Among professing Christians in America, there is perhaps no word, and the reality to which it refers, more used and abused than grace . Space only allows us to glance at the subject, but understand this: There is an application of God’s grace that actually saves the people whom he chooses to save...

Our English term sanctification derives from two Latin terms sanctus and facio . When brought together they mean “to make holy.” If we are to understand how the term sanctification is used in Scripture, we must understand the Scriptural use of the term holy . The biblical notion of holiness, or...

Jesus’ exaltation hinges on his bodily resurrection from the dead. The conquering of death by Jesus demonstrated that he is the Son of God (cf. Rom. 1:4) and all subsequent acts of his exaltation are because he has conquered sin and death. Do we recognize, however, how these matters of Jesus’...

Dear Theophilus, Since God’s word makes abundantly clear that the human soul is “deceitfully sick, beyond cure”—that is, human cure—and that God alone knows it (Jeremiah 17:9), we are wholly incapable, on our own, of accurately discerning the biblical validity of our desires, thoughts and actions...

What is faithful preaching of God’s word? How does one know whether one has heard, or is hearing on a regular basis faithful preaching of God’s word? The central importance of these questions and their answers hits us when we recognize that the Second Person of the Trinity is identified by the...

I look forward to reading Sinclair Ferguson’s Pastors and Teachers . I have long admired Dr. Ferguson’s brevity, clarity, and depth in writing and preaching. After hearing the podcast I am especially anticipating drinking from the fountain of his insights forged over many years of faithful devotion...

The terms old and new are like the terms high and low , tall and short and big and little ; they are relative terms; we know what they mean as they are used in relation to a fixed measurable standard. I am short in relation to some people, tall in relation to others. When the term old man or old...

The topics of apologetics and natural theology are, to say the least, complex and controversial. Yet as Christians we have to deal with them. So let us try informed by God’s word and the history of the Church. We must define our terms, and while broad summary definitions can generally be agreed...

Within Reformed theology there is an emphasis on the “already, but not yet” aspect of the Christian faith and life. It’s an emphasis, though, that is not merely within Reformed theology but more importantly Scripture. Our Triune Lord has already accomplished all his promises (Gen. 17:5; Ex. 2:23-25...

Words hardly do justice to the experience of preaching and teaching God’s word. Irony is the blanket from which the preacher cannot free himself. After all, the hope of glory is Christ in you (Col. 1:27), but those in whom Christ resides are, by themselves, corrupt, polluted, wayward, deaf and...

Review of B. B. Warfield, “The Biblical Doctrine of the Trinity,” in Collected Works , vol. 2, (NY: Oxford UP, 1929; Reprint Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1991), 133-72. The belief that there is “one only and true God, but in the unity of the Godhead there are three coeternal and coequal...

The first day of creation consisted in God creating day and night. God created light and distinguished it from darkness. God created history and filled it with the objects he created, sustains and perfects. What we call “history” is dependent on God, both for its existence, purpose and outcome...

The history of Christian theology could be told from the perspective of how the church’s theological giants have been misunderstood and misrepresented. One theological giant who fits in such a storyline is the Old Princeton scholar B. B. Warfield (1851-1921). Perhaps the central point at which he...

Sola Scriptura affirms that Scripture alone is the supreme and final authority for human thinking and living. Since God created by his Word and Spirit, all the various kinds of authority within creation are subordinate to or dependent upon God’s word. God does not depend on that which he created to...

Why do some pastors so strongly emphasize the “means of grace” or God’s “ordinances”—God’s word, the sacraments (Baptism and the Lord’s Supper) and prayer? It boils down to this: humans are dead in their sin, wholly corrupted in their soul, and the only source of life—God—has given to his church...

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” God is life. There is no life apart from God. For life to be, God must give it and sustain it. There is no such thing as life that God does not give or sustain. Among the many things this means, perhaps one of the most monumental is this:...

Faithful preachers and teachers in the Church have always looked for effective ways to communicate their points. The acronym TULIP, of course, is a device meant to communicate the core of the doctrine of human salvation. Like all pedagogical devices, it is not meant to explain everything that could...

God’s redeemed covenant people have a long and sad history of failing to communicate in word and deed God’s saving truth despite being the merciful recipients of it. Among other things, it reveals that the sins that we so easily identify and criticize in others are actually in our lives; they...

Perhaps the most disturbing sign of the impoverished condition of many professing Christians, Christian congregations and denominations is their inability to recognize and self-consciously live in the practicality of the doctrine of the Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity is the distinguishing...

There are several things necessary for an orchestra performance that by themselves would not be sufficient for the performance. Instruments, the music, the sheets upon which the music was written and many other things would all be necessary for the performance. Still, by themselves, such things are...

Everyone, whether Christian or not, has a doctrine of inerrancy. Everyone believes some things to be true, others false and they base their life on what they believe is true, right and good. No one actually functions believing that they are void of all truth. This can be known from observation of...

One of the most important interpretive questions with which we have to wrestle as we seek to understand the Bible is: How are the Old and New Testament (OT...