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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Denominationalism encourages a stance of irony (insincerity, Charles Morrison called it in his 1953 The Unfinished Reformation , 46). We must think our denominational “distinctives” are important, or we wouldn't be in the denomination. We are willing to use identifying language and markers to associate ourselves with those distinctives–church names,…
Peggy Noonan argues in a recent column that “Rules on immigration and refugees are made by safe people. These are the people who help run countries, who have nice homes in nice neighborhoods and are protected by their status.” On the other hand, “those who live with the effects of…
In his recent Paul & the Gift , John Barclay arrestingly translates the Greek phrase to euaggelion tes akrobustias (Galatians 2:7) as “the good news of the foreskin.” He elaborates, “Modern Gentile readers, who have never been socialized to consider the foreskin a sign of inferior otherness or repulsive disgrace,…
At the heart of John Barclay's treatment of Paul & the Gift is the claim that Paul “perfects” the incongruity of grace. The grace-gift of Jesus is not a reward to the worthy; it is not a gift to those who will make use of the gift. It is a…
“To be ‘righteous,” writes John Barclay ( Paul & the Gift ), “does not mean to be ‘saved.'” Rather, the “righteous” person is one who is “worthy of the divine gift of salvation” (377). God gives gifts to those who are worthy of them. The “righteous” are worthy. God gives…
In a recent sermon, Pastor Jimmy Gill of Trinity Presbyterian Church, Birmingham, pointed to the chiastic structure of Malachi 1:6-14, neatly marked by a sevenfold repetition of the phrase “says Yahweh of hosts.” A. Priests dishonor Yahweh their Father, 1:6a B. Blemished offerings on my altar, 1:6b-8 C. Will God…
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