlina on Scripture and Tradition

The first paper for our blog conference was done by Mejlina Tjoa. What is the relationship of Scripture to tradition. Is tradition something that Christians should abhor as being of the letter and not of the Spirit (cf 2 Cor. 3:6)? In her paper entitled Scripture and Tradition, Mejlina tackles this issue and puts forward her case for the Reformed stance on this issue, which could be accessed here. An excerpt:

Sola Scriptura is the hallmark of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. It acknowledges the Scripture as sole infallible and supreme authority over all matters of faith and life, in contrast to the Roman Catholic conviction which accepts both Scripture and church tradition as the highest authority. Protestantism does not disregard and in fact still emphasizes the importance of church tradition. However it adopts quite a different view of the role of tradition from Roman Catholicism.

This paper attempts to introduce various views pertaining to the relationship between Scripture and tradition, especially how appealing to the authority of church tradition fits in with the Protestant concept of Sola Scriptura. Further, this paper will also study the role of the Holy Spirit in the students of the Scriptures, on how the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers, and an appeal to church tradition or church heritage with regards Bible interpretation, are harmonized. Finally, the limitation of tradition will be briefly explored for further thought.

[more]

Our reviewer is Rev. Jonah Tang, and his reviews can be read in the original Chinese here, or English here.

In her paper Scripture and Tradition, Mejlina properly analyzes the place and role of tradition in the early catholic (small ‘c’) churches, as well as explicate the point of contention between the 16th century Reformation and Roman Catholicism on this topic. The view of the Reformation is not about the rejection of tradition, but about defending the truth of Sola Scriptura and in so doing vigorously contend for the Truth, circumventing the control of papal Traditionalism. ...

Mejlina's paper and Jonah Tang's response are now opened for discussion.

Opening of the CREDO500 blog conference

It is the 7th September 2009, and together with my co-organizer Jonah Tang, we hereby declare the CREDO500 blog conference open. Before the first paper is published, I would like to post some basic rules for this conference, in order to facilitate the discussions:

1) Commenting is to be done in the name of Christian truth and love. All comments thus are expected to reflect the calling of a Christian. Therefore, character assassinations and slander/libel are not permitted here.

2) All comments are welcome. However, please post with regards to the content of the paper and try not to digress into other topics. Spam comments when discovered will be deleted.

3) Do not feed the trolls. Please ignore those who come in for the sake of being disagreeable.

That will be all, and once again, we welcome all to participate in the blog conference, for the edification of the Church.

Biography of contributors for the CREDO500 blog conference

After much effort, the biography of our contributors have been more or less traslated into English, as follows:

Authors

Mejlina Tjoa

Mejlina graduated from NUS with B. Eng in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, and is currently a Melbourne University MBA student, A member of GRII (Reformed Evangelical Indonesian Church), she is currently teaching children Sunday classes in Melbourne. She also regularly does (unofficial) transcripts of Rev Tong's weekly sermons, and occasionally writes / edits Christian articles as requested.

Rev. J.J. Lim

Pastor J.J. is the senior pastor of Pilgrim Covenant Church in Singapore, a church that practices the singing of Psalms. He has edited many works, including writing annotations for the Westminster Confession of Faith.

王俊才牧师 (Rev. Daniel Wong)

Formerly from a Penang Baptist church, he is now in the process of organizing the Christianity and the 21st century Reformed Bible School. He is currently the senior pastor of Kuching Grace Baptist Church and is the founder of Kuching Reformed Fellowship. He is also helping out in starting the Kuala Lumpur Reformed Evangelical Church as her founding pastor.

David Chong

David studies part time at Malaysia Bible Seminary, works in an IT consulting firm and blogs at TheAgora.blogspot.com. He worships at City Discipleship Presbyterian church and often gives talks to student and adult groups on cultural mandate, contemporary issues and marketplace theology. He is married to Grace and expecting his first child in July 2009.

Gideon Teo

Gideon is currently a 4th year M.Div. (Counseling emphasis) student at Westminster Theological Seminary and serves as a quarter-time youth pastor at China Grace Christian Church. He received his B.A. in Family Studies from the University of British Columbia (Canada) while being an active member and student vice-president of Campus Crusade for Christ. Gideon is a Pastor's Kid and is extremely thankful for the example set by his father-pastor. Gideon loves the outdoors and has worked as an adventure experiential educator as well as a horse wrangler in Wisconsin.

