The mystery of sin.
Audio: Hywel Jones on Gen 3:1
Redemptive History
WCF vs NCT: Which is More "Spiritual"?
One of the most persistent caricatures of Reformed orthodoxy is that it was (and remains) a lifeless, dead orthodoxy. Apparently some enthusiastic supporters of the so-called (self-described) “New Covenant” theology have taken up this view as a way of contrasting the piety . . . Continue reading →
Paedocommunion Answered
By Cornel Venema. He has a book forthcoming at RHB. To whet your appetite here’s an interview with the Christ the Center guys.
O Come, O Come Emmanuel
John Fesko explains a little about the historical and biblical background to this popular Christmas hymn (which, I might add, one might sing at home but not during a stated service but it’s an edifying study so…)
This Christian Life (Link Updated)
Next to The White Horse Inn, one of my favorite radio programs is This American Life starring Ira Glass. I stumbled across this show several years ago, and for a while I did not understand why I was so attracted to it. . . . Continue reading →
The Context of the Republication Debate
Why is Such An Old Doctrine So Controversial Now?
A few correspondents have contacted me to ask about the continuing controversy over the doctrine of republication. It seems as if it might be useful to try to put this discussion in some context. In its most basic form, the doctrine of . . . Continue reading →
What Is The Substance Of The Covenant Of Grace?
For most of 2,000 years the Christian church was universally agreed that there is one way of salvation, that the history of redemption was essentially unified. In the post-apostolic church this consensus began to develop very early in the 2nd century in . . . Continue reading →
Calvin: The Land Promise Was For Israel
And that thou mayest live long on the earth. Moses expressly mentions the land of Canaan, “that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” (Exod. 20:12.) Beyond this the Jews could not conceive of . . . Continue reading →
Strangers And Aliens (3): The Good News Of The Salvation Has Now Been Announced (1 Peter 1:10–12)
What is the central unifying narrative thread in the history of redemption? For many American evangelicals the default answer to this question is: national Israel. For them it is a mark of faithfulness to Scripture to assume that the central, unifying thread . . . Continue reading →
Strangers And Aliens (7): The Living Stone And The Living Stones (1 Peter 2:4–6)
There is a strain of modern evangelical theology that looks forward to the literal rebuilding of the Israelite temple and to the re-institution of sacrifices, albeit, in that case, memorial sacrifices. This passage should help us see one of the important reasons . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast 110: I Will Be A God To You And To Your Children (6)
This is episode 6 of our series: I will be a God to You and to Your Children. Last time we began looking at how types and shadows help us sort out what, in the history of redemption, is temporary and what . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast 111: I Will Be A God To You And To Your Children (7)
This is episode 7 of our series: I will be a God to You and to Your Children. For the last two episodes we have been thinking about what is temporary and what is permanent in the history of redemption. We have . . . Continue reading →
Did The Covenant Of Grace Begin In The New Covenant?
One frequently reads that the only real differences between Particular Baptists and the Reformed is over baptism. That claim, however, misses some fundamental differences. Baptists withhold the rite of covenant initiation from the children of believers on the ground that the New . . . Continue reading →
The USA Is Not Old Testament Israel
Theonomy (or, more broadly Christian Reconstructionism) is one of the tollbooths through which pilgrims from traveling from Münster to Geneva, as it were, often seem to pass. I encountered it almost as soon as I came into contact with the Reformed churches. . . . Continue reading →
The Church: The Christ-Confessing Covenant Community
When one talks about the church what is at stake is the way in which the Christian life is organized. I believe that the Bible teaches us that believers should be united to the visible community of the redeemed meeting for worship, instruction, and fellowship in an organized, disciplined, way. If I am wrong, then millions of dollars and millions of hours and lives are being sadly misspent. Continue reading →
Office Hours: Journeys With Jesus
Millions of Christians gather every week to hear sermons preached, we trust, from God’s Word. Believers read and study it. Pastors and elders study it but we do not always agree about how to understand it. How often have you heard someone . . . Continue reading →
What Preaching Christ From All Of Scripture Does And Does Not Mean
In recent days there has been considerable discussion about what it means to speak of “preaching Christ from all of Scripture.” Some object to this way of speaking and this approach to Bible interpretation on the grounds that it does violence to . . . Continue reading →
Living All The Bible: A Response To A Faddish Argument
One of the stranger arguments against Christianity that has found an audience (and publishers) is the argument that Christians are hypocrites because they do not adhere to the Bible the way that pagan critics think they should. As I recall, there have . . . Continue reading →
Heidelminicast: Heidelberg Catechism 19—From Where Do You Know This?
The Heidelberg Catechism is one of the most beloved and well used catechisms to emerge from the sixteenth and seventeenth century Reformation. Published in its final form in 1563, the catechism has been used by millions of Christians to teach the faith . . . Continue reading →
Imprecatory Prayers (Or The Theonomist In Each Of Us)
Tish Harrison Warren, who writes for Christianity Today, who is a priest—a topic for another essay— in the Anglican Church in North America, has published an editorial in CT calling for Christians to pray imprecatory prayers against Vladimir Putin. She begins with . . . Continue reading →