I have edited this post from it’s original form. I want to be exceedingly careful in what I say about subjects in which I have a formed opinion, but that need to be refined through more study. I hope that this quote from Calvin on Romans 2:13 will suffice as an explanation of my defense of Rick Phillip’s interpretation of it here. Commenting on Romans 2:13, Calvin wrote:

For the hearers of the law, etc. This anticipates an objection which the Jews might have adduced. As they had heard that the law was the rule of righteousness, (Deuteronomy 4:1 ) they gloried in the mere knowledge of it: to obviate this mistake, he declares that the hearing of the law or any knowledge of it is of no such consequence, that any one should on that account lay claim to righteousness, but that works must be produced, according to this saying, “He who will do these shall live in them.” The import then of this verse is the following, — “That if righteousness be sought from the law, the law must be fulfilled; for the righteousness of the law consists in the perfection of works.” They who pervert this passage for the purpose of building up justification by works, deserve most fully to be laughed at even by children. It is therefore improper and beyond what is needful, to introduce here a long discussion on the subject, with the view of exposing so futile a sophistry: for the Apostle only urges here on the Jews what he had mentioned, the decision of the law, — That by the law they could not be justified, except they fulfilled the law, that if they transgressed it, a curse was instantly pronounced on them. Now we do not deny but that perfect righteousness is prescribed in the law: but as all are convicted of transgression, we say that another righteousness must be sought. Still more, we can prove from this passage that no one is justified by works; for if they alone are justified by the law who fulfill the law, it follows that no one is justified; for no one can be found who can boast of having fulfilled the law.

We’ve created a public group on FriendFeed to allow for real-time discussion of the happenings at Reformed Forum.  This is a nice, lightweight way to run a discussion group.  We tried more traditional forums, but they didn’t seem to pan out.  FriendFeed is a great service that lets you connect your Twitter account, blogs and other RSS feeds into one place.  It’s a lot like Twitter, but has several additional features.  Join our public Reformed Forum group and post a question or discussion topic.

http://friendfeed.com/reformedforum

There is an interesting structure to the book of Galatians. Paul is, of course, writing this letter because of the threat of the Judaizers who came in to spy out the liberty of the Christians. The Judaizers were saying that one needed Christ and law-keeping (as represented by circumcision) to be accepted by God. The apostle Paul, as you well know, would not tolerate this perversion of the Gospel for even one minute. Therefore, in his defense of the Gospel and it implications he draws several contrasts. They are as follows:

Chapter 2 : Faith not Works

Chapter 3 : Promise (Gospel) not Law

Chapter 4 : Sons not Slaves

Chapters 5 and 6 : Spirit not Flesh

The logical connection between these contrasting principles forms the basis for the argument of the epistle. If one is to be justified (accepted by God as righteous) it must be by faith, not by works. The reason for this is the difference between the promise and the law. Once someone has been justified by faith he has been adopted into God’s family–he is a son of God, not a slave. The freedom that we have by faith in Christ, that makes us sons, is not a freedom to live in the flesh (i.e. the sinful, natural, unconverted lifestyle). We are given the Spirit when we believe and we are called to walk in the Spirit. Chapter 5 is most properly a discourse on the agency and nature of sanctification. If we are in the Spirit our lives will reflect “faith working through love.” The context is not about how we are accepted by God, but how we live once we have been given the liberty of the sons of God. Understanding the contrasting principles of Galatians is the most important thing we can know.

Here .

Christ the Center will be live Thursday 5/28 at 9AM Eastern. Join us at Reformed Forum and login to ustream.tv or FriendFeed to chat.

I love this!

Here is the audio from the 2009 Next Conference :

The Preeminence of Christ (Joshua Harris)

Christ’s Incarnation (D.A. Carson)

Christ’s Life (Kevin DeYoung)

Christ’s Death (C.J. Mahaney)

Christ’s Resurrection (Sinclair Ferguson)

Christ’s Return (Sinclair Ferguson)

HT: Justin Taylor

Christology is not a dense jungle of theories. Think of it instead as a densely populated region of ideas and traditions. One quarter is made up of Gnostics; another quarter is modernist and so on. Navigating the data takes time and energy and after a day’s work one may wonder if they accomplished anything, or whether it matters. It does. This is the area of dogmatics, Bavinck would say, one needs to know where not to be after dark.

