The phrase “swimming the Tiber” is a metaphor for converting from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism. I have not been able to determine its origins but the online Dictionary of Christianese traces the expression to 1963, which, if true, would mean that it . . . Continue reading →
It’s not uncommon to hear some people appeal to James 2:24 in order to argue that God saves people by faith plus works. In particular, some argue against the doctrine of justification by faith alone by appealing to this verse. They tend . . . Continue reading →
This was exciting to those of us who began graduate school before political correctness set in. It made interpretation into a high-stakes game. You had to be wary to do it well, to focus acutely on the phenomena in front of you . . . Continue reading →
Christian ethical theory has seen various changes over the centuries, but I believe that one of the reasons why some think that we need to teach the idea of final rewards in order to make obedience important owes to the dominance of . . . Continue reading →
Political correctness (PC) is a movement whose roots are in Marxist-Leninism and the Communist Revolution in Russia of 1917. According to this dogma, speech is said to be “politically correct” when it conforms to the dictates of the party. In its original . . . Continue reading →
Forty years ago this fall semester, Westminster Seminary California welcomed its first incoming class of students. Our founding faculty members began to retire about 20 years ago. Now some of our second generation faculty have retired or been called to serve the . . . Continue reading →
What’s the real purpose of the BLM harassment of people dining outdoors in Washington, DC, trying to force them to raise their fist in “solidarity” with the Marxist BLM trope? They do it in the same manner of the old childhood bully . . . Continue reading →
These episodes were meant to be an introduction to Christian eschatology so that we can consider 1 and 2 Peter but it has turned into a mini-series of its own and in this episode we’re looking that the Revelation given to the . . . Continue reading →
Q. 112. What is God’s will for you in the ninth commandment? A.That I never give false testimony against anyone, twist no one’s words, not gossip or slander, nor join condemning anyone rashly or without a hearing. Rather, I should avoid, under penalty . . . Continue reading →
In the early 2nd century one of the gravest threats faced by the early Christians was a movement that we know as Gnosticism. It thrived by radically revising Christianity. According to the Gnostics, the material world is evil, the Creator God of the . . . Continue reading →
[T]he metrical psalms were the ‘secret weapon of the English Reformation,’ ‘perhaps the most powerful of the persuasive weapons in the armoury of English Protestantism,’ ‘a potent weapon’ against Catholicism….Psalm-singing was never universally welcomed (Queen Elizabeth seems snobbishly to have disapproved of . . . Continue reading →
It is Yahweh who remembered us in our low estate, for his covenant faithfulness endures forever; and snatched us from our foes, for his covenant faithfulness endures forever; he who gives food to all flesh, for his covenant faithfulness endures forever. Give . . . Continue reading →
Particular Baptist Covenant Theology was essentially the idea that the Covenant of Grace is synonymous with the New Covenant and was only revealed in the previous biblical covenants (Abrahamic, Davidic, etc.) but that the Biblical Covenants were not the Covenant of Grace . . . Continue reading →
A man breaks down the windows of his house. The house stands. He breaks down the roof or the walls. The house yet stands, though deformed. He pulls up the foundation— the house itself falls and ceases to be a house. Now . . . Continue reading →
If one views the substance of the Covenant of Grace as synonymous with or being in substance the same as say the Abrahamic Covenant however, then paedobaptism is the logical conclusion. Ryan Davidson Five Reasons For Considering The 1689 Confession of Faith . . . Continue reading →
According to J. H. Alsted (1588–1638), “the article justification is said to be the article of the standing or falling of the church.” It was said to be such by the confessionally Reformed and Lutheran alike. The language was probably borrowed from . . . Continue reading →
To be justified in the sight of God, to be Justified by faith or by works. A man is said to be justified in the sight of God when in the judgment of God he is deemed righteous, and is accepted on . . . Continue reading →
One of the myths that has been exploded in late modernity is that we Westerners are an “Enlightened” people, who have moved beyond demons, ghosts, and religion. We are not and we have not. I am not saying that we have not . . . Continue reading →
“If a sinner, being justified, has all things at once that are necessary for salvation? And if personal holiness, and progress in holy obedience, is not necessary to a justified persons’s possession of glory, in case of his continuing in life after . . . Continue reading →
By Joel Hruska. Wikipedia is, in my opinion, one of the most successful ventures devoted to the dissemination of knowledge on the entire internet. It isn’t perfect — no encyclopedia or institution is — but it has had a profound effect on . . . Continue reading →
