“Would you make Christ another Moses again? Is Christ your accuser or your Redeemer, Deliverer, Advocate, and Mediator? Has He only partly forgiven your sins or has He totally and completely forgiven them? Is He a complete or only a half Savior?” . . . Continue reading →
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 is professor emeritus of church history and historical theology at Westminster Seminary California, where he taught for 29 years. He also taught at Wheaton College, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Concordia University. He has hosted the Heidelblog since 2007 and the Heidelcast since 2009.
A Court, Clay, and the Cross: Examining the Problem of Evil
The physician returns to the examination room with a clipboard, tired eyes, and a noticeable weight on his shoulders. “I’m sorry, ma’am,” he begins. “The results came back and the news is not good.” You think to yourself, “How can a child . . . Continue reading →
On Dying And Passing Away
Though it is true that the figure “to pass away” is used in Scripture for death the expression “to die is used more than 10 times more frequently. In the ESV the verb “to die” is used 583 times. Americans have reversed the ratio. We are much more likely now to use the figure “to pass away” than to use the unequivocal, plain expression “she died.” Continue reading →
Church Discipline Is Not Mean
Rightly done, even if imperfectly, church discipline is an act of love that seeks the restoration of a brother or sister for that person’s well being. It is, after all, “a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb 10:31). He is a “consuming fire” (Heb 12:29). Continue reading →
Anti-Scholasticism, Revival(ism), Pietism, Or The Reformed Theology, Piety, And Practice?
Or Why I Wrote Recovering The Reformed Confession
In recent weeks there has been a remarkable confluence of articles that, in their own way, are right on time. Let us start chronologically. In November John Frame reviewed James Dolezal’s excellent book, All That Is In God. In the course of . . . Continue reading →
Rutherford Defended Sola Scriptura, Luther, And The Law-Gospel Distinction Contra Antinomians And Anabaptists
Anno, 1522. Did arise in Saxony Nicholas Stork, who boasted of dreams and visions and rejected the Scripture as being a carnal and literal rule. Antinomians call it carnal, literal, and legal. From him and others arose Thomas Muntzer, about anno 1524, . . . Continue reading →
Sola Fide Es El Instrumento Para La Justificación Y La Salvación
Las controversias pueden ser desagradables y dolorosas y la reciente controversia sobre la santificación ha sido ambas en algunos momentos. De igual manera las controversias pueden ser útiles al traer mayor claridad y esta controversia ha sido útil en este sentido. Algunos . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours: Simon Gathercole On Gnosticsm, Canon, and Competing Gospels
If I say to you the word “gospel” or “the gospels” you probably think of the canonical gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. There are scholars, however, who do not accept the canonical gospels as “the gospels.” Rather, since the 1930s an . . . Continue reading →
The Limits Of Cultural Liturgies
The deeper problem here is hermeneutical. O’Donovan—and following him, Smith—fail to give sufficient attention to the Bible’s covenantal storyline, and how that storyline affects the authority of church and state. Specifically, the lessons of the kingdom of Israel transmit directly to Christ . . . Continue reading →
In Defense Of Creedalism
Thanks to Gary Johnson for forwarding to me a recent essay by Roger Olson, who is Foy Valentine Professor of Christian Theology of Ethics at George W. Truett Theological Seminary of Baylor University. In that essay, “Against Creedalism: Why I Am A . . . Continue reading →
Recovering The Reformed Confession Every Day In 2018
The Daily Confession site takes you through the Westminster Shorter Catechism, the Children’s Catechism, The Heidelberg Catechism, The Westminster Confession, The Canons of Dort, and the Belgic Confession through the year. Each day a different document appears. The Daily Westminster brings up . . . Continue reading →
Grammar Guerrilla: Versus v. Verse
Words are frequently learned aurally. After all, children learn their native language aurally until they learn to read. Even after we learn to read, however, we continue to collect new words through hearing them. I suspect that fact may account for the . . . Continue reading →
Top Ten Posts Of 2017
A belated Happy New Year from the Heidelblog! Thanks to the hundreds of thousands of you who read the HB in 2017 and to the thousands of you who listened to the Heidelcast. Together (between the Heidelblog and rscottclark.org) you downloaded pages . . . Continue reading →
Begging The Question, Abortion, And Slavery
Given America’s sad history with slavery and the shame with which it is regarded today one might think that defenders of Roe v Wade (1973) would be a little more cautious about the rhetoric they use in defense of what they regard . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours: The Reformation Then And Now With Mike Horton
Because the Reformation began 500 years ago, because the Reformers are larger than life, because we often think of them as heroes, we might forget that they were once young men, college students, who were excited by new books, new ideas, and . . . Continue reading →
Grammar Guerrilla: Waxing Poetic Not Poetically
Sportscaster Dick Enberg died at 82 today. One writer recalled him “waxing poetically” while calling a ball game. To wax poetically suggests that one is polishing one’s car while reciting Keats but that is not what the writer intended. Enberg may have waxed . . . Continue reading →
2018 Faculty Conference—The Bible: His Stories, Your Life
Theft, Envy, And Private Property
San Diego County has places of obvious beauty. Mt Palomar is grand and so are the beaches and, of course, the Pacific Ocean. My little corner of San Diego County (North County), has areas of quiet beauty. The back roads are quiet . . . Continue reading →
Muller On The Relations Between Reformed And Medieval Theology
The Reformation, in spite of its substantial contribution to the history of doctrine and the shock it delivered to theology and the church in the sixteenth century, was not an attack upon the whole of medieval theology or upon Christian tradition. The . . . Continue reading →
The Original Intent Of The Free Exercise Of Religion Clause
Many today mistakenly interpret these religion clauses to mean something like, “Americans are tolerant of private religious conduct.” But mere “toleration” of “private” religious conduct was precisely what James Madison, a primary author of the Bill of Rights, was careful to avoid. . . . Continue reading →