“The holy community which Calvin sought to set up in Geneva represents in some ways a completer integration of Christianity with civilization than anything Europe had yet seen. It is true that there emerges within Calvinism, especially in its later Puritan developments, a more negative attitude toward the cultural amenities than had been present in …
War That Aims for Peace
“I will never meddle with any strife but that which shall have peace to be the end of it. No war is good upon any terms, taken up upon the justest ground, unless it aims at peace. That soldier is a murderer who sheds blood not in reference to peace. The swords and ensigns of …
Restitution: The Forgotten Duty
This last Lord’s Day, I preached on the forgotten duty of restitution. You can take a listen here. “Forgiveness of sin is forgiveness of sin, not redefinition of sin (Rom. 13:8-10). ‘Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven’ contains a glorious truth. But, misapplied as it frequently is, it also represents a travesty of biblical living.”
Christ the Lord of Redemption
The gospel is not fragile. In it, the wisdom of God in Christ overthrows kingdoms, powers, principalities, egos, and various cherished doctrines. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. …
Self-Condemned
The word hairetikos, heretic, is obviously related to our discussion of the word hairesis, or heresy. It is only used once in the New Testament, in Titus 3:10. In that place, we are told that a man who is a heretic should be rejected after two admonitions or warnings. The natural question is whether the …
A Large Bible
“Yet further, do not repeat the same idea over and over again in other words. Let there be something fresh in each sentence. Be not forever hammering away at the same nail: yours is a large Bible; permit people to enjoy its length and breadth” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 134).
The Cape and Beret Problem Again
“Before romanticism declared art the province of a talented, bohemian few, drawing and painting were both common scientific tools and signs of personal refinement” (Virginia Postrel, The Substance of Style, p. 170).
Oh, Yeah
“Would you receive benefits? Bestow benefits then. Would you have mercy? Be merciful then. Would you be commended? Commend others. Would you be loved? Then love. You be the judge yourself; you be the lawgiver of your own life. That which you hate, do not to another. Cannot you endure reproach? Do not reproach others. …
God’s Palimpsest
Let’s begin with the basic reason why it is so important to understand what the ground of our justification is — the early Reformers insisted on this (rightly) in the Pauline spirit of preventing any man from boasting about his salvation, which sinful men always want to do. The point was not that we had …
Mammon and Managed Markets
Jeff Tucker lets off a little steam here. HT: David Field. But since I have linked to the von Mises site, let me just say something about secular economic libertarianism. There are two points to make about it. First, it is an idol. Second, it is an idol that virtually no one bows down to. …