Yesterday (August 13) was the 477th anniversary of a small but symbolic event in Reformation history. On that date in 1541 John Calvin returned to Geneva from Strasbourg, where he had been a happy exile for about three years. On his first . . . Continue reading →
We may shed further light on the nature of Warfield’s position by looking at the broader historical-theological context within which it emerges. Toward the conclusion of his ISBE article, Warfield offers a brief sketch of the history of Trinitarian doctrine. On his . . . Continue reading →
[responding to Art. 1 of the Schleitheim Confession]…But I reply, first of all, that infant baptism is not a recent introduction, nor are its origins traceable to the papal church. For I say that it has always been a holy ordinance observed . . . Continue reading →
Now it is certain that our Lord did not want to change anything about the government (police) or the civil order, bus without reviling it in any way, he made his office, for which he came into the world, that of forgiving . . . Continue reading →
As I hasten to a conclusion, I am compelled to pass by your calumny, that, leaning entirely to our own judgment, we find not in the whole Church one individual to whom we think deference is due. That it is a calumny, . . . Continue reading →
For God had promised Christ, not to one person or to another, but to the whole seed of Abraham. If the Jews were deprived, for the most part, of the joy that was offered to them, it arose from their unbelief; just . . . Continue reading →
Hence, also, we see the error of those who, in comparing the Law with the Gospel, represent it merely as a comparison between the merit of works, and the gratuitous imputation of righteousness. This is indeed a contrast not at all to . . . Continue reading →
This righteousness then, which God communicates to man, and accepts alone, and owns as righteousness, has been revealed, he says, without the law, that is, without the aid of the law; and the law is to be understood as meaning works; for . . . Continue reading →
We now come to the closing scene of our redemption. For the lively assurance of our reconciliation with God arises from Christ having come from hell as the conqueror of death, in order to show that he had the power of a . . . Continue reading →
In short, when persons have once taken upon them to tyrannize over men’s souls, there is no end of new laws being daily added to old ones, and now enactments starting up from time to time. How bright a mirror there is . . . Continue reading →
I do not, however, concede to [Rome] that Paedobaptism had its origin in the Tradition of the Church. It certainly appears to be founded on the institution of God, and to have derived its origin from circumcision. It would have little foundation . . . Continue reading →
It is a general, if unstated, assumption among moderns that whatever the causes of the Reformation might have been, they must be long past. Often, however, that assumption is ill-founded. In fact, the fundamental causes for the Reformation (e.g., the Roman denial . . . Continue reading →
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 →
Here I beseech the godly, if they know the true rule of righteousness is to be sought from Scripture alone, religiously and earnestly to ponder with me how Scripture may, without quibbling, be duly brought into agreement with itself. John Calvin, Institutes . . . Continue reading →
My dear colleague, Your recent article in The Baptist Standard of Texas has come to my attention. I am grieved that you should have such a low opinion of Calvin and of Calvinistic Baptists. Although you hold that “most of the ardent . . . Continue reading →
Let us now see what is meant by the due worship of God. Its chief foundation is to acknowledge Him to be, as He is, the only source of all virtue, justice, holiness, wisdom, truth, power, goodness, mercy, life, and salvation; in . . . Continue reading →
For much of the 20th century it was a datum, a given, for many students of Calvin and the Reformed tradition that many of the English Reformed (especially the Westminster Assembly) abandoned Calvin and the Reformation doctrine of the faith and assurance. . . . Continue reading →
We have seen heretofore, that Eliu intending to rebuke Job, protested that he himself was a mortal man as Job was, to the end he should not complain that he was handled with too high a power. And so he showed that . . . Continue reading →
On the other hand, a glance at the first edition of Calvin’s Institutes, already published in 1536, is sufficient to prove that he was deeply indebted to Luther, and this, no doubt promised better things. Quite apart from the fact, often pointed . . . Continue reading →
Here indeed is pure and real religion: faith so joined with an earnest fear of God that this fear also embraces willing reverence, and carries with it such legitimate worship as is prescribed in the law. And we ought to note this . . . Continue reading →