Office Hours Season 8 Celebrated The 500th Anniversary Of The Reformation

R. Scott Clark

on June 26, 2019 | 1 Comment

The Protestant Reformation was one of the most important theological, social, religious, and political episodes in Western history. It is reasonable to divide all Western history in two: before the Reformation and after. Nevertheless, in our time, the Reformation is not well . . . Continue reading →

The Church That Prays Together, Stays Together

R. Scott Clark

on March 17, 2019 | 5 Comments

There are many centripetal forces that tear at the bonds that hold a congregation together, so it is useful to be aware of them. After all, we live in a remarkably busy world where quiet has almost disappeared entirely. We are connected . . . Continue reading →

The Difference Between Magic And Ministry

R. Scott Clark

on March 10, 2019 | 4 Comments

As a child I was fascinated by “magicians” such as Harry Blackstone Jr. For a few dollars one could order a kit or study library books and learn to do “magic.” Of course, it was not magic at all. It was merely . . . Continue reading →

The Heart Of The Evangelical Appropriation Of Lent

R. Scott Clark

on March 6, 2019 | 3 Comments

The problem with even the evangelical, self-imposed fast is that it creates a little law for us to obey, a rule that is within our reach. It is, not surprisingly, a law of our own making, for the law of God — . . . Continue reading →

Should Christians Practice Lent?

R. Scott Clark

on March 2, 2019

Lent as we know it today did not arise out of this biblical understanding of fasting. Rather, Lent came about as a superstitious misunderstanding both of the purpose of fasting in general and the purpose of Christ’s forty-day fast in the wilderness . . . Continue reading →

Was Agabus Wrong? Or Why Sola Scriptura Is Still Right

R. Scott Clark

on February 7, 2019 | 12 Comments

In Acts 21 we read a somewhat startling episode involving a New Testament prophet named Agabus: This is the same Agabus of whom we read earlier in Acts: Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. And one of . . . Continue reading →

Reformation 2018: Salvation Is By Abounding Grace Alone

R. Scott Clark

on October 30, 2018 | 5 Comments

Protestant churches, i.e., those that still believe and confess theology, piety, and practice recovered in the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, celebrate Reformation Day on October 31. This is the day, in 1517, that Dr Martin Luther (1483–1546), a German biblical . . . Continue reading →

Why Foot Washing Is Not A Sacrament

R. Scott Clark

on September 1, 2018 | 5 Comments

Heidelblog reader Randy writes to ask why footwashing (pedilavium) is not regarded as a sacrament. The answer is twofold: 1) from the nature of the sacraments; 2) from the nature and intent of the act of footwashing in the life of our . . . Continue reading →

Is 1 Timothy 2 Still God’s Word?

R. Scott Clark

on June 22, 2018

Christians face now the same great and unending struggle we have always faced: how to recognize when we are being more influenced by the culture than we are by the Word of God. The contours of that struggle have changed over the . . . Continue reading →

What Kind Of A Reformation Do We Need?

R. Scott Clark

on June 19, 2018 | 47 Comments

One of the questions submitted to the Reformation conference last fall at the Lynden URC asks “in regards to the current state of the church, what is needed in terms of a Reformation?” That’s a great question. If we are talking about . . . Continue reading →

AGR: With Chris Gordon On “Still, Small Voices”

R. Scott Clark

on May 11, 2018 | 10 Comments

It is widely thought among Christians that God is still revealing himself to believers apart from Scripture. It is not at all uncommon for a Christian to say, “I believe in Scripture alone” (sola Scriptura) in one breath and “The Lord told . . . Continue reading →

Thomas Cartwright Contra Lent

R. Scott Clark

on February 21, 2018 | 1 Comment

RHEMI. [ 1. Desert.] As John the Baptist, so our Saviour by going into the desert and there living in contemplation even among brute beasts, and subject to the assaults of the Devil for our sins, gives a warrant and example to . . . Continue reading →

William Whittaker Contra Lent

R. Scott Clark

on February 19, 2018

“But you tell us, why we do so much avoid the Fathers.” I had rather you would tell us why you do so carefully avoid the Scriptures. “For” (say you) “they that cannot away with set times of Fasting, must needs be . . . Continue reading →

Zwingli On Rejecting Lent And Protecting Christian Liberty From Man-Made Obligations

R. Scott Clark

on February 17, 2018 | 1 Comment

DEARLY Beloved in God, after you have heard so eagerly the Gospel and the teachings of the holy Apostles, now for the fourth year, teachings which Almighty God has been merciful enough to publish to you through my weak efforts, the majority . . . Continue reading →

Richard Sibbes Contra Lent

R. Scott Clark

on February 16, 2018 | 1 Comment

Some make a mockery of the holy things of God. One part of the year they will be holy; a rotten, foolish affection of people that are popish. In Lent they will use a little austerity, oh! they will please God wondrously! . . . Continue reading →

With Janet Mefferd On Sola Scriptura

R. Scott Clark

on October 31, 2017 | 2 Comments

As early as the late 4th century, challenged by a variety of claims of religious authority, many of whom claimed to have an unwritten secret tradition or revelation, Basil the Great (c.330–79), one of the Cappadocian Fathers, rather than standing on the . . . Continue reading →

Video: Sola Scriptura

R. Scott Clark

on October 27, 2017 | 6 Comments

Calvin Contra Sadoleto: Sola Scriptura

R. Scott Clark

on October 9, 2017

As I hasten to a conclusion, I am compelled to pass by your calumny, that, leaning entirely to our own judgment, we find not in the whole Church one individual to whom we think deference is due. That it is a calumny, . . . Continue reading →

Machen: The Regulative Principle Governs The Church

R. Scott Clark

on June 14, 2017 | 1 Comment

Machen’s reasoning here was an extension of the Regulative Principle. In the Presbyterian and Reformed tradition this principle has typically been applied to public worship. It teaches that we may only worship God as he has commanded us to worship him in . . . Continue reading →

Second Helvetic Confession: No More Special Revelation

R. Scott Clark

on June 13, 2017 | 2 Comments

Wherefore when this Word of God is now preached in the church by preachers lawfully called, we believe that the very Word of God is proclaimed, and received by the faithful; and that neither any other Word of God is to be . . . Continue reading →