J. Gresham Machen (1881–1937) was born in the American South. He was born fewer than 20 years after the end of the Civil War. He was born to wealth and privilege. He also inherited the attitudes of many in the American South . . . Continue reading →
Longtime readers of this space will know that I am a flying enthusiast. Climbing into a cockpit and flying a plane is something wonderful. I have been in a couple of small planes beginning in Shafter, CA in 1986 and again flying . . . Continue reading →
Second it is useful and necessary that in our invocation of God we know what God we are invoking—that true God with whom we have entered into a covenant of faith, who has testified to us in an eternal covenant that He . . . Continue reading →
Heidelblog reader Randy writes to ask why footwashing (pedilavium) is not regarded as a sacrament. The answer is twofold: 1) from the nature of the sacraments; 2) from the nature and intent of the act of footwashing in the life of our . . . Continue reading →
The historic, confessional, Reformed understanding of Scripture is that it contains two kinds of words, law and gospel. The law promised eternal life to Adam on condition of perfect obedience on behalf of all humanity. Adam sinned, transgressed God’s holy law, and . . . Continue reading →
But these physical hardships were not the chief battle in which Paul was engaged. Far more trying was the battle that he fought against the enemies in his own camp. Everywhere his rear was threatened by an all-engulfing paganism or by a . . . Continue reading →
This, of course, is not the world we live in. We live in the age of instant. We want our WiFi to fly, our coffee ready, our music streaming, our shopping at the speed of Prime, and our social media and news . . . Continue reading →
Almost since the beginning of the Reformation there were two reactions to the recovery of the gospel: legalism, or nomism, and antinomianism. There are associated doctrines and practices but the core of antinomianism is the rejection of the abiding validity of the . . . Continue reading →
XIV. The law, which God in this manner published, consists of ten words or commandments, Exod. 34:28, Deut. 4:13. Wherefore the Greeks also called it δεκάλογος, the decalogue. Moreover the contents of those ten words are various. 1st, There is the prescription . . . Continue reading →
Under the supervision of the Lynden URC a new URCNA congregation is forming in Gig Harbor, WA. They holding an organizing meeting at 7:00 PM at the Rosedale Hall: 8205 86th Ave NW, Gig Harbor, WA. Rev Mark Vander Pol will be . . . Continue reading →
The last time we saw Atlanta Pastor Louie Giglio it was January 2013 and he was embroiled in controversy because he had been invited by President Obama to participate in his second inauguration. It had been discovered that Giglio held the biblical . . . Continue reading →
The claim by some that there are two stages of justification (initial and final) and that the so-called “initial justification” is by grace alone (sola gratia) through faith alone (sola fide) and the so-called “final justification” is in some degree (either partly . . . Continue reading →
The question of baptism, who should be baptized and why, is not just a question about the sacraments. It is a question that is integrally connected to the way we read the Scriptures (hermeneutics), the way we understand redemptive history, the way . . . Continue reading →
“Niceness” is a counterfeit of meekness or gentleness. The nice person always compliments, never disagrees because he is unwilling to risk his reputation for the sake of the good by opposing with anger what is evil. Scott Swain
From 1964 until about 1973 the Ford Mustang was one of the coolest (as we used to say) cars on the road. It was instantly recognizable. The classic years were arguably 1967 or 1968. In those years the Mustang had grown up . . . Continue reading →
RESOURCES Audio Only of This Talk (Presbycast) Gay Christians? Rosaria Butterfield: Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert What The New Testament Says About SSA and More Gagnon On Revoice
The question whether because God the Son became incarnate Christians are free to create images of him has plagued the church since just after the close of the canon. The ancient church, however, rejected them with one voice and the Reformed and Presbyterian churches all confess against images of Christ on biblical and theological grounds. Continue reading →
The second of my “Seven Concerns” about Revoice and the Spiritual Friendship movement is their unwise adoption of ungodly terminology: The adoption of terminology for self-identity that cannot be sanctified and inevitably brings in the whole “LGBTQ” baggage (“sexual minority,” “gay,” “transgender”). . . . Continue reading →
These Sections teach the following propositions: 1st. God alone is Lord of the human conscience, which is responsible only to his authority. 2d. God has authoritatively addressed the human conscience only in his law, the only perfect revelation of which in this . . . Continue reading →
