Errors abound when readers of Scripture confuse law and gospel. Dr. Lane G. Tipton describes the uses of the law and the wonderful news that Jesus Christ has accomplished salvation for his people apart from their own works.

Participants: Lane G. Tipton

Dr. Lane G. Tipton describes the Covenant of Grace and its two administrations. This is an important lesson that pictures for us the wonderful salvation that comes through the mediation of Jesus Christ.

Participants: Lane G. Tipton

In speaking of the gospel, it is important to understand the covenantal context in which it occurs. Though Adam sinned in the garden and brought guilt and corruption upon all his posterity, Jesus Christ institutes a new covenant in his blood for all those who believe in him. Dr. Lane G. Tipton speaks about covenant and salvation.

Participants: Lane G. Tipton

The redemption accomplished by Jesus Christ is applied by the Holy Spirit as he effectually calls the elect and unites them to Christ by faith. Dr. Lane G. Tipton unpacks this great truth about the gospel.

Participants: Lane G. Tipton

The gospel is first and foremost the good news about the resurrected Christ. Through union with the resurrected Christ believers receive justification, adoption, sanctification, and all other benefits which either flow from or accompany them. In this video, Dr. Lane G. Tipton describes these benefits and how they relate to one another.

Participants: Lane G. Tipton

Dr. Lane G. Tipton, Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, PA, speaks about the distinction between the once for all accomplishment of redemption and its application to those who have faith in Jesus Christ.

Participants: Lane G. Tipton

Dr. Lane G. Tipton, Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, PA, speaks about the heart of the Christian message. Christians must be careful not to mistake the gospel for the benefits of the gospel. While the benefits of the gospel, such as justification, adoption, and sanctification, are essential, we can misunderstand the gospel if we do not focus on the benefactor. The heart of the gospel is the person and work of Jesus Christ, who died and was raised for sinners.

Participants: Lane G. Tipton

This is the first lesson in a series examining the theological foundations of Reformed and covenantal apologetics. In this video, Camden Bucey looks at the important difference between God and his creation.

Participants: Camden Bucey

Winston Smith joins the panel to discuss Christian marriage and his book Marriage Matters: Extraordinary Change through Ordinary Moments. Smith is a counselor and faculty member at CCEF, a ministry focused on biblical counseling. This is a clip from Christ the Center episode 161.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Winston Smith

post image from washingtonydc

Participants: Camden Bucey, David Murray

The idea of natural theology has been much debated. One’s understanding regarding the project of natural theology will inevitably impact substantially one’s apologetic methodology and epistemology.

K. Scott Oliphint and James Dolezal visit the Reformed Forum studio to discuss natural theology. Michael Sudduth’s book The Reformed Objection to Natural Theology (Burlington: Ashgate, 2009) will act as the foil of the discussion. The book is in the Ashgate “Philosophy of Religion” series edited by Paul Helm and Linda Zagzebski.

In The Reformed Objection to Natural Theology Sudduth identifies three main categories in the world of Reformed objections to natural theology: objections from the immediacy of our knowledge of God, the noetic effects of sin, and the logic of theistic arguments. While recognizing various forms of natural theology, Sudduth argues that none of the main Reformed objections are successful against the project of natural theology itself.

The foundation for Sudduth’s book was laid in his 1996 D.Phil. dissertation at the University of Oxford. In that work, Sudduth attempted “to synthesize the Reformed epistemology of Alvin Plantinga and features of the evidentialist tradition with its emphasis on natural theology – rational arguments for the existence and nature of God.” (Sudduth, Preface) The book is even titled after Plantinga’s 1980 paper of the same title.

Links

• James Anderson’s review at Themelios.

Participants: Camden Bucey, James Dolezal

The Christ the Center panel met with Anthony Selvaggio, a teaching elder in the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Rochester, NY, a visiting professor of New Testament at Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, PA, a practicing attorney and author of many books and articles, about the necessity of remembering that ministers are called to preach to real people. Additionally the panel discussed the relationship of redemptive historical preaching to exemplary and experimental preaching. Finally, the panel discussed the obligation of pastors to avoid plagiarism when citing sources. All in all, this was a fascinating discussion about the central calling of the pastoral ministry.

