Today, I hear Jen’s words—words meant to encourage, not discourage, to build up, not tear down, to defend the marginalized, not broker unearned power—and a thin trickle of sweat creeps down my back. If I were still in the thick of the . . . Continue reading →
October 2016 Archive
Office Hours Season 8: Reformation 500—Definitions
This is season 8 of Office Hours and we are celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. This is part 2 of a three-part introduction to the Reformation. In part 1 we looked briefly at the background to the Reformation in the . . . Continue reading →
Luther On The Propriety Of Using “Only” In Romans 3:28
Second you may say that I translated the New Testament conscientiously and to the best of my ability. I have compelled no one to read it, but have left that open, doing the work only as a service to those who could . . . Continue reading →
Calvin’s First Reformation Priority: Worship Sola Scriptura
Let us now see what is meant by the due worship of God. Its chief foundation is to acknowledge Him to be, as He is, the only source of all virtue, justice, holiness, wisdom, truth, power, goodness, mercy, life, and salvation; in . . . Continue reading →
Audio: With The Sinners League On The Reformation
Lex Lutheran and Calvinist Coulson (it’s a Twitter thing) were gracious to invite me to talk about the Reformation. Continue reading →
How Christian Radio Sounded In 1980
By the time I was hired at the local Contemporary Christian radio station (KBHL “New Life 95”) in 1980, the format had become what was then called “MOR” (middle of the road). Sometime after I got there, however, we started running a . . . Continue reading →
What Good Are Confessions And Catechisms If They Are Not Inerrant?
A correspondent writes to the HB to ask, in effect, if confessions are not infallible, what good are they? He asks, Westminster Confession 31:4 seems to be problematic, since it says all synods…have erred or may err, and thus are not to . . . Continue reading →
The Great Disappointment (October 22, 1844): A Reminder Of The Foolishness Of Ignoring Mark 13:32
William Miller (1782–1849), a lay Bible student (later a Baptist preacher), predicted that Christ would return to earth some time between 21 March 1843 and 21 March 1844. One of Miller’s followers postponed the date to 22 October 1844. When Christ did . . . Continue reading →
What The Bible Is All About
The hit TV show Seinfeld has been called a show about nothing. One of the most pernicious falsehoods about the Bible is that it, too, is a book about nothing, that it is a random collection of ancient myths and moral aphorisms. . . . Continue reading →
New: Mini Psalter 2.0
What I find in my mailbox at work is rarely delightful but I was delighted to get the mail today. The good folks at Crown and Covenant sent me a copy of their Mini Psalter 2.0. It’s personalized. It’s well bound. Best . . . Continue reading →
With The Presbycast On The Federal Vision
The self-described “Federal Vision” has been with us, in its most recent incarnation, since about 1974, when Norman Shepherd began to teach that we are justified through faith and works. That’s right. A professor of theology, in an ostensibly confessional school, openly . . . Continue reading →
Polycarp Versus The Progressives
In 1973, Charles Merritt Nielsen imagined what might have happened had Polycarp (69–155 AD), the senior pastor of the Christian congregation in Smyrna (today Izmir, Turkey), adopted the rhetoric of theological progressives, who look for approval from the broader, unbelieving world: Polycarp . . . Continue reading →
Does The Westminster Confession Contradict Calvin On Assurance And Faith?
For much of the 20th century it was a datum, a given, for many students of Calvin and the Reformed tradition that many of the English Reformed (especially the Westminster Assembly) abandoned Calvin and the Reformation doctrine of the faith and assurance. . . . Continue reading →
Luther On Defining Good Works (1520)
1. The first thing to know is that there are no good works except those works God has commanded, just as there is no sin except that which God has forbidden. Therefore, whoever wants to know what good works are as well . . . Continue reading →
Ad Diognetum On Harmony Of All The Parts Of Scripture
11:6 Furthermore, the reverence of the law is sung, and the grace of the prophets is recognized, and the faith of the gospels is established, and the tradition of the apostles is preserved, and the joy of the church exults. Ad Diognetum . . . Continue reading →
Strangers And Aliens (23e): Theology Of The Cross (1 Peter 5:6–11)
6Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 8Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours Season 8: Reformation 500—Backgrounds
This is season 8 of Office Hours and we are celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. In this episode we look at the background to the Reformation in the medieval church, how the medieval church set the stage for the Reformation . . . Continue reading →
Hodge: Abraham Was In A Spiritual, Gracious Covenant
Although the Church existed from the beginning, it was, before the calling of Abraham, for the most part in a state of dispersion. Too little is recorded of it, prior to that event, to give us definite knowledge of its nature and . . . Continue reading →
What “Every Thought Captive” Means In Its Original Context
One of the first slogans I learned as a young Reformed theologian was to be Reformed was to “take every thought captive.” I learned that this slogan signaled the determination by those from whom I was learning theology to bring every aspect . . . Continue reading →
D. G. Hart On CSpan Talking About American Evangelicals, Politics, And Mencken
You can see it here.