Rev. Dr. Andrew Teo (张顺牧师，博士)

Rev. Andrew Teo studied biochemistry in Murdoch University in Western Australia, following which he went to England for his masters at Birmingham Theological Seminary, getting his doctorate at San Francisco Theological Seminary in the USA. He is currently a Phd candidate in Whitefield College where he studied under Prof. Jay Adam. Meanwhile, he is the main pastor at Ann Arbor Chinese Christian Church in Michigan, USA.

Benjamin Ho

Benjamin is currently working in the Singapore government service as a policy analyst. He holds a Bachelors' degree (Honors) in journalism and is also pursuing his Masters' degree in International Relations. His academic interests include postmodernism, international politics, Islam and mass media studies. He is currently serving at the Family of Grace Evangelical Free Church as a youth ministry leader as well as in the worship ministry. In his free time, he enjoys listening to classical music, singing, reading and swimming.

Daniel Chew (赵惠聪)

Daniel Chew is an avid blogger and author of the book Driven Away by Purpose. He holds a BSc (Hon) in Life Sciences from the National University of Singapore and is currently working in a biological research lab. He currently worships at Covenant Evangelical Reformed Church and stays with his parents and younger brother in their home country of Singapore. He is the co-organizer of this blog conference.

Ps Linus Chua

Linus Chua is a member of Pilgrim Covenant Church in Singapore and a full-time ministerial student under the care of the Church Session. He was born in Singapore and is married to Shan Shan. They have three young children – Rebekah, Euan and Luke. After graduating from Imperial College London (UK) in 1999 with a M. Eng in Aeronautical Engineering, Linus worked as an aeronautical engineer for five and a half years at DSO National Laboratories. He is currently pursuing a M.Div with Whitefield Theological Seminary in preparation for the pastoral ministry.Linus has written a book Catechism in Conversation in which he gives a brief introduction to the Westminster Shorter Catechism in conversational style

Ps Tsun-En Lu (陆尊恩传道)

Tsun-En is the pastor of Faith and Fellowship Chinese Presbyterian Church in Taipei, Taiwan. He holds an M.Div from Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia.

陈佐人牧师，博士 (Rev. Dr. Stephen Chan)

Rev.Dr.Stephen Chan, Phd Chicago University, is Associate Professor of Seattle University. He is also Acting Principal of the Reformed Institute for Christianity and 21st Century, and senior pastor of Bay Area Reformed Evanglical church, meanwhile is academic committee member of the Sino-Christian Studies.

Rev. Dr. Jack Sin

Dr. Jack Sin was a professor at the Pensacola Theological Seminary in Florida, USA. He is the founder and principal of the Emmanuel Reformed Bible Lectures and the senior pastor of Maranatha Bible-Presbyterian Church. He has also served many years at Far Eastern Bible College.

Ps Alex Tseng (曾劭恺)

Alex studied physics at the University of Columbia, after which he went to Reagent College for his M. Div, and then to Princeton Theological Seminary for his Th. M. He is the preacher at North American Chinese Faith Baptist Church, and directs the student and English ministries.

Ps. Dr. Lai Hoe Ang

Dr. Ang is a forestry professor in Malaysia, an IUFRO officer, and engages in research work. He is also a preacher at Kuala Kubu Chapel (Reformed Baptist) church.

Rev. David Chen

Rev. David Chen has an M.Div from Westminster Theological Seminary, and is the pastor of the Faith, Hope, Love Church in Philadelphia, USA.

邓福祥传道 (Ps Fook Seong Teng)

Pastor Teng graduated with an B.Div from Methodist Theological School, and will be ordained as pastor under the Methodist Sabah Chinese Annual Conference.

王志勇牧师，博士 (Rev. Dr. Zhi Yong Wang)

Dr. Wang holds a Masters in Law from Beijing University. He is the theology professor at Calvin Seminary, and loves shepherding, translation, academic research and preaching through the Internet.

郑哲民牧师，博士 (Rev.Dr.David Cheng)

Dr. David Cheng possesses expertise in Law, Business, Christianity research, Politics and Economics. He is currently an MDiv student in Taipei Reformed Theological Seminary. His resume includes being a law school professor, a legal researcher, businessman, government legal counsel, pastor, evangelist, and vice president and director of a seminary. He is also currently involved in ministry in mainland China in the area of teaching, guidance, arranging and nurturing the Reformed movement there.

陈亦君 (Cathy Tan)

Cahty Tan has a Master of Music from California States University, Los Angeles. She is a part-time music ministry advisor for Jubilee Presbyterian Church Singapore, a choral conductor, a music educator, and a speaker and writer on music and worship issues.

