Does “Sing To Him A New Song” Justify Praise Songs?

In response to the video of LCMS Pastor Chris Jackson reading the lyrics of a popular praise song one HB reader wrote to object to the implied criticism of the song. The argument is this: Scripture uses the expression “new song” nine . . . Continue reading →

Reformed Christians Martyred In Nigeria

“The herdsmen destroyed more than 60 houses in our village, and three members of my community were also killed during the attack,” Terwase said by phone. “At Tse-Ali village, more than 70 houses were set ablaze and 21 Christians killed. All affected . . . Continue reading →

A Grown Man Reads Praise Song Lyrics

Today’s edition of “Grown Man Reading Praise and Worship Lyrics.” pic.twitter.com/VvhkVB8Xtf — Christopher Jackson (@revcjackson) April 11, 2018

Are Believers Under The Law As A Schoolmaster?

For confessing Protestants, there is no question whether believers are under the civil and normative uses of the law. To deny the normative use (the third use) is the definition of antinomianism, a scourge which Martin Luther opposed in the 1520s, against which the Lutherans confess in the Book of Concord (1580), and which the Reformed have always opposed. The Heidelberg Catechism (1563) organized the Christian faith under three headings: Guilt (Law), Grace (Gospel), and Gratitude (Sanctification). The third part of the catechism contains an exposition of the moral law of God, the decalogue (Ten Commandments). The Westminster Standards also affirm and explain the moral law and apply it to the Christian life not in order that we might be keep it and thereby be justified and saved but because we have been justified and saved by grace alone (sola gratia), through faith alone (sola fide) in Christ alone. Continue reading →

One Great Difference Between A Covenantal Piety And The American Conversionist Alternative

Make no mistake. No one comes to new life and true faith apart from the sovereign, gracious, mysterious, wonderful work of the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit who hovered over the face of the deep (Gen 1:2) also gives new life to dead (Eph 2:1–4) sinners. You must be born again (or from above). The mistake comes when we identify that fact with a particular experience of praying a prayer, walking the aisle, or making a decision for Christ. We should all rejoice when someone is brought to new life, even if through irregular means (e.g., a Billy Graham Crusade or the like). It is not our business to tell the sovereign, free Holy Spirit where and when he may work. It is our business, however, to pay attention to what he has told us, in Scripture, to do and say and he tells us to pay attention to the “revealed things” which are “for us and for our children forever” (Deut 29:29). Scripture tells us that the Spirit ordinarily operates through the preaching of the gospel. Continue reading →

Another Downside Of Pietism: Christ’s Bodily Resurrection Is Marginalized

If it does not care much about the Lord’s Supper (either to observe it or as to who communes) neither does it necessarily have a vital interest in the facts of the history of salvation. This tendency is plainly evident in two great figures in the history of Pietism, Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834) and Walter Rauschenbusch (1861–1918). Both were raised in the Pietist tradition and both abandoned historic Christianity. Continue reading →

Lucca: Cradle Of The Reformation

It was on 18 April 1521 that Luther appeared before the powers of this world and, ostensibly, the next, at at the Diet of Worms. It was there he announced publicly the formal cause of the Reformation, sola Scriptura. That doctrine says . . . Continue reading →

Did Calvin’s Theology, Piety, and Practice Need To Be Rounded Out With Müntzer’s?

Thomas Müntzer (c. 1489–1525) was a university-trained pastor and theologian. Martin Luther recommended him to be the pastor of St Catharine’s Church in Zwickau (117 km south of Leipzig). There he came into contact with three fiery souls, Nicholas Storch (c. 1500–25), Thomas . . . Continue reading →