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Rick Phillips has a very helpful article, over at Reformation 21, in which he gives careful attention to the major passages that are often appealed to in order to support the “so-called” doctrine of “future justification according to works.” This is an extremely important discussion, as it deals with matters of Christians truth and assurance. Even if you are not familiar with the debate surrounding the New Perspective(s) on Paul, I think this will be a very beneficial article for you. You can read the whole thing here.

R. Scott Clark also has a nice resource page that you will find extremely helpful in learning more about the deviant theology of proponents of the New Perspective(s) on Paul, in regard to justification. You can find it here.

Christ the Center has a two part interview with Guy Prentiss Waters that gives a sweeping overview of N.T. Wright’s newest book Justification: God’s Plan and Paul’s Vision. You can listen to part 1 here, and part 2 here.

Noted Christian philosophical theologian Jay Wesley Richards has written an interesting and popular level book defending capitalism from a Christian perspective.  Richards, who has been connected with the Discovery Institute in Seattle (and so is connected with the intelligent design movement) and written such books as The Untamed God, now is connected with the Heritage Foundation.  The new book is entitled Money, Greed, and God:  Why Capitalism is the Solution and Not the Problem.  In this book, Richards addresses eight myths related to capitalism.  This is a useful defense of capitalism that does not portray it as a route to utopia.  That is the destination aimed at by the other major alternative to capitalism.  My only criticism is that Richards writes from a broadly Wesleyan-Arminian perspective.  However, to anticipate those who think there is some integral connection between Arminianism and capitalism, most of the book is consistent with a Reformed perspective.

Banner of Truth has recently published an interesting volume by Strasbourg reformer Martin Bucer entitled Concerning the True Care of Souls. You can obtain the book here , here , and here .  You may remember that Bucer was a mentor to John Calvin, especially during Calvin’s exile to Strasbourg between his two stays in Geneva.  Peter Beale provides a readable translation and the late David F. Wright has written a very informative historical introduction.  Bucer discusses Christ’s rule of his church and the various offices within the church.  I would recommend that church sessions work their way through this study for their own benefit and the benefit of Christ’s church.

Dr. Greg Beale recently delivered a thoughtful lecture on inerrancy and John’s Apocalypse which can be heard here.  Just in case you wondered whether the doctrine of inerrancy was superimposed on the text or whether it arises from a close and careful reading of the text, this lecture should help to answer your questions.  Let’s just say that key to the discussion is the nature of the God who reveals himself.  Is he faithful and true?  The answer should be obvious…yes!

I’ve been surveying Heidegger in order to get a better handle on the contemporary Roman Catholic scene and came across this interesting section by Michael Inwood in his Heidegger: A Very Short Introduction.  As one who shaves his head out of genetic defiance, this struck me with a “special” significance.

I may become bald, through no choice of my own and with no possibility of regrowing my hair.  Most human beings have a certain bodily, biological structure which differs markedly from that of other creatures and they have only limited possibilities of altering it.  Some philosophers have located man’s distinctive nature in rationality, defining man as a rational animal.  Heidegger does not of course argue that Dasein can become whatever it wants.  Circumstances place restrictions on what I can do: ‘Existentiality is always determined by facticity.’ (Being and Time, 192).  But my circumstances and my condition are never simply ‘present-at-hand-properties’: I can always respond to them in various ways.  If I become bald, I may refuse to accept that I am bald, continuing to insist that I have a full head of hair; I may wallow in my baldness, and let it drive me to despair; I may wear a wig; I may simply ignore it; or I may gladly accept my baldness, flaunt it, and perhaps make it the basis of a successful career as a lover or an actor.  Which option I take is not determined solely by my baldness, but is freely chosen by me.

I’m not suggesting this type of thinking is reformed.  I’ll let you determine how much of this complies with Christianity!  Regardless, Heidegger gives something for us human beings to think about.

Over at Historia Salutis, the Rev. Jim Cassidy has a very nice explanation of two of our Lord’s miracles recorded in Mark 6. The divine nature of Christ is exhibited in His mighty works as the Good Shepherd, the God of Israel spoken of in Psalm 23 and elsewhere in the OT. You can read it here .

I can’t tell you how many times I have heard someone in the church warn against proof texting. Proof-texting, of course, is that method of defending theological truth by means of appeal to one particular verse of the Bible. I readily admit that often proof-texting is abused and used to draw faulty conclusions. This is most evident in the false teaching of the cults and heretical sects of Christianity–specifically with regard to their doctrine of God, Christ, man and salvation. Within orthodox Christianity, it is seen in the realm of eschatology and ecclesiology.

