My first exposures to Protestant-Catholic conversation were more like shouting matches than dialogues. Speakers took a confrontational approach and charges flew on both sides. In my mind, they sound roughly like this Protestants charge, “You…” Preach salvation by…
Hyssop isn’t much of a shrub. It grows clinging to walls and rocks around the Mediterranean. It is however important for its cleansing properties, physical and ritualistic. Under the old covenant, there were priests and sacrifices. But there was no…
Sixteenth-century Reformers were not the first to advocate the translation of the Bible and church liturgy in the language of the people. Nor were they the first to suffer opposition. Two 9th-century brothers from Thessalonica faced a similar struggle as…
Review of B. B. Warfield, “The Biblical Doctrine of the Trinity,” in Collected Works, vol. 2, (NY: Oxford UP, 1929; Reprint Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1991), 133-72. The belief that there is “one only and true God,…
The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the essential doctrines of Christianity. At its most basic definition, the Trinity means that there is one God in three persons: Father, Son, and Spirit. From the time of the early church,…
The Bible, even on an iPhone, is the apostolic and prophetic Word. God speaks to His people. He wants to touch our lives in meaningful ways. Why? We don’t know. However, having created speaking creatures, we read, the friendship of…
Recently, I was reading John Murray’s commentary on the book of Romans. I was struck by what I read. In Romans 4:3 we read, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now, we know that our…
Benjamin B. Warfield wrote a little article for the Homiletic Review in 1897 titled, “The Indispensableness of Systematic Theology to the Preacher.” As anything written by Warfield, it is a thoughtful and edifying piece with a clear aim. According to…
The Bible has a single theme: God’s visit to His world. * To believe this is to walk with Christian thinkers of 1900 years. But today, evangelicals see Scripture as discrete texts, lacking a unifying theme. We look at the…
The Westminster Confession of Faith begins with what many have deemed some of the most well articulated statements concerning the doctrine of Scripture. And incorporated right into the confession’s understanding of Scripture is a brief, little clause on how…
