Contrary to what some Dispensational writers have claimed, the Christian church, in the post-apostolic period, has always taught covenant theology. The Epistle of Barnabas (c. AD 120) wrote a fairly mature covenantal explanation of the history of redemption, the unity of the covenant [of grace], and the centrality of ChristContinue Reading
The Bible is structured by architectonic principles. Reformed theologians have, by and large, agreed that all of God’s special revelation is structured by a Covenant of Works and a Covenant of Grace. This is not to say (as many have wrongly charged) that Covenant theologians do not believe in aContinue Reading
According to Mark Driscoll, when someone quite reasonably questioned the validity of his claim to have received a direct revelation, he scoffed. Who could doubt its validity, since it was in accord with Scripture and his aims were true? Well, any Reformed Christian would and should seriously question any claim madeContinue Reading
One of the most challenging trials for believers during our pilgrimage through this dark and fallen world is truly to believe and rest in the love that God has for us. Sinclair Ferguson once noted that the experience of so many believers is the internalising of the thought, “He lovesContinue Reading
There are many who are ignorant of the danger that they’ve placed themselves in by trying to make their heavenly pilgrimage apart from the local church. We face a far greater threat than a rattlesnake; we stand against the smooth-talking serpent of Genesis 3, one who “prowls around like aContinue Reading
There is an alternative to the Gnosticism and Marcionism of Modern American Christianity. It is the Reformed confession. It seeks to be biblical, ecumenical (or catholic – that is, adhering the ancient ecumenical or catholic creeds – for example, the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Definition of Chalcedon andContinue Reading
One sometimes reads people who suggest that the Christian faith and gospel more or less disappeared after the apostles, only to be partially recovered in the Reformation and more fully recovered in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The Epistle to the Philippians, which is thoroughly theological and Christ-focused, refutes anyContinue Reading
Jesus introduced the Lord’s Supper at a solemn time, the Passover meal on the night before His death. Paul shows its solemnity in the warnings he gives to those who would participate in the supper in 1 Corinthians 11:17–34. Paul is concerned that Christians in the Corinthian church are notContinue Reading
Recently, I read Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations for the first time—a bracing read in a weighty and contentious season. Likely written around the 170s, the material later published as Meditations probably wasn’t meant for public consumption. Marcus Aurelius (Roman Emperor from 161–180 AD) kept the journal, a collection of short mentalContinue Reading
Every Christian should be reading First Peter right now. Of course, all of Scripture is always relevant is profitable. But Peter’s words are powerfully applicable to us today. Why is that? Peter writes to instruct God-fearing saints in how they should conduct themselves in a godless society, as citizens livingContinue Reading