Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
A Brief Comparison of Calvin’s Institutes with the Westminster Confession and Catechisms regarding the shape of imputation This essay is a brief argument that the soteriology of John Calvin in his Institutes of the Christian Religion regarding union with Christ and the imputation of his righteousness is the same as…
The thoughts in this paper were largely prompted by a study of Walter E. Krebs, “The Word and the Sacraments,” Mercersburg Review (July, 1867), 366-383. The discussion in this paper presupposes my earlier studies of baptism, “Baptismal Efficacy and the Reformed Tradition: Past, Present, and Future” and “Calvin on Baptism,…
Sometimes our systematic theology creates an illusion of precision. For example, we distinguish the ground and instrument of justification. Justification is grounded in Christ’s work alone, and is instrumentally received by faith alone. That makes good sense and guards us from thinking that faith itself is somehow meritorious. All the…
Whenever we participate in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, we remember Christ and His Work for us. We remember. And in remembering, we imitate God, as His creatures made after His image. God remembers. This is mysterious to us because we usually think of remembering in the context of our…
It is standard in paedobaptist circles to argue for the baptism of infants out of the Old Covenant system. Because there is no explicit command in the New Testament, we are left to the broader principles and patterns of Scripture. In the Old Covenant, we continually find that the children…
Luther popularized the law/gospel hermeneutic. Luther argued that any demands God made upon us fell into the category of “law” and could only condemn. By contrast, anything God gave us was “gospel” and came with no strings attached. Calvin paid lip service to this law/gospel antithesis, even though it was…
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Yahweh’s name resembles a human name. But there is a significant difference. Yahweh identifies and names Himself . He didn’t leave Abraham to figure out His name; when Moses asked “What shall I say to Israel when they ask who sent me,” Yahweh answered by giving His name. We don’t…
What is a name? A name is a label. It allows us to identify people. That is Sam, that is Sam, Jr; that is Samantha; that is Peter. But a name is more than a label that enables us to identify and distinguish one person from another. It also provides…
Joseph G. Trabbic argues at Public Discourse that the Catholic church has never abandoned the notion of a confessional, Catholic state, and that this remains the norm for Catholic political life. In principle, he claims, the church teaches that states should recognize Christianity and the church, though there may be…
At First Things , Jozef Andrew Kosc describes the continuation of Catholic Christendom in Poland . Poland is “an unabashedly Catholic society is fully integrated into a modern European polity and economy. This society represents an integral and democratic Catholicism, one that has resisted the anti-culture of postmodernism and neoliberal…
My son Christian interviewed Incredibles 2 editor Stephen Schaeffer. It gives a detailed look at the nitty details of making an animated feature. For me, the most interesting parts were about the design of the Pixar studio building: “The Pixar building was designed by Steve Jobs, who wanted to build…
The Third Word (Exodus 20:7) prohibits Israel and the church from bearing ( nasa' ) the Name of Yahweh lightly. What might it mean to "bear" the name? The verb is used some thirty times in Exodus, with a remarkable range of meanings. Exodus 6:8 : Yahweh nasa' to give…
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