Office Hours With Bob Godfrey: What Is The Papacy?

by R. Scott Clark on September 21, 2015

On March 13 2013 the world watched for white smoke to appear from a chimney in the Sistine Chapel, named for the late fifteenth-century Pope Sixtus IV. After it did, the Vatican announced the election of a new pope, whom Rome regards . . . Continue reading →

Berkhof: Perseverance Is By Grace Alone Through Faith Alone

by R. Scott Clark on September 20, 2015

The doctrine of perseverance may also be proved in an inferential way. a. From the doctrine of election. Election does not merely mean that some will be favored with certain external privileges and may be saved, if they do their duty, but . . . Continue reading →

Godfrey: Salvation Sola Fide Vs Salvation By Faith Formed By Love

by R. Scott Clark on September 20, 2015

The medieval church consistently taught that faith, in its essence, was simply or implicitly a mental category or habit to which the believer must assent, fides informis. Thomas Aquinas wrote, “Hence if anyone wishes to reduce these words to the form of . . . Continue reading →

Machen: Salvation Is By Grace Alone Through Faith Alone

by R. Scott Clark on September 20, 2015

If Christ provides only a part of our salvation, leaving us to provide the rest, then we are still hopeless under the load of sin. For no matter how small the gap which must be bridged before salvation can be attained, the . . . Continue reading →

Hodge On The Sufficiency Of Scripture And The Development Of Christian Theology

by R. Scott Clark on September 20, 2015

The anti-protestant principles of Dr. Schaff, as it appears to us, are either included in his theory of development, or are its legitimate consequences. That theory he and Dr. Nevin for a time held in common. But it contains antagonistic principles. When . . . Continue reading →

Heidelberg Catechism 129: Amen Means More Than You Think It Does

by R. Scott Clark on September 19, 2015

There are a couple of expressions that we use, in prayer, almost without thinking. One of them is the word “Amen.” This little term is more important than we might think. In at least one place in Scripture it is used as . . . Continue reading →

Calvin: Assurance Fills Our Sails

by R. Scott Clark on September 19, 2015

The seducers that had infiltrated the Galatians and corrupted the purity of the gospel…Paul stops here, and says that if we are being forced and obliged to perform this task for God and to enter into this covenant with him, Jesus Christ . . . Continue reading →

Bay Psalm Book On Uninspired Versus Inspired Songs

by R. Scott Clark on September 18, 2015

…must the ordinary gifts of an private man quench the Spirit still speaking to us by the extraordinary gifts of his servant David? —Preface of The Bay Psalm Book (1640) (HT: Bob Godfrey)

The Decline Of Psalmody In The Netherlands: Anabaptists, Remonstrants, And The State Church

by R. Scott Clark on September 17, 2015

In the Roman Catholic church the choir sings and the congregation was silent. Calvin also introduced singing by the congregation, and collected for it a bundle of Psalms of Clement Marot and Beza. He had the tunes composed by Louis Bourgois and . . . Continue reading →

Heidelcast 96: Reformation Then And Now

by Heidelcast on September 16, 2015

Confessional Reformed theology, piety, and practice does not seem to be sweeping the field in North America but it is prospering in other parts of the globe. In this episode Dan Borvan joins us to get us up to speed about the . . . Continue reading →

In Depth Of Spirituality The Psalms Excel The Hymns

by R. Scott Clark on September 16, 2015

The Christian Reformed Church holds it as one of its distinctive principles that the psalms are to be used in public worship as the chief manual of praise. There is divine authority for this use of the psalms, as shown by 1 . . . Continue reading →

Heidelberg 128: The Doxology

by R. Scott Clark on September 15, 2015

We might first associate the word doxology with the song often sung at the close of public worship services but it is, in fact, two Greek words (δόξᾰ + λογία), which was taken over into medieval Latin and thence into English in . . . Continue reading →

Office Hours: After Obergefell (pt 1)

by R. Scott Clark on September 14, 2015

Recently the Supreme Court of the United States issued a very significant decision widely known as Obergefell. In that 5–4 ruling, writing for the majority, Justice Kennedy argued that same-sex marriage is protected under the 14th Amendment, which was ratified after the . . . Continue reading →

But Deliver Us From The Evil One

by R. Scott Clark on September 13, 2015

Whoever has God for his friend will find Satan to be his enemy. He receives the name of Satan, first, because he is the adversary of God himself; and next, because he is the adversary of those whom God honors with his . . . Continue reading →

Heidelberg Catechism 127: Deliver Us From Our Deadly Spiritual Enemies

by R. Scott Clark on September 12, 2015

In the 19th century Karl Marx (1818–83) diagnosed our most basic problem in material terms. He prescribed a future (eschatological) solution that was entirely material. He himself said that he had turned G. W. F. Hegel’s (1770–1831) spiritual view of history and . . . Continue reading →

How Many Lamborghinis Is Gianna Worth?

by R. Scott Clark on September 12, 2015

For Statists The Government Is The Hero Of The Narrative

by R. Scott Clark on September 11, 2015

Ever since Hegel or maybe Plato, statists have been telling a story about government in which government itself is the hero in an epic struggle. —Jonah Goldberg

Remember

by R. Scott Clark on September 11, 2015

Heidelberg 126: Justified Sinners Pray For Forgiveness Of Sins

by R. Scott Clark on September 11, 2015

One of the most persistent temptations Christians face is that of turning the covenant of grace into a covenant of works. As we pray we must always be reminded that we, who trust in Jesus Christ as our substitute and Mediator, are . . . Continue reading →

Heidelberg 125: Trusting And Asking Our Father To Provide

by R. Scott Clark on September 10, 2015

We are often tempted to set asking and trusting against each other but, of course, it is a false choice. When a child asks his Dad for breakfast he trusts that his father can provide. It does not occur to him to . . . Continue reading →