July 2015 Archive

Heidelberg 89: What Is The Dying Of The Old Man?

by on July 7, 2015

Imagine that you were indebted to your neighbor. You lost your job and your neighbor loaned you enough money to get by but he did so at interest. You got a new job but the principal was large and the interest continued to accrue even as you worked to repay him. You work hard but you can never get caught up because the interest grows faster than you can repay. You are a slave. In this world (which really existed) there is no “do over,” there is no bankruptcy court. How will you escape your bondage? Death. Only in death are you free from your slavery to your debt and to your neighbor. This is what Paul is thinking as he describes our liberation from the bondage and dominion of sin. Continue reading →

Part Of The Answer: Americans Ignorant Of Basic Civics?

by on July 6, 2015 | 1 Comment

According to the 2015 State of the First Amendment Survey: When asked to name the five specific freedoms in the First Amendment, 57% of Americans name freedom of speech, followed by 19% who say the freedom of religion, 10% mention the freedom . . . Continue reading →

Heidelberg 88: The Two Parts of the Christian Life

by on July 5, 2015 | 2 Comments

The doctrine of the Christian life is remarkably simple. There are two parts: death and life. The practice of the Christian life, however, is quite another thing. The practice of the Christian life, the living out of our life in Christ, by . . . Continue reading →

Americans Are Independent But Are They Still Free?

by on July 3, 2015 | 8 Comments
Mt Soledad

A majority of the honorable Supreme Court of the United States has recently judged that, whereas as recently as 2013 the court had asserted that marriage law is the province of the states, homosexuals have a constitutional right under the 14th amendment to . . . Continue reading →

Heidelberg 87: The Impenitent Cannot Be Saved

by on July 2, 2015 | 2 Comments

Since the advent of the so-called Second Great Awakening, which shaped American evangelical theology, piety, and practice so profoundly in the 19th century, many American Christians have simply assumed that revivalist paradigm as correct. Many evangelicals have never seen any other approach . . . Continue reading →

Heidelberg 86: Why Good Works? (4)

by on July 1, 2015

Evangelism properly is what the minister does in the pulpit when he proclaims the gospel to the world but each of us as Christians is a witness or gives witness to the faith (the objective facts of redemptive history and the basic truths of Scripture summarized in the creeds) and to our faith, i.e., to our personal appropriation of Christ by grace alone, through faith alone. Continue reading →