This is the key. No Reformed thinker that I am aware of has taught that the Mosaic covenant was exclusively a covenant of works. I wonder if perhaps people hear us teaching this under the influence of dispensationalism, which teaches that each . . . Continue reading →
Author: Heidelblog
The Heidelblog has been in publication since 2007. It is devoted to recovering the Reformed confession and to helping others discover Reformed theology, piety, and practice.
Accounting For Original Sin In Our Doctrine Of Sanctification
1.2.1 We are all, by nature, void of all strength and ability to perform acceptably that holiness and righteousness which the law requires, and are dead in trespasses and sins, and children of wrath, by the sin of our first father, Adam, . . . Continue reading →
Berkhof: This Third Use Is Denied By The Antinomians
A usus didacticus or normativus. This is the so-called tertius uses legis, the third use of the law. The law is a rule of life for believers, reminding them of their their duties and leading them in the way of life and . . . Continue reading →
The Narcissistic End Of Reformational Catholicism
Reading Leithart’s original piece with Sanders’ reaction and Leithart’s own clarification in mind, it looks like the Reformational catholicism for which Leithart is calling is really himself. After all, it exists “only in pockets” and is mainly a “hope.” Nothing wrong with . . . Continue reading →
Everything Does And Does Not Come Down To Triperspectivalism
One final note: whether you think this is a really good systematic theology or one of the most important in the last generation or two, probably depends on how much you get into tri-perspectivalism. I have friends who find Frame’s triads of . . . Continue reading →
The Politics Of Sexual Identity
It also explains the politics of sexual identity. While it is true that homosexuality has been a common phenomenon in many societies throughout history, it has now achieved the novel status of defining the very essence of a person. Some Christians do . . . Continue reading →
The Collapse Of The Therapeutic Revolution
In the end therapeutic revolution appears to have gotten one thing terribly wrong. And that one thing is its opening premise: the reduction of the moral to therapeutic. Wilfrid McClay | “The Family That Shoulds Together,” The Hedgehog Review 15 (2013) (via . . . Continue reading →
Calvin: Resolutely Adhere To The Exclusive Particle
When you are engaged in discussing the question of justification, beware of allowing any mention to be made of love or of works, but resolutely adhere to the exclusive particle. John Calvin | Commentary on Galatians 5:6, (1548) RESOURCES Subscribe To The . . . Continue reading →
ARP: The FV Is Unacceptable
The “New Perspective on Paul,” and the “Federal Vision,” are in conflict with the teaching of Scripture and as such they are unacceptable. The Synod of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (2009) RESOURCES Subscribe To The Heidelblog! The Heidelblog Resource Page Heidelmedia . . . Continue reading →
The Damage Niceness Does
In this and moments like it, I find myself wishing I prized politeness less and had the interior freedom to kick out my friend and his mistress—or in some way to give the moral truth that has been jammed into a far . . . Continue reading →
Helm: Transformationalism Has Status Of A Private Opinion
In the dust raised by the current renewed appreciation of the Reformed doctrine of the two kingdoms, through the work of David Van Drunen and others, it is sometimes asked, in adopting the doctrine of the two kingdoms, what becomes of the . . . Continue reading →
A Renewed Proclamation Of The Covenant Of Works: Was Hodge A Heretic?
Besides this evangelical character which unquestionably belongs to the Mosaic covenant, it is presented in two other aspects in the Word of God. First, it was a national covenant with the Hebrew people. In this view the parties were God and the . . . Continue reading →
Rollock: God Repeated The Covenant Of Works To Israel
The covenant of God generally is a promise under some one certain condition. And it is twofold; the first is the covenant of works; the second is the covenant of grace. Paul ( Gal. iv. 24) expressly sets down two covenants, which . . . Continue reading →
Was Louis Berkhof A Heretic?
At Sinai the covenant became a truly national covenant. The civil life of Israel was linked up with the covenant in such a say that the two could not be separated. In a large measure Church and Sate became one. To be . . . Continue reading →
J. H. Heidegger On The Mixed Quality Of The Covenant Of Grace Under Moses
The Law-Giving Of The Covenant; Its Twofold χεσις In the covenant that God made with the people of Israel from Mount Sinai, God stipulated the law from the people, first immediately in the ten words promulgated (Ex. 20:1–8), then mediately, from the . . . Continue reading →
Bullinger On the Superiority Of The New Covenant
Now in order that I might conceal nothing in this matter, I will briefly mention how the church of Christians, which was established after the birth of Christ, excels. First, we are indeed better off than those who lived under the law . . . Continue reading →
Berkhof On The Pedagogical Use Of The Law
. . . b. A usus elenchticus or pedagogicus. In this capacity the law serves the purpose of bring man under conviction of sin, and of making him conscious of his inability to meet the demands of the law. In that way . . . Continue reading →
Crums! You Mean Rome Isn’t Completely Unified?
So just when Jason and the Callers thought they had escaped the unsatisfying clutches of Protestantism, they entered a communion riven by the same kind of divisions that characterized the modernist-fundamentalist controversy. One side wants the church to continue to adapt to . . . Continue reading →
The Synagogue As Pattern For Early Christian Worship
When comparing the worship of the early church with that of the synagogue, we labour under this disadvantage, that, if the primitive church had any liturgy, it has not been handed down to us; still, as far as we can ascertain anything . . . Continue reading →
Owen On The Law In The Garden And On Horeb
Q. 1. Which is the law that God gave man at first to fulfill? A. The same which was afterwards written with the finger of God in two tables of stone Mount Horeb, called the Ten Commandments. John Owen | Greater Catechism . . . Continue reading →