A Site for the Teaching Ministry of Nick Batzig
The Westminster Confession of Faith was a cooperative document–the product of men with a variety of theological beliefs coming together to articulate a unified statement of the Christian faith. This makes the Westminster Confession of Faith one of the most theologically mature and uniquely important documents in church history....
The coming of the Son of God into this fallen world for the salvation of His people occurred in the most counterintuitive way possible. If Jesus came after the expectations and desires of sinful men and women, He would have come in a display of pomp and power that leant itself to human wisdom and pride. Instead, He came in weakness, poverty, obscurity, and ignominy. When, by faith, we receive Him as the eternal Son of God, though veiled in the weakness of flesh and set in the context of these counterintuitive circumstances, we have our eyes opened to see the wisdom of God at work....
When we think of the priestly ministry of Christ–from His incarnation to His substitutionary atoning death on the cross–we should do so with an eye to what the Scriptures teach about the priestly act of the Father 'giving up' the Son for the salvation of His people. The Son is the priest who offers Himself without spot to God, and the Father is the priest in giving His eternally beloved Son as a sacrifice for the sin of His people. Jesus has been 'given for us' by the Father (Isaiah 9:6) so that we might be reconciled to God....
Those who have been swept up with various forms of theonomy (or Christian Nationalism) should reflect deeply on the redemptive-historical role of the Old Covenant civil law as well as on how the Apostles spiritually applied it to the New Covenant church. To move beyond these things is to impose an artificial, underdeveloped, and over realized worldview on the Scriptures rather than to allow Scripture to determine our understanding of the precise relationship between the Old Covenant theocracy and the New Covenant church. ...
We must ever remember that this is not our home. Our ultimate hope can never be in a Christianized America. Our ultimate hope lies in the fact that we confess that "here we have no lasting city" (Heb. 13:14) but are "looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God" (Heb. 11:10). ...
As we reflect on the preaching ministry of Calvin, and the way in which the Lord used it to fuel Reformation across Europe, we should remember that the Reformation was primarily fueled by a return to the faithful expository preaching of God's word. We honor the Reformers best not by living in the annals of church history to simply marvel at all that the Lord accomplished through them; we honor them best by following their example in preaching and propagating God’s word in similar ways as they did....
Remembering what we once were when we were dead in sins and what God did to mercifully draw us to Himself through the saving work of Christ is vital if we are to make advancement in our spiritual growth in grace. The Christian life is often fueled most of all not by learning new things (although there are always more important truths for us to learn in God's word) but by remembering those truths that God has already revealed to us....
Secularism is a religion. Make no mistake about it. Though many seek to advance it as a neutralizing alternative to a religiously structured society, it is, in its own right, a religion. A secular worldview is not content until it has permeated every fabric of society–civics, ethics, media, and education. Just as the Christian worldview is meant to permeate all human activity, so secularism seeks to stand in the gap and block a truly consistent application of Christianity to every aspect of life. There is a bewitching element of secularism to which many–even many Christians–are blind. ...
When we begin to understand the important relationship between the law of God and the gospel, we will guard against allowing any perversions of it in our presentation of the biblical teaching about justification and sanctification. We will carefully note the contexts in which these two means of revelation are contrasted in Scripture; and, we will recognize that while the law does not, in anyway whatsoever, play in to our justification before God (except insomuch as Christ kept it for us), we will seek to promote the important place that law plays in the Christian life. Believers, at one and the same time, recognize that they are neither justified nor condemned by the moral law of God and they are zealous to run the course of God's commandments by faith working through love. ...
While God calls us to be zealous for the purity of His worship, we must be equally zealous to resist the temptation to think that the circumstantial ways in which we administer the elements of worship ought to be binding on every other local congregation. We should be exceedingly slow to call something evil that God has not called evil. We should, instead, seek to discern ...
Keep Reading
If we were simply to thank God for each other and pray constantly for the spiritual blessings of God to be manifested in one another's lives what a difference it would make for the church's sustenance, vitality, and continuance. What a glorious thing it would be for believers to commit to turning from praise to prayer for one another and for a greater outpouring of the spi...
Keep Reading
The lawless soul is ever in danger of being led into path of unrighteousness on account of the multitude of lawless voices and sights online. The self-righteous soul is in danger of a far more subtle form of rebellion, namely, responding in sinful anger to sin in others that we do not personally commit out of a faux sense of moral superiority in the face of lawless....
Keep Reading
The 20th Century will be likely be remembered as the Century of ecclesiastical ecumenism. The 21st Century is shaping up to follow suitnot simply because of a widespread desire for co-belligerency, but on account of a doctrinal reductionism that seeks to dilute Christianity down to the most basic creedal statements of the early church. One of the driving forces behind the ...
Keep Reading
With the overturning of Row v. Wade, I have noticed numerous professing Christians posting things like, "Now the church needs to start caring for all of life for those who get pregnant," or "The church needs to do more than simply denounce the practice of abortion." I would contend that this, albeit it a well-meaning statement, misses the mark of the God-ordained ministry ...
Keep Reading
This past year, I have been preaching a sermon series through the gospel of John. One of the things that I have been struck with is the way in which Jesus interacts with various disciples having differing spiritual temperaments and personalities. Not all the disciples are in the same place or have the same fervor. Some are more timid. Others are more outwardly zealous. Sti...
Keep Reading
It is altogether possible that John is, at one and the same time, defending the reality of the death of Jesus and His true humanity, as well as positing that the blood and water point to the two-fold benefit of justification and sanctification. It is also possible that John had the redemptive-historical fulfillment of the water from the stricken rock in view when he includ...
Keep Reading
Learning to embrace the seasons of life that God brings us into is vital if we are going to be useful in this world. We often find it to be difficult because we enjoying doing the things we love. We far too often find our comfort in productivity, accomplishment, creativity, and influence. However, we are meant to find contentment in what God has for us. ...
Keep Reading
About two years ago, the editorial team at Ligonier began writing a series of theological study pages on numerous subjects and themes. Some of those pages are now available online. More will be released in the near future. Each page provides a short systematic theological treatment, in keeping with a Reformed theological approach, of a particular subject–together with li...
Keep ReadingIn recent years, it has become more commonplace to hear certain theologians emphasize that the ascension and present reign of Christ are the most neglected aspects of His work of redemption; and, while there is great merit in highlighting the consequences of such a neglect of these precious truths, I have come to believe that the most neglected part of Christ's saving work...
Keep Reading