Although the law as a rule of duty to believers requires perfect obedience from them, yet it admits of God’s accepting their sincere obedience performed in faith, though it is imperfect. It admits of His accepting this obedience not indeed as any . . . Continue reading →
HeidelQuotes
Turretin: “Participation In The Divine Nature” Refers To Sanctification
IV. First, this image (negatively, kat’ arsin) does not consist in a participation of the divine essence (as if the nature of man was a shadow [aposkiasmation] of the divine and a certain particle of the divine breath, as the Gentiles hold). For . . . Continue reading →
When Church Planting Doesn’t Go According To Plan
I think many church planters overestimate what can be done in two years and underestimate what can be done in ten years. We overemphasise the need for rapid numerical growth and underemphasise the wisdom of building slowly and faithfully. I remember preaching to . . . Continue reading →
Colquhoun: The Believer’s Interest In The Covenant Of Grace
Since true believers are already irrevocably interested in the covenant of grace, in the righteousness of Christ, and in the favor of God; and since they have in Christ and on the ground of His righteousness imputed to them a complete security . . . Continue reading →
Why Are Baptistic Evangelicals Attracted To Anglicanism?
By now, the pattern is familiar. A young evangelical becomes disenchanted with her religious upbringing, discovers the liturgical church, and “walks the Canterbury Trail,” joining an Anglican or Episcopal church. She may even conclude the Anglican tradition is insufficiently Catholic and turn . . . Continue reading →
Evangelical Repentance, The Marrow, And The Auchterarder Creed
How did the theological examination of a man in a presbytery (body of regional church elders) in a small town in Scotland in 1717 fuel a deep-seated theological schism among ministers in the Church of Scotland and result in a movement that . . . Continue reading →
Is There Distinctively Reformed Medicine?
After a visit to my father at his local hospital, I had a worldview moment. What should have alerted me from the outset was the name of the place – St. Mary’s. But then I noticed that the spiritual services wing of . . . Continue reading →
Stealthy Psalters In The PCA?
Many PCA churches (more than half?) have a psalter and they don’t even know it. Of course, some churches have switched to the excellent, newer Trinity Psalter Hymnal or another good psalter, but if a church has the very common Trinity Hymnal they already have . . . Continue reading →
How Representative Of Reformed Orthodoxy Was Davenant?
However, does Lynch fully make his case that hypothetical universalists taught that Christ died for all human beings in one sense and for the elect alone in another sense? He appears persistently to blur the lines between the impetration and application of . . . Continue reading →
Colquhoun: What The Covenant Of Works Requires
Although the law in its covenant form requires of all who are under it since the fall perfect obedience as the condition of life and full satisfaction for sin in their own persons, and at the same time, upon the revelation and . . . Continue reading →
Perkins On The Divine Mission
How can the Father send the Son, considering they are both one? Answer. In the doctrine touching the Trinity, nature and person must be distinguished. Nature is a substance common to many, as the Godhead. A person is that which subsists of . . . Continue reading →
Luther On Law And Grace
Therefore we are pronounced righteous, not on the basis of the Law or of works or of our own righteousness but on the basis of pure grace. Paul insisted on the promise so vigorously and stressed it so often because he saw . . . Continue reading →
Calvin On The Purpose Of Gospel Preaching
The end of the whole Gospel ministry is that God, the fountain of all felicity, communicate Christ to us who are disunited by sin and hence ruined, that we may from him enjoy eternal life; that in a word all heavenly treasures . . . Continue reading →
Marusich: People Won’t Say Publicly When It Matters What They Say Privately
A former teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), who was critical of the way the Central Indiana Presbytery handled allegations brought against Dan Herron, is now facing seven charges and possible excommunication. “The charges are a clear retaliation by [Teaching . . . Continue reading →
Trueman On STD’s And Stupidity
According to a recent CDC report, cases of syphilis are rising in the United States. The report offers an interesting window on contemporary American culture. First, it features the usual exceptionalism for health issues that are a part of the progressive remaking . . . Continue reading →
Perkins On Eternal Generation
Why is the Son so called? Answer. Because He was begotten of the Father by a perfect and eternal generation, not to be uttered of man or conceived. And we must be warned not to conceive it in any carnal or human . . . Continue reading →
Colquhoun: Distinguishing Correctly Between Law And Gospel Is Essential
If then a man cannot distinguish aright between the law and the gospel, he cannot rightly understand as much as a single article of divine truth. If he does not have spiritual and just apprehensions of the holy law, he cannot have . . . Continue reading →
Luther Contra Theonomy
A second kind of abrogation of the Law, an outward one, is that the political laws of Moses do not apply to us at all. Therefore we should not restore them to the courthouse or chain ourselves to them in some superstitious . . . Continue reading →
Calvin On The Relation Of Preaching And Sacraments To Our Mystical Union With Christ
To effect this union [with Christ], the Holy Spirit uses a double instrument, the preaching of the Word and the administration of the sacraments. When we say that the Holy Spirit uses an external minister as instrument, we mean this: both in . . . Continue reading →
Who May Read The Scriptures In A P&R Service
It’s a rare week when I don’t receive a message from someone in the conservative Presbyterian and Reformed world reporting a practice that the scandalized sender has witnessed in a NAPARC church. Often the report is of females reading scripture or leading some . . . Continue reading →