Ps Timothy Peng (彭加荣)

Pastor Timothy Peng has a BDiv from Pensacola College, a MTS (major in Systematic Theology) from Calvin College, and is currently at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary studying for his MTh (major in Historical theology). His interests include Puritanism and Scholasticism, and he was once an English pastor for the Baton Rouge Chinese Church.

Jason Loh

Jason Loh works at INPUMA in Malaysia as an research analyst. His interests include politics, government, law, economics, higher education, international relations and strategic studies. He is a lay member and assistant legal advisor of the Anglican church who confesses the Classical Protestant and Evangelical Lutheran (Ausburg Confession) position.

Reviewers

郑天鸣牧师 (Rev. Jonah Tang)

Jonah Tang has a B. Div from Sibu Methodist Theological School. He is now a pastor under the Masland Church in the Methodist Sarawak Chinese Annual Conference(SCAC). He is the founder of this blog conference.

David Chang (张仲骐)

David Chang obtained his PhD at the University of Sydney, and is currently studying for an M. Div. from the Taipei Chinese Evangelical Seminary.

Rev. Peter Wong

Rev. Peter Wong was graduated in London Reformed Baptist Seminary, and is currently a minister of Brunei Reformed Baptist Churh.

Lim Soon Beng

Soon Beng is one of a rare breed: a Calvinistic Methodist. He currently worships and serves at Christalite Methodist Chapel. He works as a doctor (General Practitioner) and is blessed with a lovely wife and two children.

Edward Sim (沈骏)

Edward holds a Masters of Software Engineering from Imperial College, London and S.M. in Computer Science from the Singapore-MIT Alliance, National University of Singapore. He is currently pursuing PhD. Candidature in Computer Science at National University of Singapore. A member of Covenant Evangelical Free Church (CEFC), he is currently serving in the Chinese ministry in areas of worship and occasional preaching. He runs a seldom updated blog at http://valleyofvision.wordpress.com. He's also married and a proud new father of a recently born daughter.

Joel Tay

Joel graduated from a BSc. of Life Science from the University of Queensland, and is now studying for his M. Div. at Trinity Theological College in Singapore.

许如辉传道 (Ps Lemuel Hii)

Pastor Lemuel has the B.Th from Methodist Theological School in Sibu, and is currently ministering the Lord's Grace Preaching Point under the Methodist Sarawak Chinese Annual Conferene(SCAC)

杨百川 (Pai Chan Yong)

Pai Chan Yong is studying engineering at Chung Yuan Christian University, and worships at Taiwan Longtan Baptist Church

高爱军牧师 (Rev. Paul Gao)

Pastor Paul Gao is a pastor of a reformed church in Shanghai.

ADD:

Authors

郑哲民牧师，博士 (Rev. Dr. David Cheng)

Dr. David Cheng possesses expertise in Law, Business, Christianity research, Politics and Economics. He is currently an MDiv student in Taipei Reformed Theological Seminary. His resume includes being a law school professor, a legal researcher, businessman, government legal counsel, pastor, evangelist, and vice president and director of a seminary. He is also currently involved in ministry in mainland China in the area of teaching, guidance, arranging and nurturing the Reformed movement there.

Ps Timothy Peng (彭加荣)

Pastor Timothy Peng has a BDiv from Pensacola College, a MTS (major in Systematic Theology) from Calvin College, and is currently at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary studying for his ThM (major in Historical theology). His interests include Puritanism and Scholasticism, and he was once an English pastor for the Baton Rouge Chinese Church.

Jason Loh

Jason Loh is a law graduate from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. He was invited to join the Church of England (Continuing) in 2000 and appointed assistant legal advisor in 2003. He is also a member of the Lutheran Church in Malaysia and Singapore (LCMS). He is currently pursuing an academic career in the humanities and social sciences, doing his Master in Public Policy while working as a Research Analyst in the International Institute of Public Policy and Management (INPUMA), University of Malaya.

Reviewers

杨峻豪 (Jun Hao Yoong)

Jun Hao has a B.Eng. in Chemical Engineering, from Putra University, Malaysia. He is currently an Engineer, and worships and serves in Kuala Lumpur Reformed Evangelical Church. He is also a choir member in Malaysia’s Yin Qi Choir.

CREDO500 Blog Conference introduction

My co-organizer Pastor Jonah Tang has recently posted the introduction for the CREDO 500 blog conference, which is a mere three days away. (Hint: to those who have *yet* to hand in their reviews. Please do so ASAP as I require time to check them!) Here is the translation of the introduction for all who are either not fluent enough in Chinese, those who prefer to read it in English, and those who do not read Chinese.

