Topic Archives: Salvation

Think about someone being selected and sent to do an especially difficult job. Some major crisis has arisen, or some massive problem needs to be tackled, and it requires the knowledge, the experience, the skill-set, the leadership that they so remarkably possess. It was like that with Jesus. Entrusted to him by God the Father […]

The following is an excerpt from J. Gresham Machen’s classic work, What Is Faith?, which has recently been reprinted by the Banner with a new, modern typeset and an updated cover. It is impossible to trust God in the Christian sense without holding that he is a free and living person, Creator and Ruler of […]

The following was an address delivered at the “Religious Conference,” held in the Theo­logical Seminary, Princeton, on October 13, 1902. Reprinted from The Princeton Theological Review, i. 1903, pp. 81-92. The article forms a part of Warfield’s Studies in Theology (1932, rep. Banner of Truth, 1988), which is currently out of print. WE may as […]

Recently reading Paul’s Second ‌Letter to the Thessalonians, I was struck by a word that immediately arrested me. Paul has been writing about the ‘coming of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (2 Thess. 2:1). He assures the church that the Lord had not yet come, and would not come, ‘unless the rebellion comes first and the […]

The story begins like this: on the night that Jesus was born certain shepherds were out in the field, keeping watch over their flock. It was to them first of all that the news of his birth was broken. And by an angel no less! “I bring you good news of great joy that will […]

The following sermon, ‘Christ Crucified’, was delivered on Sabbath morning, February 11, 1855, by the Rev. C.H. Spurgeon, at Exeter Hall. ‘But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of […]

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 […]

The following sermon, ‘The Sin of Unbelief’, was delivered on Sabbath morning, January 14, 1855, by the Rev. C.H. Spurgeon, at New Park Street Chapel, Southwark. ‘And that lord answered the man of God, and said, Now, behold, if the Lord should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be? And he said, Behold, […]

This review was first published in the 2022 edition of the New Horizons magazine and has been shared with permission. * * * In this pamphlet, OPC pastor Jeremiah Montgomery addresses the often vexing issue of assurance of salvation. Having walked the ‘valley of the shadow of doubt’ for more than twenty-five years, his purpose […]

‘See Mary weeping.’ So runs the invitation in the Townend-Getty Easter hymn, See What a Morning. Mary has come to Jesus’ tomb on the morning of the first day of the week and stands outside it weeping. Why is she weeping? She gives us the answer herself: ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I […]

It was my privilege to grow up in a home with Christian parents. There were things I knew before I truly believed them. And so it was that I sat in the second year of my middle school, probably about nine years old, listening to my teacher tell a joke about hell as part of […]

As Machen lay dying on New Year’s Eve, 1936, he wasn’t thinking about any of his many and considerable achievements throughout his life. He dictated a telegram to his colleague John Murray in which his last words are recorded, ‘I’m so thankful for [the] active obedience of Christ. No hope without it.’

Picture life as a journey, a journey from birth to death. We are born, we live, and we die. That’s how it was for Jesus. Life was a journey for him too. When he made our nature his own, he made our journey his own as well. At both the beginning and the end of […]

This is the second in a series of ‘taster’ articles to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the Puritan Paperbacks series. Here, our Book Review Editor provides a flavour of one of the early titles to appear in the series. Heaven on earth! Who would refuse that? But what is it, and where do we find […]

The following is the second chapter of Rhett P. Dodson’s newest title, With A Mighty Triumph! * * * Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not […]

This article is the contents of an address first given in February 2020 at the Westminster Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Newcastle, UK. * * * It is one of the glories of the gospel that it is universal in scope. There is nothing narrow or limited about the good news of salvation. It is, Matt. 28:19, […]

When you’re out for your permitted daily exercise (in the UK) these days, you can’t help noticing the pictures of rainbows children have painted and put up in their windows. The idea started in Italy and spread to many different countries as a symbol of hope in dark times — the message seems to be […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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; […]

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.

No doctrine has received greater attention than the Atonement. And yet, comparing the studies of the present with those of the past, and the emphases of the Bible with those of its interpreters, one begins to suspect that several aspects of the doctrine are not receiving the attention they deserve. Its Horror This is true, […]

Now, you are aware that there are different theories of Redemption. All Christians hold that Christ died to redeem, but many Christians do not teach the same redemption. We differ as to the nature, of atonement, and as to the design of redemption. For instance, the Arminian holds that Christ when He died, did not […]

‘Regeneration’ is a key word in Reformed theology. As with other key words it is possible to approach an understanding of it from a number of different directions. From the point of view of the work of Christ it may be said that regeneration takes place in a human soul as a result of Christ’s […]