Someone told me in high school that if I passed human physiology we would get to see cadavers. But in order to take human physiology I had to take biology, so I spent a fair bit of time my senior year studying . . . Continue reading →
Sanctification
Confessions Give Us Roots
Not only are Christian confessions consistent with Scripture and church history, they are practically conducive to positive societal engagement. Historic confessions help ground our evangelistic method in the larger scope of church history, essentially protecting us against inventing some new doctrine, or . . . Continue reading →
Don’t Leave It In The Vault
As is especially evident in today’s context, it’s one thing to adopt a confession and quite another to be confessional’ to think, witness, live, and worship consistently with our profession. A confession can be a historical document that we leave in the . . . Continue reading →
His Face Bound With A Linen Cloth
I do not like thinking about death, but I have been doing a good lot of thinking about it lately. It is no fun to think about death. As an American, always moving, restless, ever conquering, I resist it. Death is the . . . Continue reading →
Ferguson: Our Identity In Christ The Key To Putting Sin To Death
My friend—a younger minister—sat down with me at the end of a conference in his church and said: “Before we retire tonight, just take me through the steps that are involved in helping someone mortify sin.” We sat talking about this for . . . Continue reading →
Breaking the Law of Niceness
If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. (Matt 18:15) We have been discussing Christian rhetoric and theological discourse on the Heidelblog. This . . . Continue reading →
“Wretched Man That I Am”—Or Was? Part 2
The Scripture citations in this confession are provided only when a Scripture passage is directly quoted or is clearly alluded to—so there is only one direct reference to our passage. It is highly significant, however. Continue reading →
“Wretched Man That I Am”—Or Was? Part 1
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man can come to the Father except through Me.” I remember reading these words in John 14 as an unbelieving but religion-curious college student. My conscience was convicted—though I was . . . Continue reading →
Spending, The Crisis, And Idols
In recent years there was a move to focus Reformed and evangelical piety on “the idols of the heart.” Of course, as one of those who agrees entirely with Calvin’s dictum that after the fall the “perpetual disposition” of human beings is . . . 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 →
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 →
Audio: A Palace, A Prince, and A Point
A sermon by R. Scott Clark entitled, “A Palace, a Prince, and a Point” Editor’s Note: This audio was originally published in 2011. RESOURCES Subscribe To The Heidelblog! The Heidelblog Resource Page Heidelmedia Resources The Ecumenical Creeds The Reformed Confessions The Heidelberg . . . Continue reading →
Murray: We Don’t Peek Behind The Curtain
God has mercy on whom he wills and whom he wills he hardens. Some are vessels for wrath, others for mercy. And ultimate destiny is envisioned in destruction and glory. But this differentiation is God’s action and prerogative, not man’s. And, because . . . Continue reading →
The Gospel According To John (MacArthur)—Part 21
MacArthur is right to observe that too many evangelicals have no place for good works in their account of the faith. The question is not whether there is a “relationship between faith and works,” but rather what that relationship is.216 According to . . . Continue reading →
The Gospel According To John (MacArthur)—Part 20
The formal question of the Protestant Reformation was that of authority: What is the principal source of authority for the Christian faith and the Christian life? The Roman communion claimed that the church produced the Scriptures and thus the authority of the . . . Continue reading →
Heidelminicast Q&A: Is Sanctification Synergistic?
Dr Clark answers a question about whether sanctification is monergistic or synergistic. Continue reading →
Heidelminicast: The Gospel According to John (MacArthur) Pt 18
This is part 18 in our audio series on The Gospel According to John (MacArthur). Continue reading →
Audio: The Reality Of God’s Love For Sinners: John 3:16
R. Scott Clark speaks on John 3:16 at Westminster Seminary California. Editor’s Note: This audio was originally published by the Westminster Seminary California in 2014. RESOURCES Subscribe To The Heidelblog! The Heidelblog Resource Page Heidelmedia Resources The Ecumenical Creeds The Reformed Confessions . . . Continue reading →