Historical Theological Controversies 

HOW this book will help you

Reading “The Marrow of Modern Divinity” can have several potential benefits for Christians, including: 

 A deeper understanding of grace: The book explores the nature of God’s grace and its role in salvation, helping readers to develop a richer and more nuanced understanding of this foundational concept. 

 A clearer understanding of the gospel: “The Marrow of Modern Divinity” provides a detailed explanation of the gospel and its implications for the Christian life, helping readers to better understand the central message of Christianity. 

Encouragement for the Christian life: The book offers insights and encouragement for Christians who may struggle with doubts, fears, or uncertainties about their faith, reminding readers of the hope and assurance that comes from a trusting relationship with Christ. 

 A historical perspective on the Puritan era: As a classic Puritan text, “The Marrow of Modern Divinity” provides readers with a window into the theological debates and spiritual practices of this important era in Christian history. 

 Overall, reading “The Marrow of Modern Divinity” can help Christians to deepen their faith, gain new insights into the nature of God and salvation, and grow in their appreciation of the history and traditions of the Christian faith. 

WHEN & WHERE was the book written 

Marrow of Modern Divinity was written in response to the controversy that erupted in eighteenth-century Scotland over the Auchterarder Creed. 

WHO wrote the book 

Little is known of the author, Edward Fisher. 

Thomas Boston was a Scottish Presbyterian church leader, theologian and philosopher who lived in the 17th and 18th centuries. He was a Covenanter and a minister of Simprin and Ettrick. He wrote several books, including **Human Nature in its Fourfold State** and **The Crook in the Lot**. His notes to **The Marrow of Modern Divinity** by Edward Fisher are included neatly along the margins in this edition. 

Thomas Boston was 41 years old and had been in the ministry in southeast of Scotland for about 20 years when the controversy relating to the understanding of salvation erupted in the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. He was a minister in a completely out of the way part of the  

 And he happened to say to the man who was sitting next to him, who was a member of the presbytery of Auchterarder, he said “You know, on those questions, I found ‘The Marrow of Modern Divinity’ a great help when I first read it.” He had read it 15 years or so before. He had found it, actually, lying on the window ledge of one of his members. And he’d taken it home. And he was so interested in it, he had bought it, and he found it so helpful to thinking through “How do we offer Jesus Christ to people in the gospel, and how do we preach Christ in such a way that people don’t fall into either legalism or antinomianism?” 

 And this man wanted to get the book, he got a copy of the book, he told somebody else about the book. That other person told somebody else about the book. And within a few months, there was a new edition of The Marrow of Modern Divinity on sale. And it caused a tremendous uproar in the church, until eventually, it became a banned book. I believe it has never been unbanned in the Church of Scotland. This edition was published by Christian Focus Publications, United Kingdom. 

WHY was the book written 

“The Marrow of Modern Divinity” was written in the 17th century to address several theological and pastoral problems that were prevalent at that time. Some of the problems that the book attempted to solve include: 

Legalism and works-based righteousness: The book was written as a critique of the legalism and works-based righteousness that was prevalent in many churches during the Puritan era. It sought to show that salvation is a free gift of grace that cannot be earned through good works. 

 Antinomianism: The book also sought to counter the antinomianism that was present in some Puritan circles. Antinomianism is the belief that Christians are not bound by moral law, and that they are free to live however they please. “The Marrow of Modern Divinity” affirmed the importance of moral law and obedience to God’s commands as evidence of true faith. 

 Assurance of salvation: The book sought to provide assurance to Christians who struggled with doubts about their salvation. It emphasized that salvation is a free gift of grace that cannot be lost, and that believers can have confidence in their standing before God. 

 Overall, “The Marrow of Modern Divinity” aimed to provide a balanced and biblically grounded understanding of salvation that addressed the theological and pastoral problems of its time. 

WHAT’s in the Book (Complete Content Overview) 

INTRODUCTION 

A Journey into the Past: The Story of The Marrow of Modern Divinity 

Searching for E.F. 

