When Protestants speak of the distinction between the visible and the invisible church, it is not without good reason. We make this distinction because we recognize Scripture's clear portrayal of the church as both the elect people of God, whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life (Rev. 21:27), and the visible community […]
No, life isn't fair," said the journalist, whose livelihood was touring the world to cover disasters. "Earth-quakes, tsunamis, famines, floods, pandemics, volcanic eruptions-they just happen, and that's all you can say about them. You can work out afterwards what triggered at least some of them, but you can't predict them with any accuracy, and you […]
In 1524 Erasmus of Rotterdam decided to engage the famous Martin Luther in a debate over free will and salvation. Critical of Luther's grace-oriented approach, Erasmus warned that Christians should not "through irreverent inquisitiveness rush into those things which are hidden, not to say superfluous." Among the list of irreverent or superfluous debates, Erasmus included […]
I believe in God the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth." This opening line of the Apostle's Creed is familiar to us, yet what do we really mean when we use the word Almighty when referring to God our Father? Fearful (Ps. 1:1) or wonderful (Rom. 11:38) come close to describing what we mean, […]
There are few theological topics that have been the source of more speculation than the doctrine of the Antichrist. A perusal of the shelves of almost any Christian bookstore will reveal literally dozens of titles dedicated to identifying who or what this "Antichrist" is. Most of these titles are written by popularizers of the dispensationalist […]
One of the most significant decisions taken by the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) was the action of the third General Assembly when the Assembly declared: "The Directory for Worship is an approved guide and should be taken seriously as the mind of the Church agreeable to the Standards. However, it does not have the […]
"Have you read Gilead yet?" a neighbor asked enthusiastically, approaching me in our city neighborhood. I told her I had just started Marilynne Robinson's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. My friend, a physician from a Unitarian background, went on to describe why she loved the book. The aging protagonist, Reverend John Ames, resonated for her because of […]
My reading list of late has ranged from The Kite Runner, to P. D. James mysteries, to Team of Rivals on Lincoln's administration. Business-related books rarely make it on my list, and the last book on economics I cracked was for a course in undergrad. So why did I persist to the last page? This […]
Reacting against a perceived tendency to reduce Paul's teaching to answering the question, How can I be saved?, the trend today is to say that the real question that concerns Paul (as it did all first-century Jews) was, Who are the people of God? In other words, it's a question of ecclesiology (defining "Israel"), not […]
In the interviews that follow, the editors of Modern Reformation asked a series of five questions to two able defenders of their respective systems: Robert A. Peterson, Calvinist and professor of systematic theology at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri; and Jerry L. Walls, Arminian and professor of philosophy at Asbury Seminary in Wilmore, […]
