Topic Archives: Scripture

PART I Thy word is truth. (John 17:17) So many today have so many different views about Jesus. Who is the contemporary Christ? Some view him as a mythical figure, a sort of modern day Robin Hood or Santa Claus, one akin to the tooth fairy. Others believe that he was a wonderful, compassionate man, […]

I want to focus on three influences which shaped the so-called ‘Authorised Version’: King James himself, the translators, and the printers. Such attention to the human aspect of the making of a Bible translation in no way conflicts with belief in the Bible as the infallible and inerrant Word of God (Isa. 40:8). The Bible […]

The concluding part of a paper delivered at the 2009 Theological Conference of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. See here for the first part of this paper. 3. Echoes of the downgrade movement The echoes we can hear of the downgrade movement which destroyed the orthodoxy of the old Free Church, and indeed brought […]

The first part of a paper delivered at the 2009 Theological Conference of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The concluding part can be found here. Attacks upon the doctrine that there are no errors in the Bible are not new. As the history of the Scottish Church in the late nineteenth century demonstrates, they […]

In Geneva, 450 years ago, a new version of the Bible in English began to come off the printing presses. For the first time, English-speaking people in the British Isles could purchase a Bible in their own tongue translated, in its entirety, directly from the original Hebrew and Greek – a notable milestone on the […]

In 1821 a young clergyman’s son matriculated at Worcester College, Oxford. Amongst the cleverest of his generation, he knew nothing of the wisdom which can only be imparted by the work of the Holy Spirit in the soul. Just previously, another young man, of similar academic capabilities, had graduated with an unexpectedly low third-class degree. […]

If anyone in the ancient world wanted to know how to write, he read Marcus Fabius Quintilianus’ Institutio Oratorio. Among other things, Marcus pleaded that if you wanted to win the assent of your readers you must begin with a ‘courteou’a courteous and natural opening’; rather, he begins by calling down God’s curse of eternal […]

The word reveal means ‘to uncover.’ Suppose there is a plate of cookies on the table covered by a towel. When the towel is removed, then you can see what’s there – a plate and cookies. You see what you could not see before. When we use the word revelation in theology, we are talking […]

‘How Liberal Theology Infected Scotland’ is a deeply instructive short article1 written by R. A. Finlayson, the late professor of Systematic Theology in the Free Church College in Edinburgh. Finlayson attributed the nineteenth century infiltration of Liberalism into a confessional Church to wrong priorities by the leaders. He wrote: …not content with opening three colleges, […]

There’s a lot of talk in the Christian world concerning humility and the handling of God’s Word. Prominent in this discussion are some of the statements emanating from America’s branch of the Emerging Church. According to this school of thought, humility as applied to Scripture entails a sense of uncertainty about Scripture’s meaning, message, or […]

Memorizing Scripture seems like a daunting task for many of us. Why is that? For some, the memory is not as good as it used to be, or at least as we remember that it was! “I have a bad memory” is often used to justify not even attempting to memorize God’s Word. Still others […]

A pilgrimage to faith in the integrity of Scripture Enough things are lost in the average church to make some sort of lost-and-found department necessary, even if it is only a drawer in a desk somewhere. Church coatrooms often contain an interesting selection of old hats, overshoes, umbrellas, and gloves. Human memory being what it […]

PAY FULL ATTENTION! ‘If no sin was unpunished in the Old Testament, how can any be in the New?’ Every good preacher should be able to state things as succinctly as the writer to the Hebrews has done; but no preacher worth his salt is content with doing only that. He knows that things have […]

CONCERNS ABOUT NIV REVISIONS The various NIV translations are being affected by a feminist agenda. “The latest revisions are not the words God originally caused to be written, and thus they are not the words of God,” Wayne Grudem has written. “They are human words that men have substituted for the words of God, and […]

THE TRANSFORMING WORD Imagine taking up in your hands Christ’s own copy of the Scriptures and, turning the pages, noting the passages that were meaningful to Him An old Army pensioner was talking about a recent experience. He had been rummaging through a closet when he’d come across the small Bible he’d carried with him […]

THE SHEDDING OF BLOOD JOHN 19:1 “THEN PILATE TOOK JESUS AND HAD HIM FLOGGED”. The Word from God affirms that ‘without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins’, and that points to something absolutely basic and fundamental in the very nature of who God is, the being of God. It is eloquent […]

A Sermon of Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Romans 10:3 “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” “Saving Faith” An Exposition of Chapter 10, published by The Banner of Truth Trust: 1997 1.800.263.8085 (pp.28-39). “For they being ignorant of […]

At the end of the Banner of Truth ministers’ conference in Messiah College, Grantham, Pennsylvania, on June 1, Sherman Isbell took me to Baltimore airport and on the way we called in at the Green Mount Cemetery to visit the grave of Dr J. Gresham Machen. He is buried next to his parents and his […]

You will appreciate that much of my time is devoted to the endeavor of applying the Word of God to individuals, as well as to the gathered congregation. The public ministry of the Word is accomplished through preaching. The private application of the Word to individuals, or couples, or families is done through counseling. I […]

The Chairman of the University Debating Society, Gerard, attends our church on Sundays and Tuesdays. He asked me if I would take part in the weekly debate on Thursday March 15th, making the proposition “That this house believes in Creation rather than Evolution.” So I said I would. How many attend, I asked. As low […]

For years, feminists have waged an increasingly successful struggle to strip the Bible of patriarchal language while claiming such alterations will lead to no further Biblical cleansing. Now the slippery slope is confirmed. A recent article in the Jewish Telegraph tells of recent success in an 18-year campaign by retired Jewish publisher Irvin Borowsky to […]

SESSION 1 The Conference commenced with the 300 men singing the metrical version of Psalm 65, and with prayer. Iain Murray then explained to the Conference that the sickness of Dr Robert Godfrey of Westminster Seminary, California, had prevented his attendance, and that Dr Sinclair Ferguson would speak instead of him. John Marshall opened a […]

To some it might seem unnecessary and even wickedly controversial to thrust upon readers any discussion of Arminianism. This might appear to be the case for two reasons. First of all, why should we revive ancient controversies and thereby provoke animosities that have long since died the death of old age? Arminianism takes its name […]