Christ is the “head of every man” (1 Cor 11:3). “He is the head of all rule and authority” (Col 2:10). He is the one whom God gave “as head over all things to the church” (Eph 1:22). As “head of the church” he is “Savior of the body” (Eph 5:23; Col 1:18), and as such he lays... Continue Reading

With equal or even surpassing significance, the heavenly Jerusalem on the heavenly Mount Zion has become a reality for all participants of the new covenant. You have not “drawn near” to the terrors and traumas associated with the law that condemns. Instead, you “draw near” to Jesus in his full humanity as well as his... Continue Reading

Words matter, and the words we use matter when we talk about Christ’s Church. The Book of Church Order can be unclear to many people, and even long term BCO students disagree over particular portions. We should not make it more difficult by conflating terms and words. BCO 9–7 is extremely clear, and if the Session desires to have... Continue Reading

Chalmers concludes that you cannot simply tell a man to be holy if he has no fellowship with the Holy One. You cannot separate “the demand and the doctrine.” Chalmers said, “The true disciple of Christ is able to do the one through the other strengthens him.” Obedience to the gospel is not beyond his... Continue Reading

Parents are to guide and love their children in God’s ways, not in any self-serving ways. Parents who faithfully discharge this calling are promised that such parental investments will result in fruit that bears out as the child grows old. Faithful, believing parents can have confidence in their parenting as they entrust the long-term results... Continue Reading

One of the sharpest theological debates involving Sam Allberry concerned the doctrine of ‘concupiscence’ — a theological term for the inward pull or inclination toward sinful desires that remains in fallen human nature. In simple terms, it asks whether disordered desires are themselves sinful, even if they are not acted upon outwardly. Allberry generally spoke... Continue Reading

“Everyone knows John 3:16, but nobody talks about the next two verses. Jesus didn’t come into the world to condemn the world, he came to save it. But verse 18 says, if anyone doesn’t believe in Christ, he’s already condemned, because he hasn’t believed in God’s one and only Son…If you don’t believe in that,... Continue Reading

When we come face to face with our own mortality, our own failures, our deepest fears and regrets, the resurrection declares that nothing ultimately has the final word except life in Christ. We do not have an abstract hope. Easter hope is a living, breathing reality that Jesus extends to each of us individually—offering forgiveness,... Continue Reading

Christians who believe the Bible do actually believe in heaven, hell, and eternal salvation. We do oppose homosexual activity and transgender ideology—not because we hate anyone, but because the Bible says so. We distrust public schools because they’ve started embracing ideas that oppose biblical morality. None of this makes Christianity a cult, much less a... Continue Reading

The Presbyterian Church has historically understood the diaconate to be an ordained office instituted by Christ through His apostles, situated within the ordered household of God, and qualified according to the pastoral epistles. To depart from that understanding requires not appeal to contemporary social norms, but sustained exegetical and theological demonstration that the covenantal and... Continue Reading