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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Roland Worth provides a valuable treatment of the Sermon on the Mount by discussing the OT background to Jesus’ teaching. His overall argument is that the antitheses of Jesus’ sermon do not offer anything especially new but are “firmly rooted in Old Testament teaching.” Jesus’ “I say” is not a…
In his fascinating, if sometimes eccentric book, The Unity of the Bible: Exploring the Beauty and Structure of the Bible , Duane Christensen suggests that 1-2 Kings (like much of the Bible) is structured by a series of embedded heptamerous chiasms (“wheels within wheels” he calls them; also “menorah” structures).…
INTRODUCTION Ahab?s life ends in a battle with the Arameans, but the story of Ahab?s death includes another, deeper battle ?Ethe battle between true and false prophecy. Ahab?s life ends the way it began, with Ahab ignoring Yahweh?s prophet. But he cannot escape the prophet?s word by ignoring the prophet.…
Thanks to Chris Morris for provoking these thoughts, or actually sharing them with me: 1) John 4:1-42 appears to be chiastically structured: A. Jesus baptizing, moving into Galilee, 4:1-4 B. Jesus and the woman discuss water, 4:5-15 C. Jesus and the woman discuss marriage, 4:16-18 D. The woman declares Jesus…
Distinctions between inner and outer, between status and being, run through Berkhof’s treatment of justification in his systematic theology. For instance: Justification does not, as some languages imply, “denote a change that is brought about in man” but rather means “to effect an objective relation, the state of righteousness, by…
Veronica Koperski has a useful (if overly detailed) overview of current debates on Paul and the Law in her 2001 Paulist Press volume, What Are They Saying About Paul and the Law? . Refreshingly, Koperski does not simply review the same old cast of characters, but includes fairly extensive treatments…
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