To repeat my point, Owen could have had any number of authors in mind when he offered this extended critique, but it has to be said that Richard Baxter fitted the bill pretty well. In his first publication, the Aphorismes of Justification, published . . . Continue reading →
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Why Carl Trueman Is Not A Roman Catholic
Speaking at the Leonine Forum in D.C. recently, I was asked a friendly but pointed question: “Why are you not a Catholic?” The questioner noted that in my talk I had expressed a love for the early Church Fathers, admiration for Thomas . . . Continue reading →
Colquhoun: Believers Are Not Under The Law As A Covenant Of Works
Once more, are true believers delivered from the commanding, condemning, and irritating power of the law as a covenant? Let them then, amid all their trials and all their conflicts with spiritual enemies, be of good comfort. Oh, let them rejoice exceedingly . . . Continue reading →
Erskine: Were Paul Alive He Would Excommunicate Richard Baxter
…1. As to doctrinal legalists, we might bewail and refute the legal schemes that take place in the world. I name these two: 1. The Popish Scheme, denying the imputation of Christ’s righteousness. The imputed righteousness of Christ is blasphemed by the . . . Continue reading →
The HR Department, “Sclerotic Bureaucracies,” And Self-Censorship
Thanks in large part to the way judges have interpreted employment-discrimination statutes, a pervasive “human resources” industry long ago attached itself to nearly every aspect of American life outside the home. It enlists us all in its elaborate game of litigation-avoidance, demanding . . . Continue reading →
Fesko: The Reformed Are Catholic
…Rather than identifying Augustine and Aquinas as Roman Catholic theologians, I think it’s fair to say they are catholic writers—they comprise the common catholic (or universal) heritage that belongs to both Protestants and Roman Catholics. In fact, Herman Bavinck, another Reformed giant, . . . Continue reading →
The Big Porn Lie
Easy Peasy helpfully describes how pornography deceives us. Pornography gives the illusion of help and benefit through the release of dopamine as someone searches for pornography. Notice I said “searches,” not “looks at.” The author distinguishes the experience of the hunt as more intoxicating than . . . Continue reading →
Sibbes: The Ascended Christ Is Our Contentment
Christ’s ascension is a ground of contentment in all conditions. What if we lack comfort, houses, or anything on earth, when we have heaven provided for us, and glory provided for us in our Head? Will not any condition content a man . . . Continue reading →
Trueman On Welby And Old Boy Networks
Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, resigned on Tuesday after an investigation found he’d mishandled the John Smyth abuse scandal. The resignation is a shock but, for those aware of the story, not a surprise. One of the vices I developed as a . . . Continue reading →
Colquhoun: In The Gospel An Offer Is Made
[The Gospel] serves, likewise, the highly important purpose of discovering to sinners their warrant to trust in Christ Jesus for complete salvation. In the blessed gospel, Christ, and God in Christ, are freely offered to sinful men, and men are graciously invited . . . Continue reading →
On Calvin And Biblicism
Nearly half a century after R. T. Kendall published “Calvin and English Calvinism to 1649,” the debate of “Calvin versus the Calvinists” rages on. Kendall’s was not the first attempt at pointing out supposed discontinuity between Calvin and his successors, of course. . . . Continue reading →
The Limits Of Patriotism
In my first church out of seminary, I preached a sermon in which I mentioned specific atrocities of the 20th century as illustrations of human sinfulness. After the service a man came up to me livid that I had singled out Nazi . . . Continue reading →
Vos: Christ Is On Every Page
The genuine believer takes the whole of Scripture as a living organism produced by the Holy Spirit to present Christ to him. On every page of Scripture, he finds traits and traces of the Mediator. Geerhardus Vos | Reformed Dogmatics, ed. Richard . . . Continue reading →
Rejoice! The Lord Has Come
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled . . . Continue reading →
Ferguson On Celebrating Christmas
It’s often said that Christmas is actually a pagan holiday based on the Roman holiday of Saturnalia. But that is a bit like saying that Reformation Sunday is a pagan celebration because it coincides with Halloween. Some churches started holding a Reformation . . . Continue reading →
Colquhoun: The Gospel Discloses the Covenant Of Redemption
It is the gospel that also discloses to sinners the covenant of grace into which the Father and the Son as last Adam, with the infinite approbation of the Holy Spirit, have entered for the salvation of such sinners as believe. Sinful . . . Continue reading →
The Recovery Of The Call To Worship
Over the past several years, I have taught seminary courses on the theology and practice of worship in the Reformed tradition. The syllabus requires students to interact with worship services posted online, evaluating the elements, coherence, and execution of the liturgy. The . . . Continue reading →
A Confession Of Sin Regarding The Sabbath
O Lord, we admit today that even as we consider your goodness, we also see our failures. We find faults in our working, when we do too little, or do too much. We see wrongs in our resting, when we treat each . . . Continue reading →
Riddlebarger: The Attraction Of Judge Judy
Only Americans could love Judge Judy–the über-mom, as I call her, because of her uncanny ability to make grown men look like disobedient children. Yet I’m sure that if the Corinthians had the technology we have, they too would love Judge Judy. . . . Continue reading →
Fesko: Confessionalism Or Fundamentalism?
These days it seems like Christians are in search of conservatism in whatever forms they can find it, and with good reason. It seems like the cultural, political, and theological wheels on the bus are falling off. As a pastor I found . . . Continue reading →