Working on Hebrews 6 and this seems appropriate (it’s not a great recording but you get the point).
My impression is that, over the last few decades, the historic Reformed reading of Romans 7 has taken one on the chin, as it were. Perhaps that’s not so. I’ve not done a survey to see how pastors are reading and preaching . . . Continue reading →
What’s the difference between legalism and antinomianism? The latter is the denial of the abiding validity of God’s moral law for the life of the believer. The church has been afflicted with antinomianism throughout its history. All the Gnostics of the 2nd . . . Continue reading →
The time after Christmas, including, in some places Boxing Day—for which different etymologies have been given—is a time for writing thank you notes. The Apostle Paul also wrote a thank you letter and the Spirit of God preserved it for us in . . . Continue reading →
My doctrine of sanctification is the doctrine of the Heidelberg Catechism: Guilt, Grace, and Gratitude and the doctrine of the Belgic Confession Art. 24. We believe that this true faith, produced in man by the hearing of God’s Word and by the . . . Continue reading →
Introduction In the doctrine of sanctification there are several errors to be avoided. First, let’s define our terms and understand what the basic biblical (and confessional Reformed) doctrine of sanctification is. The verb “to sanctify” is Latin. It is the word from . . . Continue reading →
On this day we rightly pause to give thanks for the innumerable blessings we have received, both those common to all image bearers and those saving benefits particular to believers. Chief among the latter are saving faith and Spirit-wrought union with Christ . . . Continue reading →
For those who have not been following this discussion, here is a quick rundown as a preface to my point. On August 16, 2012 Denny Burk posted a Gospel Coalition video on his blog in which he noted that Tim Keller suggested . . . Continue reading →
Of course I always want you to listen and subscribe to Office Hours but I especially want you (and everyone) to hear this interview with the Rev Dr Hywel Jones on preaching the doctrine of regeneration to Christian congregations. We’re discussing Hywel’s . . . Continue reading →
In this episode Office Hours talks with Dr John Fesko, Academic Dean and Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at WSC and author of The Fruit of the Spirit Is about the nature of the Christian life and especially about whether sanctification (growth . . . Continue reading →
What follows is from the latest issue of Tabletalk, which contains a series of letters from “Legion” to his young assistant, the style of C. S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters. Dear Pithius, Our dear boy, you quite misunderstand the problem. So long as Christians . . . Continue reading →
Ralph Erskine (1685-1752) was the brother of Ebeneezer Erskine and a defender of the Reformation doctrines of justification and sanctification against the neonomians and legalists of his day. Mortification is the old-fashioned way of saying, “dying to self.” In the Heidelberg Catechism . . . Continue reading →
Ray Ortlund says that Reformed people need to be more like Jesus. That’s doubtless true! All believers need to be more and more conformed to the image of Christ. That’s sanctification. The issue isn’t so much whether Reformed people need to become . . . Continue reading →
In Christianity Today. Is Wright correct when he asserts “Basically, the whole idea of virtue has been radically out of fashion in much of Western Christianity ever since the sixteenth-century Reformation”? Could anyone read any of the Reformed literature from the 1530s . . . Continue reading →
For Christians who believe God’s Word, the Holy Scriptures and who confess the Reformed faith there can be no question whether we ought to live the Christian life. The question is, however, how do we live the Christian life? From where do . . . Continue reading →
One of the problems with the notion that Reformed theology is utterly divorced from the rest of Protestantism (i.e., Lutheranism) and the concomitant ignorance of the broader Protestant history and tradition is that we Reformed folk often end up losing our theology. . . . Continue reading →
His name is Euan Murray. He plays rugby for Scotland six days a week but not on the Sabbath. “The Sabbath’s not a day for playing rugby.” Well, he didn’t say that but he could have. He did tell the UK Daily . . . Continue reading →
Prior to the 19th century, orthodox, confessional Lutheran and Reformed theologians used to read each other’s work and interact more than they do now. I’m not entirely sure when we stopped talking to each other but it seems clear to me that . . . Continue reading →
A skilled carpenter at work is a thing of beauty. The hammer goes where it ought and the nail is struck soundly. In Scripture, wisdom and skill are closely related and they are often regarded as Spirit-given. It is certainly true that . . . Continue reading →
As mentioned earlier in this space the older Reformed writers had a doctrine of forensic holiness or sanctification but rather than connecting it with union with Christ considered logically prior regeneration and faith, they tended to connect talk about it under the . . . Continue reading →