Posts by Ryan McGraw

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Covenant Theology: Biblical, Theological, and Historical Perspectives

Ryan McGraw
Nov 5, 2020
Guy Prentiss Waters, Nicholas J. Reid, and John R. Muether, eds., Covenant Theology: Biblical, Theological, and Historical Perspectives (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2020). This volume begins with a clear assertion: “Covenant theology is Reformed theology” (23). While other theological traditions have...

Doddridge and Evangelical Dissent

Ryan McGraw
Feb 6, 2020
Robert Strivens, Philip Doddridge and the Shaping of Evangelical Dissent , Ashgate Studies in Evangelicalism (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2015). 201pp. Hardcover. For many students of Reformed Orthodoxy (1560-1790), the eighteenth century “high orthodox” period is notoriously difficult to navigate...

Reforming Apologetics

Ryan McGraw
May 18, 2019
J.V. Fesko, Reforming Apologetics: Retrieving the Classic Reformed Approach to Defending the Faith . Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2019. 250pp. Paperback. Christians often polarize one another over their approaches to apologetics. While different apologetic schools compete for dominance in...

Reforming Apologetics

Ryan McGraw
May 18, 2019
J.V. Fesko, Reforming Apologetics: Retrieving the Classic Reformed Approach to Defending the Faith . Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2019. 250pp. Paperback. Christians often polarize one another over their approaches to apologetics. While different apologetic schools compete for dominance in...

Reforming Apologetics

Ryan McGraw
May 18, 2019
J.V. Fesko, Reforming Apologetics: Retrieving the Classic Reformed Approach to Defending the Faith . Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2019. 250pp. Paperback. Christians often polarize one another over their approaches to apologetics. While different apologetic schools compete for dominance in...

When Sitting Under Less Than Biblical Preaching

Ryan McGraw
Jul 10, 2018
Preachers are weak and imperfectly sanctified men. They hold the treasure of gospel ministry in earthen vessels (2 Cor. 4:7). There is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin (Eccl. 7:20). Not many should be teachers because we all fail in man things (Jas. 3:1). In light of such...

Everyone Plays a Part in Preaching

Ryan McGraw
Jun 6, 2018
Every Christian needs to understand the theology of preaching in Scripture because Christ designed every Christian to sit under sermons. Yet are there ways for all believers to participate in sermons? All Christians, and not the preacher only, should participate actively in the preparation,...

The Pulpit Direction

Ryan McGraw
May 9, 2018
Preaching Christ is part of the definition of preaching, but it is not the only task of preachers. Warning every man and teaching every man in order to present every man perfect in Christ (Col. 1:28) requires wise and specific application. What should sermon application look like? If I tell my...

Always Preach Christ?

Ryan McGraw
Apr 6, 2018
It is one thing to have a sound theory of preaching; it is another thing to stand behind a pulpit twice a week. Theory can easily fall apart when we meet instances in which we are not sure how to the biblical model of preaching. This is true both when preaching biblical books that do not appear to...

A Pattern for Preaching Christ

Ryan McGraw
Mar 19, 2018
As children learn by watching their parents, so preachers and hearers learn much by looking at the Apostles. The principles taught in the preceding nine post risk resembling a shapeless cloud instead of a face reflected in a mirror without adding concrete examples. This post provides an example of...

Essential Tools for Preaching Christ (Part 3)

Ryan McGraw
Feb 21, 2018
When a man and a woman are engaged to be married they can hardly talk about anything else. In fact, we might suspect that something is wrong if they don't express excitement about the wedding. The church is espoused to Christ and looks forward to the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:6-9)...

Book Review: God Is (Crossway)

Ryan McGraw
Feb 20, 2018
Mark Jones, God Is: A Devotional Guide to the Attributes of God (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2017). 240pp. Hardcover. $19.99. M any theologians have complained recently that Reformed theology has stressed the divine attributes to the neglect of divine triunity. Whether such an assessment of classic...

Essential Tools for Preaching Christ (Part 2)

Ryan McGraw
Jan 27, 2018
Sound exegesis is insufficient for sound preaching. This assertion might seem surprising in light of the popular resurgence of consecutive expository preaching. While we should welcome and encourage the shift toward expository preaching due to its emphasis on biblical texts and books, it is not...

Essential Tools for Preaching Christ (Part 1)

Ryan McGraw
Dec 28, 2017
Owning a home brings blessings and liabilities with it. While a home can be a good investment it requires maintenance. Homeowners generally have two options in maintaining their homes: they can hire someone to do the work, or they need to get the tools that they need to do it themselves. They need...

Preaching and the Mission of the Trinity

Ryan McGraw
Nov 11, 2017
Every divine work reflects God's Triunity. This means that if we want to understand what God is doing in our lives we must begin with who God is. The Father always acts through his Son and by his Spirit. We come to the Father, by the Spirit, through the Son (Eph. 2:18). Preaching in relation to...

Aiming to Preach with Aims

Ryan McGraw
Jun 28, 2017
We need to hear Christ in order to believe in him for salvation (Rom. 10:14). Ordinarily we hear his voice through his ordained ambassadors as they preach the gospel in demonstration of the Spirit's power (Rom. 10:15; 2 Cor. 5:19-6:2; 1 Cor. 2:5). Yet we can believe these things and still make...

How Then Should We Preach?

Ryan McGraw
May 22, 2017
However well constructed and attractive, a car is useless without fuel. On the flip side, a motor may have fuel without being a vehicle. Likewise, preaching is a vehicle that requires fuel. God designed preaching to bring us to himself through faith in Christ. If preaching does not have the right...

The Necessity of Preaching

Ryan McGraw
Apr 11, 2017
Salvation is an expansive term. It essentially means "safety." Salvation includes the application of Christ's work from the new birth, through faith and repentance, to Justification, adoption, sanctification, and glorification. Christians share in Christ's benefits because they are united to him...

Preaching Christology or Preaching Christ: What is Preaching?

Ryan McGraw
Mar 13, 2017
Good teaching begins with definitions. Effective schoolteachers tell their students what they are doing and why in order help students learn well. This often means defining terms specific to each subject. Math students need to learn what a hypotenuse is and students of physics need to understand...