Christ’s Public Defender
Out of all the names given to the Holy Spirit as he is revealed in Holy Scripture, few are more profound or precious than the ‘Paraclete’ (Jn 14.16). This designation has at one and the same time intrigued, but also…
Category Resident Aliens
Thomas Chalmers and ‘The St John’s Experiment’
For those familiar with Thomas Chalmers, his name immediately conjures up a plethora of thoughts regarding his stature as a Christian leader and also his gifts and achievements in the work of the church. He was a man of exceptional…
Preachers, Prayer and Gospel Progress
It should go without saying that preaching, praying and the progress of God’s kingdom through the gospel are inseparably bound up with each other. Jesus taught his people to pray, ‘Your kingdom come, your will be done’ and made it…
The Church in All Her Glory
In the Western world at least, the glory of the church seems to be fading fast. Far from those days when her influence was far-reaching and wide-ranging, her values and opinions respected and her numbers strong; she has become the…
A very Lutheresque Psalm
In this quincentennial year, marking Martin Luther’s memorable act of defiance in Wittenberg, much has been said regarding his famous dictum about ‘the Word doing its work’. Far from attributing the impact and success of the Reformation on his own…
Liturgy, Priesthood and Genuine Worship
The debate over worship and liturgy has been both long running and many faceted. Its spectrum ranges from the ultra-free self-expression of certain types of contemporary worship through to the high liturgies of traditional Roman Catholicism and its Episcopalian counterparts.…
“I have Laboured to no Purpose”
I was speaking with some ministerial colleagues recently about a conference one had just attended. The conference had been great, but to his surprise, after one of the sessions, a friend next to him put his head in his hands…
Recurring Failure and Never Failing Grace
The grand storyline of the Bible can at times make depressing reading if we do not pay close attention to the gospel threads that hold it together. After its glorious beginning in the accounts of creation in Genesis, our high…
The Groanings of this Present Age
“One of our regular PFT columnists, Mark Johnston, submitted this brief article, which relates directly to the recent attacks in Manchester. We posted it first on our sister site, Reformation21.org, but we wanted to also post it here for our…
The ‘More and More’ of Holiness
Holiness has too often been embroiled in confusion and distortion within the Christian community and, sadly, ends up being neglected rather than cultivated within the church. This is especially true in times, like our own, when the gospel becomes more…