Good stuff at the Reformed Reader.
piety
Godfrey: Real Calvinism is A Head and Heart Religion
“Strong on doctrine and scholarship, but weak on life, evangelism and passion.” Too frequently this is the popular image of Calvinism. Contemporary Calvinists may sometimes be responsible for perpetuating this image. In their eagerness for theological precision some Calvinists seem to want . . . Continue reading →
Tabletalk: Divorcing Doctrine from Scripture
What follows is from the latest issue of Tabletalk, which contains a series of letters from “Legion” to his young assistant, the style of C. S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters. Dear Pithius, Our dear boy, you quite misunderstand the problem. So long as Christians . . . Continue reading →
The Gift of Confessional Elders (2)
Part 1 Before we can see how and why our elders need to be confessional we needed to understand, in the first place, what an elder is. Next, we need to understand what it means to be “confessional” and then, in the . . . Continue reading →
So Many Reasons
On this day we rightly pause to give thanks for the innumerable blessings we have received, both those common to all image bearers and those saving benefits particular to believers. Chief among the latter are saving faith and Spirit-wrought union with Christ . . . Continue reading →
Confessional Reformed Devotional Literature?
In Recovering the Reformed Confession I defined the the “Reformed Confession” both narrowly (referring to the confessional documents adopted by the churches) and broadly referring to the theology, piety, and practice in, with, and around the confessions themselves. Subsequent discussions here and . . . Continue reading →
Jeremiah Burroughs On The Spiritual Value Of Distinguishing Between The Covenants Of Works And Grace
The doubts and fears of most Christians arise from hence because they have not a clear understanding of the difference between the covenant of grace and the covenant of works. There is nothing in the world would so satisfy the consciences of . . . Continue reading →
Calvin As Theologian of Consolation (Pt 2)
Part 1: Introduction to Calvin’s Life and His Own Need for Comfort I. Calvin’s Exegesis of Consolation (in Paul) In the first part we saw that Calvin was a pilgrim who himself needed the consolation of the gospel, given by the Spirit, . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast 9: The Secret of Knowing God’s Will (Pt 2)
An HB Classic
According to Deuteronomy 29:29 believers are to trust in, rely upon, listen to, and obey that which God has revealed rather than seeking what God has not revealed. In the history of redemptive history the practice of seeking God’s will where he . . . Continue reading →
Crying Up The Spirit And Crying Down The Ministry
Those who so cry up the Spirit as to cry down ordinances and the ministry do not have the Spirit of God. In the NT, when vision and inspiration were in use, the Spirit did not teach men immediately, but referred them . . . Continue reading →
Less A Problem of What the Spirit is Doing and More a Problem of What We Say
Part 2
In part 1, I began to sketch a case that for a way between neo-Pentecostalism/Charismatic piety and a sterile piety. Genuine, confessional Reformed piety is warm, Spiritual, and vital but we understand that the Spirit works through means (Word and sacraments). This . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast 23: Ecstasy is Not Christianity
Concern about dead formalism or ritualism is legitimate but we should not think that because a religious service is emotionally or psychologically satisfying or that because one has a certain kind of ecstasy that one has escaped dead formalism. There is a . . . Continue reading →
Why (Some) Reformed People Are Such Jerks
The Oxford American Dictionary gives this informal usage of the noun jerk: A contemptibly obnoxious person § About as soon as I left my evangelical (Southern Baptist) congregation and started associating with Reformed folk, I began to hear this question. I remember . . . Continue reading →
Wearing Crosses or Bearing Them?
In my past life, battling through the highway throng on the ‘5’ out of Escondido, I used to stare in amazement at the gas guzzling Christian four by fours thundering past my little Volkswagen. As I tried to prevent myself from being . . . Continue reading →
Reformed Is Enough Or Why I Wrote RRC
David J. Miller published a lengthy account yesterday of his journey out of the OPC to Eastern Orthodoxy and to Anglicanism of different sorts and back to confessional Presbyterian and Reformed theology, piety, and practice. It’s a long-ish piece but it’s a . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours: Kelly Kapic On John Owen, Theology, And Piety
Kelly Kapic is Professor of Theological Studies at Covenant College. This is a sort of lost episode. Kelly was on campus campus in February, 2010 to talk with our students about theology and piety. That spring we renovated the Office Hours studio . . . Continue reading →
Reformed Is A Confession More Than A Culture
These arguments often come down to definitions. If we define culture as the sum of a series of factors including language, a web of relationships (family, community), that shapes the way we think about food, clothing, and work then culture is one . . . Continue reading →
Reformed And Pentecostal?
In view of the controversy over the recent Strange Fire conference up the road, it seemed like a good time to re-post this HB classic from 2008. § James K. A. Smith has an interesting post at Christianity Today, Teaching a Calvinist to Dance. . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours: Mike Horton On Sanctification And Justification
The core question of the Reformation was this: how can a sinner be right with God? The medieval church had concluded that he cannot, that, before God can accept someone, a person must be entirely sanctified and sanctification is a process initiated . . . Continue reading →
“Did God Leave Me When I Went To Seminary?”
Ryan at Sola Gratia raises a question that many first-semester seminary students ask. In essence the question is this: Before I came to seminary I had an active devotional life and a vital, immediate, experience of God and now things have changed. . . . Continue reading →