Topic Archives: Theology

Having seen the faultiness of the Arminian position on atonement1, let’s look at how the Calvinist view of atonement is biblical and more positive than many think. Then we will answer some common objections to the Calvinist view.2 Biblical and Theological Support for Definite Atonement Biblical terms, tenses, and testimonies make a sure case for […]

And the Lord said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land.’ (Genesis 6:7) Most unbelievers I know trip over the Biblical doctrine of God’s wrath and hell. They ask, ‘How can I possibly believe in and worship a God who would send people to hell? I thought […]

There are two words of Moses, one a command and the other a promise; ‘Circumcise, then, your heart,’ in Deuteronomy 10:16, and ‘the Lord your God will circumcise your heart,’ in Deuteronomy 30:6. The remarkable recovery of Augustinian theology which championed the sovereignty of God; the doctrine of original sin; justification by faith alone, through […]

Every true minister of the gospel is committed to preaching the Word, the whole Word, and nothing but the Word. We are committed to doing this in season and out of season, when times are good and when times are bad. We do so because we believe that the Scriptures make us wise for salvation […]

Never was a more bitter or blasphemous accusation made against the Lord Jesus Christ than the one reported in Luke 11:15: ‘He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons.’ During Jesus’ ministry the attitude of the religious authorities towards him had mushroomed from curiosity, to annoyance, to rivalry, to envy, and now to […]

Let the rich man glory in his humiliation (James 1:10). My reading on revivals over many years has led me to observe at least two characteristics which all of them hold in common. This is true of the revivals or awakenings we find in the book of Acts.1 It is also true of the mighty […]

4. ‘God Has Given Me All Things’1 We have been considering some of the many passages throughout the Bible where, although the doctrine of creation may not be developed to any great extent, it is clearly assumed to be true and is made the foundation of some further thoughts. It should thus be clear that […]

3. The Consistent Scripture Testimony1 In the Old Testament period, when God’s revelation was largely confined to the Jews, we might not expect many instances of them communicating the truth about their God to Gentiles. Yet we do have the example of Jonah when the seamen quizzed him about his background; he told them: ‘I […]

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit (John 3:6). We must preach Christ crucified. This is not limited to pastors and missionaries.1 It is clear that disciple-making, including the task of evangelizing, is part and parcel of our sanctification. We are commanded to […]

The doctrines of grace – otherwise known as the 5 Points of Calvinism or TULIP We believe that these 5 truths are biblical and therefore true. We believe that they magnify God’s precious grace and give unspeakable joy to sinners who have despaired of saving themselves. Total Depravity Our sinful corruption is so deep and […]

The Arminian view is by far the most popular of the four views of the atonement in the Christian church today. However, serious objections must be lodged against Arminian universal redemption, among which are these: It slanders God’s attributes It slanders God’s attributes, such as his love. Arminianism presents a love that actually doesn’t save. […]

God is infinite; he therefore has supreme authority over all his creatures, and it is their duty to submit absolutely to him in everything he requires. Adam and Eve showed this degree of respect for God immediately after the creation; they submitted completely to him in all their thinking, in their entire motivation, and in […]

2. ‘Through Faith We Understand . . .’1 There can be no doubt that the theory of evolution functions as a strong bulwark for the kingdom of Satan today. Most people in Britain and elsewhere stand firmly in opposition to the claims of the God of heaven, and they are strengthened in doing so by […]

The penultimate paper in the John Owen Centre at the September 2009 Conference on John Calvin was from Sinclair Ferguson – on ‘Calvin and the Holy Spirit.’ Dr Ferguson spoke about the fact that there is teaching about the Spirit everywhere in Calvin’s writings leading to B B Warfield’s famous remark that Calvin was the […]

What do we mean by the sovereignty of God? We believe that God upholds and governs all things ‘from galaxies to subatomic particles, from the forces of nature to the movements of nations, and from the public plans of politicians to the secret acts of solitary persons’ all in accord with his eternal, all-wise purposes […]

An extract, with slight editing, from Memoirs of the Rev James Fraser of Brea.1 Being at the University, and being at the age of 17 or 18 years, our minister proposed to celebrate the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, of which he gave warning the Sabbath preceding the celebration thereof. I purposed (I know not […]

1. ‘Much of the Power and Wisdom of God’1 ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.’ With these words the Bible begins. The doctrine of Creation must therefore have considerable significance in relation to the whole revelation which God has given in the Scriptures. Manifestly, the first two chapters of Genesis focus […]

. . . the woman, whom thou gavest me, gave me the fruit and I ate of it. (Genesis 3:12) You cannot live one moment of one day without experiencing the effects of Adam’s fall into sin. It adversely affects everything. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the civil unrest in Iran, genocide, racism, tsunamis, […]

I have been thinking about the grace of God, not so much in terms of how that grace affects us as the Lord’s redeemed people, but rather in terms of how such grace has affected our Lord himself. Such thinking is not a matter of mere human speculation, for there is much teaching about it […]

The thought of heaven and especially the second coming used to unsettle me. I can remember growing up with a certain measure of fear associated with the end of this life (whether occasioned by the conclusion of this age with the coming of Christ or the conclusion of my physical life and entrance into heaven). […]

Let me begin with a question (not a trick one!): ‘What is the principal exercise of faith?’ It is a straight-forward question and a very important question. For John Owen, the great English Puritan divine, the answer was instinctive: ‘The contemplation of the glory of Christ.’ Saving faith unites the believer to the Lord Jesus […]

A tender farewell The fellowship meal of Abraham with the Lord and the two angels was over, and one part of God’s mission in leaving heaven and coming to Mamre to the patriarch and his wife had been completed. The Lord had assured Sarah that she was going to give birth to a son within […]

In his book titled Miracles, C. S. Lewis writes concerning the time when Christ walked on the Sea of Galilee that it was a glimpse given to us of the powers of the new creation. By that he meant that whereas many of the miracles of our Lord demonstrated some of the powers that the […]

Why should Christians be familiar with the great doctrines of the Bible? Let me give you four reasons. 1) The first is the simplest of all: Because we love God. And if you love someone, you want to know everything about them. If a young man meets a girl and falls in love, he’ll want […]

God created man in his own image. (Genesis 1:27) On the sixth day of creation, after making cattle, creeping things, and wild beasts, Elohim, in a marvellous intra-Triune council decided to create man in his own image. The word ‘image’ in Hebrew literally means to cut from a stone, much like what Michelangelo did when […]