The Reformed and the Remonstrants share terminology for common grace but hold to different meanings. Continue reading →
Grace does not become “less free” after we are brought to new life in true faith. Continue reading →
Some years ago on one of his broadcasts, Bill Maher defined faith as “the purposeful suspension of critical thinking.”1 Similarly, Richard Dawkins, Neil deGrasse Tyson and others have defined faith as “believing something in the absence of evidence.”2 But are these definitions . . . Continue reading →
In Romans and other Pauline epistles, repentance is a fruit of God’s grace rather than its cause. For example, we find in Romans 2:4: Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s . . . Continue reading →
But although sanctification flows forth from the same Christ seized by faith, and leads us to the same place, namely the attainment of eternal life, it would nevertheless be mere madness to add something to the most perfect righteousness of Christ to . . . Continue reading →
Joel asks, “Is it possible for a person to want/desire to know Christ as his/her Savior and not be among the elect?” HC 21. What is true faith? True faith is not only a certain knowledge whereby I hold for truth all . . . Continue reading →
I do not like thinking about death, but I have been doing a good lot of thinking about it lately. It is no fun to think about death. As an American, always moving, restless, ever conquering, I resist it. Death is the . . . Continue reading →
Reformed theology has enjoyed a renaissance of sorts for about thirty years. A renaissance is literally a rebirth or, more broadly, a renewal. In order for there to be a renewal, however, there had to be a classical, defining period of Reformed . . . Continue reading →
Unfortunately, when most people think of Reformed theology, they think of the doctrine of predestination. The reasons for this have more to do with the critics of Reformed theology than with what the Reformed themselves confess. Indeed, one of the great weaknesses of the modern Reformed renaissance is that it tends to re-define Reformed theology almost entirely in terms of the doctrine of divine sovereignty. Continue reading →
In a recent news article about people attending a political rally, one of the participants was asked whether she identified with the group she was attending. She replied by saying, “I don’t like labels.” Indeed. The move toward political independency has been . . . Continue reading →
The Reformed confession is a catholic confession—that is, it is rooted in the Scriptures as interpreted by the church and confessed in the ancient, ecumenical creeds, but it is also a Reformation confession. Where the medieval church taught justification and salvation by . . . Continue reading →
Since salvation belongs to God, it is he who grants us new life and true faith. As a consequence of the fall, all of Adam’s children (Rom 5:12–21) are, as Paul says, “dead in sins and trespasses” (Eph 2:1). The good news can be expressed in two words: “But God . . .” Continue reading →