Dr. John Frame Reflects on Reformed Theological Seminary

Dr. Ligon Duncan

John Frame is brilliant, humble, and prolific. For almost two decades, he has been a blessing to Reformed Theological Seminary.

There’s so many things that I could say about John that we’d run out of time. I’m personally indebted to Dr. Frame. If I had not had his notes to The Doctrine of the Christian Life, which became the book The Doctrine of the Christian life, I would have been in real trouble when I was teaching my first pastoral and social ethics class. I had to use my quotation fingers at the beginning and the end of that course. That was how dependent on John Frame I was that week.

His work on the scripture is hugely important to me, to all of us, and of course at RTS because we are an institution that started because of the issue of the inerrancy of Scripture. I’m especially appreciative of John Frame’s commitment to a high view of the inerrancy, infallibility, and authority of the Bible. That’s a bedrock commitment for RTS. I think it’s absolutely crucial for the health, well-being, and mission of the church. Very few people have done as much for us to help us in that area as Dr. Frame. I’m profoundly thankful that I’ve had the privilege of being his colleague and supporting and extending his influence as a professor. We look forward to his continued fruitfulness in these days ahead.

Dr. John Frame

I’ve been here 17 years. I came here in 2000, and it’s been the best 17 years of my teaching and scholarly career. I’ve gotten to know some wonderful people, both on the administration and staff, my colleagues, and among the students. It really is a Christian community. They have done so much to help me out in writing my books, doing my research, and preparing to teach. All of the facilities are excellent. In that sense, I’ve just had a wonderful time here.

As I leave, I think all seminaries including RTS are going to have to give very concentrated attention to what kind of training is necessary for planting churches and leading people. It is necessary to be trained to lead people out of the relativism of the modern world view, to lead them to bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ and how to go to God for the power and the wisdom and the strength, and to lead people to a sound theology of scripture and a sound way of presenting Christ as Lord and Savior.

I think that for many people, a residential theological study is the best option. I don’t think that this is the only method by which people can prepare for the ministry, but I think it’s one of the better ones. In the case of this option I think that RTS is certainly one of the better seminaries, maybe the best seminary, in carrying that out and for that purpose I’d recommend RTS.