1. God hath endued the will of man with that natural liberty, that it is neither forced, nor, by any absolute necessity of nature, determined to good, or evil (Matt. 17:12; James 1:14; Deut. 30:19). By virtue of creation, mankind was given a true and natural liberty with regard to all issues of good and …
Westminster Eight: Of Christ the Mediator
1. It pleased God, in His eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, His only begotten Son, to be the Mediator between God and man (Isa. 42:1; 1 Pet. 1:19–20; John 3:16; 1 Tim. 2:5), the Prophet (Acts 3:22), Priest (Heb. 5:5–6), and King (Ps. 2:6. Luke 1:33), the Head and Savior of …
Westminster Seven: Of God”s Covenant With Man
1. The distance between God and the creature is so great, that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto Him as their Creator, yet they could never have any fruition of Him as their blessedness and reward, but by some voluntary condescension on God’s part, which He hath been pleased to express by way of …
No Debate
Some weeks ago, after I finished reading Guy Waters’ book on the Federal Vision, I contacted him, and offered to work with him to set up some kind of discussion/debate between the two of us. I was willing to fly to Jackson and have our interaction there. Our phone conversations were very cordial, but he …
Westminster Six: Of the Fall of Man, of Sin and of the Punishment Thereof
1. Our first parents, being seduced by the subtilty and temptation of Satan, sinned, in eating the forbidden fruit (Gen. 3:13; 2 Cor. 11:3). This their sin, God was pleased, according to His wise and holy counsel, to permit, having purposed to order it to His own glory (Rom. 11:32). Although Genesis does not mention …
Westminster Five: Of Providence
1. God the great Creator of all things doth uphold (Heb. 1:3), direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things (Dan. 4:34–35; Ps. 135:6; Acts 17:25–26, 28; Job 38; 39; 40; 41), from the greatest even to the least (Matt. 10:29–31), by His most wise and holy providence (Prov. 15:3; Ps. 104:24; 145:17), according …
Westminster Four: Of Creation
1. It pleased God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (Heb. 1:2; John 1:2–3; Gen. 1:2; Job 26:13; 33:4), for the manifestation of the glory of His eternal power, wisdom, and goodness (Rom. 1:20; Jer. 10:12; Ps. 104:24; 33:5–6), in the beginning, to create, or make of nothing, the world, and all things therein whether …
Active Obedience As Thematic Structuring Device
And with a sexy title like that, if you can avoid being dragged in then you are beyond all hope. I know that I have been referring to Peter Leithart a bit lately, but that is just the way it goes. This last Wednesday, Peter presented an unpublished paper to the NSA faculty forum. The …
Westminster Three: Of God’s Eternal Decree
1. God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass (Eph. 1:11; Rom. 11:33; Heb. 6:17; Rom. 9:15, 18): yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin (James 1:13, 17; 1 John 1:5), nor is violence offered …
Pharisees
We have not really learned all the lessons from the Pharisees that we need to learn. The first lesson is that the Pharisees were not all bad. Jesus was visited by one of their number by night, and Nicodemus was an honorable man. Some Pharisees at one point warned Jesus of a plot against His …