“As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the
countenance of his friend” (Prov. 27:17, NKJV). The old butcher’s shops, when I
was a kid, had sawdust on their floors. The sawdust, apparently, was to soak up
any stray blood drippings. I was reminded of the butcher with his white (and
red-streaked) apron sharpening his knife before filling your order. The
Escondido Theology is John Frame’s (hopefully successful) attempt to
sharpen “the countenance of his friend[s].” In essence, the book is about “rightly
dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15b).
The issue being addressed is that which has come to the fore
in (Reformed) Christian circles in light of the massive and sometimes brutal government
overreach experienced in many nations during the era of COVID19. Where does the
authority of government come from? Two Kingdom Theology holds that civil
governments operate outside clear Bible revelation, instead relying on semi-opaque guidance
from something called Natural Theology. This is where the idea of Two Kingdoms comes
in. The former functions as an aspect of God’s redemption, while the latter according
to God’s creation, i.e., nature. And never the twain shall meet (or something like that).
The book’s subtitle describes its intent and contents: A
Biblical Response to Two Kingdom Theology. In foil fencing the sounds of iron
hitting against iron can be heard. John Frame, in turn, as the “Irenic
Polemicist”, deftly “touches” each of his opponents, his old friends, his
former colleagues and mostly “faculty members of Westminster Seminary
California which is located in the city of Escondido, California.”
This is a must read for anyone interested in Reformed theology and the issue of Two Kingdom Theology. Let us watch and learn from these theological heavyweights as they duel.
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