There are at least three types of Christian Nationalists: the highbrow Wolfeans (HW), the folk evangelicals (FE) who have always spoken vaguely of “takin’ this country back,” and the barely Christian, mostly charismatic/megachurch dominionist-NARcrowd (I’ll call them CMDs). The self-consciously protestant HW . . . Continue reading →
HeidelQuotes
Fesko On The Red Sea And Infant Baptism
Whenever I teach on any doctrine, I encourage my students to look at the unfolding history of redemption and trace the doctrinal line from Genesis to Revelation to ensure they get a full-orbed picture. In this case, the Apostle Paul’s inerrant and . . . Continue reading →
Review: Michael Horton, Theology for Pilgrims on the Way
In Tolkien’s Two Towers Gimli, Aragorn, and Legolas attack a white-clad old man, thinking him Saruman. Realizing their error, they apologize to Gandalf saying, “We thought you were Saruman.” Gandalf says, “I am Saruman, or rather Saruman as he should have been.” . . . Continue reading →
Trueman On The Temptation To Fuse Christianity With Pagan Power Religion
Some years ago I wrote a piece for First Things entitled “The Calvary Option.” It took its cue from the 2014 movie Calvary, which followed the last seven days in the life of a priest who knew that someone was planning to kill him. The . . . Continue reading →
Colquhoun: The Gospel Is The Means
The gospel is the means that the Holy Spirit employs for communicating the grace of Christ to elect sinners in order to produce that change of their state and of their nature to which they have been chosen. It is by means . . . Continue reading →
Luther Distinguished Law And Gospel In 1519
Now, what need is there to go through all of Latomus, point by point, since what has been said thoroughly refutes his entire position and confirms mine? I have sufficiently shown that his whole work consists of begging the question, for he . . . Continue reading →
Owen: It Is Christ’s Obedience Or Nothing
And therefore those who affirm that our obedience is the condition or cause of our justification, do all of them deny the imputation of the obedience of Christ unto us. The righteousness of Christ is imputed to us, as that on the . . . Continue reading →
Sibbes: Our Blessedness Is Communion With God
Man’s happiness is in communion with God. Before the fall of man, there was familiar conversation with God; but by the sin of our first parents, we lost this great happiness, and now we are strangers, and as contrary to God as . . . Continue reading →
How Baxter Came To Reject The Reformation Doctrine Of Salvation
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 →
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 →