Posted in Justification, N. T. Wright, New Perspective on Paul, Research Papers, Richard Gaffin, Semper Reformanda, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Soteriology, Systematic Theology, tagged Christianity, Reformed, religion on February 16, 2008 | No Comments »
Overview: My personal statement on justification
For last semester’s systematics 3 course I was required to write a very brief (no more than 5 pp.) “personal statement” on the doctrine of justification. Furthermore, the professor asked us to read Richard Gaffin’s By Faith, Not By Sight and a couple of chapters from N. T. Wright’s What [...]
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Posted in Apologetics, Book Reviews, Contra Pelagianism, Mike Horton, Sanctification, Sola Gratia, Sola Scriptura, Soteriology, Synthesis, tagged Arminianism, heresy, joel-osteen, Pelagianism, prosperity gospel on November 19, 2007 | 6 Comments »
As a follow up to his recent interview on 60 minutes regarding Joel Osteen’s heterodox theology, Dr. Mike Horton published a review of Osteen’s latest book, Become a Better You. The essence of Horton’s review comes as no surprise:
Osteen preaches a health-and-wealth/prosperity Gospel, which comes across even more strongly in this second book (as compared [...]
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Posted in Biblical Studies, Obedience, Old Testament, Pilgrim Praxis, Psalm 1, Psalter, Sacra Scriptura, Sola Gratia, tagged exegesis, Hebrew on November 19, 2007 | No Comments »
(To see the Hebrew text you need the free Ezra SIL SR unicode font.)
Psalm 1:3a, Part 2
We have seen that the blessed man is like a tree. Now the text invites us to explore further into the nature of the blessings attained by “treeness.”
שָׁת֪וּל עַֽל־פַּלְגֵ֫י מָ֥יִם
Specifically, the blessed man is like a tree which “was [...]
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Posted in Book Reviews, Christology, Contra Pelagianism, Ecclesiology, Ephesians, Ephesians 2, Hebrews, Mortification of Sin, Obedience, Pilgrim Praxis, Sacra Scriptura, Sanctification, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, tagged Christian life, healing, historia salutis, ordo salutis on November 5, 2007 | No Comments »
The Healing Path: How the Hurts in Your Past Can Lead You to a More Abundant Life
by Dan Allender; Paperback; ISBN: 1578563917
Thesis: God even uses hurts to sanctify Christians
Positioning himself in a long line of Christian tradition that seeks to draw Christians onto the “way of life” (i.e. Didache 1:1-2; c.f. Deut. 30:19, Psa. 1:1-2; [...]
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Posted in Colossians, John Piper, Mortification of Sin, Obedience, Pilgrim Praxis, Sanctification, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Sola Scriptura, Soteriology, tagged Christianity, freedom, guilt, Justification, porn, pornography, repentance, shame on October 22, 2007 | 2 Comments »
Although the Gospel’s light shines into our deepest darknesses, giving God’s people freedom from sin’s slavery, the dread blackness of shame, especially shame from sexual addictions, constantly deceives Christians into shutting their eyes. Sexual sin leaves one awash in an ocean of guilt, feeling as if the True Light is not already shining. Is the [...]
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Posted in Biblical Studies, Old Testament, Pilgrim Praxis, Psalm 1, Psalter, Sacra Scriptura, Semper Reformanda, Sola Gratia, Sola Scriptura, tagged antithesis, Christian, discipleship, Hebrew, law, Torah on October 22, 2007 | 1 Comment »
Psalm 1:2a1
כִּ֤י אִ֥ם בְּתוֹרַ֥ת יְהוָ֗ה חֶ֫פְצ֥וֹ
“but in the Yahweh’s Torah is his [the blessed man’s] delight”
The reasons why the blessed man has been described negatively with three “does not” phrases in verse 1 is now made plain in verse 2: the blessed man has a different delight. The force of the contrasting conjunction (כִּ֤י אִ֥ם) [...]
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Posted in Obedience, Pilgrim Praxis, Psalm 1, Psalter, Sacra Scriptura, Sanctification, Sola Gratia, tagged Gospel, grace, law on October 18, 2007 | No Comments »
How can Christians truly sing Psalm 1:2, “But his delight is in the law of the Lord,” when it still feels like the law condemns, shames, and accuses us? The answer is by understanding the Christian’s new relationship God’s law (or the law’s third use, as Reformed speak would put it.) Listen to Steve Brown [...]
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To understand the distinction between believers’ relation to the covenant of works and the covenant of grace it is necessary to first grasp Jesus’ relation to both. The following quote from Herman Bavinck explains well the former aspect of this question–how the Christ relates to the covenant of works:
Even more, as a human being Christ [...]
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Posted in Apologetics, Ephesians, Ephesians 2, Pilgrim Praxis, Sacra Scriptura, Sanctification, Sola Gratia, Synthesis, tagged Arminianism, grace, guilt, Pelagianism, semi-Pelagianism, sin on October 13, 2007 | No Comments »
Let’s face it, American Christianity is so strongly addicted to various form of Pelagianism that to speak of grace the way the Bible does is to put one at odds with most Christians. Long gone are the days, or so it seems, when sola gratia had teeth in a large part of the church. A [...]
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Posted in Antithesis, Apologetics, Book Reviews, Christology, Doctrine of God, Ecclesiology, Historical Theology, J. Gresham Machen, Pilgrim Praxis, Prolegomena, Sacra Scriptura, Sanctification, Scripture, Semper Reformanda, Sola Ecclesia, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Sola Scriptura, Soteriology, Systematic Theology, tagged Christianity, inerrancy, religion on April 6, 2007 | No Comments »
Christianity and Liberalism by J. Gresham Machen
Paperback; ISBN: 0802811213
Machen is not a man who minces words. Vis-a-vis modern liberalism he argues forcefully that Christianity is a religion based on (a) God’s objective, historical work of redemption in Jesus Christ and (b) God’s revelation which gives the meaning and context of Christ’s life and work. Modern [...]
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