Perseverance and Time
What are we to make of the question of perseverance and time? Some might want to say that God gives Himself in the present, and only in the present. A gift by definition, has to be received in the present in order to be a gift, right? No, not if we want to speak … [Read more...]
No Need to Count the Barnacles
In a previous post, I alluded to the important matter of the marks of the church. Historically among the Reformed, these have been considered as Word and sacrament. Some have added a third mark, that of discipline, but I think this represents a small but significant confusion. … [Read more...]
A Bucket With No Bottom
I am currently reading A Humble Inquiry by Jonathan Edwards, in which he explains the reasons why he was putting some doctrinal daylight between himself and his predecessor Solomon Stoddard. And since these basic issues, being what they are, cannot ever go away, and because in … [Read more...]
One Kind of Baptism Means Two Kinds of Christian
In my stack of books being read, there are a handful of writers that are always in there somewhere. I make a constant point of always having a book by Chesterton, Bunyan, Lewis, Thomas Watson . . . and, to come to our point this morning, Jonathan Edwards. I am currently in … [Read more...]
Nothing Coming Down the Pike
The question of assurance is a subset of epistemology. And that means Christians today who struggle with assurance are dealing with an extra factor that previous generations of Christians (usually) did not have to deal with. We live in a skeptical postmodern age, and so the … [Read more...]
21 Theses On Assurance and Apostasy
1. There are only two final destinations for human beings after the day of judgment, those two destinations being the final damnation of the old humanity in Adam, and the final salvation of the new humanity in Christ. 2. Throughout all history, God has kept a visible covenant … [Read more...]
Down at the Pool Hall
Warfield's little book The Plan of Salvation is one of the few books that I have read three times. The first time was in 1988 when I was first becoming a Calvinist, and it was no doubt part of that bumpy but wonderful process. I read it again the next year. I read it a third time … [Read more...]
Future Grace
The evangelical hinge is not whether sacraments accomplish the blessings they speak of. The issue is whether they accomplish every blessing they speak of. The sacraments, like the Scriptures, like the gospel itself, like the very existence of the Church, are eschatological. … [Read more...]
A Helicopter on the Front Lawn
This last week my friend Peter Leithart did some musing out loud about some problems that he identifies as resulting from an emphasis on the "legal status" of righteousness. One post, "How to Say, 'I Am Righteous'" is here, and another related post on Luther and … [Read more...]
Playing Puritans and Lutherans
So this is a bit behind the curve, but I wanted to say a few things about this post by my friend Tim Bayly. He posted this just a week after I was there in Bloomington for their Salt & Light conference, and so you would not be far off if you thought my visit might have had … [Read more...]
Making Seneca Crack Up
My friend Garry Vanderveen has been kind enough to suggest a side-by-side comparison of what Jim Jordan and I teach on the subject of regeneration, coming to the conclusion that we are not all that far apart. I commend that post to you, with the exception of whatever was going on … [Read more...]
The Central Square of Reformedville
Earlier today I tweeted this: "God comes to us in three books -- nature, law, and gospel. Read plainly, we read God above us, God against us, and God with us." I have been asked for additional explanation, and so here it is. The responses ranged from huh? what? to "you sound … [Read more...]
That’ll Preach
In the comments below this post, Jeremy Sexton explains an objective, outside-the-individual way of understanding the qualitative difference between a persevering covenant member and a non-persevering covenant member. I appreciate Jeremy's contribution. In line with my previous … [Read more...]
Messing With the Verb
I recently wrote about how catholicity begins at home, which you can read here if you missed it. Jim Jordan was kind enough to comment in the thread below that, but because the conveyor belt of time won't slow down, his comments were kind of buried. I wanted to bump them up to … [Read more...]
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