But is all proof-texting wrong? I wonder if there hasn’t been an over reaction to the abhorrent theology of the cults and sects, and to the aberrations of sound theology in the dispensationalist and postmillennial camps of Christendom. Everyone practices proof-texting of some kind, and it is entirely right to do so. The Apostle Paul did it relentlessly. One only has to consider his method of defending justification by faith alone in Galatians 3, or his explanation of individual, eternal election in Romans 9, or his eschatology in 1 Corinthians 15. In fact, it could be argued that Paul defends every doctrine of Scripture by proof-texting from the Old Testament. The use of the OT in the NT is a systematic application of contextual proof-texting. So what is the principle that needs to be established before we can practice a biblical proof-texting? This answers to this question could fill, and have filled, volumes. It seems, however, that a very basic answer can be given based on discussions of exegesis being governed by systematic and biblical theology.
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When Anna and I were in Glasgow we worshiped at St. George’s Tron.  Edward Lobb, who is an Associate Minister at the Tron and the Director of Cornhill Training Course in Scotland, preached from Malachi the evening we were there. I am convinced it is the one of the best expositions of the book I’ve heard. If you want to understand God’s prophetic word through Malachi, I recommend listening to the messages below. I especially recommend the fifth sermon in the series:

The People Who Have Grown Tired of God
Faith in Decline
Portrait of a Faithless Leader
Faithful or Faithless
The Purifying of God’s People

The following messages were given by Sinclair Ferguson at the 2004 BASICS Conference:

His Sufficient Word – 2 Tim. 3

His Eternal Election - Ephesians 1

His Transforming Spirit - Romans 8

Alistair Begg has recently made all of the audio from the 2002-2008 BASICS Conferences available free. Among the many good speakers and lectures there are several by Eric Alexander. The following were given at the 2002 BASICS Conference:

Samuel’s Ministry ( 1 Samuel 12)
Thirsting After God (Psalm 63)
Q & A ( Dick Lucas, Eric Alexander, and Derek Prime)

HT: Monergism

I distinctly remember being at First Presbyterian Church in Columbia when Sinclair Ferguson preached this sermon. What struck me most was the way he said that all the promises of God are, to us who believe, “Yes and Amen” in Christ because He said ‘yes’ to the all the promises of God, even to the promise of covenant curses. It was a memorable message. You can listen here.

Here is the link to Park Community Church’s evening of lectures with D.A. Carson and John Piper. The lectures had to do with the role of scholarship in pastoral ministry. If you have time you should listen to theses messages, as well as to the Q & A discussion. You can find the  audio, video, or manuscript of Piper’s message. D.A. Carson’s message is also available in audio, video, and manuscript format. The Q & A can be listened to in audio or video.

HT: Justin Taylor

Here is the link to a very special Christ the Center interview with Eric Alexander. This interview is timely with the release of the website constructed in honor of Rev. Alexander. I think this interview is a nice introduction to the life and ministry of one of the best preachers in our day. I have been most recently listening to his series on Galatians, and am convinced that it is one of the clearest and most edifying expositions of the book.

Here is the most recent article Paul Helm has posted on his blog. It is typical, insightful (and on this occasion, sarcastic) Helm on Christianity and culture.

Please Watch this video and pass it on to friends and family. If you have a blog please post it. This is one of the most important messages that anyone could speak into our culture. Let us pray that the Lord puts an end to this great evil:

I am pleased to inform you that Westminster Theological Seminary has just unveiled a new website dedicated to dealing with issues about the relationship of science to religion raised by Dan Brown’s novel Angels and Demons , a prequel to his bestseller The DaVinci Code .  A website devoted to the DaVinci Code phenomenon is also online and sponsored by the seminary as well.  With the release of the movie Angels and Demons in theaters this Friday, these websites will undoubtedly be useful resources.

For some time now I have been trying to get Tommy Keene, Adjunct Professor of New Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, to write exegetical posts for those of us who would like to freshen up on our Greek. Tommy has recently written a post on the exegesis of 1 Corinthians 15:26 (a verse claimed by all millennarians of all stripes)! You can read Tommy’s thoughts here.

A little over a month ago Josh Espinosa and I had the opportunity to sit down with Roland Barnes, Terry Johnson and Carl Robbins to discuss lessons learned from 20-30 years of pastoral ministry. You can listen to the interview here. I would also recommend that you visit the various websites of the churches these men minister in to listen to their sermons. These three ministers have preached consecutively through many books of the Bible during their ministries.

