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 →
And this doth and must determine the difference between the Jews and Christians about the promises of the Old Testament. They are all made unto the church. No individual person hath any interest in them but by virtue of his membership therewith. . . . Continue reading →
It remains, then, that the church founded in the covenant, and unto which all the promises did and do belong, abode at the coming of Christ, and doth abide ever since, in and among those who are the children of Abraham by . . . Continue reading →
And herein is a solemn prefiguration of the implanting of believers of all nations into the covenant and faith of Abraham; for this name he received upon the solemn establishment of the covenant with him, as the apostle explains the place, Rom. . . . Continue reading →
We might say that the Reformed doctrine of the covenant of works, or better, adherence to the doctrine, is recovering from an illness. The doctrine itself is fine. It is what it has long been but from the early 20th century until . . . Continue reading →
Resources Heidelcast 98: Salvation, Good Works, And Conditions Resources On Conditions In The Covenant Of Grace (Updated) Resources On Norman Shepherd Resources On The Federal Vision Theology
Like a lot of American evangelicals, the faith I was taught as a teen-aged convert was a sort of Dispensationalism. There were no charts that I recall but I did learn that Jews are God’s earthly people and that the church is . . . Continue reading →
It is exciting to discover what are sometimes called “the doctrines of grace,” i.e., the teaching that even though by nature we are dead in sins and trespasses, we came to faith because God loved us in Christ from all eternity and . . . Continue reading →
18. Thus under the old testament, when God would take the posterity of Abraham into a new, peculiar church-state, he did it by a solemn covenant. Herein, as he prescribed all the duties of his worship to them, and made them many . . . Continue reading →
In Matthew 16:18 he promised to build “his church” and that the gates of hell would not prevail against his church. He gave the “keys of the kingdom” (16:19) to Peter as a Christ-confessor an anticipation of his office as apostle. In . . . Continue reading →
If you are an adult you know about mediators. It is not uncommon now, when one signs a contract, to agree to “binding arbitration” or to “mediation” either in lieuof going to court or before going to court. A mediator, then, . . . Continue reading →