The gospel really does become again a strange announcement, totally unexpected to fallen ears—especially when sermons are caught between “evangelical” encouragement and culture wars bellicosity. Anonymous, 2017.
Blog Archives
Westminster Confession On The Threefold Distinction In The Law And The Abrogation Of The Mosaic Judicial Laws
3. Beside this law, commonly called moral, God was pleased to give to the people of Israel, as a church under age, ceremonial laws, containing several typical ordinances, partly of worship, prefiguring Christ, his graces, actions, sufferings, and benefits; and partly, holding . . . Continue reading →
Calvin On The Threefold Distinction In The Law And The Abrogation Of The Mosaic Civil Laws
The moral law (to begin first with it) is contained under two heads, one of which simply commands us to worship God with pure faith and piety; the other, to embrace men with sincere affection. Accordingly, it is the true and eternal . . . Continue reading →
Herman Hoeksema On The Twofold Kingdom
Hoeksema insisted that the Christian church, “as the manifestation of Christ’s body on earth, is universal in character; hence the church as an institution could not raise the American flag nor sing the national hymns.” The flag could be flown in the . . . Continue reading →
Ursinus: The Mosaic Civil Laws Pointed To Christ And Are Fulfilled
The use of the judicial, or civil laws, was, That they might contribute to the preservation of the Mosaic polity. That they might be types of the government of the church in the kingdom of Christ, inasmuch as the princes and kings . . . Continue reading →
How The Dutch Reformed Lost The Psalms
The king’s arbitrary actions roused very little public dissent. Most clergy were happy to get paid regularly again and their parishioners welcomed the restoration of the national church, even if it was subject to closer government control. Opposition against the new regime . . . Continue reading →
Pan-Protestant Rejection Of An Earthly Golden Age Before Christ Returns
They condemn also others who are now spreading certain Jewish opinions, that before the resurrection of the dead the godly shall take possession of the kingdom of the world, the ungodly being everywhere suppressed. Augsburg Confession (1530) art. 17 We further condemn . . . Continue reading →
Bavinck: Prayers For The Dead Undermine Christ’s Intercession
If the doctrine of purgatory is untenable, all offerings and prayers for the dead automatically fall with it. Veneration of the dead by sacrifices and prayers was common among pagans. Intercession for the dead became a practice among the Jews later (2 . . . Continue reading →
Olevianus On The Distinction Between Law And Gospel
10 Q. What is the difference between the law and the gospel? A. The law is a doctrine that God has implanted in human nature and has repeated and renewed in His commandments. In it He holds before us, as if in . . . Continue reading →
Caspar Olevianus Defines The Gospel
9 Q. Could you give a more definitive explanation of what the gospel is? A. The gospel, or the good news that delights the heart of the poor condemned sinner, is a revelation of the fatherly and immutable will of God, in . . . Continue reading →
Lesbian Atheist: Nature, Science, And Facts Matter
Although I describe myself as transgender (I was donning flamboyant male costumes from early childhood on), I am highly skeptical about the current transgender wave, which I think has been produced by far more complicated psychological and sociological factors than current gender . . . Continue reading →
Synod of Herbon (1586): Weekly Communion Most Corresponds To Christ’s Ordinance
45. The Lord’s Supper shall be celebrated at least every month, and everyone at their location should strive that if the whole congregation cannot participate every Sunday (which most corresponds to Christ’s ordinance and to apostolic custom and is greatly desired), at . . . Continue reading →
Machen: The Regulative Principle Governs The Church
Machen’s reasoning here was an extension of the Regulative Principle. In the Presbyterian and Reformed tradition this principle has typically been applied to public worship. It teaches that we may only worship God as he has commanded us to worship him in . . . Continue reading →
Second Helvetic Confession: No More Special Revelation
Wherefore when this Word of God is now preached in the church by preachers lawfully called, we believe that the very Word of God is proclaimed, and received by the faithful; and that neither any other Word of God is to be . . . Continue reading →
Why The Reformed Churches Do Not Re-Baptize Roman Converts
XXVIII. In this belief we declare that, properly speaking, there can be no Church where the Word of God is not received, nor profession made of subjection to it, nor use of the sacraments. Therefore we condemn the papal assemblies, as the . . . Continue reading →
The Late-Modern Emperor Has No Clothes
…Perhaps the dumbest man in the room is not the man who cannot understand gibberish, but the man who cannot see gibberish for what it is. And perhaps the most dangerous people on campus are those who understand this human weakness and . . . Continue reading →
Luther Against Denying Communion In Two Kinds
I conclude, then, that it is wicked and despotic to deny both kinds to the laity, and that this is not within the power of any angel, much less of any pope or council. Nor does the Council of Constance give me . . . Continue reading →
Olevianus: Salvation Is By Grace Alone Or Jesus Is But Half A Savior
7. Q. If for the reasons given, then, the only way to eternal life is the crucified Jesus, truly God and truly human, does it not necessarily follow that all other religions or faiths, which present other ways and means to eternal . . . Continue reading →
Vos Spotted Aspects Of Federal Vision Theology In Pareus And Davenant
Here and there in some Reformed theologians a conception intrudes that appears to function at the boundary of the orthodox system, so that one may doubt that it may still be called Reformed. There have been those who posit a kind of . . . Continue reading →
How We Got Here
In virtually every class, I was told that all scientific knowledge, and even science itself was founded on Western cultural constructions and was to be regarded as hegemonic. And since each of the world’s various cultural viewpoints were enmeshed in their own . . . Continue reading →