Posts by Mark Jones

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Comments are not allowed here at Reformation21. Why? Well, someone has to be in charge of editing out all of the stupid, vitriolic, inane, off-topic, and poorly worded comments that appear with great regularity on blogs that sometimes discuss controversial issues. If those wishing to comment are...
Comments are not allowed here at Reformation21. Why? Well, someone has to be in charge of editing out all of the stupid, vitriolic, inane, off-topic, and poorly worded comments that appear with great regularity on blogs that sometimes discuss controversial issues. If those wishing to comment are...
Today was a special day for me: I crossed the border to pick up my Amazon orders, which included a Nacho Libre mask (for Halloween), and a couple of books. The book that immediately impressed me the most is Chad van Dixhoorn's latest, Confessing the Faith: A Reader's Guide to the Westminster...
"The Just [One] Shall Live by Faith" The top men here at the Alliance are not happy with me. I posted my piece on the covenant of works on a day that does not maximize top viewing. My apologies. It will never happen again. Here is my penance: a "Part Deux" to the previous post. Did Jesus, like Adam...
Sorry, glitch with the first post. Had to republish this again. "Virtually all of the Reformed theologians of the era recognized, albeit in varying degrees, that there could be no relationship between God and the finite, mutable creature apart from grace. This was also the burden of the medieval...
Sorry, glitch with the first post. Had to republish this again. "Virtually all of the Reformed theologians of the era recognized, albeit in varying degrees, that there could be no relationship between God and the finite, mutable creature apart from grace. This was also the burden of the medieval...
The Baptists love their water; The Covenanters love their Psalter; But mess with the Klineans, You'll soon be on the altar! The good folk at Ref21 - that is, the top men - were so chuffed with my entrance into this intra-Reformed debate, that they'd like to see more publications on republication...
A regrettable piece was published on the Aquila report concerning the Reformed doctrine of republication. I honestly didn't know whether to laugh or cry. In it the author claims that the views of Meredith G. Kline represent "historic, mainstream Reformed federalism, espoused from the time of the...
Warning: this post may be offensive to people with absolutely no sense of humour: Twitter can be a dangerous place for trying to do theology. Information sharing is one thing; but "tweeting" - is that a word? - theology is quite another. Personally, theology is not easy at the best of times - you...
What does the holiness of the minister have to do with the efficacy of the preached Word? Are we falling into a Donatist error (from Donatus who re-baptized clergy who had lapsed in the Great Persecution, A.D. 303-305) by insisting that the holiness of the minister has some sort of causal...
A council member from - ahem - The Gospel Coalition sent me this today. We here at Reformation21 nominate the entire Gospel Coalition, all 1,000,000+ of you. Carl Trueman's Ice-Bucket challenge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7XUU6DWSjU Some observations are in order: 1. We know Carl is against...
Years ago I was asked the following question by someone who holds to exclusive Psalmody: "Do you think it is better to sing God's words or man's words?" My answer: we should never sing man's words. But I say this as someone who sings hymns (e.g., "Be Thou My Vision"). As much as I love "Shine,...
Why do good things happen to bad people and why do bad things happen to good people? Strictly speaking, there has only ever been one good person who has had bad things happen to him, and he volunteered! But the Scriptures are filled with examples of good things happening to bad people (Mal. 3:15;...
At an OPC youth camp over a year ago I had the privilege of addressing young men and women on the topic of masturbation, among other topics (e.g., Machen, Machen, and more Machen). As some of you may know, the OPC are notorious for letting the PCA do their theological dirty-work. But I digress.....
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...
Ne Mihi Suffenus essem - Not to be my own Suffenus "Duller is he than country dullness' self, Once he takes pen in hand, yet ne'er so happy As when he scribbles verse; then is he all Self-admiration and self-centered bliss." Because of the internet, and thus the ability to "self-publish", there are...
I am I am, I am I am I think I am, I think I am I'm glad I am I'm proud I am A real [balanced] man Who is this person in the middle who carefully avoids extremes in his theologizing? It is all of us, or so we think. If you are a Pastor or theologian, you are likely a man of "balance". In fact, if...
Just who were the Puritans? Was Jonathan Edwards a Puritan? Was Matthew Henry a Puritan? Is Nacho Libre a Puritan? The answers to these questions are not uniform, but I think that once we answer the first question the following questions answer themselves. Around 1564 the term "Puritan" emerged,...
How do we deal with the tricky matter of pastors moving from one congregation to another? Some time ago I was in a session meeting with my elders, discussing my salary, and the phone rang (a long distance call). Within a minute of the phone conversation, I was asked about becoming the pastor at...
"...nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all" (Eccl. 9:11). PhD's are becoming more and more common, particularly in the church. For those in the church wishing to pursue postgraduate studies, here are a few questions for you to wrestle with: Have your seminary...
If I died today I would be with the Lord. I know that infallibly. But I'm certainly not the greatest believer who ever lived - not even close. My confidence arises from the fact that I know and trust the greatest believer who ever lived. The highest and best instance of believing belongs to Jesus...
If you are a Christian parent with young children, do you consider your children to be Christians? There were some lively debates at the Westminster Assembly. One took place over the precise meaning of 1 Corinthians 7:14, where children are described as "holy" (see Chad van Dixhoorn's work , volume...
Thankfully God deals with our idols, because left to ourselves we certainly would not. Four years ago I had a paid flight to South Africa, tickets to many games, and passes into some of the various television studios (Al Jazeera, FOX, etc.). But my wife was pregnant with twins - her fault, by the...
As part of my series on practical Christology, I have asked: "How may I know Christ loves me?" and "Why is Heaven eternal? " The answers to these questions do not belong only to theologians and pastors, but especially also to God's people. In preparation for a forthcoming book, titled "Knowing...
In a previous post I asked, How do you know that Christ loves you? Pastors and Christians need to do better than just assume this truth. I gave a trinitarian grounding for why Christ must love his people. But what about the question, Why is Heaven forever? God the Father First, the Scriptures...
What do you think about writing new confessions? John Owen was a big fan of writing new confessions. Ryan Kelly has an excellent chapter on this topic in the The Ashgate Research Companion to John Owen's Theology , with conclusions that may surprise some Presbyterians! A number of confessions were...
Thanks to Carl (sort of) for the Introduction. But the man he speaks about is not me, I promise. I have lots of friends on Facebook, but do plan to purge some of the less trustworthy ones. I hope to alleviate the concerns of Rick Phillips , which mainly seems to be over one word in particular. But...