Covenant Theology

I am a Presbyterian minister. Having served in the courts of the church now for 14 years, I have come to the uncomfortable conclusion that Proverb s 29:25 speaks to every presbyter: The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe. [i] Presbyteries in my denomination have the...

Continuing our series on the covenant theology of the Westminster Standards (see parts #1 , #2 ), the third element of a covenant, namely conditions, may be the most controversial and perhaps the most confusing. In fact, at least some of the controversy over the conditionality of the covenant of...

Jesus thinks reading is a big deal. After all, he wrote a book. And Jesus thinks reading his book is a big deal, because, well, he is. For a blog post on the sufficiency of Scripture and biblical scholarship this may seem overly simplistic. Aren’t scholars supposed to talk about really complicated...

In my last article , I noted that a covenant has three basic elements: parties , promises , and conditions . The parties of the covenant of grace vary depending upon which perspective of the covenant is being considered. Externally or administratively speaking the covenant is between God and all...

When I was young and living under my parent's tutelage, cleaning my room was a primary chore assigned to me. However, even though I was the chief custodian of my room I was not the boss! After cleaning, my mother would show up for the inspection. More often than not, she would look at me with her...

Adoption ism is an early Christian heresy regarding the person and work of Jesus Christ. This false teaching advanced the view that God the Father came upon an already-existing man called Jesus of Nazareth and adopted him as his “son” after the fact of his birth and maturation (perhaps adopting him...

I love photography and, although I’m not a great photographer, I have learned some of the secrets of capturing a scene or portrait effectively: the most important being to choose angles that allow the details to stand out clearly. When it comes to understanding the cross of Christ, the Gospel...

G enerally speaking, a covenant , according to Reformed theology, is a legal relationship between two parties that involves promises and conditions . A covenant, therefore, has three basic elements: parties, promises and conditions. My goal is to expound the Westminster Standards’ teaching on the...

In the treasure chest of the Gospel, many have argued that our adoption really is the brightest and most beautiful of gems contained in all that Christ accomplished for us. But even taking a closer look at that particular gem we see that adoption itself has many different facets which, when...

On January 31, 2017, P...