Introduction
I will never forget that Sunday. I was about thirteen years old—or maybe a little younger. Continue reading
Doctrine of God
The Incarnation Makes All The Difference
In Dr. Strachan’s brief comment on this section, he states that “In another little-discussed reality, everyone who believes Scripture must confess the Father’s headship over the Son to some degree. It does no violence to the Son—truly God, truly man—to be “subjected” . . . Continue reading →
Reformation Day, The Trinity, And The Culture War
Some objected to the critics of the Federal Vision that the social crisis is too great that to be arguing about the Federal Vision. That objection has resurface in recent days in the wake of a social media post in which a prominent member of the Young, Restless, and Reformed Movement and a Baptist theologian has argued, “The Father is the Father because he sends the Son. The Son is the Son because he submits to the Father’s will. The Spirit is the Spirit because the Father and the Son send Him. There is no Trinity without the order of authority and submission” (emphasis original). As one might imagine, this line of reasoning has prompted a considerable response. In response to the critics, some have re-stated the same argument made by the Federal Visionists and their enablers in 2008: “Are we really going to start arguing about ESS again? With all the other stuff going on in the world, this is the battle some of you want to fight? Again? I seriously do not understand some of you. Like, at all.” Continue reading →
Riddlebarger: It Is Not A Sin Not To Have All The Answers
It is not a sin, after all, not to have all the answers. Continue reading →
A Classical Reformed Alternative To The New Calvinist Language On God And Evil
The Reformed churches confess that the relationship between God and evil is a mystery. We reject any attempt to resolve the mystery. We are not rationalists. We refuse to go beyond what Scripture says. We affirm both that God is sovereign and . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast 189: What Must A Christian Believe? (7): Against Deism, Gambling, Pentecostalism, And Biblicism
Lots of evangelical Christians take it for granted that God and humans are co-equals. I know because I once thought that way. That is a profoundly Modern and Modernist way of thinking. It is not a biblical way of thinking nor is . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast 188: What Must A Christian Believe? (6): God The Father Almighty
We start this episode by thinking a bit about an audio clip in the intro. If you are one of those who skips the intro 😮 please go back and listen for context. See also the show notes below for more. I . . . Continue reading →
Just In Time For The Latest ESS Dustup: With Presbycast On The Athanasian Creed
Even as we were recording this episode last night a new round of controversy (on social media) arose over the orthodoxy of the doctrine of the so-called “eternal subordination of the Son” or the “eternal functional subordination of the Son” AKA “eternal . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast 187: What Must A Christian Believe? (5): The Holy Trinity
The Heidelcast is back and better than ever, well, as mediocre as ever anyway. As I’m recording this it’s late July and I’m trying to finish the commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism. Something had to give way so I put the Heidelcast . . . Continue reading →
Your Favorite Apologist Does Not Define Christianity
Apologetics is an important, necessary discipline. Christians are called by Scripture to give a reason for our hope to everyone who asks (1 Pet 3:15). There is a long history of apologists, however, damaging Christian doctrine in order to defend the faith and laity are tempted to follow them. Continue reading
The Eternally Begotten Son Is Consubstantial With the Father
The Son’s generation involves no priority or posteriority, and certainly no inferiority but designates order alone. If it did involve priority or posteriority of any kind, then the Son would be inferior to the Father. Previously, I emphasized that the Son is . . . Continue reading →
Gregory Of Nazianzus On The Deity Of The Holy Spirit And Against Analogies For The Trinity
XXVIII. This, then, is my position with regard to these things, and I hope it may be always my position, and that of whosoever is dear to me; to worship God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, Three . . . Continue reading →
Ufilas Or ESS?
…Allow me to share a few quotes. As you read, I want you to ask yourself where, in the history of the church these quotes are found? “Nobody denies that the Father is somehow greater than the Son, not because of another . . . Continue reading →
How The Athanasian Creed Can Help Contemporary Evangelical Theological Discourse
33. Equal to the Father, as touching his deity: and inferior to the Father as touching his humanity (Aequalis Patri secundum divinitatem: minor Patre secundum humanitatem)—Athanasian Creed. Yesterday, in our Reformed confessions course, we were considering Belgic Confession articles 18 and 19 . . . Continue reading →
How To Avoid Accidentally Becoming One Of Job’s Friends
During my treatment, two friends with cancer reached the end of the line, moving from experimental chemotherapy to palliative care, to dying, to death. It all happened so quickly. I was in remission, but for what? To wait around for this to . . . Continue reading →
Crisp: Edwards Was A Panentheist
…Such a picture of God’s relation to the creation is undoubtedly striking, combining as it does aspects of classical theism, theological aesthetics, panentheism, and the doctrines of continuous creation and occasionalism (about which, more presently). Far from being the product of some . . . Continue reading →
More On Edwards, Affections, Romanticism, And Pantheism
If there is a prevailing commonplace about the Romantics it is to associate them with a close and tender regard for nature. And it is true that the relating of human being to being generally considered was so central in their minds, . . . Continue reading →
Trueman: Might You Be A Socinian And Not Know It?
Cut some of the leading evangelical writers of the last decades and they bleed Socinus—without even knowing his name. For example, Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology, the most widely read text of its kind in English-speaking conservative evangelical circles, rejects eternal generation of . . . Continue reading →
The Doctrine Of Providence And Your “Lived Experience”
The Christian doctrine of providence does not deny anyone’s “lived experience.” It explains it.
Classical Christian Theism Was Not Fabricated Out Of Thin Air
When trusted theologians reject the biblical doctrine of God that has been believed, confessed, and taught by every orthodox Christian in the history of the church, including Reformed proponents of the sola Scriptura principle, something has to be said. Classical Christian theism . . . Continue reading →