10 Things You Should Know About Systematic Theology
Systematic theology is a way of studying the Bible that attends to the full scope of biblical teaching
The only way the church truly submits to the Bible’s doctrinal and moral teaching is by submitting to the full scope of the Bible’s doctrinal and moral teaching. Failure to attend to the whole counsel of God “leads to one-sidedness and error in theology and pathology in the religious life” (Herman Bavinck). 1. Systematic... Continue Reading
The “Watchmaker Argument”
Two hundred years ago a bishop, by the name of William Paley, wrote a book in which he used a watch to illustrate how clear it was that God is real.
The woodpecker, is a marvelous bird and far from ordinary. Take his bill, for example. Isn’t it amazing how he can ram it into a tree thousands of times a minute without having to replace it or getting a terrific headache? Well, his head is equipped with shock absorbers. And these shock absorbers cushion the... Continue Reading
The Trauma of Holiness
This holy God inspires far greater trauma in those whom He encounters than any natural disaster
“Martin Luther and the other Reformers understood the holy character of this God. For them, the recovery of the gospel was such good news because they knew the trauma of holiness and that the only way to endure the presence of this holy God’s judgment is to be covered in the holiness and righteousness of... Continue Reading
Are the “Calvinist” Critics of Piper Really Calvinists At All?
Many of the arguments used to defend a Reformed doctrine of justification don’t seem very Reformed
Unlike many “Reformed” theologians today who view conditional or instrumental language with respect to good works as unorthodox or legalistic or outside the bounds of Reformed orthodoxy, Calvin unashamedly uses such language. When I was a student at Westminster Seminary, I spent a number of months studying the Norman Shepherd controversy which racked that... Continue Reading
Exegesis without Embarrassment
Biblical Interpretation, Old Testament Books, & Tough Texts
It is understandable why teachers and curriculum might not put much emphasis on the destruction of Jericho’s citizens or the other instances in the book of Joshua that describe the Israelites’ killing the residents and animals of entire towns. These stories can make us feel uncomfortable, after all. They can be hard enough to explain... Continue Reading
Believers Are Saved And Sealed
It is being proposed that believers are initially justified by grace alone, through faith alone but only finally saved through faith and works.
The Scriptures teach and the Reformed churches confess that believers are definitively, finally, once-for-all justified before God. They will not be re-tried. They cannot be re-tried. To suggest such a thing is to insult the perfect righteousness of our Savior and to deny the once-for-all declaration of God. Christ did not become incarnate for his people,... Continue Reading
Affirming our Faith in the Secular Age: A Meditation for Evangelism
Are we entering a new epoch as the Church must confess Jesus Christ in what Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor has called “the secular age?”
One of the most extraordinary passages in the Gospels is the confession of Jesus’ identity by the Apostle Peter. There are a myriad of remarkable spiritual dynamics at work in the passage, each of them with far-reaching theological and practical implications for the Church and, consequently, for your life and mine. We should consider Jesus’... Continue Reading
Mainline Decline, Liberation Theology & the Gospel
There is more to the Christian salvation than achieving liberation from classism and colonial tyranny in this fallen world.
Rev. Samuel said that God commanded the devotion of ancient Israelites as “the Divine Agent of their liberation,” having freed them “economic and political exploitation” in Egypt. Christians should thus feel empowered to live their “best life today” by drawing on God’s salvific work. Liberation theology gained momentum last century as a liberal alternative... Continue Reading
How to Be Teachable According to Proverbs
If there is any quality that helps in every area of life, it is being teachable.
Life is complicated and the enemy deceiving; without a disciplined pursuit of wisdom and instruction, we risk falling captive to lies and short-cut solutions to our problems. The diligent pursuit of wisdom will train us to act wisely and prepare us for difficulties in life. Teachable people don’t have to be the smartest to... Continue Reading
“…Let’s just pipe down and let the experts handle this.”
I fear that we are creating many mini-popes, untouchable by the common layperson.
At the time of the Reformation, it was forbidden to put a bible into the hands of a layperson because only the scholars had the proper training to interpret the bible correctly. A layperson would mess it up to no end and start talking about justification by faith apart from works and salvation by the... Continue Reading