Category: Reformed

  • The Sin of Man and the Justice of God

    The Augsburg Confession rightly says that God is not the cause of man’s sin: Of the Cause of Sin they teach that, although God does create and preserve nature, yet the cause of sin is the will of the wicked, that is, of the devil and ungodly men; which will, unaided of God, turns itself…

  • C. S. Lewis: God, Gender and Priestesses

    This is an interesting article by C. S. Lewis on God, Gender and Priestesses. Lewis wrote the article in 1948. In particular, Lewis talks about feminine language to describe God as mother, etc. This article by Lewis predates by 40-50 years the current controversies in the Episcopal church and other denominations. Here is an article…

  • Freedom or Bondage of the Will?

    I am thinking today about libertarianism (Free Will) and determinism (Bondage of the Will). In particular, I am thinking about compatibilism. Under compatibilism there is an assertion that man is both free to choose and determined. The example of Saddam Hussein in prison comes to mind. In some very limited sense of the word free,…

  • Heritage of Machen

    Machen fought the forces of liberalism in his day. His spiritual children ended up fighting each other. This article details the areas of battle.

  • Punting to Mystery

    Biblically, what is a true mystery? When are we justified in calling something a mystery? If there is a contradiction in our theology can we say that it is all rectified by recourse to mystery? There are things in Scripture that are called mysteries. The calling of the Gentiles was only hinted at in the…

  • Scholastic Bifurcation

    The Scholastics loved their philosophy. In their philosophies, they loved to split things into categories. Then they subdivided these categories into sub categories with nearly infinite regression. Bangs points out that this was greatly aided by the invention of the printing press. With the press, they could create large fold out charts containing their categories.…

  • Open Theism

    Open theists assert that God does not know the future until it happens. One verse that is difficult for their position is: Isaiah 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’; God…

  • Internal Consistency and Truth

    It is possible for a system to be internally consistent and yet false. For instance a system might assert five truths, call them A, B, C, D and E. Suppose that someone who holds this ABCDE system is asked to prove the A. Suppose then that person says, B proves A. Suppose the proof is…

  • Free Will Defense

    Here is a good article on free will and determinism which deals with some of the common objections to the Free Will Defense; Overcoming Objections to Self-determinism (Free-will).

  • Twenty Centuries Later – Locating the Nexus

    How Do We Understand the Bible? N. T. Wright, in his book, “The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is” addresses the question of how we are to understand the Bible in our modern world. Wright starts with an carefully developed historical view of first century Palestine. He puts his scholarly focus on…

  • Broken Syllogisms and the Equivocation Fallacy

    A syllogism is sometimes posed in order to prove that regeneration precedes justification: 1 – It is pleasing to God for someone to repent 2 – Those who are in the flesh cannot please God 3 – Therefore those who are in the flesh cannot repent The desired conclusion of this syllogism is that a…

  • Dead Men Can’t Respond

    It is often said that “dead men can’t respond” or “dead means unable to respond“. This is used in relation to the passages which speak of our condition before we came to Christ. It is said that since we were dead, and dead men can’t respond, then we were unable to respond to God. The…

  • Whence Cometh Faith?

    Where Does Faith Come From? The New Testament has a lot of verses on faith but not too many passages clearly identify where faith comes from. There are several Scriptural possibilities for where our faith comes from. One is that faith is from God, and the other is that faith comes from somewhere inside a…

  • N. T. Wright on the Gospel and Justification

    Anglican Bishop, N. T. Wright, writes: By “the gospel” Paul does not mean “justification by faith.” He means the announcement that the crucified and risen Jesus is Lord. To believe this message is to give believing allegiance to Jesus as Messiah and Lord” is to be justified in the present by faith (whether or not…

  • Law-Gospel Distinction

    The founder of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, Dr. C. F. W. Walther, gave a series of lectures starting in 1884 on the distinctions between Law and Gospel. These are published as a set of thesis in a book entitled, “The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel“. The book provides a set of six rules/guidelines…

  • Methodist Group in Trouble

    A recent story has the warned from Lyle Schaller warning his Northern Illinois Conference of the Methodist Church that they are headed to extinction. Schaller’s words ought to be listened to because he is a well-known expert on church growth. But more importantly Schaller is knowledgeable on church decline. Schaller sees all of the signs…

  • Parachurch Ministries

    What is the place of parachurch ministries? Should Christians participate in parachurch ministries? Does support of parachurch organizations take away from the church or does it add to it? Is the mission of the church diluted or built up by parachurch organizations? Definitions A few definitions are in order. A parachurch ministry is one that…

  • Greek Text of Eph 2:8

    Ephesians 2:8 is often quoted as evidence that faith is a gift. The Greek text makes this interpretation a difficult one, however. It may be the case that faith is a gift from God but this verse is inconclusive as proof. Greek has a concept known as gender agreement. Nouns, pronouns and adjectives share the…

  • Calvinist or Arminian?

    For some, this question is like asking “Reformed or Pelagian?” They view things in particular categories that were historically formed hundreds of years ago or more than fifteen hundred years ago in the battle between Augustine and Pelagius. Today, for many, calling someone “Arminian” is a curse. Who was Arminius? Jacob Arminius was a Dutch…

  • Creeds of the Non-Creedalists

    Relecting a bit this morning about creeds and the the purposes they serve. Function of Creeds Historically, creeds served a purpose. They were the road markers for the faith. Issues were clearly delineated by the creeds. If a person strayed from the creed they went too far from the faith. Creeds provided a confessional unity.…

  • Esau Have I Hated

    Romans 9:13 is frequently by double predestinarian advocates as Biblical evidence of individual election. The passage has: Romans 9:13 – Just as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” At first glance it appears that this passage is referring to the historical individuals, Jacob and Esau. The story is so familiar that…

  • Eternally Secure

    I’ve been thinking quite a bit about eternal security and thought I’d lay out my own thoughts. Take them for what they are worth. There are a lot of different ways of approaching this subject and mine is not unique by any means. I need to start with a confession of humility of what I…

  • Baptism in the Evangelical Covenant Church

    The Evangelical Covenant Church has a fairly unique practice when it comes to baptism. Covenant Churches practice both believer and infant baptism. (The Confederation of Reformed Evangelicals also has the practice, but they are quite small.) Local churches may prefer to operate in one mode or the other but Covenant pastors are required to baptize…

  • Hating the Sin and Hating the Sinner

    At church we been learning about the Love of God for this past semester. Today, we talked about what God hates. There are a lot of passages which talk about how God hates sin. We are familiar with many of them. The Psalms are full of them. In the Psalms, sin is understood as falling…