The Heidelberg Catechism (1563) embodies the commitment of the Reformation to non-speculative theology as it logically expounds core biblical truths along practical and pastoral lines for the Christian life. Beginning with belonging to Christ as our only comfort in life and in…
Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility in Covenantal Context
The Covenantal Structure of the Westminster Confession of Faith Written at the entrance of the temple of Reformed theology are the words: “God does not exist because of man, but man because of God.”[1] This Reformed principle of a relentless…
Joy-Full Fellowship (Part 7): Pentecost
In the Old Testament, the altars of the patriarchs, the tabernacle constructed under Moses, and the temple built by Solomon were all sufficient and efficacious means by which the people of God experienced the covenantal and joy-full presence of the Lord their God. All…
Reigning with Christ Forever and Ever
The apostle Paul teaches that “the Jerusalem above,” that is the eschatological Jerusalem, “is our mother” (Gal. 4:26). Likewise the author to the Hebrews exclaims, “You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the…
The Obedience of Christ and the New Creation (2 Cor. 5:21)
Jesus Christ is Isaiah’s prophesied Suffering Servant who took upon himself the iniquities, transgressions and sins of his people as their substitute, so that they might be reconciled to God in right relationship as new creation.[i] Or, in Paul’s words,…
James Ussher: Another Irishman You Should Know
James Ussher (1581–1656) was one of the most influential Reformed theologians of the seventeenth century. He adroitly contended throughout his life against Roman Catholicism on various platforms, whether writing, preaching or debating. And even though he turned down an invitation to…
12 Episodes on Redemptive-Historical Hermeneutics
Herman Bavinck, reflecting on the all-important impact of Christ on history, writes in The Philosophy of Revelation, “[R]evelation gives us a division of history. There is no history without division of time, without periods, without progress and development. But now take…
Going On to Perfection: A Redemptive-Historical Reading of Hebrews 6:1
The author of the letter to the Hebrews makes explicit in the prologue that there is an organic progression to God’s revelation[1] and that the content and mode of God’s revelatory speech demarcates history into two comprehensive epochs: “long ago” and…
Joy-Full Fellowship (Part 6): The Incarnation
With a smirk befitting someone about to deliver the authoritative word on a subject long puzzled over, the apostle John reaches for his pen to begin inscribing his gospel account (or so I can at least imagine). Going from 0 to 60 in record time, he opens: “In the…
Joy-Full Fellowship (Part 5): The Prophets
Following the apex of Israel’s glory with the construction of the Solomonic temple, the biblical drama enters a period of sustained decline with the occasional righteous Davidic king temporarily suspending its ultimate demise. The inhabitants of Jerusalem repeatedly fail to meet the…
