It is not fundamentalist to affirm 1 Timothy 2. It is still God’s holy, inerrant, and infallible Word. It still norms the theology, piety, and practice of Reformed Churches. We still confess the biblical qualifications for the offices of minister, elder, and deacon (see Belgic Confession articles 31 and 31).   John Frame first published... Continue Reading

Do you feel discouraged and faint at blank looks of colleagues and friends for whom you’ve prayed and to whom you’ve witnessed for years? Remember Jesus Christ has an overflowing fountain of sympathy and strength for all such troubled saints. It’s a mark of faithful servants to share to some small degree in Christ’s ministerial... Continue Reading

Our flesh wants to be in control. It bears the burden of the hardship and works to figure out how to handle it. And when it determines that the hardship is beyond its capabilities—when we can’t see a satisfactory solution—anxiety sets in. This posture is at odds with the Spirit who implores us as believers... Continue Reading

To call the Son God but then affirm that he does not share the nature of the Father equivocates on the most basic level. The Son is not both God and not God at the same time. He shares in the Father’s nature fully. That is why he is God. And for no other reason.... Continue Reading

Unlike gratitude, which we will forever owe to the Lord, grief will one day cease to be. Relationships that have been strained for years will know unmitigated love. Wars will cease, heartaches will end. We will know why, but I believe it won’t matter so much in that day, for we’ll have a technicolor view... Continue Reading

There are some out there who have a false notion of predestination and election, namely, that it was the invention of some ancient French madman named John Calvin. No doubt, Calvin would mourn the fact that history has dubbed this doctrine “Calvinism,” as though it somehow belonged more to him than to God.   This... Continue Reading

We typically define apologetics as the “defense of the Christian faith” and often think about apologetics as something primarily evangelistic. And while we certainly need to be ready to give answers to those seeking the truth, Paul’s ministry reveals how much the church needs good apologetics. We might even wonder if the primary focus of... Continue Reading

What the Passover said to the Israelites, the gospel continues to say to us: there is hope and comfort for us, sinful as we are, not because of anything that we can do or have done, but because God is gracious and kind in His covenant. All that the law requires, the gospel gives in... Continue Reading

God has no human emotions. He does have affections, however. We too have affections. Yet we both share affections through an analogy—God has affections in ways befitting a divine being, while we have affections in ways befitting humans. We know the second quite well, but cannot understand the first.    Since the first century, Christians... Continue Reading

There is no “ordinary” Christian life without the power and help and mercy of the Holy Spirit. The basic patterns, practices, rhythms, and direction of the Christian life are anything but natural and anything but ordinary. Being and living as a Christian are works of God; God the Holy Spirit. In the Christian life, ordinary... Continue Reading