Reformation21

I am happy to provide a response to some of the concerns made by Rick Phillips. He agrees with me on merit, which was what my two posts were really about. So I am glad for our agreement on that. But he saw some statements on grace in the Garden that made him uncomfortable. Richard Muller has made...

Mark Jones' posts ( here and here ) regarding grace as pertains to the covenants of works and grace raise some perennial questions in covenant theology. As I read Mark, a number of concerns come to my mind, which I offer in a spirit of cordial discussion. I would highlight three immediate concerns...

Shamelessly stealing Aaron's "Calvin contra . . ." title form while trying to slip into Mark's stream of interest in merit, I thought this might be a good time to indulge a little excursion in Reformed diversity by noting Calvin's peculiar position on the source of Christ's merit. At least since...

Part 1 here. Westminster Seminary California Professor, David VanDrunen, critiques Norman Shepherd for rejecting Adamic merit: "It is not difficult to see how such a view, if taken seriously, makes belief in Christ's active, imputed obedience impossible. If image bearers do not merit anything...

One of my favourite philosophers, Inigo Montoya, said to Vizzini '' You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means '' I expect with the upcoming release of the Lloyd Jones documentary there will again be discussions of 'unction' in Preaching. Trying to define unction is...

I profited from Paul Levy's review of Dangerous Calling by Paul Tripp (Carl Trueman today called it a "penetrating review"). In the review Levy makes the following point: "The memorable if somewhat ironic statement 'The bottom line is this: proud people tend to talk about themselves a lot' (p175)...

"Many things which are now seen in the world are rather corruptions of it than any part of its proper furniture. For ever since man declined from his high original, it became necessary that the world should gradually degenerate from its nature." So wrote Calvin in his commentary on Genesis 2, with...

Readers may be interested to hear of a new journal, Unio Cum Christo , an "international journal of Reformed theology and life" (because it's important not to undersell yourself). With quite an array of editors, boarders, and contributors, it looks like a stimulating new venture. You will know many...

I have been traveling and have not posted in a bit, so let me bring up another question that came from the Grand Rapids PCRT: "What is the root issue that would allow "Christian" denominations to ordain homosexuals and perform homosexual marriages?" The simple answer to this question is that such...

One of my favourite books on preaching is ' Preaching - The man, the message, the method ' by Geoffrey Thomas who this year will celebrate being the minister of Alfred Place Baptist Church, Aberystwyth for 50 years! Geoff gave the John Reed Miller lectures at RTS, Jackson in 2000 and these were...