October 11, 2018 with Dr. Jeffrey C. Waddington on “The Debate Over Retrieving Thomas Aquinas for Reformed Theology”

The Program Introduction and Scripture-Based Radio Motto

Live from the historic parsonage of 19th century gospel minister George Norcross in downtown Carlisle, Pennsylvania, it's Iron Sharpens Iron, a radio platform on which pastors, Christian scholars and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today.

Proverbs 27 verse 17 tells us, iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another. Matthew Henry said that in this passage, quote, we are cautioned to take heed whom we converse with and directed to have in view in conversation to make one another wiser and better.

It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next hour and we hope to hear from you, the listener, with your own questions. Now here's our host, Chris Arnson.

Good afternoon, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Lake City, Florida and the rest of humanity living on the planet Earth who are listening via live streaming at ironsharpensironradio .com. This is Chris Arnson, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a happy Thursday on this 11th day of October 2018.

In about 15 minutes or so, we're going to be joined by our primary guest today, Dr. Jeffrey C. Waddington, who is an adjunct professor of systematic theology at Westminster Theological Seminary to discuss the debate over retrieving Thomas Aquinas for reform theology.

But before that, we're going to be joined by our friend Mike Gaydosch, founder of Solid Ground Christian Books, just to give us an update on what's new at Solid Ground Christian Books and what deals they have to offer.

And it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, my friend Mike Gaydosch.

Thank you, Chris. I appreciate it. I wasn't expecting to be back quite for a few minutes in theologians. I was a pastor and I'm not abutting to the knowledge of who God is and it's our responsibility.

Praise God. Well, tell us about Solid Ground Christian Books.

For those of our listeners who might be brand new listeners who haven't heard you very frequently promoted on this program. But tell our listeners about Solid Ground Christian Books and tell.

Us about new offers that you've got going. Yeah, what I'd like to do to titles as well as a title that I'm going to be doing sometime. I actually began Pubna in 1991. That's where.

I was saved by the mercy of Christ. That's where you baptized me. That's exactly right. And I was a part-time employee of Solid Ground Christian Books. That's right. That's right.

No, Calvary Press. I mean, yeah, Calvary Press. That's right. And Calvary Press, but it's not connected any. When my wife and I moved to Alabama, the Lord opened a door for me to begin a new work. And that work, and we have published other pre-orders to be at least at the earliest.

I'll just tell you and introduce you to a few of the items. The most recent is a small work by W. G. T. Shedd. William G. T. Shedd, 20, and died in 1894. His life, at least the last part of the theological sense, upon the theologian, and based into the position of thoughts on two works.

A man of the last generation began the preface. He was writing on this subject, could be content to be disciples. He meant to intimate the difficulties we feel with regard to predestination are not derived from the word, full of it, not unnatural unwillingness to acknowledge ourselves, to belong to ourselves.

And we resent really belonging absolutely, even if that anybody else. And beginning, I want the doctrine of priesthood. And even a longer S. Warfield, he's simple writing. Another work and for many, many years.

And I was able, himself, we have an old, an old copy of the book with me bringing more years than I anticipated by Abraham on the subject. He devised the book in warfare of the way he begins the book.

Do I have another minute? Yes, you do. He begins the book by saying it's actually the very opening chapter is how often we warning against all human. They were not that. Indeed, not for the Lord encouraged Zerubbabel in the work of his hands.

The angel says the hands of Zerubbabel and his hands shall Lord using the hands of might and powering in the little dam to maintain that the godly life is a life of quiet submission. Jehovah shall fight for you by and watch God work the era of such wonders, such as of old God, the return of Jesus upon the cloud immediately to labor in the name of the Lord and the means that we know.

You know what happened? I just want to mention this to the other day. Do you know if it was somebody in our audience? He didn't say so. I'm not sure it's from Saudi Arabia. I cannot think of one right now, but we have.

Had listeners from all over the world, even Japan and Pakistan and South Korea and Africa,.

Many different countries on the African continent. Of course, we've had orders from and I do have I've had many orders. I'm excited about the G3 conference that's coming up. I plan to be there. Great health.

Well, I'm excited about seeing you again face to face and sharing.

Fellowship with you. Maybe we can once again drag Larry Silverio up there. Well, hopefully.

We don't have to drag him. I think he'd be delighted to be able to come again for the debate for somebody who just had open hearts. I realize I don't want to listen to Todd Freel right now. He makes me laugh.

Well, I know you've got your guest coming opportunity to be able to. Is your guest on now or is he waiting? He's waiting actually to call in.

And we're looking forward to having Jeff back on the show. In fact, Jeff specifically asked me, please have Mike Gajdasz consider publishing some some of my books. He has he has written a couple of books and he's a very brilliant guy and seems to be fairly well known amongst reformed folks, especially Presbyterians all over the country.

