Sanctification is a work of the Triune God, that is ascribed more particularly to the Holy Spirit in Scripture. It is particularly important in our day, with its emphasis on the necessity of approaching the study of theology anthropologically and its one-sided . . . Continue reading →
HeidelQuotes
Francis Turretin On Natural Law
XV. …it is even most absurd that the rational creature as rational should not be subject to him [God] in the genus of morals and not be governed by him suitably to his nature (i.e., by moral means) by the establishment of . . . Continue reading →
Jeremiah Burroughs On The Spiritual Value Of Distinguishing Between The Covenants Of Works And Grace
The doubts and fears of most Christians arise from hence because they have not a clear understanding of the difference between the covenant of grace and the covenant of works. There is nothing in the world would so satisfy the consciences of . . . Continue reading →
Calvin On A Mistaken Confidence In Works
We, too, when treating of the righteousness of faith, do not contend against the substance of works, but against that quality with which the sophists invest them,1 inasmuch as they contend that men are justified by them. Paul, therefore, divested himself—not of . . . Continue reading →
Challies Gets Niceness
Humans seem to be naturally drawn to niceness. Niceness is comfortable. To be nice is to be pleasant in manner, to be agreeable, to adhere to social conventions. We like to be around people who are nice at least in large part . . . Continue reading →
Paul Helm on Edwards’ Religious Affections
The Religious Affections is an important book, but in my view it would be unwise to take its teaching on what true religion consists in very seriously. It is a book about the importance of emotion, expressed in a public, visible way, . . . Continue reading →
Augustine On Grace Before and After the Fall
Chapter 29—What then? Did not Adam have the grace of God? Yes, truly, he had it largely, but of a different kind. He was placed in the midst of benefits which he had received from the goodness of his Creator; for he had . . . Continue reading →
A Member Of Synod Replies To The Self-Described "Federal Visionists"
The Decrees of the Synod you have openly contemned. The interrogatories put you, you have refused to answer. Your citatory letters notwithstanding the sense of them was expounded by those who gave them, and therefore best knew it, you have interpreted as you wish, . . . Continue reading →
Machen On Loving The Congregation
I know some preachers who are very good men, and very devoted to Christ, who seem somehow to let their Christianity make them cold and dead to all the movings of friendship. They do not outwardly lead the lives of hermits; on . . . Continue reading →
Horton: To Be or Not to Be? Reformed Christianity And American Evangelicalism
Somewhere along the way, however, the evangel became increasingly separated from evangelism; the message became subservient to the methods. Today, it is taken for granted by many that those most concerned about doctrine are least interested in reaching the lost (or, as . . . Continue reading →
Machen On The Responsibility And Spirituality Of The Institutional Church
There are certain things which you cannot expect from such a true Christian church. In the first place, you cannot expect from it any cooperation with non-Christian religion or with a non-Christian program of ethical culture. . . . In the second . . . Continue reading →
Union with Christ In Caspar Olevianus’ Exposition of the Apostles’ Creed
Since, then, in the Articles of the Faith, which contain a summary of the gospel, Christ the King Himself offers to us that kingdom of His; and since He effectually confederates us to Himself through faith by the power of His Spirit . . . Continue reading →
John Owen on Constantinianism, Baptismal Regeneration, And Apostasy
From this influx, it is not surprising that the doctrines of faith and, most especially, that of the new birth became so rapidly corrupted in the churches. With separation from the world spurned, there is no wonder that the sanctity and glory . . . Continue reading →
S. M. Baugh on Women in the Church
The issue of women’s ordination, and more generally women’s involvement in the church, is a modern issue which continues to generate numerous books, articles, and even supporting societies. The worst thing we in Reformed communions can do is ignore the issue simply . . . Continue reading →
Calvin on the "Sacred," the "Secular," and "the Kingdom"
Therefore, to perceive more clearly how far the mind can proceed in any matter according to the degree of its ability, we must here set forth a distinction. This, then, is the distinction: that there is one kind of understanding of earthly . . . Continue reading →
The Marrow of Modern Divinity on Republication
“Nomista: But, sir, were the children of Israel at this time better able to perform the condition of the covenant of works, than either Adam or any of the old patriarchs were, that God renewed it now with them, rather than before? . . . Continue reading →
Calvin’s Self-Identification As A Lutheran
You can see, reader, that the man is pulled both this way and that. He wants to appear to be opening a battle against the whole party of the Lutherans, not against any individual member of it. But he cannot attack us . . . Continue reading →
Caspar Olevianus on the "Law of Nature"
Christ the King engenders in his elect zeal for reconciling themselves to God: first of all by showing that all men are under sin, and in the kingdom darkness, especially because since all men have the knowledge of God naturally engrafted in . . . Continue reading →
Calvin On The Twofold Kingdom
Therefore, in order that none of us may stumble on that stone, let us first consider that there is a twofold government in man (duplex esse in homine regimen): one aspect is spiritual, whereby the conscience is instructed in piety and in . . . Continue reading →
D. A. Carson On Distinctions And Moralism
Failure to distinguish between the gospel and all the effects of the gospel tends, on the long haul, to replace the good news as to what God has done with a moralism that is finally without the power and the glory of Christ crucified, . . . Continue reading →