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Biblical Horizons

Liturgical Man, Liturgical Woman, Part II

Click HERE for an audio version of this article. For part 1 of this series, click HERE . The New Covenant changes none of this. There is nothing new or odd about Mary’s sitting at Jesus’ feet, nothing strange about various “deaconesses” serving the Incarnate Tabernacle. Paul affirms that in…

by James B. JordanJune 5, 2004
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Apologetics

God in Control?

An Introduction Despite my rather hectic schedule as a father and pastor, I’ve become more and more concerned that a tract defending God’s sovereignty and fore-ordination of all things would be a helpful tool for the Reformed pastor–one converstational in tone and persuasive in style. I have decided to undertake…

by Mark HorneJune 4, 2004
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Baptism

Trying to be Objective: A Short Test For Those Concerned About An Alleged “Baptismal Regeneration” Teaching

There has been a great deal of controversy in the various conservative Reformed microdenominations in North America. Since I am a pastor in one of these and have been advocating a return to the historic Protestant and Confessional view over again the baptistic mutation that is now prevalent in our…

by Mark HorneJune 3, 2004
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Eucharist

The Meal that Kills: The Danger of Privatized Communion

I have recently written on justification as a covenant status and justification and adoption , understood as joining with Christ and his family at the Lord’s Supper . I write about things like this because it seems quite common in America to denigrate the need for community in one’s commitment…

by Mark HorneJune 3, 2004
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Baptism

Samuel Miller, Baptism, & Covenant Theology

Samuel Miller was one of the early professors at Princeton Theological Seminary. As a Presbyterian he wrote a book that defended infant baptism . Miller’s book was fine, but his appendix on baptismal regeneration seems problematic. Of course, his initial attack on superstition is quite warranted, but I am speaking…

by Mark HorneJune 3, 2004
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Baptism

Baptism, Evangelism, & the Quest for a "Converting Ordinance"

Awhile back I wrote the following, first quoting from the author of the excellent book, A Baptism That Saves : The sacramental view [of baptism] most accords with the idea of God’s initiating a covenant by his sovereign decree in election–effecting this through effectual calling. This is because, instead of…

by Mark HorneJune 3, 2004

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Gnats and camels

Duncan Derrett again: Jesus condemns the Pharisees and scribes as “blind men,” and their blindness is a myopia that makes it impossible for them to distinguish between gnats and camels. Both are prohibited foods, but “their throats are wide, their bellies capacious for the unclean.” For all their their obsession…

May 2, 2009

Unclean vessels

Duncan Derrett points to the OT background to Jesus’ saying about unclean vessels. According to the law, a vessel was rendered unclean in the interior when an animal dropped into the vessel. Some vessels could be scrubbed clean, others had to be broken (Leviticus 11). A vessel became clean when…

May 2, 2009

Apostasy

For a number of years, I’ve been using the analogy of marriage to explain apostasy. Turns out I wasn’t the first. Jeremiah does too. Jeremiah uses some variation of the root shub (“turn, return, turn away”) nearly 50 times in his prophecy. One of the specific words is meshubah, translated…

May 1, 2009

Good times

Along with a friend, my son, Jordan, has started an online comic strip. Check it out here every Tuesday and Thursday: http://www.goodtimescomic.blogspot.com/

May 1, 2009

Proverbs 26:17-19

PROVERBS 26:17 Verse 17 returns to the use of dog imagery. We recall that dogs are scavengers in the Bible, feeding on death. Dogs eat flesh and lap up blood. They are greedy, constantly hungry for more (Isaiah 56:11). They tear things to pieces (Matthew 7:6). In short, they are…

May 1, 2009

Blood and Soil again

Mike Bull from Australia sends along some comments on my earlier posts about “blood and soil.” The rest of this post is from Mike: “Jesus doesn’t just overcome and send the powers packing. But also, he doesn’t just pacify and reconcile them. He tears them in two, like two goats.…

May 1, 2009

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