That's great. Well,.

We'll have to begin working together. Great. Well, just always remember that the website.

For Solid Ground Christian Books is Solid-Ground-Books .com. Solid-Ground-Books .com. And unlike our friend in Saudi Arabia, please always remember to tell Mike Gajdasz that you heard about the Solid Ground Christian Books from Iron Trip and Iron Radio.

And we look forward to having you back many times. We are still praising God over the successful heart surgery that.

You underwent and that you are getting stronger every day. I am. And you as well. Many, many others who your friends and your listeners were praying and continue to get better. Thank.

You. Praise God. Well, God bless you, Mike. And we'll talk to you soon. All right. Love you, buddy. Love you, too. Bye bye. And don't go away, folks, because we are going to be joined momentarily by our primary guest today, Dr. Jeffrey Waddington.

And Dr. Waddington is going to be discussing the theme, the debate over retrieving Thomas Aquinas for use in reform theology. And if you have any questions on that subject, our email address is ChrisArnson at gmail .com.

ChrisArnson at gmail .com. Don't go away. We're going to be right back, God willing, right after these messages from our sponsors. Chris Arnson, host of Iron Trip and Iron Radio here. I want to tell you about a man I have personally known for many years.

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I'm Stephan Miller, Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology at IRBS Theological Seminary in Mansfield, Texas. I accepted this call to teach at the seminary because I'm firmly convinced that the people of God in the churches of our Lord Jesus Christ need to be firmly grounded in the truth of Holy Scripture.

I'm excited to be teaching such subjects as the nature of theology and the doctrine of Scripture and even the doctrine of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Our churches and our people need to be well-grounded in these truths.

Indeed, future ministers of the gospel need to understand these truths in order to proclaim them to all of God's people. If you want to learn more about our program, visit us online at irbsseminary .org.

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My name is Steve Lawson, founder and president of One Passion Ministries, as well as teaching fellow for Ligonier Ministries. I serve as professor of preaching and oversee the Doctor of Ministry program at the Master's Seminary in Los Angeles.

I would like to recommend the church where one of my preaching students, Andy Woodard, serves as the pastor. It's called New Covenant Church, NYC. They are a Reformed Baptist church that meets in Midtown Manhattan.

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Again, their information can be found at www .ncc .nyc. Have a great day.

Thomas Aquinas, Reformed Theology, and the Question of Retrieval

Welcome back. We are now going to introduce our guest today. That's Dr. Jeffrey C. Waddington who is stated supply. I hate that term. It's almost like calling your wife the designated breeder or something like that.

Dr. Jeffrey C. Waddington is the stated supply of Knox Orthodox Presbyterian Church of Lansdowne, Pennsylvania. He is secretary of the board of the Reformed Forum, panelist at Christ the Center and East of Eden, and article editor for Confessional Presbyterian Journal, and adjunct professor of systematic theology at Westminster Theological Seminary.

Today we are addressing the debate over retrieving Thomas Aquinas for Reformed Theology. It's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, my good friend, Dr. Jeffrey C. Waddington.

On the road. Great. Amen. Well, I hope we're not causing you to actually break the law. In New York you'd be breaking the law. No, not at all.

In that case, you would have been actually voluntarily breaking the law. I wouldn't be forcing you to do anything. Amen. Well, I'm glad that you said that because we don't want to encourage people to be talking on their cell phones while driving.

Why don't you tell our listeners about Knox Orthodox Presbyterian Church of Lansdowne, Pennsylvania.

Well, Knox is a congregation for 42 years, since 19...

Actually, I was pouring myself a cup of coffee. I didn't think you were going to stop at that point.

Okay, listeners of magazines and books are really concerned about white space, so we'll just call that audio white space.

And, by the way, I don't know if you've ever read the book Old Light on New Worship. It is a book in defense of acapella worship by a Reformed Baptist pastor up in Rochester, New York, Grace Baptist Church.

John Price, who I've had as a guest on the program, we actually did a three-part series on that issue. And, to tell you the truth, I think that John makes a very strong argument for exclusive acapella worship.

He is not an exclusive psalmist, but he does believe in acapella exclusively in the worship service, although he is not doing battle against those that disagree with him. He doesn't use that as an area of division, and he is fully aware that the vast majority of Reformed Baptists do use musical instruments.

But he is convicted from his study of Scripture to the strictly acapella position, and I have to say, as I said, he makes a very strong argument. But, that is not our theme today. I do advise people, or strongly recommend that people listen to that three-part series.

If you go to ironsherpinsironradio .com and go to the archive in the past shows podcast section and type in John Price, you will get all of those interviews in that series. You could even type in acapella, which is actually two words, A-C-A-P-P-E-L-L-A.

