For a fellow who has been dead since 1564 and for a movement that, socially considered, is little more than a demographic blip (about 600,000 people in North America) Calvin and Calvinism continue to receive a remarkable amount of attention in the . . . Continue reading →
Since salvation belongs to God, it is he who grants us new life and true faith. As a consequence of the fall, all of Adam’s children (Rom 5:12–21) are, as Paul says, “dead in sins and trespasses” (Eph 2:1). The good news can be expressed in two words: “But God . . .” Continue reading →
One of the most frequent claims made in defense of the self-described Federal Vision (hereafter FV) is the claim that they are “only following the Bible.” A corollary of that is the claim that Reformed confessionalists “have already decided in advance what . . . Continue reading →
Most folk probably associate the Rolling Stones more with “Sympathy for the Devil,” than with historic Christianity, and few of us would expect to learn any theology from them, but I noticed recently that in “Ventilator Blues” Mick and the lads hit . . . Continue reading →
It is well known that, at Charlie Kirk’s memorial, his widow, Erika, forgave the man who is charged with his murder. This has reignited a debate that I first became aware of perhaps 15 years ago. There are two sides to this . . . Continue reading →
In the modern period, particularly in the twentieth century, many Reformed folk became uneasy with the traditional Reformed language concerning natural law. As one who began to enter the Reformed world circa 1980, I mostly found Reformed people to be hostile to . . . Continue reading →
Since salvation belongs to God, it is he who grants us new life and true faith. As a consequence of the fall, all of Adam’s children (Rom 5:12–21) are, as Paul says, “dead in sins and trespasses” (Eph 2:1). The good news can be expressed in two words: “But God . . .” Continue reading →
I have explained at great length here why those who deny our covenant theology, our hermeneutics, and our doctrine of the sacraments are not Reformed. All the Reformed confessions of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries teach paedobaptism and denounce the rejection of . . . Continue reading →
The Reformed confession is a catholic confession—that is, it is rooted in the Scriptures as interpreted by the church and confessed in the ancient, ecumenical creeds, but it is also a Reformation confession. Where the medieval church taught justification and salvation by . . . Continue reading →
I do not know what is in your garage, but from time to time mine has become pretty cluttered, and stuff has to be pitched. What we keep and what we pitch says something about us. People have theological garages, too, in . . . Continue reading →
I tried not to write anything about the murder of Charlie Kirk. I did not want to add to the noise, but in one of his recent press conference appearances, Spencer Cox, the governor of Utah, used the expression “The American Experiment.” . . . Continue reading →
In an unsigned editorial, Christianity Today came out in favor of what it calls “tough grace.”1 The presenting issue or symptom is Christianity Today’s concern that Christian institutions are failing to be both “tough” and “gracious” simultaneously. The argument is that the . . . Continue reading →
The Latin expression semper reformanda is frequently invoked but rarely understood. Baptists and Pentecostals invoke it to say that Reformed Christians should continue their journey to their traditions. That application reflects a misunderstanding of the original and true sense of semper reformanda. . . . Continue reading →
In a recent news article about people attending a political rally, one of the participants was asked whether she identified with the group she was attending. She replied by saying, “I don’t like labels.” Indeed. The move toward political independency has been . . . Continue reading →
Unfortunately, when most people think of Reformed theology, they think of the doctrine of predestination. The reasons for this have more to do with the critics of Reformed theology than with what the Reformed themselves confess. Indeed, one of the great weaknesses of the modern Reformed renaissance is that it tends to re-define Reformed theology almost entirely in terms of the doctrine of divine sovereignty. Continue reading →
The song “Dare to Be a Daniel” is yet another reason to adopt Mr. Murray’s view that, in public worship, we should sing only God’s Word (I reached the same conclusion in Recovering the Reformed Confession).1 Not only is the song itself . . . Continue reading →
Reformed theology has enjoyed a renaissance of sorts for about thirty years. A renaissance is literally a rebirth or, more broadly, a renewal. In order for there to be a renewal, however, there had to be a classical, defining period of Reformed . . . Continue reading →
Last time we looked through the lens of nature to help us settle the case of whether it is wrong for a boy to wrestle a girl. This time we will look through the lens of wisdom, beginning with an examination of . . . Continue reading →
Robert Rollock (1555–98) did not live very long but he was a hard-working Scotsman who left his mark on Reformed theology and especially in biblical commentary and the development of Reformed covenant theology. In his introduction to Rollock’s commentary on Ephesians, Casey . . . Continue reading →
My Baptist friends give two replies to the claim that they are not truly catholic. First, they appeal to their intent to be catholic. For example, in the introduction to the Second London Confession (1689) they say: “This we did the more abundantly to manifest our consent with both in all the fundamental articles of the Christian religion, as also with many others whose orthodox Confessions have been published to the world on the behalf of the Protestant in diverse nations and cities.” Continue reading →