Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Book Review The Call of Grace: How the Covenant Illuminates Salvation & Evangelism by Norman Shepherd The Call of Grace is an excellent manual to put in the hands of laymen to teach them how to rest in God’s grace while taking seriously the prize of the upward call of…
My Role as a Parent in My Children’s Salvation Evangeline Jael Horne is our third child. My two boys were born while we were at seminary and we had the privilege of giving them to Jeff Meyers, our pastor at that time, for baptism. When Evangeline was born, however, I…
John Calvin writes in the Institutes about the possibility of admitting children to the Lord’s Supper by virtue of their baptism once and only once: At length they object, that there is not greater reason for admitting infants to baptism than to the Lord’s Supper, to which, however, they are…
The debate over paedocommunion does not seem to have made much headway on either side in recent years. Certainly both sides have made a solid effort to argue for their position. But no resolution seems to be forthcoming in the near future. As a convinced paedocommunionist, I find the church’s…
Lots of conservative Protestants want to answer “no” to this question. The problem with this position is that conservative Protestants are bound to believe what the Bible teaches. And the Bible says inconvenient things, like “baptism now saves you” (1 Peter 3.21), or “all of you who were baptized into…
This paper is something of a follow-up to my earlier study, “ Baptismal Efficacy and the Reformed Tradition: Past, Present, and Future .” One of the more controversial aspects of that paper was my claim that Calvin held to a very high view of baptismal efficacy. Indeed, he was a…
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Matthew describes two sets of witnesses in the Sanhedrin trial of Jesus.  One is a set of false witnesses, but they fail to bring convincing testimony.  There is a second set of witnesses, two witnesses, who come “later” (v. 60).  These witnesses bring a united testimony, one that passes the…
The priests and elders are sticklers.  They want to convict Jesus and put Him to death.  That’s the goal of the trial.  But they also know that they have to operate according to the rules of justice given in their Torah.  They know they need testimony, and they know that…
On the first Passover, Israel was delivered from the angel of death and separated from Egypt.  In the narrative in Exodus 12-14, the night of Passover continues, narrativally, until the day after the crossing of the sea.  Chronologically, it is not the same night; but in the narrative there is…
The trial and death of Jesus looks like a tragedy, for Him.  It isn’t,  not in the least, and not just because He’s raised from the dead.  He’s no victim of circumstance or fate, but lays down His life for His sheep. But there is tragedy, the tragedy of Israel.…
The Sanhedrin condemns Jesus for claiming that He was able to destroy the temple and rebuild it.  To them, that was equivalent to claiming God’s power, and had to be blasphemy.  Surely Jesus didn’t have that kind of power - never mind that He had spent several years very publicly…
Athanasius argues: The Son assumed flesh, and its terrors, especially the terror of death.  The goal was to overcome death and terror, but the Son did this by suffering those terrors Himself. We will be delivered from death, and not just in the future.  Athanasius points to martyrs to demonstrate…
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