Natural Law

Our Fundamentalist Founders?

by on March 24, 2015 | 6 Comments

The interweb is a funny thing. One never knows what, at any given moment, one will discover. This morning I stumbled on a discussion involving David Harsanyi editor at one of my favorites, The Federalist, over John Locke (1632–1704), God, and natural . . . Continue reading →

Heidelberg 91: What Are Good Works? (1)

by on July 9, 2015 | 4 Comments

he objectively, clearly revealed moral law as the baseline for Christian ethics is essential to Christian living and Christian liberty. James calls it “the law of liberty” (James 1:25) because it frees us from the tyranny of human opinion. It does not answer every question (it does not intend or claim to answer every question) but it is an essential starting place. What must a Christian do in response to God’s grace and in union with Christ? Love God with all his faculties and his neighbor as himself. Continue reading →

Heidelberg 91: What Are Good Works? (2)

by on July 16, 2015 | 1 Comment

The source, fountain of good works is true faith. By using this expression, the catechism deliberately takes us back to Heidelberg 21, where true faith is defined and to Heidelberg 60 which are among the several places where true faith is said to be the sole instrument (sola fide) of justification and salvation. True faith is also the instrument of union and communion with Christ and it is the headwaters of the believer’s new, Spirit-wrought life in Christ. In other words, true faith is essential to good works. Continue reading →

Heidelberg 103: The Christian Sabbath (1)

by on July 28, 2015 | 3 Comments

If there was a time when the church needed to stop its business, to rest, to worship, and to set aside time for the care of the poor in their midst, that time is now. At no time in its history has . . . Continue reading →

Johannes Althusius (1557–1638): A Brief Introduction To A Pioneering Reformed Social Theorist

by on March 21, 2016

Introduction We seem to live in a Malthusian age, i.e., an age of increasing scarcity or perhaps fear of scarcity, where concern over how to divide an economic (and environmental) pie of limited size (called a “zero sum game”) has replaced the . . . Continue reading →

Social Media Testifies To The Covenant Of Works

by on April 7, 2018 | 3 Comments

In Colossians 2:8 Paul warned the Colossians Christians not to be taken captive by unbelieving ways of thinking (philosophies) nor by “the stoicheia (στοιχεῖα) of the world.” The noun stoicheia is usually translated with something like “elemental principles” or the like. That . . . Continue reading →

Canons Of Dort (27): The Reformed Distinguish Law And Gospel

by on April 29, 2019 | 1 Comment

When we think of the Synod of Dort and their rulings (canons) against the Remonstrants (Arminians) we tend to think about the doctrine of sin or the doctrines of unconditional grace, election, and the like but there were structural, subterranean issues at . . . Continue reading →