Reformation21

In the film The Empire of the Sun , there is a vivid depiction of desperate thirst. In the chaos of World War II in China, the young son of a wealthy British expatriate is separated from his family. There is no one to care for him. The boy returns to his home and lives for a while on whatever food...

Note: This post has been adapted from A New Exposition of the London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689 , edited by Rob Ventura , slated for release by Mentor in November 2022. Chapter Fifteen of the Second London Baptist Confession addresses "Repentance Unto Life and Salvation." The location of...

In 268 AD, a bishop of Antioch, named Paul of Samosata, had begun teaching an early form of Unitarianism and Monarchianism. Specifically, he was teaching that Jesus was simply a human being who had been infused with the divine Logos: a man who became God, not God who became man. Controversy about...

Christians are Trinitarians. To worship the Trinity is definitional to the catholic faith. [1] This isn’t groundbreaking news by any means, but how much does this divine truth shape our worship? Drawing on Basil of Caesarea, Scott Swain rightly asserts that “...the entire Christian life is about...

“It is finished.” (John 19:30) Have you ever left a project unfinished? Our lives are filled with projects that we have never quite managed to finish. We have half-read books on our shelves, half-eaten meals in our refrigerators, and half-finished laundry on the floor in our bedrooms. Most of us...

While reading Nehemiah 9, I was impressed by how much Covenant theology is rooted in history. In the Old Covenant, God spoke through his prophets, priests, and kings to remind his people of what he had done for them in the past. We get focused on what is happening now and our hopes for the future...

“You shall not commit adultery.” — Ex 20:14 When the internet was in its infancy, in the days of AIM and dial-up modems, there were some voices warning us to patch up the leaks in the dam against unbridled smut. The holes were small then, but people were warning us they would grow quickly, and...

Should Christians get Tattoos? There is only one clear reference to tattoos in Scripture: “Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD” (Leviticus 19:28). Obviously, this is a strict prohibition. It is also an Old Testament precept, and...

Note: This post has been adapted from the preface of A New Exposition of the London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689 , slated for release by Mentor in January 2023. It has been correctly said that true Christianity “is confessional Christianity,” and that a church with “a little creed is a...

In modern debates over sexuality, few terms have generated more confusion than “gender.” As distinct from “sex” (which focuses on biology), “gender” has to do with socially constructed roles and expectations. These terms are separated in order to emphasize the fact that biological differences alone...