We’ve paused to consider Bavinck’s discussion of eschatology as prologue to the incarnation. Its pretty serious stuff. It takes over the OT function of prophecy and recasts it according to fulfillment then sends it out into the world as the kingdom. How the kingdom looks depends on how one views the incarnation: they are inseparably linked. Through a careful discussion of modernist Christology Bavinck warns us against dividing up the kingdom by separating the historical Christ from the mystical Christ from the Synoptic Christ all the way down to the real Christ. We need to proceed with caution, says Bavinck, for this is not a fun academic puzzle with good grades and prizes: this is a battle of concepts, not words.

The incarnation of Christ has been a debate since the apostolic era. The subject is endless due to its very premise: the infinite God of the universe became a finite human being, how? Scholastics following John of Damascus attribute the divine nature occupying the human as heat does iron: it animates the human nature allowing it to participate in divine wisdom, power and glory. Lutherans differ a little, but the Reformed are looking to something with a more consistent explanation.

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Actually, its better never to be late.   Seriously, I am pleased to note a new commentary on the book of Acts by David Peterson, senior lecturer in the NT at the Moore Theological College in Australia and former principal of Oak Hill College in London.  This mammoth study is the latest addition to the Pillar Commentary series which includes such prestigeous volumes as D. A. Carson’s work on John and Leon Morris’ volume on Romans.  David Peterson has written or edited other helpful volumes such as Engaging with God , Possessed by God , Where Wrath and Mercy Meet , and The Word Became Flesh. I had the privilege of hearing (and seeing!) David Peterson in a lecture for one of Carl Trueman’s History of Soteriology classes at Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia some years ago.  He lectured about the time Where Wrath and Mercy Meet was published.  Why I titled this post as I did was that I apparently did not have the intelligence to teach my Sunday School class on Acts after the release of this commentary!  I finished teaching through Acts 9 about four weeks ago.  Boy do I need to get my (A)ct(s) together…

I am very pleased to note that my good friend, brother in Christ, and colleague in the gospel ministry, Nick Batzig has a very insightful article over at Reformation21 entitled “God’s Obedient Son.”  This is a fine redemptive historical treatment of Christ’s baptism and temptations in the wilderness with an admirable stress on the two Adams.  Top notch stuff.

In the same issue of Reformation21 you can find a very perceptive and thought-provoking article by Carl Trueman on his experience at very “relevant” academic “worship” service, “Look, It’s Rubbish! ”

These and the other articles and reviews at Reformation21 are exceptional.  I want to salute Derek Thomas and Ligon Duncan for their work with this online journal and the Alliance of Confessional Evangelicals.  I also commend the other regular contributors.  Sally forth!

Well, if you haven’t figured out by now, it should soon become abundantly evident that Eric Alexander and Sinclair Ferguson are two living preachers and theologians for whom I have the highest esteem. Robert M. Walker, an elder in Bishopbriggs Free Church of Scotland and committee member of The Scottish Reformed Conference, recently brought these conference audio MP3′s to my attention. The theme of the Conference was ‘Glory.’ You see the titles and download the files below:

ERIC ALEXANDER

The Glory of Christ

SINCLAIR FERGUSON

The Glory of the New Covenant
The Glory of Christian Service

Josh Espinosa has a post directing us to the Ordained Servant , where there is a discussion of rest and Sabbaticals for ministers of the Gospel. Interestingly, most churches do not give their ministers Sabbaticals. David VanDrunen explains:

Sabbaticals are a foreign idea to most people who are not professors, and thus many congregations and sessions may never have thought about granting a sabbatical to their pastor. This present article is designed to encourage congregations and sessions to do just that. Sabbaticals can be a healthy and productive means for ministers to become better students of God’s Word and thus to become better pastors. By permitting a pastor time for focused study and learning, sabbaticals can benefit not only the pastor himself, but more importantly the congregation that he serves and the broader church.

As I listened to Sinclair Ferguson’s message, "Hallowed be Thy Name: The Holiness of the Father," I found the following statement to be a powerful illustration of the Father’s love for the Son. All of you who are married will understand this statement:

By far my most intimate relationship in all the world is with my wife. No man dare lock eyes with my wife and gaze into her eyes the way I am privileged to gaze into her eyes and say, "I love you with all of my being." And it’s like this, that the blessed Son is able to gaze into the eyes of the heavenly Father, and bear in His being–in the mystery of His eternal being–the intensity of the Father’s love for Him, the intensity of the Father’s desire to have fellowship with Him.

