Canons Of Dort (6): God Is The Cause Of Salvation But Not Of Reprobation
Arminius argued that the relations between God and creation are not what the Augustine and the Protestant Reformers had said.
Ultimately, Arminius’ solution to the problem of evil was to make God contingent upon human choices. Another way to put this is to say that, in his own way, Arminius was a rationalist. He put human reason above holy Scripture. His revision of Reformed theology was not fundamentally driven by Scripture nor by the historic... Continue Reading
Christ, Our Righteousness
The gospel ministry with its proper emphasis on justification and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to the repenting and believing sinner does not need a new perspective but a renewal of spirit-filled preaching.
The subject of our essay is to consider how the perfect obedience of Christ to the Mosaic law does apply to those who believe in Him. The answer to this question, according to the Reformed understanding of Scripture, is “the active obedience of Christ is imputed to the justified believers as their positive cover in... Continue Reading
Penal Substitution and Gospel Proclamation
Those of us who affirm that it is a truly biblical doctrine need to grapple carefully with how it should shape and inform our ministry.
The purpose of this brief article is to argue that PSA should be at the heart of our proclamation of the gospel—at the heart of our regular preaching of the word of God. There are important reasons for this both at the level of theological integrity and at the level of pastoral practicality. It... Continue Reading
The Missing Strings of Sanctification
Leave off one or two elements of the biblical teaching about sanctification and it won't function properly.
There is never a time when we do not need to be reminded of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. We will never reach a point in our Christian life when we do not need to return to the truth that we have been united to Christ, in whom God has... Continue Reading
Where Did Satan Come From?
We must acknowledge that the Bible tells us many things that, taken together, can help us make a reasonable attempt at an answer.
If Satan is responsible for possessing the serpent and using it for his own evil purposes, then the question follows, where does Satan come from? The Bible seems to teach that Satan is a created being who turned against God and embraced evil. The Bible’s account of the fall in the Garden of Eden raises... Continue Reading
The Sophisticated Idolater
Diagnosing the Four Chambers of the Idolatrous Heart
The moment Adam and Eve surrendered to the serpent’s seduction, they severed themselves from the umbilical cord of life in God (Ephesians 4:17-19). They shriveled up and died. As their spiritual heirs, at birth we inherit their corrupt nature. That means that relationally we are still wired for worship, but we worship anything but God. We are lovers who... Continue Reading
When I grow up…
I find myself, in my mid-forties, growing and changing into an entirely new version of me, long after the world has stopped expecting me to develop further.
I’ve noticed two equally destructive tendencies at play around this topic (three if you count a general fear of aging or displaying physical signs thereof). One is around the (utterly abhorrent) neologism ‘adulting’, meaning ‘behaving like an adult’. It is the resistance towards moving out of the young, free, single party animal phase and into... Continue Reading
Canons Of Dort (5): God Ordains Means To Call His Elect
“We are too sinful to be saved by any other way than by God’s unconditional favor.”
The bad news is that all of us are fallen and unable to save ourselves. The good news is that God loves sinners eternally and unconditionally. He loves them so much that he sent his only-begotten Son to save those who cannot save themselves. How then do his elect benefit from what God, in Christ,... Continue Reading
Discerning Vocation
Throughout the Scriptures, we find that God calls and equips people for various vocations.
The important thing to note from the gift lists in Romans 12 and other passages is that there are many different types of gifts, and they are given by God according to His good will and pleasure. So, not everyone has the same gifts, and no one has every gift. Throughout the Scriptures, we... Continue Reading
The Theology and Politics of Equality
Politically and theologically “equality” may be the most powerful, and also the most dangerous word in our modern language.
The concept of equality in the Bible is used in the context of judgment before the law of God. The law of God defines right and wrong, not the Supreme Court or some professor at a secular university. All men are equal before the law of God. Judgment must show no favoritism: “You must not... Continue Reading