In 1520 Martin Luther published one of his most influential treatises, On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church. In it he attempted to set the church free from bondage to human opinion by unleashing again, as it were, God’s Word as the . . . Continue reading →
The twenty-first century is not the first to witness English-speaking theologians in the Reformed tradition expressing dissatisfaction with the Reformation’s doctrine of justification through faith alone on the ground of Christ’s righteousness and sacrifice alone. Continue reading →
Remarkably, after two decades of controversy over the self-described Federal Vision movement, there are pastors and teachers who do not seem to understand it.1 One can see why one might have been confused in the early days of the discussion, but now, . . . Continue reading →
In reaction to Rick Phillips’ critique of a response by a Federal Visionist to his (then) presbytery, one of the proponents of the Federal Vision made the following argument: Surely, we all know there’s a difference between how we use terms in . . . Continue reading →
As shepherds of Jesus’s flock, pastors wrestle with the wounds and waywardness of the human heart. They counsel the guilty, who are consumed by self-condemnation. They counsel the defensive, who try to deflect God’s heart-piercing word through self-justification and blame-shifting. Continue reading →
These were the top five posts for the week of January 27–February 2, 2025. Continue reading →
No religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States (Constitution of the United States, Art. VI). In recent weeks at least three people have contacted me to notify me that Secretary . . . Continue reading →
These were the top five posts for the week of January 20–26, 2025. Continue reading →
Covenant theology seems to be all the rage these days. According to E. P. Sanders, the “pattern of religion” known as Second Temple Judaism can be described as “covenantal nomism.” Continue reading →
These were the top five posts for the week of January 6–12, 2025. Continue reading →
It comes out about as accurate as Historical Theologians doing serious Old Testament work. I say this because I recently asked whence folk (Federal Visionists among them) get the idea that Martin Bucer’s soteriology marked a substantial break from Martin Luther’s. I . . . Continue reading →
Happy New Year from the HRA! This is the seventeenth year of the Heidelblog, and since 2012 the Heidelblog has had more than 11.5 million views and 3.5 million visitors. Thank you to our loyal readers and supporters. If you are just . . . Continue reading →
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 Christian church has always had a confession or a creed. There are creeds in Scripture itself, e.g., Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear O Israel, Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one.” This was recited in the synagogue as a confession of faith and it . . . Continue reading →
In the responses to Part 1 of this review, many comments pointed out that I had not engaged much with the negative aspects of Shepherds for Sale. In this second part, I will include reflections on the less precise and more unhelpful . . . Continue reading →
Moralism is the teaching (doctrine) that God approves (accepts or justifies) of us either because we have cooperated with his grace (semi-Pelagianism) or because we have kept the law without his help (Pelagianism). According to moralism, God approves of us because of . . . Continue reading →
In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith . . . Continue reading →
Those not well read in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Reformed theology might be forgiven their ignorance of the covenant of redemption or for concluding that it is an arcane doctrine long abandoned. Continue reading →
A friend pointed me to an interesting video (the link is now dead) by a WSC alumnus, Lane Tipton. The video is meant to be a discussion of Calvin and his doctrine of justification. I was quite pleased to hear Tipton say, . . . Continue reading →
We have considered his method, but what about Frame’s theological conclusions? Where the classic Reformed theologians typically defined theology as something that exists in God and which is accommodated to us creatures and revealed in analogues to us, for Frame, theology is . . . Continue reading →