Keach contra Baxter on Justification - pt. 1 | Tom Hicks | The Weekly Discourse

The Weekly Discourse | We are continuing to listen to Dr. Tom Hicks as he discusses Benjamin Keach’s critique of the errors of Richard Baxter and others on Justification. Benjamin Keach believed that the doctrine of Richard Baxter had serious and devastating consequences on the church and he set about to critique the errors, most notably in his work “The Marrow of True Justification.” 

This is the 3rd of a series of lectures we have shared with you from our recent 2020 fall modular course on the Life and Theology of Benjamin Keach.

You have likely heard the name Richard Baxter. His works, The Christian Directory and the Reformed Pastor are very popular. But did you know that Richard Baxter rejected the Reformed doctrine of Justification by faith alone? Did you know that he rejected the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to the believer for salvation? Did you know that he taught that your final justification was based upon your works.

According to JI packer, “Baxter actually sowed the seeds of moralism with regard to sin, Arianism with regard to Christ, legalism with regard to faith and salvation, and liberalism with regards to God.”

Benjamin Keach joined other notable theologians such as John Owen in writing against Baxter’s views of Justification in his work The Marrow of True Justification: Justification without works.

We were recently joined by Dr. Tom Hicks for our 2020 fall modular course on the Life and Theology of Benjamin Keach. In the midst of this course, Dr. Hicks lectured on the theology of Richard Baxter and the response of Benjamin Keach. In the following lecture he outlines the doctrine of Richard Baxter and answers questions such as, “should we read Richard Baxter?” And “How can we recognize versions of Baxters views today?”

The Weekly Discourse usually features a lecture which has been taken from a course at Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary.

Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary is a Confessional Reformed Baptist Seminary Providing affordable online theological education to help the Church in its calling to train faithful men. To learn more about CBTS, visit https://CBTSeminary.org.