Reformed theology teaches and the Reformed Churches confess that the Old and New Testaments are fundamentally unified in important ways. The triune God of the New Testament is the God of the Old Testament. The Apostle John says that God the Son, . . . Continue reading →
5. Now, if we choose to investigate whether it is right to administer baptism to infants, shall we not say that a man is talking nonsense or indeed raving who would halt with the mere element of water and outward observance, but . . . Continue reading →
Everyone will have to agree that for Adam, perfect keeping of the law for a fixed period of time was the means to acquire eternal beatitude that cannot be lost. When the covenant of works was broken, God could have rescinded this . . . Continue reading →
What Augustine so strikingly formulated concerning the relation of the two historic economies of the history of redemption: “Novum Testamentum in Vetere latet, Vetus in Novo patet” [The New Testament hides in the old, the Old reveals itself in the New] permits . . . Continue reading →
I. It is a matter of the greatest moment, that we learn distinctly to consider the covenant of grace, either as it is in its substance or essence, as they call it, or as it is in diverse ways proposed by God, . . . Continue reading →
[5.] We on all accounts stand in need of a surety for us, or on our behalf. Neither without the interposition of such a surety could any covenant between God and us be firm and stable, or “an everlasting covenant, ordered in . . . Continue reading →
FIFTH QUESTION: THE UNITY OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE Was the covenant of grace one and the same as to substance under each dispensation? We affirm against the Socinians, Anabaptists and Remonstrants I. This most important controversy is waged by us with . . . Continue reading →
IV. IN WHAT DO THE OLD AND THE NEW COVENANT AGREE, AND IN WHAT DO THEY DIFFER? Since there is but one covenant, and the Scriptures speak of it as though it were two, we must consider in what particulars the old . . . Continue reading →
The Covenant of Grace Identical in both Old and New Testaments Question #1: When was this covenant of grace initiated? Answer: Due to a misunderstanding concerning the nature of the covenant of grace, the Socinians and Arminians, who are in this respect . . . Continue reading →
A Preface On Paradigms As Baptists and Reformed folk engage each other’s theological traditions two things need to happen to make that engagement productive: 1) They need to realize that each tradition is theologically distinct. Some Baptists have historical and institutional relations . . . Continue reading →
In reading Particular Baptist sources from the classical period of Particular Baptist theology, piety, and practice and from modern proponents of that tradition I have become more deeply impressed with how superficial my understanding was and how great the differences are in . . . Continue reading →
Obs. III. Divine institutions cease not without an express divine abrogation.—Where they are once granted and erected by the authority of God, they can never cease without an express act of the same authority taking them away. So was it with the . . . Continue reading →
It is a pleasure to talk with Colleen Sharp and Rachel Miller, the Theology Gals. Recently, we talked about covenant theology. We talked about what covenant theology is, how it differs from Dispensationalism, from where it comes, why it matters, what it . . . Continue reading →
The communion and fellowship of man with God, was first founded on a covenant of works made with Adam in paradise. If he did obey, and did not eat of the forbidden fruit, he should have life both for himself and his . . . Continue reading →
In 2007 the Synod the United Reformed Churches in North America adopted a statement of pastoral advice concerning the self-described “Federal Vision” theology. One of the main matters of business at Synod Schereville was to address an overture brought by Classis Michigan regarding the Federal Vision theology. As part of dealing with that overture Synod took two actions. First it re-affirmed and strengthened the language first adopted at Synod Calgary regarding justification by faith alone (sola fide). Continue reading →
Caspar Olevianus (1536–87) was an influential figure in the development of Reformed (as distinct from other versions of) covenant theology. He was a student of John Calvin (1509–64) and Theodore Beza (1519–1605). Like them, he was a Roman Catholic humanist scholar who . . . Continue reading →
Introduction Two correspondents have written in recent days to ask about whether those who confess the Reformed confessions (e.g., the Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic Confession, the Canons of Dort, and the Westminster Standards) and the Reformed confession, which is a broader category . . . Continue reading →
The end which God aimed at in giving the law of Moses, was not, that any should ever attain to holiness or salvation by condition of perfect or sincere obedience to it; though, if there had been any such way of salvation . . . Continue reading →