Several factors come into view when discussing the medieval debates over the eucharist.  Throughout this time, two general views developed: the metabolic and the symbolic.  The metabolic view thought that the bread and the wine actually became the body and blood of Christ.  In the eucharist, a perpetual sacrifice occurs for the remission of sins.  The symbolic view does not see a transformation of the elements, but rather views the eucharist as a memorial to the finished work of Christ and the elements as symbolic of Christ’s body and blood.

These general categories are developed through the history of the church as theologians try to explain the practice and apply it to the church.  Cyril of Jerusalem held to a metabolic view.  He saw the eucharist as a sacrifice that remitted sins and would be beneficial for the sanctification and purgation of the believer.  We see the overlap between the eucharist and the medieval doctrine of the Christian life at this point.  Dionysius the Areopagite proposed a three phase Christian life that moved from illumination to purgation and then to union.  Cyril and others apply the eucharist to purgation.  Later, Radbertus develops this idea.  He proposes a metabolic view, but just like Cyril, does not provide an explanation for how the bread and wine transform into body and blood.  Cyril and Radbertus are in ways proto-transubstantiation thinkers.  However, they did not have access to Aristotle and were not working with those particular philosophical categories.  It was not until Thomas Aquinas in the 13th c. that the metabolic view had a philosophical explanation.  Radbertus was focused on the miracle, but this proved to be unsatisfactory to many. (more…)

As a nice addition to the previous Eric Alexander post on “The Cross is the Experience of the Father,” you can now watch Sinclair Ferguson’s message from the 2009 Ligonier National Conference, The Holiness of the Father.

HT: Iain Campbell

Here is a sermon preached by Eric Alexander on Good Friday at St. Andrews West, Falkirk. The title is, "The Cross in the Experience of God the Father."

A new sermon series on Isaiah has been posted at the Eric Alexander website. You can listen to 25 messages on this most important OT prophetic book here .

Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington, Jim Cassidy, and I began interviewing theologians and pastors back in June 2008. Interviewing these men has been an enormous blessing. We have learned a lot and had a great time in the process. Below you will find an index that will be updated from time to time. Thanks for listening:

Lane Tipton “The Theological Contributions of Richard Gaffin”
Lane Keister “The Federal Vision”
Gary Johnson Reforming or Conforming
Drew Dinardo Reformed Church Growth
Mark Garcia Union with Christ and Two-Fold Grace
R. Scott Clark Recovering the Reformed Confessions
J. Ligon Duncan The Westminster Confession into the 21st Century
Derek Thomas “The Pastor and the Academy”
Rick Phillips “Cultural Relevance, Mercy Ministry and the Social Gospel”
Jeff Jue “The Eschatology of the Westminster Divines”
D.G. Hart “J. Gresham Machen”
Martin Downes “The Emergent Church and Cultural Captivity”
Greg Reynolds “Preaching in an Electronic Age”
David Hall “The Calvin Quincentenary”
Scott Oliphant The Defense of the Faith
Ron Gleason Herman Bavinck
John Fesko The Reformed Doctrine of Justification
John Carrick The Preaching of Jonathan Edwards
Russel Moore Christ’s Kingdom: Gospel Priorities and Politics
John Muether Cornelius Van Til: A Life
Carl Trueman “A Brief History of Trinitarian Thought”
Stephen J. Nichols Getting the Blues
James White Apologetics and Islam
Peter Lillback Calvin and the Development of Covenant Theology
Phillip G. Ryken Thomas Boston: Preacher of the Fourfold State
D.G. Hart Deconstructing Evangelicalism
Stephen J. Nichols Jesus Made in America
Lane Tipton Van Til’s Trinitarian Theology
Highlights from 2008
Jim Cassidy Reformed Catechesis and the Ordinary Means of Grace
Vern Poythress Redeeming Science
William Dennison The Young Bultmann
G.K. Beale The Erosion of Inerrancy
Dave Garner The Eschatology of Adoption
Cornelius P. Venema Peadocommunion
Richard B. Gaffin Sanctification and the Gospel
Guy Waters N.T. Wright’s Doctrine of Justification #1
Guy Waters N.T. Wright’s Doctrine of Justification #2
T. David Gordon Why Johnny Can’t Preach
Michael Haykin The Church Fathers
James T. O’Brien Puritan Theology
Danny Olinger Geerhardus Vos
R. Fowler White and Keith Mathison The Unfolding of Biblical Eschatology
Michael Horton Christless Christianity
Douglas Kelly Systematic Theology: vol. 1 The Holy Trinity
Iain D. Campbell “The Song of David’s Son”
Jon D. Payne In the Splendor of Holiness
Eric J. Alexander A Life in the Preaching Ministry

