Boston: Faith Establishes The Law

Object. “Do we then make void the law,” (Rom. 3:31.) leaving an imputation of dishonour upon it, as a disregarded path, by pretending to return another way? Answ. Sinners, being united to Christ by faith, return, being carried back the same way . . . Continue reading →

Luther On The First Use

Now if even the Moral Law of God, the Decalogue, gives birth only to slaves—that is, does not justify but only terrifies, accuses, condemns, and brings consciences to the point of despair—how, I ask you, could the laws of the pope or . . . Continue reading →

The Gospel According To John (MacArthur)—Part 25

With this installment we come to the end of the series reviewing and critiquing John MacArthur’s The Gospel According to Jesus. Remarkably, like the Old Testament prophets searching and enquiring “carefully what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was . . . Continue reading →

The Gospel According To John (MacArthur)—Part 24

Chapters 22 and 23, “The Cost of Discipleship” and “The Lordship of Christ” do not add anything that MacArthur has not already said. Essentially, chapter 22 is a rejection of the Christian life of discipleship as a second blessing.273 It is interesting . . . Continue reading →

The Gospel According To John (MacArthur)—Part 23

Chapter 21 of MacArthur’s The Gospel According to Jesus is typical of this work. There is much that is true and helpful, there is not a little irony, and there are one or two significant mistakes. Again, as I have said many . . . Continue reading →

Letter and Spirit: Law and Gospel in Reformed Preaching

Preaching begins with Bible reading and interpretation. Before a minister can preach a given text, he must decide what it says. To interpret a passage, the preacher necessarily brings to bear his broader reading of Scripture, a system of doctrine, and the history of interpretation. Continue reading →

The Gospel According To John (MacArthur)—Part 22

Throughout this series, despite my documented concerns about this volume, I have worked to be scrupulously fair. When MacArthur gets things right, I have given him credit for that; and he gets some things right in chapter 20, “The Way of Salvation.” . . . Continue reading →