If we believe that “grace does not destroy nature but perfects it”, we must believe that God’s ordained means of worship are not designed to engage Christians in piecemeal fashion but holistically. Further, if our observance of the ordained means of worship leads us to spiritually separate man, body fromContinue Reading
In this short video, theologian Michael Horton discusses how Christians should defend their faith. Horton is the J. Gresham Machen Professor of Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary California. He is the editor-in-chief of Modern Reformation magazine, and president and host of the syndicated radio broadcast, The White Horse Inn.Continue Reading
The reason there was so much opposition to Jesus’ ministry was because his gospel got to the heart of matters. He wasn’t giving a muddled dry expositions, his goal wasn’t the dissemination of information, or simply to create controversies about how to correct human behaviour. Jesus had one great goal:Continue Reading
God doesn’t do anything arbitrarily. We may not be able to grasp his intentions in full or even in part, but we can be sure that everything that he does is full of eternal purpose and divine wisdom. The secret things may belong to God, but those that are revealed belongContinue Reading
Our good works do not justify us. They do not sanctify us. They do not save us, but they are the “fruit and evidence” of a true and lively faith. Christ saved us by his obedience, death and resurrection. The Spirit sanctifies by his grace. Our good works are theContinue Reading
Mark Driscoll embodied the anger and the ability to hold people through the power of shame in the same way experienced by those who had left structured Christianity to begin with. As Mike Cosper observes, Driscoll took a particular prop, women, and beat men into silent submission through guilt andContinue Reading
In Reformed theology, the noun salvation is typically used in two ways. Sometimes it is used as a synonym for justification. When used this way, it does not include sanctification, since, according to the Reformed confession, justification is a declarative act of God whereby he credits (imputes) to sinners theContinue Reading
As I noted in Covenant, Justification, and Pastoral Ministry (2007) and have noted in this space since that time, almost as soon as the Reformation achieved clarity on salvation it came under attack from two sides: the antinomians, who would not tolerate the abiding validity of the moral law asContinue Reading
A wise elder once compared a disgruntled churchgoer to a plant that did not grow in his kitchen window. He cared for that plant, watered that plant, faithfully tended the plant, but it always looked tattered and wilted. One day the next-door neighbour offered to take the plant with theContinue Reading
By Rev. Dr Simon Jooste Just as God uses the churchly means of Word and sacraments to justify and sanctify sinners, he also uses all kinds of broader social means to uphold and sustain a common humanity. Like civil government, the institution of medicine is providentially used by God toContinue Reading