The creeds exist to serve and advance a clear apprehension of the scriptural testimony.

“ARID SCHOLARS” VS. THE BIBLE? A THEOLOGICAL AND EXEGETICAL CRITIQUE OF THE ETERNAL SUBORDINATION OF THE SON BY ALASTAIR ROBERTS IN GOD OF OUR FATHERS: CLASSICAL THEISM FOR THE CONTEMPORARY CHURCH, ED. BRAD LITTLE JOHN, 121.

The creeds exist to serve and advance a clear apprehension of the scriptural testimony. In contrast to the extreme position advanced by Ware, the Son is not performing a mission graciously “delegated” to Him by a higher authority, but is the authoritative God Himself come in the flesh. The Son’s being sent and His coming are of one piece; the authority of the Father and the authority of the Son are the same single, undivided divine authority. In recognizing this, the true wonder of the incarnation is discovered.

“ARID SCHOLARS” VS. THE BIBLE? A THEOLOGICAL AND EXEGETICAL CRITIQUE OF THE ETERNAL SUBORDINATION OF THE SON BY ALASTAIR ROBERTS IN GOD OF OUR FATHERS: CLASSICAL THEISM FOR THE CONTEMPORARY CHURCH, ED. BRAD LITTLE JOHN, 122.

Attempts to ground our vision of society upon our doctrine of the Trinity depend upon the analogy between the personhood of the Triune persons and human personhood, upon the assumption that “the triune persons are very like us, in their personhood at least, so their perfect relations might be a model for our attempts to imagine what well-lived relationships might look like.”[273] More troubling, this analogy allows for traffic in both directions. As Holmes observes, both Volf and Boff airbrush the inconvenient asymmetry of divine taxis—something which Zizioulas accents—in their doctrine of the Trinity, as it disrupts the egalitarian picture that they desire.[274]

“ARID SCHOLARS” VS. THE BIBLE? A THEOLOGICAL AND EXEGETICAL CRITIQUE OF THE ETERNAL SUBORDINATION OF THE SON by Alastair Roberts in GOD OF OUR FATHERS: CLASSICAL THEISM FOR THE CONTEMPORARY CHURCH, ED. BRAD LITTLE JOHN, 108.

Natural Theology is not the claim that all the truths of Christianity can be proved via human reasoning, without the aid of divinely inspired scriptures. Rather, Natural Theology, properly understood, does not venture to say anything about that which can be known only through divine revelation, such as, that Jesus was born of a virgin, that Jesus is God, that God is Triune, etc. Having made these distinctions, we are now in position to ask if Natural Theology, understood as that which can be known about God via rational human observations of our Universe (including ourselves), is a necessary part of protestant orthodoxy.

NATURAL THEOLOGY AND PROTESTANT ORTHODOXY” BY DAVID HAINES IN GOD OF OUR FATHERS: CLASSICAL THEISM FOR THE CONTEMPORARY CHURCH, ED. BRAD LITTLE JOHN, 59.

Natural Theology, broadly defined, is that part of philosophy which explores that which man can know about God (his existence, divine nature, etc.) from nature via His divinely bestowed faculty of reason, and this, unaided by any divinely inspired written revelation from any religion, and this, without presupposing the truth of any one religion.

“NATURAL THEOLOGY AND PROTESTANT ORTHODOXY” by David Haines in God of our Fathers: Classical Theism for the Contemporary Church, Ed. Brad Little John, 57.

Hold fast the tradition that you received from the apostles, and repent of your indifference.

Andrew of Caesarea: Commentary on the Apocalypse (3:3)

Providence belongs to the ad extra works of God and in particular to the works of nature, which are to be distinguished from the works of grace. Therefore we do not speak of the works of grace under God’s providence. This distinction has not always been made by theologians, for even those who speak of the opera naturae [works of nature] and the opera gratiae [works of grace] classify miracles, which are in the closest connection with the works of grace, under providence.

Geerhardus Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, 228.

What is providence?

The eternal work of God by which He causes the created universe, as far as its substance is concerned, to continue to exist. Concerning its power, He causes it to operate, and concerning its operations, to reach the goal intended by Him.

Geerhardus Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, 227.

This theory claims that everything has developed, and is still developing, from a single instance of matter by the working of certain natural laws. The theory of evolution, however, does not have an answer to the question where that matter and those laws come from. It can therefore not be a substitute for the doctrine of creation and is based, moreover, on deism or pantheism.

Geerhardus Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, 227.

There is no time before creation. There is only eternity, and time can make no intrusion into eternity, no creature can by its existence or nonexistence add something or take away something from eternity. Already Augustine said very accurately, “Without doubt the world did not come into existence in time, but with time” (De Civitate Dei [The City of God], 10.6).

Geerhardus Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, 223.