About R. Scott Clark

R. Scott Clark is the President of the Heidelberg Reformation Association, the author and editor of, and contributor to several books and the author of many articles. He has taught church history and historical theology since 1997 at Westminster Seminary California. He has also taught at Wheaton College, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Concordia University. Read more» He has hosted the Heidelblog since 2007.

Office Hours: Where Are They Now? How Ted Hamilton Became A Preacher

R. Scott Clark

on January 23, 2017

Perhaps you have seen on television or in the movies successful, wealthy professionals driving, surfing, and generally enjoying what looks like a magical life in Southern California. Television glitz aside, there is some reality to that portrait and one place it is . . . Continue reading →

We Need Sunday Christians

R. Scott Clark

on January 22, 2017 | 2 Comments

Some people say, “Our problem in Christianity is ‘Sunday only’ Christians who fail to live the life every day of the week.” But that’s a false dilemma. Show me a true Sunday Christian who comes to the Lord’s house, worshiping in joy, . . . Continue reading →

Which Classic Reformed Works To Read In English?

R. Scott Clark

on January 22, 2017 | 12 Comments

Rob writes, Listening to you on the Heidelblog/Heidelcast and Office Hours, you have given me a enormous desire to read more “classic reformed theology.” I am currently reading Turretin’s Institutes and I would love to know who are some more classic reformed . . . Continue reading →

Paul On The Sacred/Secular Distinction In 1 Corinthians 8–11

R. Scott Clark

on January 21, 2017

Over the last century it has become widely held among Bible-believing Christians that we ought not recognize a distinction between the sacred and the secular. A Google search for “sacred secular distinction” brings up plenty of examples of such a rejection. The . . . Continue reading →

Calvinist: The Official Trailer (Coming Summer 2017)

R. Scott Clark

on January 21, 2017 | 2 Comments

Here’s it is on YouTube.

Paul: Be Subject To Governing Authorities And Love Your Neighbor

R. Scott Clark

on January 20, 2017

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur . . . Continue reading →

Berkhof: Sanctification Is The Work Of God

R. Scott Clark

on January 19, 2017

Sanctification is a work of the triune God, but is ascribed more particularly to the Holy Spirit in Scripture, Rom. 8:11; 15:16; 1 Pet. 1:2. It is particularly important in our day, with its emphasis on the necessity of approaching the study . . . Continue reading →

Weber, Election, Capitalism, And Betsy DeVos

R. Scott Clark

on January 18, 2017 | 5 Comments

Betsy DeVos, who has been nominated to become the next Secretary of Education, was on Capitol Hill yesterday for her confirmation hearing. As a matter of politics, however, this is all theater. The probabilities are that her nomination will be sent to . . . Continue reading →

A Reminder Of Why We Should Not Long For A State Church

R. Scott Clark

on January 17, 2017 | 5 Comments

The United States of America, for all her greatness, is not the “my people” of 2 Chronicles 7:14. That people was God’s temporary, national people Israel. That national covenant expired at the cross. Since that time God has had no national people, though many have thought and apparently still think that they must be God’s special, national people. God made that promise to national Israel not the USA or to any other civil people. The USA has no more standing before God, as a national people, than pagan Rome or the “Holy Roman Empire,” neither of which exist any longer. Continue reading →

With The Reformed Collective On Reformed Piety

R. Scott Clark

on January 16, 2017 | 2 Comments

Piety. It is a short but it is a very important word in the Reformed tradition. It is Latin word, pietas, which, in classical usage referred to one’s duty toward the gods and toward one’s parents. In traditional Christian usage it has . . . Continue reading →

Help Recover One Of The Most Important (And Neglected) Reformed Theologians For English Readers

R. Scott Clark

on January 13, 2017 | 4 Comments

Gijsbertus Voetius (1589–1676) is perhaps the linchpin of Dutch Reformed theology in the 17th century. To shift metaphors, he is the Grand Central Station of Reformed orthodoxy in the Netherlands. In one way or another all the various trains seem to run . . . Continue reading →

The Allure Of Unwritten Tradition

R. Scott Clark

on January 12, 2017 | 7 Comments

The earliest post-apostolic Christians (some of whom are denominated the Apostolic Fathers) knew of an apostolic tradition but they did not know about a secret and unwritten apostolic tradition on the authority of which the church could justify virtually anything it wanted. . . . Continue reading →

Pies, Docs, Kuyps, And Confessionalists

R. Scott Clark

on January 12, 2017 | 8 Comments

The first time I heard the expression, “Pies, Docs, and Kuyps” was during a seminary lecture by Derke Bergsma. He was relating what had already become a fairly standard sociological taxonomy in the Reformed world. There are three kinds of Reformed folk: . . . Continue reading →

San Gorgonio Mountain From San Marcos In January

R. Scott Clark

on January 10, 2017 | 3 Comments

Turretin On the Covenant Of Nature (10)

R. Scott Clark

on January 10, 2017

IV. (2) Before the fall, he had the power to love God and obey him in all things; for love supposes faith, a part of obedience. For he who is commanded by law to love God and obey him is also commanded . . . Continue reading →

Office Hours Season 8: What’s In A Word? Sola Gratia

R. Scott Clark

on January 9, 2017

In confessional Protestant circles we use some short hand Latin phrases that we might not all understand, even though we use them frequently. Sola gratia is one of those. These expressions go back to the very beginning of the Reformation. Andreas Bodenstein . . . Continue reading →

On Turning The World Upside Down

R. Scott Clark

on January 9, 2017 | 1 Comment

Evangelical Christians are often charged to follow the Apostles by going forth to “turn the world upside down” for Christ. This is a powerful injunction because it captures a great truth: that the gospel message is unexpectedly and delightfully powerful. Continue reading →

Turretin On The Covenant Of Nature (9)

R. Scott Clark

on January 7, 2017

IX. Although natural liberty agrees in essentials with the liberty of man constituted in other states, still it differs greatly in accidentals. For the liberty of glory in blessedness is not to be able to sin (non posse peccare). The liberty of . . . Continue reading →

On Ten Years Of The Heidelblog

R. Scott Clark

on January 5, 2017 | 8 Comments

I think I first heard about weblogs—hence “blogging”— sometime in the mid-1990s, while I was teaching at Wheaton College. It was a revolutionary new form of communication wherein a few people were writing the same sorts of personal things that they once . . . Continue reading →

Turretin On The Covenant Of Nature (8)

R. Scott Clark

on January 4, 2017