In like manner, the participation (communio) of the covenant of grace is two-fold. The one includes merely symbolical and common benefits (beneficia), which have no certain connection with salvation, and to which infants are admitted by their relation to parents that are . . . Continue reading →
According to the Westminster Confession of Faith, Scripture thinks of man as a covenant being. It tells us that man was originally placed on earth under the terms of the covenant of works. It informs us further that man broke this covenant . . . Continue reading →
Whether good or bad. That is, whether he did good or evil. Each person will receive according to his deeds, whether good or bad. It is from passages such as this that some American theologians have inferred that the only benefit the . . . Continue reading →
No doubt the stated intentions are oh-so-pure and oh-so-good, like “liberte, egalite, fraternite.” It’s the sort of compassion Flannery O’Connor wrote of when she noted that “tenderness leads to the gas chamber.” That’s because, at the end of the day, socialism is . . . Continue reading →
And what is the reason for denying that sanctification is a mystery, i.e., the content of a dogma? The supposition that it is of human origin, that man is not totally unable, and that sanctification is betterment of character and life. Hence . . . Continue reading →
Acquaintance with this covenant is of the greatest importance, for whoever errs here or denies the existence of the covenant of works will not understand the covenant of grace, and will readily err concerning the mediatorship of the Lord Jesus. Such a . . . Continue reading →
The charge of legalism against the covenant of works is one of those allegations that seems persuasive at first because we all know that legalism is bad and that grace is good. It is almost instinctive to react to the charge by asserting the graciousness of the covenant of works. That is a trap, however, into which we ought not step. Continue reading →
Our Lord himself is the model for this response to evil. He was repeatedly insulted by the Pharisees, who sought to do far more to him than insult, and even on the cross, while he was coming to the close of his active, suffering obedience for us, the chief priests and the scribes mocked him. Even those who were being crucified with him, who were guilty of crimes, reviled him (Mark 15:31–32). As Peter says in 2:23, when he was reviled, he reviled not in return. “Eye for an eye” (Ex 21:24) belongs to the covenant of works, not the covenant of grace. Continue reading →
The first commandment of God’s holy moral law is unequivocal: “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 2o:3). In the ground (כִּ֣י) of the second commandment Yahweh Elohim declares, “I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the . . . Continue reading →
Paul, even with his views against women in positions of leadership, is not afraid to commend women who have “labored side by side with him” for the sake of the gospel. This is a profound statement given Paul’s views of women in . . . Continue reading →
I am not a political analyst and I do not play on TV or radio (nor in the pulpit) but Christians do live in a twofold kingdom and I was happy to talk with Chris Buskirk, host of Downstream Politics, about media, . . . Continue reading →
Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands—remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of . . . Continue reading →
Westminster Seminary was founded by a scholar of the New Testament, J. Gresham Machen, in 1929. Since that time, the study of the Scriptures, in their original language and setting, has been at the heart of what we do. It is central . . . Continue reading →
If there is any verse in Scripture that virtually everyone knows, even those who have never read the Bible, who have never been to Sunday School, it is Matthew 7:1. I suppose that most who quote this verse could not tell you where it found. It is very popularly held that by these words Jesus intended to say, “No one is qualified to make moral judgments.” A closer reading of the verse, in its context, shows us that such an interpretation of Jesus’ words is highly unlikely. We can also come to a better understanding of what the verse means if we compare it with parallels in the Luke and Mark (the other synoptic gospels). Continue reading →
As for that which they tax the ministers, to be ministers of the dead letter, one may plainly see the Lord’s taking vengeance upon the outrage offered unto his holy Word; smiting them with the spirit of giddiness, for having despised the . . . Continue reading →
The Protestant doctrine affirms that a sinner is made or constituted righteous by having Christ’s righteousness imputed to him; and that, being thus justified actually, he is also justified declaratively, when his acceptance is proved or attested, so as to be made . . . Continue reading →
In recent years, however, within ostensibly confessional Protestant circles, some have been advocating versions of a two-stage doctrine of justification. One version of this proposal is that we may be said to be justified initially by grace alone, through faith alone but only finally justified on the basis of our sanctification. Some give the whole basis of our final justification to our inherent sanctification and righteousness and others only part of the basis. Continue reading →
Biblicism is the attemp to read the bible by itself and by one’s self, i.e., in isolation from the church. Sola scriptura means that Scripture alone is the sole, final authority for faith and life but it does not mean to declare either . . . Continue reading →
XV. The Arminians do cover themselves against this shower of arguments, with that their distinction of the antecedent and consequent will of God. They say that God does love some men more than other by his consequent will, that is, by that . . . Continue reading →