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Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.

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Federal Vision

Whose Legalism? Which Works-Righteousness?

The 2002 Auburn Avenue Pastor’s Conference and the Assurance of Grace Recently, there has been some controversy over the presentations of four speakers at the Auburn Avenue Pastor’s Conference. Accusations have been made including a denial of justification by faith alone and something close enough to “baptismal regeneration” that it…

by Mark HorneMay 28, 2003
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Galatians

The Problem with Moses (It's Not What You Think!)

Today, many in the Reformed world view a meritorious covenant of works as essential to a proper understanding of the gospel. These theologians believe that God set up a program in the Garden by which Adam would merit eternal life and blessing by his obedience. These same theologians usually regard…

by Rich LuskMay 24, 2003
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Theologia

The Gospel = Jesus Is Lord

After I graduated from college in 1989, I spent a summer in the Atlanta area in Georgia learning that I was not cut out for construction work. Then I met George Grant, one of my favorite authors. He was working for a church in South Florida in charge of their…

by Mark HorneMay 24, 2003
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Justification

Righteousness from God

One meaning of “righteousness” in the Bible is moral uprightness. Perhaps a more basic meaning would be faithfulness. For example, Psalm 96.13 praises God, saying: He will judge the world in righteousness, And the peoples in faithfulness. In Hebrew poetry two lines often say the same thing using different words.…

by Mark HorneMay 24, 2003
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Eschatology

Participationist Eschatology

I once saw “eschatology” defined as the study of edible French snails. But it really means the doctrine of the last things in Christian theology. In American Evangelical culture it is usually reduced to science fiction stories. But for the Apostle Paul it was actually the key to the Christian…

by Mark HorneMay 23, 2003
Atonement

N. T. Wright on the Atonement

To understand the view of Nicholas Thomas Wright regarding Christ’s work of redemption, one must begin with the centrality of Adam to the plight of the human race. Anyone who has heard Wright’s lectures on Philippians will not be able to forget his haunting appeal to Genesis 5.3 as a…

by Mark HorneMay 23, 2003

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Old School on sacraments

In his fine recent biography of John Williamson Nevin, DG Hart notes that the Old School Presbyterians failed to express “the mediated character of grace and of the church’s centrality in dispensing the blessings of the gospel” as clearly as Nevin himself. He attributes this failure not to the influence…

October 25, 2005
Theology

Puritans and mediation

Mark Noll makes the following important distinction between the Puritans and later evangelicals: “Although Puritans stood against Catholic and Anglican formalism, salvation for the Puritans was still mediated by institutions - family, church, covenanted society; in evangelicalism (at least in American forms), salvation was in principle unmediated except by the…

October 25, 2005
Theology

On Women Theologians

In an intriguing book published some years ago, historian David Noble described the origins of modern science among medieval monks and friars who lived in what Noble called “a world without women.” Though the book promoted every trendy academic fad existing in 1992 and was rife with contradictions (women are…

October 24, 2005

Sermon outline, October 30

INTRODUCTION All cultures draw lines between who is “inside” and who is “outside,” and between different classes of people within the culture. Cultures lift some people up “high” and consider some people “low.” The gospel confounds the boundaries of all worldly cultures, and redraws the lines between those who are…

October 24, 2005

Eucharistic meditation, October 23

Isaiah 25:6-8: And the Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain; a banquet of wine, choice pieces with marrow, and refined, aged wine. And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, even the veil which is…

October 23, 2005

Exhortation, October 23

Unlike our Bibles, which follow the order of the Septuagint, the Hebrew Bible ends with 2 Chronicles. The last word of the Hebrew Bible is the decree of Cyrus to the exiles of Jerusalem: “Let him go up.” The gospel of Matthew likewise ends with a command to “Go.” The…

October 23, 2005

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