Topic Archives: Theology

The problem that confronts us all and dwarfs every other is how are we to bring the Word of God to our generation? If the apostles saw fit to appoint others to serve tables that they might devote themselves ‘continually to prayer and the ministry of the Word,’ it is clear that any ministry which […]

And all the multitudes that came together to this sight, when they beheld the things that were done, returned smiting their breasts. — Luke 23:48 Six hours our Lord has hung upon the cross. Upon the cross! We are very nearly at the point at which we can no longer contemplate putting even deliberate murderers […]

‘Blessed by my Master’s name, this disorder’ [a violent sickness from which he was just recovering] ‘found me employed in his service. It seized me in the pulpit, like a soldier wounded in the field. ‘This has been a busy summer with me. In about two months I rode about five hundred miles, and preached […]

I wish there were ten or a dozen Christmas days in the year; for there is work enough in the world, and a little more rest would not hurt labouring people. Christmas day is really a boon to us, particularly as it enables us to assemble round the family hearth and meet our friends once […]

According to tradition this Gospel was composed to satisfy the urgent request of the people of Rome for a written summary of Peter’s preaching in that city. However, this cannot mean that the information found in this book must be withheld from everybody living outside of the city limits of the capital. As is clear […]

It is something of a commonplace in these days to read about the ‘psychology of conversion’ or the ‘anatomy of a soul’, and often enough what masquerades under such titles is but an onslaught on faith and a denigration of both conversion and the notion of the soul. It is in stark contrast to this […]

That supreme reverence for the glory of God which prompted Jesus to regard not his life dear unto him, provided his Father’s honour were maintained, must be the dominant principle of action in every Christian heart. The Divine character must be sacred in our eyes. The jealousy which the prophet Elijah expressed for the Lord […]

For more than fifteen hundred years the Church has engaged in a heated debate over the freedom of man’s will. The major issues came to general attention in the early fifth century when Augustine and Pelagius did battle on the subject. Through medieval times the nature of man’s freedom received a great deal of attention. […]

Well done, good and faithful Servant. — Matt. 25:21 Of all the Servants spoken of in Scripture, if one were called upon to say which most nearly comes up to the idea one forms to oneself of a ‘good and faithful servant’, it would be that eldest servant of Abraham’s house, whom Abraham sent into […]

The following, with minor alterations, is taken from Vol. 2 of Sermons by the late Edward Griffin (1770-1837), 1839. These volumes contain an excellent memoir by William B. Sprague. * * * According to the plan of grace revealed in the Gospel, God has taken the work of salvation into his own hands. The great […]

When we consider the surpassing glory of the subject-matter with which theology deals, it would appear that if ever science existed for its own sake, it might surely be true of this science. The truths concerning God and his relations are, above all comparison, in themselves the most worthy of all truths of study and […]

The New Testament never speaks of God being reconciled to man but always of man being reconciled to God. The supreme example of this is Paul’s statement in 2 Corinthians 5:18 ff., ‘All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; […]

Hugh Martin (1822-85) combined a brilliant analytical and mathematical mind with a child-like heart which rested in Christ and his atoning work, as revealed in the Scriptures. Born and brought up in Aberdeen, he gained the top prizes in mathematics at the University there, before going on to study for the ministry. He cast in his […]

A charge that is made repeatedly against historic Christianity is that its stress on doctrine makes it authoritarian, theoretical, and cold. The Christian religion is a practical affair; putting the faith in terms of truth to be believed alienates or repels many who would otherwise be sympathetic. As John Robinson puts it, ‘the effect of […]

The Cross does not merely tell us that God forgives, it tells us that that is God's way of making forgiveness possible. It is the way in which we understand how God forgives. I will go further: how can God forgive and still remain God? -- that is the question.