And I'd love to hear back from you what you think of those. But, tell us also about the Reformed Forum. That's where many people are familiar with you, it seems, that listen to Ironsherpinsironradio. The Reformed Forum, in fact, I think just had a conference where you spoke, did they not?

We did.

Well, maybe in these conversations, maybe other folks with the idea in mind that they were nearly non-existent.

Yeah, Gerhardus Voss was one of the early faculty members of Princeton, correct?

That's correct. He was the first of Johannes's, at that time.

Yes, I had the great privilege of interviewing Danny on the old Ironsherpinsironradio program out of New York on his book, A Gerhardus Voss Anthology.

Right, and this is the nice little...

But that book that you just mentioned is not in print yet, right?

Not yet submitted to, we will announce that.

Well, and last but not least, why don't you tell our listeners about Confessional Presbyterian Journal.

Sure, that is a journal that published out...

And, of course, you have recently been added to the faculty there at Westminster Theological Seminary in the Philadelphia area. Glenside, Pennsylvania, specifically, right?

Yes, David Garner...

Yes, well, I'm looking forward to seeing your colleague David Garner preach next month. I don't know if you are aware of this, but November 9th and the 10th, the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals is having their annual Quakertown Conference on Reformed Theology at the Grace Bible Fellowship Church of Quakertown, Pennsylvania.

I will be manning, God willing, an exhibitor's booth there, and David Garner is on the roster of the speakers there, and it's on the theme, The Cross of Christ.

Sure, so that, I think, in the life of who come to you...

Yes, this will be my third Quakertown Conference. And it's actually, the actual theme is The Glory of the Cross. I misspoke, it's obviously very similar to what I said, but The Glory of the Cross is the exact theme.

And not only will David Garner be there, but Ray Ortlund, Richard Phillips, Timothy Gibson, and Carlton Wynn will be there November 9th and the 10th, and I hope that many of you listening in the Iron Trip and Zion Radio audience will be there with me.

And you can go to alliancenet .org, alliancenet .org, click on Events, and then scroll down to Quakertown Conference on Reformed Theology to get more information about registering. Well, by the way, if you want more information about Westminster Theological Seminary, you could go to wts .edu, wts .edu, and if you want any more information about Knox Presbyterian Church, where our guest is the pastor, or should I say the stated supply, you can go to knox-presbyterian .org, k-n-o-x-presbyterian .org, the Reformed Forum website, that you can find out more about that organization, is reformedforum .org, reformedforum .org, and then last but not least, the Confessional Presbyterian Journal, you can find out more about that at cpjournal .com, cpjournal .com, c for confessional, p for presbyterianjournal .com.

We're going to be going to a break right now, and we are going to come back, God willing, to continue our, should I say, begin the theme of our program today, the debate over retrieving Thomas Aquinas for Reformed Theology.

If you have questions about that specific theme, we will allow you a broader field of topics to ask questions over, especially since Dr. Waddington is a pastor, so we will permit you to ask pastoral questions as well, or topics on the broad theme of Reformed Theology, but it would be even better if you have specifically a question about Thomas Aquinas, and that email address is chrisarnsen at gmail dot com c-h-r-i-s-a-r-n-z-e-n at gmail dot com.

Don't go away, God willing, we will be right back after these messages from our sponsors. Iron Sharpens Iron Radio is sponsored by Harvey Cedars, a year-round Bible conference and retreat center nestled on the Jersey Shore.

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Aquinas, Roman Catholicism, and the Reformed Use of Historical Theology

Before we return to Dr. Jeffrey C. Waddington, the Adjunct Professor of Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, we just have a few other announcements to make in regard to special events, one of which we just mentioned before.

Coming up on November 9th and the 10th, God willing, I will be manning another Iron Sharpens Iron Radio exhibitor's booth at the Quaker Town Conference on Reform Theology. The theme is The Glory of the Cross and the speakers include David Garner, Ray Ortland, Richard Phillips, Timothy Gibson, and Carlton Winn.

This will be held at the Grace Bible Fellowship Church in Quaker Town, Pennsylvania. For more details, go to Alliancenet .org. Alliancenet .org. Click on Events and then click on Quaker Town Conference on Reform Theology.

Then, coming up in January, I will also be, God willing, manning an exhibitor's booth for the third year in a row at the G3 Conference, which stands for Gospel, Grace, and Glory, and that will be held, God willing, at the Georgia International Convention Center in College Park, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta.

They are expecting between 4 ,000 and 5 ,000 people there. I'm very excited about that because that will be even more people exposed to the ministry of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio while I'm manning my exhibitor's booth.

