The word “life” (ζωή) or “eternal life” (ζωή αἰώνιος) is no general term for Paul to describe all people with beating hearts on earth, but the “most frequent mould into which the content of the coming age is cast” (Vos, The Pauline Eschatology,…
Am I Free If God Is Sovereign?
God’s sovereignty and man’s freedom are often thought to be in competition with one another in a sort of zero-sum game: either God is sovereign or I am free. This has led to thinking that there are only two basic options…
Having Your Treasures in God: Geerhardus Vos on the Eternal State
Teaching on the eternal state of the world to come may sound from the outset to be speculative and useless for practical living in the present. How can heavenly contemplation help me raise my children or motivate me at work…
Geerhardus Vos on the Personal and Active Faith of the Old Testament
The Westminster Larger Catechism defines justifying faith as a saving grace, wrought in the heart of a sinner by the Spirit and Word of God, whereby he, being convinced of his sin and misery, and of the disability in himself…
The Essential Van Til — His Relation to Scholasticism
Van Til used the word “scholasticism” (or its other variations) as shorthand for Thomistic dualism (and with it the medieval synthesis of Christian and pagan thought). In short Thomistic dualism is the idea that there are two sources of knowledge:…
[Book Review] Christ and Covenant Theology by Cornelis Venema
The doctrine of the covenant, in the words of Anthony Hoekema, is “the vertebrate structure which holds all the doctrines of Reformed theology together.”[1] The structural importance of the covenant for Reformed theology has given rise to areas of dispute and…
The Dogmatic Impulse within Scripture
Geerhardus Vos wisely observed that “on the line of historical progress there is at several points already a beginning of correlation among elements of truth in which the beginnings of the systematizing process can be discerned.”[i] In other words, within…
Geerhardus Vos on Christology and Covenant
In a previous post, we considered the way in which Geerhardus Vos’ doctrine of Christ impacted his redemptive-historical hermeneutic for reading the Old Testament. In the triune God’s eternal counsel of peace, the Son assumed his role as Mediator and…
Geerhardus Vos on Christology and Hermeneutics
I have been working through the third volume of Geerhardus Vos’ Reformed Dogmatics on Christology and have appreciated the implications he draws throughout for properly understanding the Old Testament revelation. This, however, should come as no surprise: our doctrine of Christ should impact…
The Office of Christ and the Authority of Preaching
There is no event in all the world that you can attend (no matter how expensive or exclusive the tickets are) that compares to the preaching of God’s Word every Sunday. Lectures, sporting events, concerts and plays are like feathers…
