What Is The Substance Of The Covenant Of Grace?

For most of 2,000 years the Christian church was universally agreed that there is one way of salvation, that the history of redemption was essentially unified. In the post-apostolic church this consensus began to develop very early in the 2nd century in . . . Continue reading →

Is There A Covenant Of Grace?

It’s not unusual for evangelicals, which movements have been heavily influenced by  Anabaptist theology, piety, and practice since the early 19th century. In that case we would not expect them to be aware of the categories “covenant of works” and “covenant of . . . Continue reading →

Have We Become Bedford Falls Without George Bailey?

I know it’s a sentimental movie and I know that its view of angels isn’t biblical and I know that the anthropology of the film is problematic. Nevertheless, I get the sense that the whole country is becoming Bedford Falls without George . . . Continue reading →

The Attraction Of Legal Preaching: The Interview

As a follow-up to the post on legal preaching Chris Gordon and I sat down in the Abounding Grace Radio studio to talk through the issue of the attraction of legal preaching. Once again, neither the post nor the episode is a . . . Continue reading →

The Contemporary Relevance Of The Reformation

There is an old saw, “Now you’ve quit preaching and gone to meddling.” The “preaching” is telling the story. The “meddling” is applying the story. Folk will tolerate it when historians tell stories about the past. They might be entertaining or interesting . . . Continue reading →

Ishmael And Infant Baptism

We heard a sermon from Genesis 17 this morning, and I could not help but draw some conclusions relative to the current discussion about infant baptism that is ongoing at Together For the Gospel and at Between Two Worlds. Of course this . . . Continue reading →

Three Ways of Relating to the One Covenant of Grace

At the PB the question was asked: We know that there are at least two categories of people within Scripture, the elect, and the non-elect. However, it might be apparent that there is a third class of people, those who have taken . . . Continue reading →

Where Machen Last Preached

The photo comes from GhostsofNorthDakoka.com. Thanks to Wayne Sparkman for pointing us to this photo of the Presbyterian Church of America congregation, in Leith, ND, as it was known then, where J. Gresham Machen preached his final sermon before becoming ill on . . . Continue reading →

Narcissism, Ignorance, and Bureaucracy: A Vicious Combination

Vitium. St Augustine helped us to understand Paul’s doctrine of sin by using the word vitium. It denotes a powerful corrupting force. We’ve translated it into English with the word “vice” but that word long ago lost its force. We refer to . . . Continue reading →

Abounding Grace: Godfrey On Evangelism

Bob Godfrey joined Chris Gordon last week to record two episodes of AGR. Bob is president of Westminster Seminary California and a convert to the Christian faith who came to faith through the ministry of a Reformed congregation. You can read his . . . Continue reading →

Office Hours: The Legacy of Martin Luther King

Americans are in the midst of a national discussion about race. It’s a difficult discussion, one that is not always conducted well either by politicians or preachers. Dr Martin Luther King is not only a central figure in this discussion but he . . . Continue reading →

Abounding Grace Radio: How To Choose A Church (2)

Here’s part 1. One of the more difficult things Christians do is to decide where to worship. They use a lot of criteria. Some of them are valid criteria but many of them are not. Frequently people choose congregations on the basis . . . Continue reading →

Law, Gospel, And The Three Uses of the Law

By “law and gospel” I refer to the difference between those of us who hold to the historic and confessional distinction between those places in Scripture where God commands and those places where he promises. Historically, Protestants have described these two ways . . . Continue reading →