Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
I appreciate Andy Webb’s recent entry into the current discussion over baptismal efficacy. 1 This is an issue which has consumed a great deal of time and energy in the Reformed world in recent years. It is not likely to subside soon. As a contributing party to the discussion, I…
The Covenant Vision of the Heidelberg & Westminster Catechisms Regarding Children and Baptism 7 POINTS ABOUT THE TEACHING OF THE REFORMED CHURCHES Question 1. What is thy only comfort in life and death? Answer: That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but…
Is the Holiday Unpresbyterian? ‘Tis the season to be informed–sometimes in gentleness, often with vigor–by a variety of Christians (and others 1 ) claiming that it is wrong to celebrate Christmas. I have no desire to force anyone to celebrate Christmas against their will. Indeed, it would be insulting to…
This month we begin by considering Alan D. Strange’s article, “Understanding the ‘Federal Vision'” published in the February 2007 issue of New Horizons, the official denominational magazine of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Mr. Strange is an OPC minister, a teacher at Mid-America Reformed Seminary, and was a member of the…
There is no reason to believe that Matthew 24, Mark 13, or Luke 21 records Jesus prophesying about what is now known in Christian theology as “the Second Coming.” In my opinion, the fact that most modern conservative Christian scholars and pastors are not yet willing to acknowledge that the…
Francis Turretin, the Reformed theologian of the seventeenth century, carefully distinguishes the Reformed view of infant faith from Lutheran and Anabaptist claims. Anabaptists denied any faith to infants so that they could justify their refusal to baptize them. Lutherans affirmed (rightly) that covenant infants were believers, but made no distinction…
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That Paul says that the crossing of the sea is a “baptism” is surprising enough; but then he says that the baptism is “into the cloud.” Where’d he get that? You can suss that out from the exodus story, but I suspect that Paul has conflated the exodus story with…
INTRODUCTION Jesus finishes His prophetic discourse with a series of three parables – the parable of the wicked slave (24:45-51), the parable of the ten virgins (25:1-13), and the parable of the talents (25:14-30). Each of these is about expectation, and each describes how wise and faithful disciples respond to…
A friend called attention to this remarkable passage in Calvin’s Institutes (3.24.8): “there is a universal call, by which God, through the external preaching of the word, invites all men alike, even those for whom he designs the call to be a savor of death, and the ground of severer…
Jesus’ Olivet Discourse is not about the end of the world. But it is about the end of a world, and because of that it instructs the church in every age. Since Jesus ascended, a number of worlds have come and gone. Most of us believe that the Roman empire…
Did Jane Austen want people to read and admire her work? Of course; she was a writer. Did she like making money from writing? Yes. She wasn’t the wispy angel that her family biographers tried to make her out to be. To this extent Claire Harman ( Jane’s Fame: How…
INTRODUCTION Jesus tells His disciples what events will precede the end of Jerusalem , and He tells them that these events will take place within the generation of the apostles (v. 34). He does not, however, tell them the year or even the decade when they will occur (v. 36,…
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