The Two Fishers 

Looking in London 

Concluding the Case of Edward Fisher 

Scotland and The Marrow in the Twenty-first century 

PART ONE 

BOSTON’S PREFACE 

TO THE HON. COLONEL JOHN DOWNES 

TO THE READER 

INTRODUCTION 

Differences About the Law 

A Threefold Law 

1 OF THE LAW, OR COVENANT OF WORKS 

The Nature of the Covenant of Works 

Adam’s Fall 

The Sinfulness and Misery of Mankind by the Fall 

No Recovery by the Law, or Covenant of Works 

The Covenant of Works Binding, though Broken 

2 OF THE LAW OF FAITH, OR COVENANT OF GRACE 

Of the Eternal Purpose of Grace 

Of the Promise 

The Promise Made to Adam 

The Promise Renewed to Abraham 

The Law, as the Covenant of Works, Added to the Promise 

The Promise and Covenant with Abraham, Renewed with the Israelites 

The Covenant of Grace under the Mosaic Dispensation 

The Natural Bias Towards the Covenant of Works 

The Antinomian Faith Rejected 

The Evil of Legalism 

Of the Performance of the Promise 

Christ’s Fulfilling of the Law in the Room of the Elect 

Believers Dead to the Law as the Covenant of Works 

The Warrant to Believe in Christ 

Evangelical Repentance a Consequent of Faith 

The Spiritual Marriage with Jesus Christ 

Justification before Faith, Refuted 

Believers Freed from the Commanding and Condemning Power of the Covenant of Works 

3 OF THE LAW OF CHRIST 

The Nature of the Law of Christ 

The Law of the Ten Commandments a Rule of Life to Believers 

Antinomian Objections Answered 

The Necessity of Marks and Signs of Grace 

Antinomian Objections Answered 

Holiness and Good Works Attained to Only by Faith 

Slavish Fear and Servile Hope not the Springs of True Obedience 

The Efficacy of Faith for Holiness of Heart and Life 

Use of Means for Strengthening of Faith 

The Distinction of the Law of Works, and Law of Christ, 

Applied to Six Paradoxes 

The Use of that Distinction in Practice 

That Distinction a Mean Betwixt Legalism and Antinomianism 

How to Attain to Assurance 

Marks and Evidences of True Faith 

How to Recover Lost Evidences 

Marks and Signs of Union with Christ 

4 OF THE HEART’S HAPPINESS, OR SOUL’S REST 

No Rest for the Soul Till it Come to God 

How the soul is kept from rest in God 

God in Christ the Only True Rest for the Soul 

Conclusion 

PART TWO 

TO THE RIGHT HON. JOHN WARNER, LORD MAYOR OF THE MOST 

RENOWNED CITY OF LONDON 

THE AUTHOR TO THE WELL-AFFECTED READER 

INTRODUCTION 

The First Commandment 

The Second Commandment 

The Third Commandment 

The Fourth Commandment 

The Fifth Commandment 

The Sixth Commandment 

The Seventh Commandment 

The Eighth Commandment 

The Ninth Commandment 

The Tenth Commandment 

The Use of the Law 

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL 

APPENDIX: The Occasion Of The ‘Marrow’ Controversy 

Queries Agreed unto by the Commission of the General Assembly 

Query I. Whether are there any precepts in the gospel that were not actually given before the 

gospel was revealed? 

Query II. Is not the believer now bound, by the authority of the Creator, to personal 

obedience to the moral law, though not in order to justification? 

Query III. Does the annexing of a promise of life, and a threatening of death to a precept, 

make it a covenant of works? 

Query IV. If the moral law, antecedent to its receiving the form of a covenant of works, 

had a threatening of hell annexed? 

Query V. If it be peculiar to believers to be free of the commanding power of the law, 

as a covenant of works? 

Query VI. If a sinner, being justified, has all things at once that are necessary for 

salvation? 

Query VII. Is preaching the necessity of a holy life, in order to the obtaining of eternal 

happiness, of dangerous consequence to the doctrine of free grace? 