---

INTRODUCTION:

Knowing and glorifying God, whom John Calvin served

by Jonah Tang

trans. by Daniel Chew

Name and beginning

On July the 10th 2009, Christians in the Reformed tradition around the world gathered in the city of Geneva, Switzerland, to commemorate the 500th anniversary (1509-2009) of the birth of the French Reformer John Calvin, breathing new life into the embers in this once thriving spiritual center of the Reformation. Although not everyone had the opportunity to attend this ceremony, churches around the world have resounded with various events to be held in remembrance of this iconic figure of the Reformation era.

The CREDO 500 blog conference is initiated by this present author and co-organized together with brother Daniel Chew, with Dr. Stephen Chan (陈佐人), Dr. Zhi Yong Wang (王志勇) and Dr. Keng Ann Lee (李健安) graciously agreeing to be the project’s guides and advisers. On the one hand, the weak faith of many suffer from the onslaught of postmodernism and the rapid growth of all manner of heresies, while on the other, the 21st century is witnessing the rapid increase in the Church as many ethnic Chinese are coming to the Lord . In order to provide a platform for the exchange of ideas in light of these facts, and in the hope of continuing the proclamation and development of Calvinist theology and the rich heritage of the Reformed tradition, this conference has been organized.

The original meaning of the word in the Latin, “Credo”, is “I believe”. “CREDO 500” get its meaning from the first five centuries of the early church, linked together with the Reformation and Post-Reformation era of the recent five centuries to make up a pair of two five centuries of faith, which can be termed as the “ecumenical Reformed faith and tradition”. At this blog, the CREDO motif is developed further as the acronym for “Chinese Reformed Evangelical Discussion Online”, with the goal of planting the Reformed faith in the new generation of Chinese Evangelicals. It is hoped that the strict confessionalism and godly piety of the 16th and 17th century Reformers and the English Puritans, together with the faithful witness of the Apostles and the believers of all ages, will find new adherents. Utilizing the ability of the Internet to flatten the world, believers are enabled to interact and learn together this Christian historical orthodox faith. For unless we know and understand the Reformation and its necessity and beginning, we will never be able to be one substantive household of faith founded on the Truth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Objective and Purpose

This author strongly believes that the influence of Calvin did not end with the Modern and Western world, but continues to impact and transform the Post-modern and Chinese-speaking world. We are honored to be able to invite Christians around the world from different denominations and backgrounds: be they scholars, pastors, researchers and theologians, to contribute to this blog conference and engage in interaction and mutual guidance on various technical topics. The conference would be done in the following format: Every other day a paper would be uploaded together with its attendant response, after which all and sundry are invited to actively participate in the discussions on that paper. All are invited to affirm, ask for further clarification or suggest points for more thought and reflection, with regards to the content and manner of writing of any of the papers. We eagerly anticipate creative engagements and constructive responses, to aid the authors in correcting and improving their articles.

In principle, all discussions are to be purely factual and objective. However, all attendees are to abide by the proper attitude of glorifying God. In expressing one’s thoughts and opinions, one is not to compromise on the foundational truths, but also to respect differences of opinions over minor points of doctrine. In all things, we are to be loving and speak words of edification to build up others. In this light, this author desires and exhorts the practice of the following beliefs and principles of Reformed orthodoxy: 1) To be based on the Bible, 2) To be Christ-centered, 3) with the sole aim of glorifying the triune God, 4) to be done for the good of the Church. These are also the desired result for the conference: that through studying the legacy of John Calvin, we may glorify God, whom Calvin served.

The theme of this blog conference is “Calvin to the modern Chinese Churches” 「从加尔文看今日华人教会」. We have collected a total of 20 papers to be spit into two sections, the first being “The legacy of Reformed Theology” and the second being “The Reformation and John Calvin”. Lord willing, we plan to publish the results of this conference in a volume, which is to be separately published in English and Chinese. Listed below in the next section are the short biographies of the authors and reviewers of the papers for this conference.

Lastly, we would like to express our appreciation to all who have contributed to this conference in one way or another. We look forward to this historical blog conference, and hope it will provoke thought to edify the Chinese churches, to bring about a unity between the intellect and the spirit, and to narrow the distance we have from our Reformed forefathers such that we are connected to our past. Amen.

[NOTE: I have not included the bio in this post because I have not translated them. I will include that in a later post]