God’s people have always needed discernment to distinguish the voices that edify from those that merely impress (Jer. 23:16; 2 Cor. 11:5, 13). Throughout history, the Lord has raised up prophets who proclaimed his word with courage and tears. Jeremiah, John the . . . Continue reading →| The Heidelblog
MAGA social-media personality Benny Johnson blamed transgenderism; Westman started identifying as female in 2020, when he was 17. (Robin Westman used to be Robert Westman.) “The trans movement is radicalizing the mentally ill into becoming violent terrorists who target children for murder,” Johnson posted . . . Continue reading →| The Heidelblog
The Scriptures give us a robust revelation about all that Jesus accomplished on the cross. As we go about seeking to categorize all of the various dimensions of the cross, we discover that there are both vertical and horizontal dimensions to Jesus’ work. The verticaldimensions are foundational; . . . Continue reading →| The Heidelblog
Rescheduling marijuana would open the door for Big Weed to go mainstream. Businesses now operating in a legal grey area could licitly deduct business expenses, access capital, and advertise openly. National brands could arise, running spots during football games, offering intro deals via . . . Continue reading →| The Heidelblog
Since publishing my article in 2024, several responses have argued that the difference between the two versions of WCF 23:3 is only a matter of emphasis and not an actual contradiction. Other ministerial colleagues in the PCA have argued that although the . . . Continue reading →| The Heidelblog
First up is Sheila Larson. She’s the founder and sole adherent of “Sheilaism.” Yet her views are quite representative of many Baby Boomers (b. 1946-1964) and even some Gen-Xer’s (who came after them). Ms. Larson and those like her do visit our . . . Continue reading →| The Heidelblog
Query 1. Are believers freed from obedience to the Moral Law; or from the Moral Law as a Rule of obedience? There are some who positively or peremptorily affirm that we are freed from the Law as a Rule, and we are . . . Continue reading →| The Heidelblog
I recently received a letter from a couple in our congregation who have been laboring for the sake of the gospel in the Congo for the better part of their lives. As I read, one line in particular stood out to me. . . . Continue reading →| The Heidelblog
Thus, for our acceptation with God, two things are required:— First, That satisfaction be made for our disobedience,—for whatever we had done which might damage the justice and honour of God; and that God be atoned towards us: which could no otherwise . . . Continue reading →| The Heidelblog
For justification is withdrawn from works, not that no good works may be done, or that what is done may be denied to be good, but that we may not rely upon them, glory in them, or ascribe salvation to them. John . . . Continue reading →| The Heidelblog
In the effectual calling of God it happens that we are now present before God and clothed in the righteousness of Christ, yet we are not yet justified or said to be justified before the sentence of God the Judge about us has been carried from His tribunal. And this…| The Heidelblog
And so, the Mediator, the Son of God, took upon His shoulders not only that first defection but also all our other defections and transgressions, and at the same time diverted to Himself the wrath of God the Father justly pursuing our . . . Continue reading →| The Heidelblog
Therefore, in this example even of Paul regenerate (for now regenerate he says this about himself) we see that even a regenerate person sometimes is made a slave of sin and is led away captive by it. ‘For what.’ He shows that . . . Continue reading →| The Heidelblog
In verse 27 of chapter 3, after he dwells for a little while on the conclusion of the demonstration and has preached a little more fully about the righteousness of faith, he connects the two parts of the principal syllogism and gathers . . . Continue reading →| The Heidelblog
And so, you have in that one verse 18 of chapter 1 these three things: First, man is not justified by works; second, man is condemned by works, which is the reason of the former; third, all the works of all men . . . Continue reading →| The Heidelblog
For, to speak about this epistle to the Romans, nobody could now think, speak, or even write about it enough. For it contains that mystery and those unsearchable riches of Christ. Robert Rollock | Commentary on Ephesians, trans. Casey Carmichael, Classic Reformed . . . Continue reading →| The Heidelblog
For the Lord promises nothing except to perfect keepers of his law, and no one of the kind is to be found. The fact, then, remains that through the law the whole human race is proved subject to God’s curse and wrath, . . . Continue reading →| The Heidelblog
I’ll never forget seeing my first GFE in print. For journalists, few things are more humiliating. A GFE is a mistake—a misspelled name, the wrong number of attendees at a city hall meeting, a misreported batting average. But in journalism, we don’t . . . Continue reading →| The Heidelblog
Believers were already judged at the cross (Gal 2: 19-20), so there is no future review of our works—no slideshows of our failures before the heavenly court—to determine whether we truly measure up. Harrison Perkins | Reformed Covenant Theology: A Systematic Introduction, . . . Continue reading →| The Heidelblog
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology is rapidly developing. It’s hard to keep up with some of the new ethical challenges Christians are facing. Especially our young people are being bombarded with all kinds of tempting new possibilities for distraction, entrapment, deceit, and apostasy. . . . Continue reading →| The Heidelblog
But we define justification as follows: the sinner, received into communion with Christ, is reconciled to God by his grace, while, cleansed by Christ’s blood, he obtains forgiveness of sins, and clothed with Christ’s righteousness as if it were his own, he . . . Continue reading →| The Heidelblog
In eternal life, which belongs to the New Testament: (a) as to actual aquisition obtained by the blood of Christ (which in the Old Testament was only moral); (b) as to the actual entrance of Christ as man into heaven, as the true sanctuary, into which he entered as a…| The Heidelblog
In sanctification, which is greater in the New Testament as to higher illumination of the intellect (as to mode), which is not external and ceremonial (which even a hypocrite may have), but internal (as to efficacy), which is greater on account of . . . Continue reading →| The Heidelblog
In liberty, not only spiritual (which also existed in the Old Testament), but also external, by which we are free from the legal ceremonies (Col. 2:20–22) and besides are become the servants of Christ alone and not of men (Gal. 5:1). Francis . . . Continue reading →| The Heidelblog
In adoption, which in the New Testament not only as to the thing is such as it was in the Old, but also as to mode, condition and effects because: (a) in the New Testament it is proposed as having been acquired through Christ (Jn. 1:12); (b) it is purely…| The Heidelblog
In the calling of all nations, which is peculiar to the New Testament as to the full knowledge of circumstance and of mode. This was not attended to by the ancients who thought that the Gentiles would be brought into the old . . . Continue reading →| The Heidelblog
It consists (1) in the advent of the Messiah, his manifestation in the flesh and the fulfillment of the whole law by him (namely, of its ceremonies, prophecies and the entire righteousness prescribed by God in the law). (2) In the abrogation . . . Continue reading →| The Heidelblog
Thus far the old dispensation; the new succeeds, the administration of the covenant without the law and ceremonies after the appearance of Christ. It is called “new” not as to the substance of the covenant (which is the same in both) but: . . . Continue reading →| The Heidelblog
Thus it comes about that the doctrine of monergistic regeneration—or as it was phrased by the older theologians, of “irresistible grace” or “effectual calling”—is the hinge of the Calvinistic soteriology, and lies much more deeply embedded in the system than the doctrine . . . Continue reading →| The Heidelblog
The subject of baptism is the faithful people of God, without any distinction of nation, sex, or age. Indeed, infants of the covenanted must be baptized as equally as the infants of the covenanted were once circumcised because the promise made to Abraham . . . Continue reading →| The Heidelblog
