He [‘Christ’] suffered these things, not for His own sake but for ours. ‘Thou has made Thy wrath to rest upon me’ [Psalm 88:7, 16] . . . He suffered for us, and bore in Himself the wrath that was the penalty . . . Continue reading →
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2013 Archive
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Church Websites Are Boring And Useless
We typically tell the spy only the name of the church and the city, and we ask him/her to learn about the church first from the website. More than one spy has called us to say he cannot find the service times, . . . Continue reading →
You Mean That There’s More Than "Shine, Jesus Shine"?
Do you realize that, for people of a certain age, let’s say those born since 1980, “Shine, Jesus Shine” (published in 1987) is now a “traditional hymn”? It’s about as “traditional” for those generations as revival songs from the early 20th century . . . Continue reading →
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Muller: Utterly Unwarranted To Conclude Against Ordo Salutis
It is utterly unwarranted, moreover, to conclude from the pedagogical arrangement of the Institutes that Calvin “deliberately subverts any chronological” or other ordering of salvation “by not only putting sanctification first, followed by justification, but by placing predestination last” on the ground . . . Continue reading →
Why Not To Split Infinitives
It is common now to regard the old rule against splitting infinitives as outdated and stuffy. That might be so but there are still some reasons for observing the rule. Here is one example: Newly declassified documents, obtained by George Washington University’s National . . . Continue reading →
Distraction Lowers Grades
Distraction is a problem. It’s only anecdotal evidence but I’m seeing more distracted drivers. Their heads drop while they check their phones at the stop light. The light changes and they don’t move. No one honks because everyone else is checking their . . . Continue reading →
Chaplain Quotes Eisenhower, Gets Censored (Updated)
Update 15 August 2013. Billy Hallowell reports that the military has reversed itself and has reposted the blog post that had been taken down. They’ve added a disclaimer for the column. § Original Post July 26, 2013 Ken Klukowski, Todd Starnes, and . . . Continue reading →
Why I’m Not Cynical About The Church
Sean writes (in response to another post) raising the question implicitly of cynicism about the visible, institutional church. My response is below. I understand disappointment with the discipline process. I’m disappointed when a consistory places people under discipline and those who’ve been . . . Continue reading →
Why Should God Let You Into Heaven?
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Kuyper On Mystical Union With Christ
This union is not the subsequent fruit of a higher degree of holiness, but coincides with the first exercise of faith. Faith which does not live in Christ is no faith, but its counterfeit. Genuine faith is wrought in us by the . . . Continue reading →
Is Covenant Theology “Narrow”?
William Evans has responded to my critique. In reply I want to ponder what he means by “extrinsic covenantalism” and to try to achieve a measure of clarity by defining our terms. “extrinsic covenantalism” is is new terminology for me. His paradigm . . . Continue reading →
Grammar Cop: Guerrilla and Gorilla
Noun —a member of a small independent group taking part in irregular fighting, typically against larger regular forces: this small town fell to the guerrillas | [ as modifier ] : guerrilla warfare. ORIGIN early 19th cent. (introduced during the Peninsular War . . . Continue reading →
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Selling Short
My argument is not that learned monographs have no value (of course they do, whether widely read or not), or that blog posts are somehow superior as “scholarship” (of course they’re not), but simply that we might be selling online publications short . . . Continue reading →
Should Reformed Theology Move Beyond Covenant Theology?
I. SUMMARY In a post (HT: Aquila Report) dated Friday 9 August, Bill Evans raises the question whether there is in Reformed theology what he calls “pervasive covenantalism” or an over emphasis or imbalanced emphasis in Reformed theology on covenant. He points to . . . Continue reading →
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How The FV Won The West, Er, The PCA
It is certainly a good thing for the FV that the evangelical middle has such a short memory (does anyone know what happened in 2007?). It is also a good thing for the FV that the evangelical middle has so much fear . . . Continue reading →
A Bibliography Of Confessions And Catechisms
Focusing on the Three Forms of Unity and the Westminster Standards Revised 2025. ©R. Scott Clark. Table of Contents Prolegomena to Symbolics Collections of Creeds, Confessions, and Catechisms Patristic Symbols and Creeds Roman Symbols Reformation Symbolics Lutheran Confessions and Catechisms Reformed Symbols . . . Continue reading →
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Works And Grace In The Judgment
What this all means is that justification is God’s final judgment. As Wilfried Joest writes, “there is no second decision after justification.” In the language of the Reformation, the “sole and sufficient basis” for our justification before God’s eschatological tribunal is Jesus . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours: Kelly Kapic On John Owen, Theology, And Piety
Kelly Kapic is Professor of Theological Studies at Covenant College. This is a sort of lost episode. Kelly was on campus campus in February, 2010 to talk with our students about theology and piety. That spring we renovated the Office Hours studio . . . Continue reading →
More Questions From Ginger: Why Is Republication So Controversial?
As a follow-on to the post on the covenant of works, Ginger asks, You said: “Several have said that their status as a national people and their tenure in the land was affected by their obedience or disobedience. This view, however, has . . . Continue reading →
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Orwell: The Danger Of An All-Prevailing Orthodoxy
At any given moment there is an orthodoxy, a body of ideas which it is assumed that all right-thinking people will accept without question. It is not exactly forbidden to say this, that or the other, but it is ‘not done’ to . . . Continue reading →