The speakers include Dr. James R. White, John Piper, Stephen J. Lawson, Vody Baucom, Mark Dever, Conrad M. Bayway, Tim Challies, Phil Johnson, Anthony Methenia, who is the pastor of Paul Washer, Todd Friel of Wretched TV and Wretched Radio, and Stephen J. Nichols, president of Reformation Bible College, the college founded by the late R .C. Sproul and Ligonier Ministries, and many more are on that lineup.

If you want to register not only to attend, but if you want to register to have an exhibitor's booth of your own there, because they are expecting between 4 ,000 and 5 ,000 people, go to g3conference .com.

G3conference .com. That conference is from Thursday, January 17th through Saturday, January 19th at the Georgia International Convention Center in College Park, Georgia, and please tell them that you heard about that event from Chris Arnzen of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

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That's chrisarnsen at gmail .com chrisarnsen at gmail .com and put advertising in the subject line. That's also our email address to send in a question to Dr. Jeffrey C. Waddington, our guest today, chrisarnsen at gmail .com, chrisarnsen at gmail .com and we are discussing the debate over retrieving Thomas Aquinas for Reformed Theology.

We would love to hear from you on a question specifically on Thomas Aquinas, on Reformed Theology in general, or even a pastoral question since Dr. Waddington is a pastor. And by the way, I want to remind you if you do not have a church home and you're not prayerfully seeking for one, you are living in rebellion against God.

You're being disobedient by not prayerfully seeking out and joining a Bible-believing church near you. So, if you're having difficulty finding one, I have lists of churches all over the world, and I have successfully helped, by God's grace, people find churches in their area all over the world, including even as far away as Perth, Australia, and parts of the United States from east coast to west coast, from north to south.

So please, send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com and put, I need a church home or something like that in the subject line and I will help you find a church. But now, Dr. Waddington, this is a very, very, what's the word I'm looking for, intriguing theme that we are discussing today, especially since there is division, even amongst Calvinist Reformed Christians over this issue, the debate over retrieving Thomas Aquinas for Reformed Theology.

I have even had guests on this program, even from your denomination, who are very opposed to the inclusion of Thomas Aquinas into the thinking and teaching of Reformed Christians. And I've had those who wholeheartedly support the use of Thomas Aquinas, whenever he is in agreement with the scriptures, of course.

And, why don't you tell, first of all, our listeners who are ignorant of Thomas Aquinas, tell us something about him. Okay, well, Thomas Aquinas,.

And he died, and that means order of priests, it would not surprise me, was not only a preacher and a priest.

And so was Johann Tetzel, as I remember?

Oh, well, I don't know if Tetzel.

Was a priest. He was a Dominican. He was a Dominican. Yes, yes.

I come down on the side of not finding him. Forum. Forum had a comment, Thomas Aquinas, we have a comment.

I just had that for lunch at Mario's. No, actually, that was a dinner plate with the side of Gnocchi. But anyway, had a nick.

When he speaks. You've had guests. You just insulted. You just insulted the late Dr. R .C. Sproul, who upheld. You see, you see, brother, he's now in heaven.

So I'm assuming you don't think that he'll be meeting Thomas up there, or has already met him. Now, can you start with positive things about him? What led Dr. R .C. Sproul and others who I have interviewed to uphold Thomas Aquinas as a great hero of Christendom, next to the likes of Augustine, next to the likes of John Owen, for a more recent name.

And they really think that he had an enormous part in the formulation of biblical systematic Christian theology. So if you could tell us about why. And in fact, as far as on the opposing side, which we'll go to after this, but if I'm not mistaken, I believe Cornelius Van Till was opposed to retrieving Thomas Aquinas for Reformed Theology.

Well, yeah, he was critical of Thomas' theology, and maybe if we get to the details, we'll see why. And the reason I brought.

Van Till up early is that may explain some of the reasons. It may, I don't know if this is just a quote-unquote coincidence, but Dr. Sproul, as you know, did not share Van Till's presuppositional apologetic.

And I'm wondering if that has something to do with the.

Thomas Aquinas connection. But anyway. It is. There is a very clear acceptance of.

That. So if you could start with the positive things that you could think of.

Yeah, well there are. I will tell you, for the past year I've been reading Thomas and he's a brilliant mind. It's a beautiful thing to see, a brilliant mind at work. Even if it's not always, it's an academic.

And yes, Thomas is of what he does. The Hebrews, I'm not even thinking.

Now, how would he, to your knowledge, you just mentioned two of the areas where he agrees with the Council of Trent, which was three centuries later. Or should I say the Council of Trent agreed with him on those two areas because they were more recent in history.

They were in the 16th century, that gathering at Trent. But what ways was he in any way different from what those at Trent declared in their counter-Reformation attempts to make clear the separation between Rome and the Reformers?

Right, right, three centuries.

By three centuries at the beginning of the Reformation, medieval Roman Catholic, not only theology but spirituality and piety, all of those things. He has the full elements of the bread and the wine. Wow.