Who was the real Santa Claus? We can’t say for sure. Separating fact from fiction is an impossible task in this case. Indeed, it’s likely that the stories we have about Nicholas of Myra contain much more fiction than fact. So, what . . . Continue reading →
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Johnson On Unity And Diversity In Scripture
The purposes of Scripture are not unrelated to each other; they are complementary reflections of God’s manifold wisdom. The diversity and unity of Scripture disclose the marvelously diverse and unified plan of God for the whole history of the cosmos. Paul speaks . . . Continue reading →
Luther: Our Righteousness Before God Is Imputed
The righteousness Paul is speaking about here is external and comes from Christ living in us. It’s not internal, and it doesn’t come from ourselves. So if we are concerned about Christian righteousness, we must completely set aside the self. If I . . . Continue reading →
Help With The “Nones”
People who once identified with a Christian religious tradition but now identify with none are the fastest growing group in America today. Sociologist Stephen Bullivant labels these individuals “nonverts” and argues in his book of the same title that these individuals have . . . Continue reading →
What She Needed Was Not More Law
Back in 2018, I was suffering through a time of intense mental depression and anxiety set off by my physical experience of chronic pain and fatigue. The longer I was trapped in that condition, the more overtly spiritual it became, so that . . . Continue reading →
The Reformed Covenant Theology South Africa Needs
Faithful God is a book the Reformed community in South Africa—and beyond—doesn’t know it needs. Asking someone who identifies as Reformed what that means, their answer will usually include the doctrines of grace as summarised in the five solas. However, throughout Faithful God, Antonio Coppola helps . . . Continue reading →
Luther On The Pedagogical Use Of The Law
But the true use of the Law is this, that I know that by the Law I am being brought to an acknowledgement of sin and am being humbled, so that I may come to Christ and be justified by faith. But . . . Continue reading →
Hodge On Two-Stage Justification
Hodge draws attention to the two-stage justification of the Roman Catholic Church and rejects it. The first justification, according to Roman Catholic theology, is gratuitous and is given for Christ’s sake and consists of the infusion of habitual grace. This divine process . . . Continue reading →
Perkins: Justification By Works Is Nature, Not Grace
Whereas Paul says that “they are under the curse, that will be of works,” we see the whole world almost walks in the way of perdition. It is a conclusion of nature that we must be saved and justified by our works. . . . Continue reading →
A Problem With Demographics
Our typical Lord’s Day morning demographic looks like a room full of sinners who recognize their need for Christ! At Providence, we don’t prioritize one ethnicity, age group, or a particular socio-economic level over another. We want all people to join us . . . Continue reading →
Strange Versus Wilson’s Christian Nationalism
Thus, probably most appealing to many inclined in this direction is the approach of Douglas Wilson, who approves of Christian Nationalism in his latest book, Mere Christendom (83–92), and who argues using a sort of theonomic/Christian reconstructionist hermeneutic. Wilson asserts in his book . . . Continue reading →
Trueman On Erasing Women
The moral aporias of contemporary progressive politics are becoming more obvious on a regular basis. This week, the U.K.’s Attitude magazine named transgender TikToker Dylan Mulvaney its “Woman of the Year” and featured him on its cover. As is increasingly the case with such . . . Continue reading →
Perkins On How Good Works Work
Again, it may be demanded (considering we cannot fulfill the law), how our works can please God? Answer. In every good work, there is something that is God’s and something that is ours alone. The defect of the work is ours alone, . . . Continue reading →
Wilson’s Warrior Children
This entire article may be a fool’s errand. I mean, it’s easy to watch two men mud-wrestling from afar with the hopes that none of the mud lands me as a spectator. But there are some fights so nasty that the mud . . . Continue reading →
The Church Growth Ethos, Presbyterians, & Narcissism
An increasing number of pastors in the PCA are either resigning or being fired due to their narcissistic abuses undermining their ministry, which is truly disheartening. However, the more significant issue lies in the job advertisements for pastors, which often attract narcissistic . . . Continue reading →
Johnson: The Covenantal Structure Is Baked In
The covenantal structure is built into God’s relationship with his human creatures from creation and finds various expressions in subsequent redemptive history. In view of this pervasive structure, readers and preachers of Scripture do well to approach every text with special attention . . . Continue reading →
The Truth About Ministering To The Elderly
I have been a Presbyterian pastor for twenty-five years, the last three of which I was privileged to serve as an aged-care chaplain. I ministered in three Presbyterian nursing homes with a community of 220 residents, some 400 staff, and hundreds of . . . Continue reading →
Stankorb Understands Wilson
This November, Wilson’s month of antagonistic blog posts (usually printed later as anthologies sold for $6.95) did not evoke his anticipated fear and trembling. For Wilson watchers and critics, some days online it felt like Wilson’s annual firestorm might have finally reached . . . Continue reading →
A Review of Petrus van Maastricht’s Theoretical-Practical Theology (vol. 1)
Petrus van Mastricht, Prolegomena, ed. Joel R. Beeke, trans. Todd M. Rester, vol. 1, Theoretical-Practical Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2018. Recent (that is, pre-1992 A.D.) Reformed theology can be sadly described as a generation arising “which knew not the Reformed Orthodox.” . . . Continue reading →
Luther: Faith Great Or Small Is Still Faith
Thus we see that Christ does not make a distinction between those who are weak and strong in faith and rejects no one, for small faith is also faith, and if it only continues, it will always become stronger. Christ came into . . . Continue reading →