Reformation21

Are you watching the news? Are you reading blogs and news reports about the recent death of 18-year old Michael Brown? Have you watched the protests that have and will continue to occur? Are you, in any sense, moved to pray or talk to others about this? I have scanned the internet for various...

We tend towards one of two extremes in our attitudes towards work: either we make too little of it, or we make too much of it. We make too little of work when we regard it with contempt, when we treat it as an evil -- albeit a necessary one since it supplies the financial resources necessary to...

In exposing and critiquing the shallow culture of Western celebrity that too easily infiltrates the church of Jesus Christ, we must be careful not to allow that to become an equally crass dismissiveness of legitimately-earned reputation. Empty pomposity and unfounded adulation deserves to be...

I'm sitting at the dining room table at my in-laws waiting for a call from someone to come fix my broken car (a minor issue, really, but one that needs attention). Tricia's parents aren't here: her father is sitting with his elderly mother about an hour up the road and her mother is at dialysis (it...

Augustine's second homily on the Gospel of John offers one of the richest commentaries on John 1.12 that I have read. His explanation of what it means for God to give us "the right to become children of God" is worth quoting in full: What did he bestow on them? Great kindness; great mercy. Singly...

I've been working of late on the doctrine of the pactum salutis , i.e., the eternal covenant between the Father and the Son concerning the redemption of elect sinners. Here, as in so many places, John Owen is instructive. Although it is not central to my own project, Owen's discussion of the...

In 2010, John Piper was asked, "Should pastors get PhDs?" He responded, "If you're already a pastor, I wouldn't get a PhD. It's a lot of work, and the payoff is really small. Really small. When I say really small, I don't mean studying the Bible is small payoff. But the way most PhD programs are...

In his book, "Tough Topics" , Sam Storms addresses the question of Christ's impeccability ("Could Jesus Sin?"). He writes: "For many years I strongly advocated the impeccability of Christ, insisting that because he was God incarnate, he was incapable of sinning. Now, make no mistake, he was and...

Our Father in heaven, the sovereign and almighty God, the faithful covenant-keeper and Savior, we plead to you on behalf of our suffering fellow believers in Iraq. Cast your eye upon them and have mercy to uphold and defend your flock. Overthrow the evil of their persecutors and strengthen the...

Calvin's commentary on the creation narrative of Genesis 1.1-2.3 is dominated by one particular metaphor--that of God as the builder and decorator of a luxurious house. The creation days, in Calvin's perspective, mark successive stages in God's construction project. In the first triad of creation...