Persecution for the expression of opinions seems to me perfectly logical. If you have no doubt of your premises or your power, and want a certain result with all your heart, you naturally express your wishes in law, and sweep away all . . . Continue reading →
Heidelberg 63: Rewards Merited For Us By Christ And Given Freely To Believers
When the medieval church thought about rewards, it thought about merit. They distinguished between two kinds or aspects of merit. That which we most frequently discuss was called “condign merit” (meritum de condigno). Condign merit is intrinsically worthy. The second category was “congruent . . . Continue reading →
Heidelberg 65: Faith, Union With Christ, And The Means Of Grace (3)
Neither Holy Baptism nor the Holy Supper create the realities they signify and seal but they are gospel sacraments. They are promises of good news to believers. Faith receives what they promise. Faith knows, assents, and trusts and receives all that they promise. The sacraments do not replace faith. They supplement faith. They confirm faith the way a registered letter embossed or stamped with a government seal confirms a declaration. Continue reading →
The Hungarian Reformed Sanctified The Sabbath
We perform divine service publicly according to the sanctification of the Sabbath as follows: by teaching, listening, administering the sacraments, assembling together. On these days, we forbid work that hinders the public sanctification of the Sabbath, As did Christ and the apostles. . . . Continue reading →
Heidelberg 65: Faith, Union With Christ, And The Means Of Grace (2)
65. Since then we are made partakers of Christ and all His benefits by faith only, whence comes this faith? The Holy Spirit works faith in our hearts by the preaching of the Holy Gospel, and confirms it by the use of the . . . Continue reading →
The Regulative Principle Is The Fundamental Principle Of Protestantism
Here, then, we have the principle tinctured with the blood of our Puritan, Covenanter and Huguenot forefathers — that which is not commanded, either explicitly or implicitly in the Scriptures, is prohibited to the church. She can utter no new doctrine, make . . . Continue reading →
Heidelberg 65: Faith, Union With Christ, And The Means Of Grace (1)
65. Since then we are made partakers of Christ and all His benefits by faith only, whence comes this faith? The Holy Spirit works faith in our hearts by the preaching of the Holy Gospel, and confirms it by the use of the . . . Continue reading →
Hungarian Reformed Churches: Instruments For Antichrist Masses And Marks Of Idolatry
The musical instruments, however, adopted for the pantomime Mass of Antichrist, together with images, we have whore. There is no use for them in the church, and indeed they are marks and occasions of idolatry. Continue reading →
Remembering The Omaha Tornado Of May 6, 1975
On the afternoon of May 6, 1975 a giant tornado (F4) swept across my town moving from the Southwest part of town to the Northeast. We listened to radio news men tracking it as it moved closer to our block. Each time the . . . Continue reading →
Hungarian Reformed Churches: Instruments Are Shadows
Now that Christ has come, and together with the ancient priesthood and sacrifice and the representation appertaining to the Law, the use of instruments in churches has vanished like a shadow…There is not so much as a reference to the organ in the New Testament, nor of its introduction into the purer church; but it was only introduced in theatrical masses, as if in obscene sport, by immoral priests to make clowns cut capers. Continue reading →
Office Hours: Wisdom In Preaching
Our Lord Jesus worked miracles but he was also a preacher. He came “preaching the Gospel of God and saying ‘The time is fulfilled,’ and ‘Kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe the gospel’” (Mark 1:15). People marveled at his . . . Continue reading →
Considering Context Leads To Singing Psalms In New Testament Praise And Worship
Context inevitably colors how we understand texts. It shapes our assumptions about what about what is possible and plausible. I see this in Patristics (the study of the early Christian church). As a confessional Reformed Christian with connections to Reformed orthodoxy, as . . . Continue reading →
Divinely Ordained Praise
Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing a psalm. —James 5:13
What I Learned In English Lit About Civil Liberties
What I learned from my High School English teacher is that civil liberty has nothing to do with ideological conformity or consensus. As a young leftist my first impulse was to silence dissent. I was wrong. Continue reading →
WCF: The Condition Of The Covenant Of Works Versus The Condition Of The Covenant Of Grace
1. The distance between God and the creature is so great, that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto him as their Creator, yet they could never have any fruition of him as their blessedness and reward, but by some voluntary condescension . . . Continue reading →
Heidegger And Turretin: Adam’s Covenant Of Works Fulfilled By Christ
Canon VII: As all his works were known unto God from eternity, (Acts 15:18), so in time, according to his infinite power, wisdom, and goodness, he made man, the glory and end of his works, in his own image, and, therefore, upright, . . . Continue reading →
Heidelberg Catechism: The Fall Was Law Breaking
7. From where then comes this depraved nature of man? From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise, whereby our nature became so corrupt that we are all conceived and born in sin. —Heidelberg Catechism
Heidelberg Catechism: Adam Created Righteous, Holy, And Able To Obey
6. Did God create man thus wicked and perverse? No, but God created man good and after His own image, that is, in righteousness and true holiness, that he might rightly know God his Creator, heartily love Him, and live with Him . . . Continue reading →
Second Helvetic Confession: Adam Created Righteous, Holy, And Upright
In the beginning, man was made according to the image of God, in righteousness and true holiness, good and upright. But when at the instigation of the serpent and by his own fault he abandoned goodness and righteousness, he became subject to . . . Continue reading →
Belgic Confession: The Commandment Of Life Versus The Foundation Of Grace
14. We believe that God created man out of the dust of the earth, and made and formed him after his own image and likeness, good, righteous, and holy, capable in all things to will agreeably to the will of God. But . . . Continue reading →