The Lord through the prophet Jeremiah prophesied of a day when He would establish a new covenant for His people, a covenant unlike the old one enacted under Moses. It was under the Old Covenant where Israel was called…
In my last post, I began to present an annotated outline of Patrick Gillespie’s (1617-1675) treatment of the Covenant of Works from his work, The Ark of the Testament. We saw that he made the case that there was a…
In the Old Testament, the king ruled the people on behalf of God; the prophet represented God to the people, speaking God’s word to them; and the priest represented the people to God, performing sacrifices on their behalf in the…
Covenant theology is a vital and distinctive part of Reformed theology, both past and present. The Covenant of Works, which is questioned by some today, gradually became an essential component of the Reformed presentation of the gospel by drawing parallels…
It’s no secret that John’s Gospel often cloaks depth with simplicity. That is part of the beauty of his prose, which carries over from the Greek into many English translations. A prime example is the often-quoted John 14:6, an…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
