substitution

The Message of Isaiah is a Message to Us

Jeffrey Stivason
Jul 26, 2023
After reading through this prophecy, one doesn’t need to make it further than the first five chapters to realize that there is a profound problem. The people of God know the right things to say. In 1:15, they spread out their hands in prayer. They know the right things to do. In 1:11, they...

How Does God Harden Hearts?

Ray Heiple
Jul 9, 2021
Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens (Rom. 9:18). In the well-known story of Israel’s exodus from Egypt, God is described as hardening Pharaoh’s heart so that Pharaoh disobeys God. In point of fact, ten times God is said to harden Pharaoh’s heart, six times it...

Rethinking Rethinking Incarceration

Jeffrey Stivason
Feb 11, 2021
The dangers facing the church today are subtle. They are like those facing the family. Imagine a young man sits his parents down at the kitchen table for a talk. He then outs himself as gay or perhaps transgendered. The danger facing that family at that moment is very real. Traditionally they have...

With All Your Heart Podcast

Jonathan Master
Jun 15, 2020
With All Your Heart Dr. Craig Troxel is professor of Practical Theology at Westminster Seminary California and James’ former pastor. Craig visits the podcast to discuss his recently written book, With All Your Heart: Orienting Your Mind, Desires, and Will toward Christ. When Scripture mentions the...

A Contrast in Growth

Jeffrey Stivason
Jun 12, 2020
Everybody loves the Joseph story. Chapters thirty-seven through fifty with the minor exception of chapter thirty-eight seem to be all about Joseph. And that is exactly why we have to remind ourselves that the story is not Joseph’s but Jacob’s story. Genesis 37:2 reminds us that these are the...

Good News from a Far Country: Learning the Gospel from a Nineteenth Century Scotsman

John Biegel
May 1, 2020
When I found that Banner of Truth was slated to reissue nineteenth-century Scottish pastor Horatius Bonar’s exposition of the doctrine of justification The Everlasting Righteousness [1] this year, I was inordinately delighted. That’s because, outside of Scripture, The Everlasting Righteousness is...

The Ordo Salutis: Justification

Tim Bertolet
Mar 26, 2020
John Calvin called justification as “the main hinge on which religion turns” and said we must devote great attention to it ( Institutes, III.xi.1). When we consider justification’s role in the order of salvation it plays a crucial role in distinction from other element but not in separation from...

Humiliation & Exaltation: Christ's Obedience

Stephen Unthank
Feb 5, 2020
There is a logical progression when one moves from the doctrine of the incarnation to the doctrine of Christ’s obedience. As Jeff Stivason argued in a previous post, Christ Jesus not only came into the world to save sinners (1 Tim. 1:15) but, in order for God to save sinners, the Son had to become...

Love and Anger at the Cross?

Nick Batzig
Jan 6, 2019
Last week, Wyatt Graham published a post titled, " The Father Was Not Angry at the Son of the Cross ," in which he rightly explained that God the Father never stopped loving the Son--even when the Son hung on the cross. While there are many good and helpful statements in Wyatt's post--and, while he...

Calvin, Keller and the Westminster Assembly

Scott Cook
Aug 3, 2017
Over at Derek Rishmway's blog Reformedish , Tim Keller has posted an excellent article on the reality of Christ's suffering on the cross . Relying on excerpts drawn from Calvin's interpretation of the descent of Christ into hell ( Book II.16.8 ), Keller deals with the question of how Christ could...