Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt…
Part 5: Laying New Foundations in a Dying World As I mentioned above, the history of Israel involved several centuries as a church-without-a-culture, and then several centuries as a culture-without-a-city. To be sure, there was an informal culture around the church of the Patriarchs, but the civilization of free farmers…
In the Reformation Tradition we baptize both professing believers and their children. In the case of infants it is now commonly insisted that this is done because the children are already in covenant with God. Baptism is a sign and seal of a previously existing reality. Despite the popularity of…
Concerning Sex & the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the loaf of bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one loaf, we who are many…
Protestant-Catholic debates about the sacraments have usually taken the form of debates about sacramental efficacy. Protestants claim that Catholics believe that sacraments work ex opere operato, virtually a magical view of the sacraments. A priest goes through the motions and says the mumbo-jumbo and — presto! — the sacraments confer…
In 27.2, the Westminster Confession says that because of the “spiritual relation” between sacraments and the things they represent, “the names and effects of the one are attributed to the other.” Applied to baptism, this means that when the Bible says that we are baptized into Christ (Rom. 6), it…
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Luther illustrates justification with the image of a mortally sick man and his doctor. The doctor is so certain that he is going to heal the patient that he declares him well already, and tells the patient to consider himself well. The patient trusts the doctor so thoroughly that he…
Picking up on my last post . . . So far as I know, no one has challenged my paper on justification exegetically. Perhaps someone has offered a devastating critique, one that shows I’ve misinterpreted every passage I discuss. If such a critique is out there, though, I’ve not seen…
The PCA FV Report includes a brief, and fairly accurate, summary of a paper I wrote on justification. This is one of the few things on justification that I’ve published. Since some may read the Report without reading the article, let me summarize what I thought I was doing in…
Is it appropriate to use the term “justify” to describe God’s verdict at the final judgment? This has admittedly not been common usage in Reformed theology. “Justify” has normally been reserved for the “already” of God’s verdict rather than the “not yet.” But Paul uses “justify” to refer to the…
The Father has put judgment into the hands of the Son (John 5), and God the Father has appointed a day on which the Risen Son will judge all men (Acts 17:31). The judge of all will be a Man, as Paul says in Acts 17. According to the PCA…
Is the denial of judgment according to works implicitly binitarian? If we are judged according to Christ’s imputed righteousness, then at the judgment, Jesus’ works are approved but not ours. the judgment is Father-Son. But where’s the Spirit? If our works are the works of the Spirit in us, then…
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