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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Baptists have a hard time grasping how God might be God not only to a believer but also to his children. But a human analogy is readily at hand: Suppose I have a faithful friend who has helped me out of various difficulties, protected me when I was under threat,…
Some additional notes on Proverbs, again largely dependent on Waltke’s commentary. STRUCTURE This chapter is divided into three main sections, of which we?ll look at the first two. Verses 1-12 form a section that is marked off by the reference to the father-son relationship at the beginning and end (vv.…
A couple of scattered notes on Paul?s argument in Romans 4. 1) Paul?s statement about belief in ?Him who justifies the ungodly?E(v. 5) clearly applies to Abraham. Verse 2 says Abraham was not ?justified by works,?Eand verse 4 refers again to ?one who works?Ein contrast to the ?one who does…
Mark 11:15-16: ?And He entered the temple and began to cast out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who were selling doves, and He would not permit anyone to carry goods through the temple.?E We…
People often cling to familiar and comfortable things even when they know that clinging to the past will destroy them. Remember Lot?s wife: When fire falls from heaven and starts burning your town, that?s a strong hint it?s time to leave. Yet, Lot?s wife yearned for the doomed world she…
Eberhard Jungel?s 2001 volume, Justification: The Heart of the Christian Faith (T&T Clark) has a lot of useful material (and some not so useful material). I found Chapter 3, ?The Justification Event?Eto be the most useful. Below, I?ve summarized his arguments from that chapter. 1) Jungel starts with the Aristotelian…
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