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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A recent issue of Science News reports that rats live longer if they are constantly stimulated by novelty. Rats that have nothing to look forward to but another day in the maze or on the wheel die sooner. That may say something about human beings, but it certainly gives us…
In offering his nominations for “Books of the Year,” Tom Shippey (TLS, Dec 5) tells the following story: “Some years ago a Farmborough biker with an interest in the occult climbed Glastonbury Tor and asked the Goddess to help him find Excalibur before the next full moon. The day before…
How is it that the unity of the Church shows the world that the Father has sent the Son, as Jesus says in John 17? There are doubtless many dimensions to this, but here’s one possibility: The unity of the disciples, the way they share their lives together in harmony…
Rich Lusk of the Auburn Avenue Presbyterian Church in Monroe, LA, put me onto the works of M.F. Sadler, a late 19th-century Anglican theologian, and I’ve been very impressed with what I’ve found there. For example: In the first chapter of his Church Doctrine, Bible Truth , Sadler points out…
Eucharistic Meditation for Fourth Sunday in Advent: I mentioned at the beginning of the sermon today the error that some Christians have fallen into of resting the whole of our redemption on the incarnation itself. They treat Christmas as if it were detachable from the life of Jesus, from Good…
Exhortation for Fourth Sunday in Advent: For many the Christmas season is not a time of good cheer but almost the opposite. It’s a time of frustration, anxiety, bad temper, family strife, and disappointed expectations. It’s a time when kids eat too much candy, which leads first to hyperactivity and…
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