If you watch this film trailer you will see the deceit of human autonomy. Ray Kurzweil is responsible for the flat bed scanner, a reading machine for the blind, OCR, voice recognition technology, together with dozens of other inventions that have revolutionized the world in which we live; but, as you will see his ideas on human achievement and ability–even to the point of thinking he will one day raise the dead–are dishonoring to the God “in whom he lives and moves and has his being (Acts 17). This trailer shows you to what extent he is seeking to keep himself alive; after all, you can’t keep changing the world if you die.

“The end of the creation of God was to provide a spouse for His Son Jesus Christ that might enjoy Him and on whom He might pour forth His love. And the end of all things in providence are to make way for the exceeding expressions of Christ’s love to His spouse and for her exceeding close and intimate union with, and high and glorious enjoyment of, Him and to bring this to pass.

And therefore the last thing and the issue of all things is the marriage of the Lamb. And the wedding day is the last day, the day of judgment, or rather that will be the beginning of it. The wedding feast is eternal; and the love and joys, the songs, entertainments and glories of the wedding never will be ended. It will be an everlasting wedding day.”

–Jonathan Edwards, “Miscellany #702″ in The “Miscellanies”: Entries Nos. 501-832 in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 18, Ed. Ava Chamberlain (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000), 298.

From:  http://tollelege.wordpress.com/2009/05/07/an-everlasting-wedding-day-by-jonathan-edwards/

Reading is fundamental. Do you remember that expression? When I was a kid growing up in the 70s I used to see TV ads about the RIF prorgam. Over the years I have come to an ever increasing conviction that reading is fundamental. After all, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is the Word made flesh (John 1:1-18) and Christianity is rightly considered a religion of the book. God has communicated with us in verbal form. Yes, God has acted in history to save his people. But those acts have been accompanied by divine interpretation or explanation. The other night I had the honor and privilege to give a lecture on the reliability of the Gospels at the University of Delaware at the kind invitation of Will Metzger (author of Tell the Truth which can be purchased here ) and Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship and the Campus and Church Connection. During that talk I made mention, in the question and answer period, that the New Testament presents the gospel as facts and divine interpretation.
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If someone told me 5 years ago that I would have the opportunity to preach in some of the most historic pulpits in America I probably wouldn’t have believed it. In one sense there is nothing special about a building, but in another there is a sense of awe that great men of God have preached Christ in these very pulpits through the centuries.

The pulpit at Tenth Presbyterian Church was held by such men as H.A. Boardman, William Brenton Greene, William Breed, Donald Grey Barnhouse, James Montgomery Boice, and Philip Graham Ryken. In our own day, visiting preachers have included J.I. Packer, Sinclair Ferguson, Eric Alexander, John Gerstner, R.C. Sproul, etc.

Independent Presbyterian Church has been pastored by such noteworthy ministers as Daniel Baker, Willard Preston and Terry L. Johnson. Visiting Ministers, who have filled the pulpit there, include John L. Girardeau, Benjamin Morgan Palmer, and D.L. Moody.

Midway Congregational Church, while somewhat lesser known than the two churches mentioned above, nevertheless has a rich history. It was built in 1755 and has been the home of such well known Calvinist Congregational ministers as John Osgood, Moses Allen, Abiel Holmes (father of Oliver Wendell Holmes), and Cyrus Gildersleeve. Among the well known ministers who have preached there was C.C. Jones, the famous Southern Presbyterian of the mid-1860′s.

Last Sunday night I had the privilege of preaching at Midway Congregational Church. It was a joint service for Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Brunswick, Ga. and New Covenant Presbyterian Church (a PCA church plant) in Richmond Hill, Ga. The Rev. Jim Wilkerson and I led the service. Here is the sermon I preached. The text was Matthew 27:11-26 and the title, “Three Verdicts for Jesus.”

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Last week we struck upon several pages on eschatology before proceeding into a jam packed Christology. It has caused some serious reflection on our part, extra reading and evaluation, and the results are a postponing of this week’s column.

