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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S COTUS has spoken. Same-sex marriage is the law of the land. Time to move on. This insistent message comes from leaders in both parties, but Michael Needham, writing at The American Interest , says that “moving on is not so easy for some Americans. Moving on wasn’t an option…
W alter Russell Mead writes that Hillary Clinton's candidacy is the climax of a long progress, the march of the Boomers through the institutions. Unfortunately, she's the triumphant defender of a status quo that many believe to be broken, perhaps beyond repair. Mead is explaining the Trump phenomenon, but his…
T he first portion of 1 Chronicles 8 is structured roughly by two sets of five lists of the descendants of Benjamin. The first group lists the names of sons for Benjamin, and then for succeeding generations of Benjamites: 1. Sons of Benjamin, vv. 1-2 2. Sons of Bela, vv.…
A ndrew Bacevich argues that we are building a “multi-trillion dollar bridge to nowhere” in the Middle East. Coming to the Presidency as the anti-Bush, Obama will end his Presidency with America in Bushian shape throughout the world: “Like Bush, Obama will bequeath to his successor wars he failed to…
P aul the apostle was a Hebrew of the Hebrews from the tribe of Benjamin. That tribal association is significant, introducing a multi-layered typology of apostolic ministry. Paul was originally Saul, the namesake of the first and fallen king of Israel. That a Benjamin Saul would become the leader of…
R od Dreher summarized several reports that many Muslim refugees have converted to Christianity when they arrived in Europe. Harriet Sherwood at The Guardian reports: “At Trinity church in the Berlin suburb of Steglitz, the congregation has grown from 150 two years ago to almost 700, swollen by Muslim converts,…
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