Recovering the Reformed Confession

Heidelcast 95: Reformation Happens

by on June 13, 2015 | 4 Comments
Heidelcast

As you read this the churches, the theology, piety, and practice represented by confessionally Reformed and Presbyterian Churches is almost statistically invisible. Of the 60 million evangelicals in North America only a tiny fraction actually identify with the confessional Reformed and Presbyterian churches . . . Continue reading →

Christ’s Merits Affirmed And Ours Denied In The Reformed Confessions

by on April 3, 2015 | 1 Comment

Christ’s Merit For Us Affirmed “only for the sake of Christ’s merits” (Heidelberg Catechism 21) “for the sake of Christ’s merits” (Heidelberg Catechism 84) “if they did not rest on the merit of the suffering and death of our Savior” (Belgic Confession, . . . Continue reading →

Musical Instruments In Public Worship Are Among The Legal Ceremonies

by on March 30, 2015 | 11 Comments

…musical instruments were among the legal ceremonies which Christ at His coming abolished; and therefore we, under the Gospel, must maintain a greater simplicity (John Calvin, Commentary Exodus 15:21) Continue reading →

It Doesn’t Have To Be This Way

by on March 9, 2015 | 13 Comments

Why do evangelicals become Romanists, Eastern Orthodox, or Anglo-Catholics, i.e., Anglicans who identify more with Rome than with the historic Protestant Anglican confession (e.g., the Thirty-Nine Articles and the Anglican Catechism)? Al Mohler reflected recently on a Wall Street Journal story on . . . Continue reading →

New In Translation: The Synopsis Of A Purer Theology

by on February 24, 2015 | 3 Comments

When I began reading Reformed theology in university Calvin was virtually the only sixteenth-century Reformed author widely available in English translation. The other authors I read were all from the 19th and 20th centuries (e.g., Hodge, Warfield, Van Til, Murray). In the . . . Continue reading →

“Divine Winds” And Gay Elders: Where The QIRE Leads

by on February 16, 2015 | 4 Comments

The church has long been tempted to use a canon opener since the late 2nd century. As it became clear that the great acts of redemption were complete, that God’s special revelation had ended, the Montanist movement reacted by claiming to receive . . . Continue reading →

Sacraments Versus Selective Piety

by on February 14, 2015 | 2 Comments

An appropriately rich Reformed sacramentalism also renders Ash Wednesday irrelevant. Infant baptism emphasizes better than anything else outside of the preached Word the priority of God’s grace and the helplessness of sinless humanity in the face of God. The Lord’s Supper, both . . . Continue reading →

Of Confessional Christianity And The Cult Of Personality

by on February 2, 2015 | 5 Comments

The danger of the cult of personality has ever been with us. Paul warned the Corinthian church: I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among . . . Continue reading →

See You In Bakersfield January 23–24 2015 For According To Scripture Alone

by on January 12, 2015 | 4 Comments
Sovereign Grace Bakersfield

Central California is a beautiful place and that’s where I’ll be Friday evening January 23 and Saturday morning January 24, 2015. I’m giving three talks (and holding a Q &A session) on Sola Scriptura: “The Backbone of the Reformation,” “Its Unique Authority in Knowing . . . Continue reading →

Sentiment Is Not A Sacrament

by on December 22, 2014 | 9 Comments

Holidays are a time for great sentiment, which the Oxford American Dictionary defines, in this usage, as an “exaggerated and self-indulgent feelings of tenderness, sadness, or nostalgia.” Who does not watch the annual Christmas movies? They are part of the late-modern communal . . . Continue reading →

Creeds Are Unavoidable

by on December 9, 2014 | 2 Comments

Christianity is a creedal religion. You cannot separate Christianity from its ancient creeds. In fact, every true Christian adheres to the ancient creeds of the church, whether he knows it or not. We all have creeds. Whether formal or informal—whether written or . . . Continue reading →

Always Abusing Semper Reformanda

by on November 18, 2014 | 12 Comments

The Reformation churches have some wonderful slogans that are chock full of important truths. Sometimes, however, these slogans can be misconstrued, misreported, and misunderstood. With the possible exception of sola Scriptura (by Scripture alone), none of these slogans has been mangled more . . . Continue reading →

The Reformed Are Catholic

by on November 6, 2014 | 6 Comments

THE CREEDS OF FOUR COUNCILS RECEIVED. And, to say many things with a few words, with a sincere heart we believe, and freely confess with open mouth, whatever things are defined from the Holy Scriptures concerning the mystery of the incarnation of . . . Continue reading →