Reformation21

Modern society brims with opportunities for people to get together and talk about something. In meetings, discussion groups, clubs, classes, forums, conferences, rallies, and protests, people gather to discuss matters that are important to them. It is understandable, then, that we often treat...

In one sense, we rightly think of sanctification as a progressive work. As the 1689 LBCF states , this is the Spirit’s work of destroying “the whole body of sin” and strengthening “all saving graces, to the practice of all true holiness” (13.1). When we encounter hagios/hagiazo (ἁγίος / ἁγιάζω) in...

Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom... A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother . — Proverbs 18: 1, 24 (KJV) I’ve been thinking a lot about friendship lately. I think about how...

In the 21st century evangelical landscape, there are two opposing errors concerning worship that grow out of the same root problem. One error is the attempt to be hyper-relevant. Those who succumb to this temptation seek a worship “experience” tailored to the fads of the day. They will be greeted...

Is it possible to “get saved” without getting sanctified ? The 1689 Confession, in accordance with the Bible, answers with a resounding “No!” Sanctification is not an optional extra for Christians; it is an essential part of the salvation God gives to all who are in union with his Son. Every...

James W. Alexander lived a fascinating life. Like his father, the Rev. Archibald Alexander, James Alexander served as an American Presbyterian pastor and professor. Unlike his father, Alexander also authored a number of hymns and translated others (including “O Sacred Head Now Wounded”). He even...

Every place has a feel, an impression or characteristic sensation. Home has a feel, even if it isn’t always positive. The neighborhood you grew up in has a feel. The noisy main street of your urban center has perhaps a collection of feels depending on the hour or day. Then there’s the shaded path...

In the New Testament, the word often translated as “sanctification” is sometimes translated, “holiness.” The Greek is hagiasmos (ἁγιασμὸς), the noun form of the verb “to sanctify,” “to make holy” ( hagiazo , ἁγιάζω). The basic meaning of the verb is to set apart from that which is common or unclean...

Every church in America is now a church re-plant. This is a hard truth, but healthy churches will own it, while those who ignore it will be walking down the path towards a painful decline. American Christianity has learned numerous lessons during the past 25 months: live stream, zoom meetings, and...

“You shall not covet…” — Deuteronomy 5:21 “Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor” (Ecc 4:4). Really? All toil? All skill? All driven by envy? What would that say about your ministry? It would say that your ministry (yes, yours ), is in your own human...