Faith

Several years ago, I gave a lecture on the threefold office of Christ, Christian ministry, and the marks of a true church. During an interview that followed, I was asked a question about the marks. I replied with a standard answer, repeating something of what I had said in my lecture, that a true...

For those familiar with Thomas Chalmers, his name immediately conjures up a plethora of thoughts regarding his stature as a Christian leader and also his gifts and achievements in the work of the church. He was a man of exceptional ability, but he was also profoundly concerned for the needs of...

John Calvin lived from 1509-1564. He was an influential Reformer for his ministry in Geneva. By many accounts he was an excellent writer, preacher, and theologian. When people hear his name today, they often think of him as associated with the doctrine of predestination—that God elects before the...

To say that Calvin had a difficult life is an understatement. He suffered many bodily ailments such as asthma, migraine headaches, ulcerated hemorrhoids and stomach ulcers, and yet by God’s grace, he continued to persevere through all of these trials, even to the point of his death from...

Calvin’s Life as a Student John Calvin was a man who gave himself completely to his studies. Regardless of his particular course work (whether Latin, Logic, Law, Greek, Hebrew, etc.), he applied himself entirely to it with much earnestness and discipline. B. B. Warfield commenting on Calvin says, “...

Typically when someone hears the name John Calvin, one of the first things that comes to mind is those doctrines which are commonly called “Calvinism,” or his well-known “Institutes of the Christian Religion.” However, one must wonder, if after hearing the name John Calvin, do people ever think “an...

John Calvin was born in Noyon, France on July 10, 1509. His father, Gerard, was a lawyer and registrar and notary to the bishop of Noyon. He married Jeanne LeFranc, the daughter of an innkeeper, who gave birth to three or four sons of which only two survived - Charles and John. Sadly John lost his...

A great blind spot which afflicts anyone who limits their reading of Calvin to The Institutes is how thoroughly engrossed the Reformer was in missions work across Europe. Calvin was no austere academic always at his desk with his nose in a book. Rather, we could say, he spent much time at the...

Eight years-ago this month a friend gave me a copy of N.T. Wright’s new book, Justification: God’s Plan...

One of the aspects of the New Perspective of Paul is a focus on the corporate, as opposed the individual, aspects of justification and salvation. In the Christian church today, there is a move by some to “correct” an overemphasis on the individual believer. The desire is to focus on the corporate...