Predestination

Heinrich Bullinger’s early life was studded with dangers. At the time of his birth, July 18, 1504, his family was still frequently on the move to escape the wrath of his uncles (his mother’s brothers), who were bent on killing his father. After all, Heinrich Sr. was the local priest, and had taken...

Our extraordinary God loves the ordinary. And it seems that in his extraordinary salvation of sinners he loves to use ordinary means. This is true even in the extraordinarily gracious preservation of his children; ordinary means mark the road all the way home to our final rest in Christ. Indeed,...

The doctrine is known by more than one name, which has created some serious problems because it has led to confusion about what the biblical teaching really is. Two other terms or expressions, "eternal security" and "once saved, always saved," are not the most accurate to use because of what can...

This week on Theology on the Go, our host, Dr. Jonathan Master is joined by Dr. Thomas J. Nettles, retired Professor of Historical Theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Dr. Nettles is regarded by some as one of the foremost Baptist historians in America today...

Pastor Paul was studying when interrupted by the knock at the door. The sound was rapid fire and thud-like. "Someone is upset," he thought as he called out an invitation to enter. Jacob stumbled through the doorway carrying an armload of books. The pastor sat easily back in his chair. He knew it...

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ given to mankind in the Gospel is of course resistible. We noted this very truth a few weeks back when Place for Truth covered man’s Total Depravity. In our fallen nature, men and women are entirely incapable of obeying the Gospel command to repent and believe in...

Some Christians resist belief in the doctrine of irresistible grace. These brothers and sisters find the teaching that grace conquers all pushback repugnant. How could an all-loving God run roughshod over the freedom of his human creation? This is a misunderstanding of the doctrine for sure. We...

The third point in Reformed theology’s famous acrostic suffers from something of an identity problem. As it has been often observed, the preferred way to describe the doctrine in question is that of either definite atonement or particular redemption, owing to the traditional term’s rather negative...

John 17 contains the wonderful prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ in which he bears his soul to the Father shortly before his death on the cross for elect sinners-soon-to-be-saints. In this prayer Jesus is asking that his manifest glory, which he had from before the world was created, would be his...

Exuberant over an experience, an oh-so-sweet manifestation of divine providence, you delightedly seek to give God praise in telling your story. “It was such a ‘God thing’,” you proclaim. As you see it, God wove together an otherwise inexplicable combination of events to deliver a wonderful—even...