The discussion begins with an article Anthony for Reformation21 titled Preaching to People?

Participants: Anthony Selvaggio, Jeff Waddington

Darryl G. Hart speaks about the storied histories of the Presbyterian and Reformed churches. Dr. Hart has authored A Secular Faith: Why Christianity Favors the Separation of Church and State, Defending the Faith: J. Gresham Machen and the Crisis of Conservative Protestant, and Deconstructing Evangelicalism: Conservative Protestantism in the Age of Billy Graham.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Darryl G. Hart

John V. Fesko speaks about Adam and the covenant of works. The discussion is prompted by a question on Federal Vision views of the subject. This is a clip of the larger discussion from Christ the Center episode 38 on Fesko’s book Justification: Understanding the Classic Reformed Doctrine.

Participants: John Fesko, Nick Batzig

The Christ the Center panelists engage Dr. K. Scott Oliphint, professor of apologetics and systematic theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, in a wide-ranging discussion about Cornelius Van Til and the recent publication of th fourth edition of his The Defense of the Faith . Dr. Oliphint, who is arguably the most authoritative expert on Van Til, shares about the historical context which gave rise to this book, including disputes with individuals connected with Calvin College, Calvin Theological Seminary, and what is now Kuyper College, in the 1950s concerning common grace and philosophical idealism. Much of the material in the original edition of the book that evinced this debate was removed in subsequent editions and has now been restored and amply expanded with a helpful introduction and explanatory notes. Of special interest is the discussion of Van Til’s connection with Reformed Scholasticism and Herman Bavinck through his doctrine of analogy. When all is said and done, it comes down to this: Van Til was simply applying orthodox Reformed theology to apologetics.

Panel

• K. Scott Oliphint
• Jeff Waddington
• Jim Cassidy
• James Dolezal
• Camden Bucey

Bibliography

Other Formats

• Zotero RDF
• Dublin Core RDF
• BibTex

Participants: James Dolezal, K. Scott Oliphint

The Christ the Center panel, ably augmented by Glen Clary, pastor of Immanuel Orthodox Presbyterian Church of West Collingswood, NJ, had the privilege of sitting down and chatting with Dr. Hughes Oliphant Old, the John H. Leith Professor of Reformed Theology and Worship at Erskine Theological Seminary and dean of its Institute for Reformed Worship, about his latest book, volume seven in the profoundly learned and helpful series The Reading and the Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church. While the conversation included discussion of various types of preaching and the oral (versus written) form of preaching, the focus of the conversation was on the importance of lectio continua or the consecutive exposition of Scripture, book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. Christ the Center is pleased to offer this episode as a reminder to us all of the centrality of preaching, especially preaching as worship.

Participants: Hughes Oliphant Old, Jeff Waddington

Greg Reynolds joins the panel on Christ the Center episode 34 to speak about media ecology and preaching in the electronic age. Dr. Reynolds is the pastor at Amoskeag Presbyterian Church in Manchester, New Hampshire. He has also written the book The Word is Worth a Thousand Pictures: Preaching in the Electronic Age.

Participants: Greg Reynolds, Nick Batzig

Participants: Camden Bucey, James Dolezal, Vern Poythress

Participants: Camden Bucey, Josh Walker, Miles Van Pelt

Martin Downes discusses the nature of heresy. This is a clip from Christ the Center episode 84. Read more from Martin Downes and many other respected theologians in his book Risking the Truth: Handling Error in the Church.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Martin Downes

Reformed Forum Express shares a clip with Dr. Richard C. Gamble speaking about volume one of his systematic theology. Many people have looked forward to The Whole Counsel of God v.1: God’s Mighty Acts in the Old Testament and the panel had the pleasure of discussing the influences and aims of this great book. Dr. Gamble incorporates the best of the reformed tradition into a highly enjoyable biblical-systematic theology. In this clip Dr. Gamble discusses the role of biblical theology among the other theological disciplines.

Participants: Richard C. Gamble

Lane G. Tipton, Professor of Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary, speaks about the various distinctives of Van Til’s trinitarian theology and the particular concerns he sought to address in his formulation.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Lane G. Tipton