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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In the final panel discussion at the LA Theological Conference, Alan Torrance offered this arresting interpretation of Peter’s confession in Matthew 16: Peter rightly confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, and Jesus responds by telling him “flesh and blood did not reveal this to you but My Father”…
Some reflections on bodies and the gospel at First Things this morning.
Shestov on Socrates: “How painful it is to read Plato’s account of the last conversations of Socrates! The days, even the hours of the old man are numbered, and yet he talks, talks, talks . . . . Crito comes to him in the early morning and tells him that…
More from Shestov: He finds an allegory of metaphysics in Anderson’s tale of the emperor’s new clothes and the child who declares the king naked. Children are always the obstacle in keeping up the charade about the emperor’s clothes. What’s to be done about the children? Shestov says, “With them…
Lev Shestov has some very funny critiques of metaphysics in All Things are Possible . In one section, he compares the differences between metaphysics and positivism to styles of painting: “In each there is the same horizon, but the composition and colouring are different. Positivism chooses grey, colorless paint and…
As a Pastor I feel the Lord’s pleasure when I preach His Word. It is a deep joy to be called and commissioed to open the Word of the Triune God for the people of God. For most of us we thought we were opening that Word faithfully and fully.…
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