Trick or Treat! Continue reading →
The Canons Of Dork #45 For November 1, 2025
Author: R. Scott Clark
R.Scott Clark is the President of the Heidelberg Reformation Association, the author and editor of, and contributor to several books and the author of many articles. He has taught church history and historical theology since 1997 at Westminster Seminary California. He has also taught at Wheaton College, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Concordia University. He has hosted the Heidelblog since 2007.
Every Sunday Reformation Sunday
We confess sola gratia (by grace alone) and sola fide (through faith alone), as the response to the Romanist doctrine that we are justified and saved by the infusion of a medicinal substance (which they call grace), with which we are said to cooperate unto sanctification and thence, eventually, to justification. No, salvation (deliverance from the wrath to come, righteousness with God, and progressive sanctification) is God’s free gift. Grace is not a medicinal substance with which we are infused. It is God’s favor merited for us by Christ’s perfect righteousness earned for us and freely imputed to us by God. Faith is not a virtue formed by love but the gift of God with which we freely receive, rest in, and trust Christ and all of his righteous and suffering obedience for us. Continue reading →
5 Reformation Doctrines That Still Transform The Church
By most accounts, the Reformation began when a young monk challenged ecclesiastical and academic authorities to debate a controversial practice that had developed in the late-medieval period. Why do we continue to remember it roughly five hundred years later? Waving off Martin . . . Continue reading →
The “Calvin as Tyrant” Meme
For a fellow who has been dead since 1564 and for a movement that, socially considered, is little more than a demographic blip (about 600,000 people in North America) Calvin and Calvinism continue to receive a remarkable amount of attention in the . . . Continue reading →
What Is Reformed Theology? (Part 5)
Since salvation belongs to God, it is he who grants us new life and true faith. As a consequence of the fall, all of Adam’s children (Rom 5:12–21) are, as Paul says, “dead in sins and trespasses” (Eph 2:1). The good news can be expressed in two words: “But God . . .” Continue reading →
The Federal Vision And The Reformed Hermeneutic
One of the most frequent claims made in defense of the self-described Federal Vision (hereafter FV) is the claim that they are “only following the Bible.” A corollary of that is the claim that Reformed confessionalists “have already decided in advance what . . . Continue reading →
Ventilator Blues
Most folk probably associate the Rolling Stones more with “Sympathy for the Devil,” than with historic Christianity, and few of us would expect to learn any theology from them, but I noticed recently that in “Ventilator Blues” Mick and the lads hit . . . Continue reading →
Yes, We Forgive Our Enemies
It is well known that, at Charlie Kirk’s memorial, his widow, Erika, forgave the man who is charged with his murder. This has reignited a debate that I first became aware of perhaps 15 years ago. There are two sides to this . . . Continue reading →
The Canons Of Dork #44 For October 4, 2025
The eleventh hour. Continue reading →
Natural Law and Light in the Reformed Confessions
In the modern period, particularly in the twentieth century, many Reformed folk became uneasy with the traditional Reformed language concerning natural law. As one who began to enter the Reformed world circa 1980, I mostly found Reformed people to be hostile to . . . Continue reading →
What Is Reformed Theology? (Part 4)
Since salvation belongs to God, it is he who grants us new life and true faith. As a consequence of the fall, all of Adam’s children (Rom 5:12–21) are, as Paul says, “dead in sins and trespasses” (Eph 2:1). The good news can be expressed in two words: “But God . . .” Continue reading →
On Theocracy
I have explained at great length here why those who deny our covenant theology, our hermeneutics, and our doctrine of the sacraments are not Reformed. All the Reformed confessions of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries teach paedobaptism and denounce the rejection of . . . Continue reading →
What Is Reformed Theology? (Part 3)
The Reformed confession is a catholic confession—that is, it is rooted in the Scriptures as interpreted by the church and confessed in the ancient, ecumenical creeds, but it is also a Reformation confession. Where the medieval church taught justification and salvation by . . . Continue reading →
In John’s Latitudinarian Garage
I do not know what is in your garage, but from time to time mine has become pretty cluttered, and stuff has to be pitched. What we keep and what we pitch says something about us. People have theological garages, too, in . . . Continue reading →
The American Experiment
I tried not to write anything about the murder of Charlie Kirk. I did not want to add to the noise, but in one of his recent press conference appearances, Spencer Cox, the governor of Utah, used the expression “The American Experiment.” . . . Continue reading →
“Tough Grace” Is Not Grace (And It’s Not Law Either)
In an unsigned editorial, Christianity Today came out in favor of what it calls “tough grace.”1 The presenting issue or symptom is Christianity Today’s concern that Christian institutions are failing to be both “tough” and “gracious” simultaneously. The argument is that the . . . Continue reading →
Semper Reformanda: Apply Liberally
The Latin expression semper reformanda is frequently invoked but rarely understood. Baptists and Pentecostals invoke it to say that Reformed Christians should continue their journey to their traditions. That application reflects a misunderstanding of the original and true sense of semper reformanda. . . . Continue reading →
The Canons Of Dork #43 For September 6, 2025
Meet the teacher. Continue reading →
Don’t Like Labels…Or Commitment?
In a recent news article about people attending a political rally, one of the participants was asked whether she identified with the group she was attending. She replied by saying, “I don’t like labels.” Indeed. The move toward political independency has been . . . Continue reading →
What Is Reformed Theology? (Part 2)
Unfortunately, when most people think of Reformed theology, they think of the doctrine of predestination. The reasons for this have more to do with the critics of Reformed theology than with what the Reformed themselves confess. Indeed, one of the great weaknesses of the modern Reformed renaissance is that it tends to re-define Reformed theology almost entirely in terms of the doctrine of divine sovereignty. Continue reading →