With this installment we come to the end of the series reviewing and critiquing John MacArthur’s The Gospel According to Jesus. Remarkably, like the Old Testament prophets searching and enquiring “carefully what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was . . . Continue reading →
A devotion by R. Scott Clark on Mark 8:31–9:1. Editor’s Note: This audio was originally published by Westminster Seminary California in 2007. RESOURCES Subscribe To The Heidelblog! The Heidelblog Resource Page Heidelmedia Resources The Ecumenical Creeds The Reformed Confessions The Heidelberg Catechism . . . Continue reading →
Chapters 22 and 23, “The Cost of Discipleship” and “The Lordship of Christ” do not add anything that MacArthur has not already said. Essentially, chapter 22 is a rejection of the Christian life of discipleship as a second blessing.273 It is interesting . . . Continue reading →
A devotion by R. Scott Clark on 1 Thessalonians 2:1–6. Editor’s Note: This audio was originally published by Westminster Seminary California in 2005. RESOURCES Subscribe To The Heidelblog! The Heidelblog Resource Page Heidelmedia Resources The Ecumenical Creeds The Reformed Confessions The Heidelberg . . . Continue reading →
Chapter 21 of MacArthur’s The Gospel According to Jesus is typical of this work. There is much that is true and helpful, there is not a little irony, and there are one or two significant mistakes. Again, as I have said many . . . Continue reading →
A sermon by R. Scott Clark entitled, “Covenant Curses, Confidence, and Blessings” Editor’s Note: This audio was originally published in 2013. RESOURCES Subscribe To The Heidelblog! The Heidelblog Resource Page Heidelmedia Resources The Ecumenical Creeds The Reformed Confessions The Heidelberg Catechism Resources . . . Continue reading →
Throughout this series, despite my documented concerns about this volume, I have worked to be scrupulously fair. When MacArthur gets things right, I have given him credit for that; and he gets some things right in chapter 20, “The Way of Salvation.” . . . Continue reading →
A sermon by R. Scott Clark entitled, “A Palace, a Prince, and a Point” Editor’s Note: This audio was originally published in 2011. RESOURCES Subscribe To The Heidelblog! The Heidelblog Resource Page Heidelmedia Resources The Ecumenical Creeds The Reformed Confessions The Heidelberg . . . Continue reading →
MacArthur is right to observe that too many evangelicals have no place for good works in their account of the faith. The question is not whether there is a “relationship between faith and works,” but rather what that relationship is.216 According to . . . Continue reading →
When Paul says, “The law is not of faith,” he sets down the main difference between the law and the gospel. The law promises life to him that performs perfect obedience, and that for his works. The gospel promises life to him . . . Continue reading →
The formal question of the Protestant Reformation was that of authority: What is the principal source of authority for the Christian faith and the Christian life? The Roman communion claimed that the church produced the Scriptures and thus the authority of the . . . Continue reading →
“Most of the current controversy regarding the gospel hinges on the definitions of a few key words, including repentance, faith, discipleship, and Lord.”186 So writes John MacArthur in his chapter on repentance.187 He notes that our Lord’s preaching of the Kingdom of . . . Continue reading →
Thus we see that Christ does not make a distinction between those who are weak and strong in faith and rejects no one, for small faith is also faith, and if it only continues, it will always become stronger. Christ came into . . . Continue reading →
Throughout this series, however it might seem to devoted fans of John MacArthur, I have endeavored to be honest and fair—both of which require me to acknowledge, as I have before, that chapters 14 and 15 are quite edifying. The beginning of . . . Continue reading →
Dispensationalism is as much a theory of the church as it is of dispensations. Or rather, dispensationalism divides humanity into three distinct groups: Israel, the church, and the nations. The first two are in covenant with God. Israel has the starring role . . . Continue reading →
In MacArthur’s account of the parables of the kingdom of God, the nature of saving faith, and in his use of sources, we face three interesting sets of questions and some recurring problems in chapter 13 of The Gospel According to Jesus. . . . Continue reading →
All the rich benefits which Christ gives to His believers on earth receive their fulfillment and their crown in the glorification which accrues to them in part upon death but only in its fulness after the day of judgment. But this benefit . . . Continue reading →
In chapter 15 of GAJ, MacArthur’s critique of Dispensational antinomianism (and particularly of the “carnal Christian” doctrine, which we addressed last time) turns to the parable of the sower (Matt 13:24–30). He complains about the undisciplined character of so much of contemporary . . . Continue reading →
No chapter in this volume, so far, relies on MacArthur’s debt to Dispensationalism more than chapter 11, where he addresses the parable of the soils in Matthew 13. The Problem Of Dispensationalism He begins by recalling our Lord’s words, which he addressed . . . Continue reading →
How may believers be assured that they have eternal life? What impact do faith, good works, commitment, apostasy, and baptism have on our formulation of the biblical doctrine of assurance? Continue reading →