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 a famous passage in de officiis (2.26-8), Cicero traces the collapse of the Roman “protectorate” into an oppressive conqueror. The passage is as interesting for his characterization of early Roman expansion as it is for his analysis of the collapse of earlier political standards. “Let me add, however, that…
In a recent interview on his Mars Hill Audio magazine, Ken Myers interviews Craig Holdrege, co-author of Beyond Biotechnology . One of Holdrege’s key points is that scientists have moved well beyond the early idea that the gene is the “unmoved mover” that determines everything about an organism and now…
INTRODUCTION After a long sojourn in Galilee , Jesus returns to Judea (cf. 4:12 ), and immediately the Pharisees put Him on trial (19:3) by posing a legal question. As they do later in Jerusalem , the Jewish leaders want to trap Jesus to accuse Him ( 22:15 -46). THE…
Hebrews 10:11-14: And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His…
Because the church is God’s own civilization, His city and kingdom, she marks time by her own calendar. The church lives by rhythms different from the rhythms of the world, including temporal rhythms. Yet, during the past week, many of us stayed up late to welcome the New Year and…
Virtually the first English words you hear in the recent film Transsiberian come from a pastor leading a mission trip to minister to children in China. “Ours is not a gray world,” he says. “Under the bright light of truth,” he says, “it’s a world of clear contrasts: black and…
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