Our own Jeff Waddington recently spoke at the University of Delaware on the subject of the historical reliability of the Gospels. I, for one, admire Jeff’s faithfulness to the authority of Scripture and his much needed emphasis on the God who has spoken. You can read the full manuscript here. This is a series of lectures or debates which in the past has included such speakers as Michael Behe (Darwin’s Black Box), Phil Johnson (Darwin on Trial), Bill Edgar (Reasons of the Heart), and Alvin Plantinga (Warranted Christian Belief). Jeff says he felt like a midget standing on the shoulders of giants.

Yesterday I had an interesting encounter with a young man, from a Christian home, who had many serious questions about God, Christ, sin and salvation. I think that I was able to answer many of his questions in a way that was honoring to God. There were times when I could tell that things were sitting well with him, and other times when they did not seem to satisfy a heart and mind that had been taught many different things. As I drove home, thinking of some of the questions he raised (all of which were based on things that he had read or heard somewhere), I thought to myself, “Satan is far more subtle that we can imagine.’” When I arrived at home, I happened onto Martin Downes’ blog and came across this post. The thing with which I was most struck was the language that Downes used to describe what is happening when believers sit under liberal theology professors. He put it this way: “It is the seed of the woman, being taught by the seed of the serpent.” What a striking way to put this fact. We need to be on gaurd, holding fast the word of truth, so that we will be “pulling down strong holds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself agains the knowledge of God.”

Christ the Center will be online today at 2PM US Eastern. Visit http://www.ustream.tv/channel/reformed-forum-live to listen in and join the chatroom. We’re still finalizing a guest and topic. If you would prefer to connect using a standard chat application, ustream lets you connect to chat.ustream.tv. Our room is #reformedforum.

Geoff Stevens, Creative Director for Reformation Trust Publishing, is working on a logo and web design for New Covenant Presbyterian of Richmond Hill, Ga.

“David declares that he desires nothing, either in heaven or in earth, except God alone, and that without God, all other objects which usually draw the hearts of men towards them were unattractive to him. And, undoubtedly, God then obtains from us the glory to which He is entitled, when, instead of being carried first to one object, and then to another, we hold exclusively by Him, being satisfied with Him alone. If we give the smallest portion of our affections to the creatures we in so far defraud God of the honour which belongs to Him. And yet nothing has been more common in all ages than this sacrilege, and it prevails too much at the present day. How small is the number of those who keep their affections fixed on God alone!”

John Calvin on Psalm 73:25

Modern scientists inherited this false ideal of knowledge from the Greeks. Parmenides saw the vision of reality as one, to which nothing had ever been or could ever be added. Kant followed his modern predecessors; the idealists followed Kant; the “logial atomists” and the “logical positivists” in turn follow the idealists. The “revolution in philosophy” which we have traced so far is a revolution within the Kantian revolution, within the Renaissance revolution, within the Greek revolution, within the revolution of Adam.

Cornelius Van Til, Christian Theistic Evidences . Also found in Bahnsen, Greg L. Van Til’s Apologetic: Readings & Analysis , 372.

The latest CT interview with  Rob Bell confirms the conclusion that Bell is certainly one confused and confusing individual. On the one hand, he says that the Gospel does not secure heaven for us; rather, we bring the new heavens and new earth in here and now (an idea which is, incidentally, not taught anywhere in Scripture). When questioned about the implications of this teaching for someone dying of terminal cancer, he quickly equivocated and said that the Gospel was also about the resurrection and “going to be with Jesus.” Toward the end of the interview he was asked to sum up the Gospel in Twitter like brevity. This was, of course, too difficult for him to do. The apostle Paul, however, put it like this: “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, he was buried, He rose again the third day according to the Scripture.” The Gospel is not what we do, it is what Christ has done for us. So please go Twitter it! You can read the interview here .

HT: Justin Taylor

I have waited a long time to have Iain Campbell on Christ the Center to speak about his work on the Song of Songs. As I began formulating a covenantal approach to the Song I came across Dr. Campbell’s article, The Song of David’s Son, in the Spring 2000 issue of the Westminster Theological Journal.  Iain D. has written several books including Doctrine of Sin , The Gospel According to Ruth , Heroes and Heretics , On the First Day of the Week , Opening up Exodus , and The Seven Wonders of the World: The Gospel in the Storyline of the Bible . You can listen to the interview here.