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

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Baptism

Jesus' Baptism: The Fount of Life

A Study in Biblical and Practical Theology Sunday School Notes / Epiphany 2004 Introductory Note: January 6 is Epiphany in the traditional church calendar. Though Epiphany is often treated as a single day, with the Sundays following counted as “Sundays after Epiphany,” we will treat Epiphany as an extended season.…

by Rich LuskJune 1, 2004
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Baptism

Baptism, Symbols, and Faith

Imagine someone from another world trying to learn to live in our society according to our customs. What if someone gave him a check for a hundred dollars for his birthday–the first check he had ever seen in his life? Would he immediately understand how a check was used? Perhaps…

by Mark HorneMay 29, 2004
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Baptism

Admission into the Church: Biblical Theology & Baptism

According to Presbyterian doctrine, as articulated in the Westminster Confession of Faith, baptism is a baptized person’s “admission… into the visible church.” By referring to the “visible church,” the document makes clear it is referring to the present institutional Church with all her imperfections, as opposed to the future Church…

by Mark HorneMay 29, 2004
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Covenant

Some thoughts on NT Wright, Righteousness & Covenant Status

N. T. Wright claims that in the Apostle Paul’s writings “righteousness,” as it predicated of humans, denotes “covenant membership.” When he wrote this in the New Bible Dictionary edited by Sinclair Ferguson, J. I. Packer, and David Wright, no one thought this was too big a deal. However, when he…

by Mark HorneMay 29, 2004
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Theologia

The God of Grace

It seems almost human nature to think that we can find something to do for God that will make Him do us favors. If we live more virtuously, or cut down on a vice or two, then God will have to reward us. But the problem with this notion is…

by Mark HorneMay 24, 2004
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Justification

The Moral Law Commands Faith in Christ Alone

The First Commandment teaches us to trust in Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life. The First Commandment reads (I’m using NASB throughout): “You shall have no other gods before Me.” Obviously, trusting in someone or something else (even one’s own good works) for justification, sanctification, and eternal life”…

by Mark HorneMay 22, 2004

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Sermon Notes, First Sunday After Easter

INTRODUCTION Jesus comes healing, casting out demons, raising the dead, preaching the good news to the poor (Matthew 5-9), and He sends His apostles out to do the same (Matthew 10). How will Israel respond? That is the story of Matthew 11-12. THE TEXT “Now it came to pass, when…

March 24, 2008

It Really Happened

It really happened. Some 2000 years ago, Jesus of Nazareth died on a Roman cross outside Jerusalem and was placed in a nearby tomb . On the third day after His death, women came to the tomb to dress the body and found the tomb empty, heard from angels that…

March 23, 2008

Eucharistic meditation, Easter Sunday

John 20:3-8: Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb. So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not…

March 23, 2008

Exhortation, Easter Sunday

The God of the Bible is Lord of history. He shows who He is in what He does for His people. In the Old Covenant, Yahweh was the God of the patriarchs, the God who brought Israel out of Egypt, and finally the God who brought Israel back from exile.…

March 23, 2008
Theology

Engaging with Barth

In their introduction to Engaging with Barth: Contemporary Evangelical Critiques (Apollos/IVP, 2008), editors David Gibson and Daniel Strange express their appreciation for Barth’s work in “awakening a new interest in the Bible” and sparking “a massive recovery of the Reformed tradition within academic theology.” Appreciative though they are, they worry…

March 22, 2008

Hellenization?

Patristic trinitarian theology has been seen as a symptom of the radical Hellization of the church. Barth recognized that the opposite is true: The formulations of the Trinity were designed to preserve the biblical confession that God is a personal Lord. He says, “it follows from the Trinitarian understanding of…

March 22, 2008

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