Looking for the Lost
Looking for the Lost There is a well-known nursery rhyme that generations of British children grew up with which begins with the words, Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep and doesn’t know where to find them; Leave them alone and…
Tag God
Justification and Imputation
On October 31, 2017, many Christians celebrated the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. My church held a service where several pastors spoke on the theological importance of this historical event, namely the recovery of the doctrine of justification by…
Greater Works than the Son?
Some Bible passages are perplexing. That may be an understatement. We wonder about some of them. Like unruly children who cannot be harnessed and corralled these passages too are hard to handle. When we have finished our daily chores and…
The Spirit’s Presence from the Old to the New Testament
There is an interesting view that circulates around the church about the Holy Spirit. It goes something like this. In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit did not indwell anyone but only remained with people. However, in the New Testament…
Access to God (Romans 5:2)
As I begin the New Year, I find myself meditating on the fruits of justification by faith, especially the great principle that it brings us access to God. Paul says that through Christ, “we have also obtained access by faith…
Frank Houghton – Eager to Glorify God
Frank Houghton – Eager to Glorify God The news of the brutal murder of John and Betty Stam – together with a local shopkeeper who tried to defend them – shook the missionary community and other Christians everywhere. It…
An Unchanging God and a Changing World (2)
In the last article, I looked at how interactions with the so-called antinomians over important soteriological issues required Westminster divine Anthony Burgess to discuss the doctrine of God. The antinomians, at times, appealed to divine attributes, such as immutability and…
An Unchanging God and a Changing World (1)
How can God, who is simple (theologically speaking), unchanging and impassible, meaningfully interact with a world that is constantly changing? The Westminster divine Anthony Burgess had to face this issue in his interactions with the so-called antinomians in London during…
Themes in Puritan Theology: Creation and Providence
Having considered the decrees of God or his eternal purposes in which he foreordains whatever comes to pass (WSC, Q7), we now look at how God “executes” or carries out these plans “in the works of creation and providence” (WSC,Q8).…
Themes in Puritan Theology: God’s Decrees
Having considered God in his essence and attributes then his unity of essence in the diversity of three persons, we will know give attention to his decrees (eternal purposes) according to the Puritans. In the next post, we will then…