Like a Little Salt
How can we be salt and light in our world, so that instead of being “trodden under foot” or “hidden under a bushel” (vv. 13, 15), we can resist evil and do good, and moving unbelievers to glorify God as…
Tag Christ & Culture
If I Could Preach Only One Sermon: Luke 18
If I could preach only one sermon, I would preach my one allotted message to the visible church. I would preach with the weighty concern that the baptized are on an irreversible course toward eternity. And the baptized, those well-ordered…
The 39: Christian Property
Article 38 continues the final topic of the 39 Articles, the relationship between the Christian and the commonwealth. Article 38 considers the question of the extent to which a Christian’s worldly goods should be given over to the work of…
How to Manage Quarrelers and Heretics: Notes on 2 Timothy 2:22-26
Theological error and heresy constantly plagued the church during the life of the Apostle Paul, so it is no surprise that his final instructions to Timothy contain essential counsel on the right way to address error and heresy …
Hrotsvit of Gandersheim and Her Christian Plays
Hrotsvit of Gandersheim and Her Christian Plays Anyone who is familiar with the works of the Roman playwright Terence (185-159 BC) knows that they are an interesting depiction of the realities of his day. They are comedies, and generally…
Argument from Culture
Argument from Culture There is an argument, not exactly new, that has been making its way through the church today. The argument from culture, let’s call it the argumentam ad culturam, is an attempt to undermine the legitimacy and primacy…
John Bradford and the Comfort of God’s Sovereign Choice
John Bradford and the Comfort of God’s Sovereign Choice From Treasurer to Preacher A native of Manchester, John Bradford (c. 1510-1555) started his career as vice-treasurer of the English army in France. An accusation of fraud (which he strongly…
Five Crucial Things for Sunday Morning
I love to see families walking through the doors of the auditorium on Lord’s Day morning. I see each of them as a living stone coming together to form a living temple in order to worship the living God. They…
The 39: Church and State
Article 37 introduces the final topic of the 39 Articles, the relationship between the Christian and the commonwealth. It is customary for North Americans to dismiss these articles as being very specific to England, but the same principle we have…
Dorothy Leigh and Her Advice to Her Sons
Dorothy Leigh and Her Advice to Her Sons One of the best-selling 17th-century manuals on parenting was written by a woman, Dorothy Leigh. What may seem perfectly normal to us was unusual in an age when women’s writings were…