Whence comes the benediction of Abraham? Answer. From the cursed death of Christ. For thus are the words, “He was made a curse for us, that the benediction of Abraham might come on the Gentiles.” Mark here how God works one contrary . . . Continue reading →
HeidelQuotes
Prove It
Firstly, the Old Testament (OT) church functioned as a state church grounded in the theocratic model of ancient Israel, where God’s Word intertwined religious and civil governance. This is evidenced through the Mosaic Law. There, the church and state were twain made . . . Continue reading →
Muller: Protestant Orthodoxy “Altered But Little” The Theology Of The Reformation
By the death of Calvin, all of these founders of the Reformed tradition had produced their major writings and had prepared their churches for the next generation—having argued the basic doctrinal positions of the Reformed faith, whether in their larger more systematic . . . Continue reading →
Bavinck: The Names And Revelation Of God Are An Accommodation To Our Weakness
God’s revealed names do not reveal his being as such but his accommodation to human language. Scripture is accommodated language; it is anthropomorphic through and through. God himself is described in human terms via human faculties, body parts, emotions, sensations, and actions… . . . Continue reading →
Luther On The Value Of Learning The Greatness Of Our Sin And Misery
To the question, “If the Law does not justify, what is its purpose?” Paul, therefore, replies: “Although the Law does not justify, it is nevertheless extremely useful and necessary. In the first place, it acts as a civic restraint upon those who . . . Continue reading →
Perkins On Paul’s Distinction Between Law And Gospel In Galatians
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 →
And We Wonder Why
“How can the profusion of lying images of Jesus not undermine faith in the church’s witness…especially for children? What’s the cognitive effect of seeing a dozen versions of Jesus? Continue reading
The True Meaning Of Semper Reformanda
“The Reformed church is always in need of reformation.” The common mythology behind this quote, which supposedly originated with Calvin, is the idea that the church always has to be improving, revising, and changing its doctrine to accord with Scripture. Yet the . . . Continue reading →
Muller: Scholasticism Is A Method Not A Doctrine
In my own usage, throughout the study, I have attempted to work with terms that have substantive use in the historical documents and I have tried to confine my meanings to the meanings of the era. Thus, ‘scholastic’ indicates an academic style . . . Continue reading →
Driscoll: Same Song, Second Stanza
But despite Driscoll’s early assurances to change, many of the same leadership traits that led to the problems at Mars Hill have carried on at the new church, according to former Trinity staff members and church attendees. . . . For several . . . Continue reading →
Machen’s Reply to Lordship Salvation
Very different is the conception of faith which prevails in the liberal Church. According to modern liberalism, faith is essentially the same as “making Christ Master” in one’s life; at least it is by making Christ Master in the life that the . . . Continue reading →
Luther On The Role Of The Law In Salvation
It follows, therefore, that the Law with its function does contribute to justification—not because it justifies, but because it impels one to the promise of grace and makes it sweet and desirable. Therefore we do not abolish the Law; but we show . . . Continue reading →
The Most Powerful Book On Sexual Abuse
Rachael DenHollander’s What is a Girl Worth? is the most powerful book on sexual abuse I’ve ever read. Her “story of breaking the silence and exposing the truth about Larry Nassar and USA Gymnastics” is well-known. What I didn’t know is that . . . Continue reading →
The Last Man (As It Were) Standing?
It’s 2024 and NAPARC denominations stand almost alone on male-only pastors/preachers and lay leaders (elders). The SBC is far from solid on this issue (https://sbcamendment.org/) and most evangelicals are giving way by degrees. Decisive action from the SBC would help, but many . . . Continue reading →
Warfield’s Fist-Fight
Princeton College alumni who remembered Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield’s student days at Princeton recall that on November 6, 1870, the young Warfield and a certain James Steen, “distinguished themselves by indulging in a little Sunday fight in front of the chapel after Dr. . . . Continue reading →
Muller: The Reformation Was Not An Attack On All Medieval Theology
When this orthodox or scholastic Protestantism is examined in some depth and viewed as a form of Protestant theology in its own right rather than as merely a duplication or reflection of the theology of the Reformation, it is clearly a theology . . . Continue reading →
Berkhof: Systematic Theology Is Not A Corruption Of The Truth
Man is endowed with reason, and the human reason cannot rest satisfied with a mere collection of separate truths, but wants to see them in their mutual relationship, in order that it may have a clearer understanding of them… There seems to . . . Continue reading →
Bavinck: We Learn Spiritual Realities Through The Material World
Fully adequate [exhaustive] knowledge is something of which we possess very little. Everywhere and in every area of life we finally run into mystery. The inner being of things, the thing as such, escapes our perception. We observe phenomena and from them . . . Continue reading →
Vos On Divine Simplicity
What is God’s simplicity? That attribute of God whereby He is free of all composition and distinction. God is free: a) Of logical composition; in Him there is no distinction between genus and species. b) Of natural composition; in Him there is . . . Continue reading →
Allen: Systematic Theology Helps Us To Keep Our Eyes On God
Scholastic and systematic theology has been much maligned in recent decades, often for putting God in a box and distorting the dramatic character of more occasional or narratival modes of thought. Yet the best historical studies of scholastic theology in its medieval . . . Continue reading →