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

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Ephesians

Law and Gospel in Presbyterianism

The Reformed Doctrine Stated & Briefly Vindicated from Scripture THE REFORMED VIEW ACCORDING TO OFFICIAL PRESBYTERIAN DOCTRINE The contrast between Law and Gospel is often treated as if it were a uniquely Lutheran idea, but Reformed doctrine also uses such a formulation. In fact, the distinction is important to understanding…

by Mark HorneMay 22, 2004
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Justification

Justification is the Gospel

According to N. T. Wright : By “the gospel” Paul does not mean “justification by faith” itself. He means the announcement that the crucified and risen Jesus is Lord. To believe this message, to give believing allegiance to Jesus as Messiah and Lord, is to be justified in the present…

by Mark HorneMay 22, 2004
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Justification

Justification & Adoption

Imagine two strangers who happen to be standing on the same subway train; we’ll call one Joe and the other Larry. Joe accidentally steps on the Larry’s foot so that he, in a flash of pain, thinking Joe did it intentionally, resorts to name calling and says something about Joe’s…

by Mark HorneMay 22, 2004
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Eucharist

Children at the Table

Imagine being a small child at an orphanage. One day, one of your caretakers comes rushing to you as you play in the common yard. “I have great news!” she tells you, excitedly. “What is it?” you ask. “A wonderful family has adopted you. They’re at the courthouse right now…

by Mark HorneMay 20, 2004
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Federal Vision

The Necessity of New Obedience

The Westminster Standards, Repentance, & Pardon REPENTANCE ENTAILS ALL OF LIFE According the Westminster Divines, “repentance to life” is an “evangelical” (WCF 15.1) and “saving” (WLC #87) “grace”. By it, a sinner, out of the sight and sense not only of the danger, but also of the filthiness and odiousness…

by Mark HorneMay 19, 2004
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Biblical Horizons

Liturgical Man, Liturgical Woman — Part 1

Click HERE for an audio version of this article. For Part 2, click HERE . The ordination of women to the Christian ministry, specifically the pastoral office of overseeing worship and performing preaching and the Lord’s Supper, is a recent development in Church history. From the early church until the…

by James B. JordanMay 5, 2004

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Tragedy of Judgment

What is tragedy? Some might think that it’s an easy question to answer. Crack open the nearest copy of Aristotle’s Poetics , and there you have it. It’s not so easy. What Chaucer meant by tragedy is not what Aristotle met, and in the modern age Hegel proposed a different…

February 27, 2018

Who Do You Say I Am? Part 1

Jesus bursts onto the scene in Mark as a strong man, conquering enemy after enemy. After His baptism, the Spirit drives Him into the wilderness, where He overcomes the devil and survives wild beasts. He enters the synagogue at Capernaum to teach on a Sabbath, and is met by a…

February 27, 2018

Mission of the Crucified

The following excerpt is taken from the first volume of my Matthew commentary , recently published by Athanasius Press . Jesus summoned the Twelve to Him and gave them authority and power (Matthew 10). He sent them out to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He told them…

February 26, 2018

Science and Anti-Catholicism

John Hedley Brooke ( Science and Religion , 44-45) summarizes the argument of JW Draper's 1875 History of the Conflict between Religion and Science : "The history of science, he wrote, is a narrative of the conflict of two contending powers, the expansive force of the human intellect on one…

February 23, 2018
Medicine

Sinsick

In an essay in Sin, Death, and the Devil , Stanley Hauerwas describes our “sinsick” condition, drawing from Thomas for help. Thomas links sin and sickness in a way that, Hauerwas says, strikes moderns as “bizarre”: “‘Sickness’ for us . . . is pointless. Being ‘sick’ is a condition that…

February 23, 2018

Sevens Everywhere

Everyone knows that Genesis 1 claims that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. William Brown ( Seven Pillars of Creation ) shows that the sevens are everywhere in the creation account: "The account of Genesis 1 is carefully structured around seven days within which…

February 23, 2018

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