Creeds and confessions are unavoidable. As many have noted even the slogan “no creed but Christ” is a short, inadequate confession. Let someone enter a congregation where that confession reigns and say, “We should say more about the faith” and what will . . . Continue reading →
THere be severall opinions about the Covenant of Works, and the Covenant of grace, to the great disturbance of many Christians; some hold that there be foure Covenants, two of Works, and two of Grace; the two first, one with Adam before . . . Continue reading →
Jon Payne, pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church (PCA), sends word of good news about this church planting work in Charleston. Not all the church news that comes over the transom is good news but this report is encouraging. Jon writes: Christ Church . . . Continue reading →
THE historical source from which the main streams of Perfectionist doctrine that have invaded modern Protestantism take their origin, is the teaching of John Wesley. But John Wesley did not first introduce Perfectionism into Protestantism, nor can all the Perfectionist tendencies which . . . Continue reading →
When the Scriptures seek to illustrate the nature of the Christian life, the nature of sanctification, it uses two images: death and life. Note the order, death then life. In the covenant of works, made with Adam as the federal representative of . . . Continue reading →
Families move. That means new schools, a new neighborhood, and a new church. How to choose a new congregation? People use a variety of criteria but are they good, biblical, true criteria? Here’s part two of the discussion with Chris Gordon, co-pastor at Escondido . . . Continue reading →
4. Another distinction between the Old and New Testaments is in the types, the former exhibiting only the image of truth, while the reality was absent, the shadow instead of the substance, the latter exhibiting both the full truth and the entire . . . Continue reading →
We have our evangelical superstars but none of these luminaries have reached the brightness of Sister Aimee Semple McPherson (1890–1944). Most of them can walk the streets in any city undisturbed by crowds but not Sister Aimee. At the height of her . . . Continue reading →
And surely no Context of Holy Scripture can be solidly explicated, No Common Place of Divinity can be rightly handled, No Polemical or Controversal point can be dextrously descided, No Case of Conscience or Practical Question can be accurately resolved, No Christian . . . Continue reading →
Now there was a man named Joseph, from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man, who had not consented to their decision and action; and he was looking for the kingdom of . . . Continue reading →
Here is the recording of yesterday’s paper delivered to the Reformation Studies section at ETS. There are a few glitches in the audio: Below is the handout for the talk. OUTLINE Introduction: Olevianus the Churchman Olevianus as contributor to the catechism As . . . Continue reading →
I try not to burden you too much with pieces about Caspar Olevianus (1536–87) but I’m to give a paper later this morning at the Evangelical Theological Society meeting in San Diego. It’s been a few years since I wrote anything on . . . Continue reading →
Therefore, one can also say that the sacraments have sealed to Christ what is depicted in them for the elect. The Father promised and assured Him that, on the basis of His merits, everything represented in the sacraments would occur in the . . . Continue reading →
In part 2 we looked at what it means to speak about God being just and about justice. In this last installment we need to consider what it means to speak of truth and the truth of God. During his interrogation of our . . . Continue reading →
The Reformation churches have some wonderful slogans that are chock full of important truths. Sometimes, however, these slogans can be misconstrued, misreported, and misunderstood. With the possible exception of sola Scriptura (by Scripture alone), none of these slogans has been mangled more . . . Continue reading →
Scripture has a great deal to say about wisdom. The words wisdom or wise occur about 400 times in the Bible. Yet, both in and outside the visible church, ours is not an age that is characterized by that same interest in . . . Continue reading →
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Now indeed these two kinds of theology are so different that they cannot truthfully be related to some one, definite head and shared genus. Of course the first kind of theology, which we have named divine and a prototype, does not belong . . . Continue reading →
