Recovering the Reformed Confession

A Useful Resource for Psalm Singing

by on September 18, 2012 | 13 Comments

So Psalm 58 invites us to have patience under persecution, to take comfort in the justice and judgment of God. Why? Because we know that judgement – all the curses of Psalm 58 and the rest of the Bible – was borne for us by Christ. We, too, were children of the devil, deserving of all of this curse. But now, because that curse was carried for us, we know that when that last trumpet shall sound we will in Christ be found. So we need not fear the judgment. Rather, we look forward to it, knowing that finally God will be ultimately vindicated and glorified. Continue reading →

Helm Replies to Lucas on the Nature of “Affections” in Edwards

by on April 12, 2011

Paul Helm wrote a very interesting critique of Edwards, one with which the HB has some sympathy. Sean Lucas replied by arguing that Helm had read too much into the noun “affections.” Helm has replied to Lucas by arguing that, in Edwards . . . Continue reading →

Who Gets to Say What Counts as Religious Affections and On What Basis?

by on April 4, 2011

Darryl Hart writes: “The proponents of Edwards and the First Pretty Good Awakening (hereafter FPGA) are worried about nominal Christianity – that is, people who go through the motions of worship or Christian practice. Although this is an understandable concern – who . . . Continue reading →

On Christian Freedom, Two Kingdoms, and the Right Use of Scripture

by on March 29, 2011 | 1 Comment

I’m grateful that you’re reading Recovering the Reformed Confession and that you took the time to write. I don’t know that I will be able to satisfy your concerns. It may be that we disagree on some basic issues. Let me try . . . Continue reading →

Happy Birthday to the Heidelberg Catechism

by on January 19, 2011

As several others have noted, today is the birthday of the Heidelberg Catechism. On this date, in 1563, the Heidelberg Catechism was published. Westminster Seminary California student Jared Beaird has a nice summary and some resource links. What is a catechism? It’s . . . Continue reading →

The Social Crisis is Too Great to Be Arguing About… (Updated)

by on December 3, 2010 | 3 Comments

The various social crises facing the West are great but the Roman empire was already in crisis when God the Holy Spirit empowered Christ’s apostles to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. Rome fell. The gospel and Christ’s church continued. Another empire, Christendom, replaced the old Roman Empire but it fell too. The kingdom of God, as manifested chiefly in this world in the visible, institutional church, continued. Social crises are important but they aren’t more important than the gospel. Seeing that is a key difference between actually being Reformed and being just another social conservative with a passing interest in the Reformation (as it suits whatever social agenda is in view). Continue reading →

Berkhof in Russian!

by on November 26, 2010

Congratulations to Evangelical Press for getting Louis Berkhof. We, in the English-speaking world have an embarrassment of riches of Reformed resources. Berkhof’s Reformed Dogmatics first appeared in 1932. It was later re-titled Systematic Theology. That our Russian-speaking brothers and sisters are just . . . Continue reading →

Between Donatism and Liberalism: Trueman on Losing the Plot

by on November 24, 2010

One way of accounting for the decline of churches into liberalism is to find the villains and tell the story of how the bad guys snuck into the church and corrupted an otherwise pure institution thereby stealing it from under the noses . . . Continue reading →

What We Can Learn From the Free Church About Conservatism and Sola Scriptura

by on November 20, 2010 | 1 Comment

The Free Church of Scotland, by a narrow margin, has voted to allow the introduction of musical instruments and non-inspired songs into its public worship services. As unfortunate as that decision is, if news accounts are to be believed, the grounds for . . . Continue reading →

It’s All About Eschatology (and History)

by on November 15, 2010 | 1 Comment

Collin Hansen has a stimulating post at the Gospel Coalition this morning (Pacific) lamenting the apparently declining desire for a “revival.” Collin’s post raises some very important questions. Why would one begin to doubt the desire for revival, which I have described . . . Continue reading →

When the Borderline and Sideline Converge: Sunday Evenings

by on October 26, 2010

Conservative sideline Presbyterian and Reformed folk like to think of themselves as distinctly different from the liberal mainline Presbyterians and even borderline denominations such as the Christian Reformed Church but the Christian Century (HT: Aquila Report) describes a study done in the . . . Continue reading →