Query VIII. Is knowledge, belief, and persuasion, that Christ died for me, and that he is 

mine, and that whatever he did and suffered…instated in God’s covenant of grace? 

Query IX. What is that act of faith, by which a sinner appropriates Christ and his saving 

benefits to himself? 

Query X. Whether the revelation of the divine will in the word, affording a warrant to 

offer Christ unto all, and a warrant to all to receive him, can be said to be the Father’s 

making a deed of gift and grant of Christ unto all mankind? Is this grant to all mankind by 

sovereign grace? And whether is it absolute or conditional! 

Query XI. Is the division of the law, as explained and applied in the Marrow, to be justified, 

and which cannot be rejected without burying several gospel truths? 

Query XII. Is the hope of heaven and fear of hell to be excluded from the motives of the 

believer’s obedience? And if not, how can the Marrow be defended, that expressly excludes 

them, though it should allow of other motives? 

INDEX 
—– 

Book review by Sinclair Ferguson: 

Well, what I have here now is a book called The Marrow of Modern Divinity. This book was not a particularly important book in the 17th century, but in the early 1700s, a Scottish minister by the name of Thomas Boston, who was minister in a very small church in the South east of Scotland, was visiting a man who I think had fought in the English Civil War. 

And he noticed on the window ledge two books. And one of them was this book, The Marrow of Modern Divinity. And he borrowed it. It changed his ministry and in many ways changed his life. And he says that as a result of that, people who didn’t know anything about this book, people noticed there was something different about his ministry. 

He said they noticed there was a certain tincture. That’s the word he uses about his ministry. 

It’s in the form of a very extensive dialogue among four different people. One is called Evangelista, and he is the pastor, and he’s a Reformed, Evangelical, Orthodox, warm-hearted caring minister. And then there’s somebody who is called Neophytus, who is a new Christian. 

And then there’s somebody who is a legalist and somebody who is antinomian. And so the whole book involves how does the Pastor pastor the new Christian through the competing emphases of someone who says you need to keep the law in order to essentially enjoy your salvation, if you’re going to be accepted before God and then even endangering, 

And you need to keep the law if you’re ever going to be justified. And on the other hand, the Antinomian who is saying the law finished with Christ and it’s got no place in the Christian life. 

There’s another very unusual element in this book, and that is that it’s full of quotations from other Christian writers. So it’s not just a dialogue of different views, but there are different theologians, especially 17th century, 16th century reformers, all coming in as the case is argued out. 

And in fact, in some ways, you know, for people who are interested in history of theology, it is a bit like somebody making a dramatic video of a discussion that might be found in the scholastic theologian Thomas Aquinas. So theological issues come to light in a very personal and practical way. And at the centre of this are very fundamental questions about what is the relationship between the law and the gospel? How does the grace of God relate to the law of God on the one hand, and then on the other hand, to what extent may believers enjoy the assurance of salvation? 

You know, if someone that had a classical education and had read, you know, Plato or Aristotle, they would find that much of that out of the Greek philosophy was presented in the form of dialogs with people. That would be a topic. And then the master would begin to expound in response to the questions that others answered and different points of view would be presented and then the problem would be resolved. 

And Fischer used that format in the Marrow of Modern Divinity. 

In Scotland in the 1700s, there was a controversy that became known as the Marrow Controversy, and the book itself (“Marrow of Modern Divinity”) was banned in the Church of Scotland. Ministers were not to recommend it to members of the congregation. As far as I know, that ban has never been lifted. But I do urge you to read Thomas Boston’s notes on it. In this edition, they are printed as extended essays. 

They punctuate the book. In my own view, they are of even more value than the book itself. So this is really a treasure. My friend Derek Thomas says the Marrow of Modern Divinity is “one of the most important theological texts of all time”, but it’s a book for all Christians because the people in this book are wrestling with the kind of issues that Christians are wrestling with all the time. 

I think it’s really quite an important book for ministers to read because it will help them engage with those questions and think them through biblically.