Search results for “William Perkins”

Do This and Live: Christ’s Active Obedience as the Ground of Justification

by on July 8, 2024 | 11 Comments

In the controversy between Protestants and Roman Catholics there has been no question whether Jesus obeyed God’s law, but only to what effect. Did Jesus obey the law so as to make it possible for us to cooperate with grace toward future justification, or did he obey God’s law for us (pro nobis) to accomplish our justification once for all? The Protestants affirmed the latter and denied the former. Nevertheless, despite the unity among confessional Protestants on justification, questions have persistently arisen among them concerning the nature, intent, and effect of Jesus’s law keeping and its relation to the justification of sinners. Continue reading →

The Gospel According To John (MacArthur)—Part 24

by on March 13, 2024 | 2 Comments

Chapters 22 and 23, “The Cost of Discipleship” and “The Lordship of Christ” do not add anything that MacArthur has not already said. Essentially, chapter 22 is a rejection of the Christian life of discipleship as a second blessing.273 It is interesting . . . Continue reading →

Faith, Love, and Piper: Distinguishing Reformed Categories

by on June 21, 2022 | 4 Comments

What’s love got to do with it? According to John Piper’s recent book What is Saving Faith?, affectional elements, including one’s love, satisfaction in and treasuring of God, are included in the definition of justifying faith itself—though, this may not come as a . . . Continue reading →

Review of Fred Sanders, Fountain of Salvation: Trinity and Soteriology

by on May 26, 2022 | 1 Comment

Fred Sanders is likely the best-known name in recent theology concerning the doctrine of the Trinity and rightly so. He has addressed the topic at the academic and popular levels, providing hermeneutical advancements and introductory treatments.1 His most recent book, Fountain of . . . Continue reading →

Resources On Preaching

In a sense everything on this site is intended to help pastors, elders, deacons, and laity better serve Christ but some of the resources are specifically focused on the nature and act of preaching because, in distinction from some traditions, in the . . . Continue reading →

Resources For Understanding Calvin

John Calvin (1509–64) was one of the most significant figures in the history of the West. He was among the major Protestant Reformers in the sixteenth century. He contributed significantly to the Reformed wing of the Reformation. He was an industrious Bible . . . Continue reading →

The Reasons Christians Do Good Works

by on April 21, 2020 | 1 Comment

The Heidelberg Catechism is in three parts: Law, Gospel, and Sanctification or Guilt, Grace, and Gratitude. This is not an artificial interpretation of the Catechism nor is it an artificial arrangement of the Christian faith. Question 2 outlines the Catechism for us: Continue reading →

Resources On Dispensationalism

Dispensationalism describes a way of reading the Bible and a system of theology the nearest roots of which are in the 19th century. There have been premillennial (traditionally known as “chiliastic) movements, including some Reformed theologians, since the early church but most . . . Continue reading →

Canons Of Dort (20): God Unconditionally Saves Those Who Are Totally Unable To Save Themselves

by on January 22, 2019 | 1 Comment

One of the features of Synod’s reply to the Remonstrants is Synod repeated essential parts of their reply under the different heads of doctrine. So, in the Third and Fourth Heads of Doctrine they re-stated the Augustinian and Reformed doctrine of original . . . Continue reading →

Canons Of Dort (16): Scripture Teaches Both Definite Atonement And The Free Offer Of The Gospel

by on December 29, 2018 | 4 Comments

Rationalism is a word that gets tossed around rather casually at times. It is used without careful definition. E.g., sometimes Lutherans accuse the Reformed of rationalism because we do not accept their Christology or doctrine of the Supper. They accuse us of . . . Continue reading →

Anti-Scholasticism, Revival(ism), Pietism, Or The Reformed Theology, Piety, And Practice?

Or Why I Wrote Recovering The Reformed Confession

by on January 10, 2018 | 4 Comments
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 →

Resources On The Controversy Over “Final Salvation Through Works”

by on October 22, 2017 | 6 Comments

For the last several years several writers identified with the broader Reformed movement have proposed that Christians are saved initially by grace alone, through faith alone but finally through faith and works. There are two claims here: 1)  salvation is in two . . . Continue reading →

Sola Scriptura Protects Christian Liberty

by on March 7, 2017 | 4 Comments

In April 1521, when Martin Luther stood before the powers of this world at the Diet of Worms, he did so on the basis of  the sole, unique, and final authority of God’s Word. Luther confessed that his conscience was bound by . . . Continue reading →

Heidelberg 86: Why Good Works? (1)

by on June 28, 2015 | 1 Comment

The Heidelberg Catechism is in three parts: Law, Gospel, and Sanctification or Guilt, Grace, and Gratitude. This is not an artificial interpretation of the Catechism nor is it an artificial arrangement of the Christian faith. Question 2 outlines the Catechism for us: . . . Continue reading →

Heidelberg 66: Sacraments Are No More Or Less Than Gospel Signs And Seals (2)

by on May 12, 2015 | 3 Comments

66. What are the Sacraments? The Sacraments are visible holy signs and seals appointed of God for this end, that by the use thereof He may the more fully declare and seal to us the promise of the Gospel: namely, that of . . . Continue reading →