Substitutionary atonement is the doctrine that Jesus Christ suffered and died on the cross for the sake of his chosen people; that he was the substitute, taking upon himself the penalty they deserve and giving them his righteousness. As the sacrifice of the passover lamb was a substitute for the people, so Jesus, being the …
I recently gave a sermon on the virtue of gentleness. And this provided an opportunity to bring up an idea that has been developing in my mind for some time. I call it “The Quiet Minister.” This idea of “The Quiet Minister” came to my mind as the opposite of the brash young ministers and …
I’ve recently undertaken a study on repentance. I read four books, which I’ll briefly review below, and then give some comments on the subject. The Doctrine of Repentance by Thomas Watson (1668) The Puritan Thomas Watson (c. 1620 – 1686) presumably provides a Reformed view of repentance. He writes that true repentance is made up …
I recently read an old (1990s) pamphlet written by Bible Presbyterian minister G. W. Fisher titled “Should Morality Be Legislated.” It was a valuable read, well thought out, and fair in explaining the positives and negatives of legislating morality. His major conclusion in the final section titled “So What Is The Church To Do?” was …
I have often seen Christians doubt their salvation because of concerns over whether they have sufficiently repented of their sins. Their mindset is something like this: “I’m told I must repent to be saved, but I keep sinning, therefore I must not be saved.” This mindset, however, generally misunderstands the nature of Biblical repentance and …
In using Old Testament figures for comparisons, the authors of the New Testament considered each of them as historical as the next. Adam, Noah, Abraham, Jonah, Moses, and David were each real people who lived and died on this earth as the Old Testament speaks of them. [1Co 15:22 ESV] 22 For as in Adam …
There are a number of requirements to take communion in a Reformed or Presbyterian church. While specifics may vary from church to church, before participating in communion a person must be baptized, must be of sufficient maturity to “examine yourself,” must not be under church discipline, and must be a member of an evangelical (or …
On the Requirement of Being a Member of an Evangelical Church to Take Communion Read More »
Voddie Baucham names names in his recent book, Fault Lines, The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism’s Looming Catastrophe. He identifies a number of theologians with evangelical or even once-conservative credentials who have bought into at least some of the errors of Wokeism. These theologians include Tim Keller, Russell Moore, David Platt, Mark Dever, J. D. …
Modern bible “scholars” claim that certain Pauline epistles were not written by Paul but were later pseudepigraphal works. The seven letters they “consider genuine” are: First Thessalonians (c. 50 AD) Galatians (c. 53) First Corinthians (c. 53-54) Philippians (c. 55) Philemon (c. 55) Second Corinthians (c. 55-56) Romans (c. 57) (This leaves out Second Thessalonians …
The Pauline Corpus of Modern Scholars and Marcion Read More »
The question of the number of resurrections of man is central to the question of millennial eschatology positions. The chiliast or premillennial position argues for two separate resurrections, one (the first) for the just and another (the second) for the unjust typically said to have an interval between them of a literal 1000 years. The …
