"For this is the essence of real growth in ministry. It is part of developing sanctification; in a word, it is Christlikeness... For that to be true - whatever our gifts and calling - we who serve Christ and His people must first 'see Him more clearly, love Him more dearly, and follow Him more nearly.' If we do - no matter what our gifts are, or where our ministry may be - then the 'tincture' of which Thomas Boston spoke will be seen again.
The prayer that this may be true again lies behind the writing of The Whole Christ" (p.229).
"The Marrow Controversy was a debate within the Church of Scotland in the early eighteenth century. The occasion, though not the main cause, was the reprint and subsequent division over Edward Fisher's The Marrow of Modern Divinity. The root of the dispute was the perennial difficulty of properly relating works and grace, law and gospel, not merely in our systematic theology but in our preaching and pastoral ministry and, ultimately, within our own hearts. Sinclair does a good job of recounting the Marrow Controversy in an accessible and interesting way. However, his real aim is not merely to do that. Against the background and features of that older dispute, he wants to help us understand the character of this perpetual problem - one that bedevils the church today. He does so int he most illuminating and compelling way I know of in recent evangelical literature" (p.11).
Keller expands on "some of [Ferguson's] theses and arguments that I found so very helpful, convicting and wise" (p.12):
Legalism and antinomianism are much more than doctrinal positions. "Any failure to present full, eager, complete obedience and submission to God as ultimately a great joy - as a way to resemble, know and bring delight to God - is a tendency toward the antinomian spirit" (p.13).
The root of both legalism and antinomianism is the same. "It is a fatal pastoral mistake to think of legalism and antinomianism as complete opposites. Sinclair says that, rather, they are 'nonidentical twins from the same womb.' He traces both of them back to the 'lie of Satan' in the garden of Eden, namely, that you can't trust the goodness of God or His commitment to our happiness and well-being and that, therefore, if we obey God fully, we'll miss out and be miserable. Because both mind-sets refuse to believe in the love and graciousness of God, they assume that any commands given to us are evidence that He is unwilling to bless us. They both fail to see obedience as the way to give the gracious God delight as well as the way to become our true selves, the people we were created to be" (p.13-14).
To think the main problem out there is one particular error is to virtually put one foot into the other error. "If you fail to see what Sinclair is saying - that both legalism and antinomianism stem from a failure to grasp the goodness and graciousness of God's character - it will lead you to think that what each mind-set really needs for a remedy is a little dose of the other. In this view, it would mean that the remedy for legalism is just less emphasis on the law and obedience, and the remedy for antinomianism is more. This is dangerous" (p.14).
The cure for both legalism and antinomianism is the gospel. "Since the root of both errors is the same, the cure is the same - to lift up the essential goodness and love of God by recounting the gospel, thereby making obedience a joy. The remedy for both is a fuller, biblical, and profound understanding of grace and of the character of God" (p.15).
"So to grow in grace comes not simply from believing more in our justification, though we should meditate on that reality daily. Understood more comprehensively, it flows from using the gospel of grace on the root of our sin - the mistrust of God's goodness and the inordinate love of other things. When we behold the glory of Christ in the gospel it reorders the loves of our hearts, so we delight in Him supremely, and the other things that have ruled our lives lose their enslaving power over us. This is sanctification by going deeper into the gospel, but it is not merely telling yourself that you are accepted and forgiven, as foundational as that it. In this book, Sinclair Ferguson shows us how important it is for preaching and pastoral effectiveness to get this straight" (Tim Keller, p.16).