- Righteousness by Works vs. Doctrine
We must remind ourselves that the Catholic righteousness by good works is vastly preferable to a protestant righteousness by good doctrine. At least righteousness by good …
- Stay the Course
Preservation of the saints is also both gift and task. The New Testament repeatedly admonishes believers to remain faithful, to stay true to their Savior and Lord. At the …
- Bavinck on Rosseau
In the eighteenth century, Rousseau became the apostle of a ‘back to nature movement’ that repudiated human culture as the source of all evil. If only, in education, …
- When Our Faith is Weak
When our faith is weak, when we lapse into sin, believers always have the right and the freedom to go with confidence to the throne of grace and plead on the basis of the …
- We are God's Creation
We are God’s creation; he is not ours.
- Christ Gives More
Christ gives more than sin took away.
- God Has Spoken
A theologian’s confidence comes from the conviction: God has spoken.
- The Church Under the Cross
The Revelation of John is nevertheless primarily a book of consolation for ’the church under the cross’ of his time, to urge it to persevere in the struggle and to …
- Prayer for Unity
Christ’s prayer for unity was not born of unfamiliarity with the history of God’s people nor from his inability to govern it. His prayer is the guarantee that unity …
- Christ and Adam
Christ does not bring us back to the point on the road where Adam stood but has covered the whole journey for us to the very end.
- Yahweh Elohim
The gnostic and Marcionite disjunction between the Old Testament God of wrath and vengeance and the New Testament God of love and mercy is unknown to Scripture. Yahweh …
- Triune Salvation
It is the triune God—Father, Son, and Spirit—who together conceive, determine, carry out, and complete the entire work of Salvation. The benefit to the believer is in …
- Bavinck on Crime
If the state’s only right to act against criminals is for self-protection and to improve them, how will we stop those who wish to deal with all kinds of sick people in …
- Christ Greater than Adam
In Paul we must never overlook the strong emphasis on the superiority of Christ’s gift when compared to the consequence of Adam’s fall.
- Sin in the Cloister
Monks take the sin in their hearts with them into the cloister.
- The Doctrine of Providence
The doctrine of providence is not a philosophical system but a confession of faith that, notwithstanding appearances, only God–by his almighty and everywhere present …
- Bavinck on Elihim
Elohim is not presented in Genesis 1 as a cosmic sculptor who uses preexisting material to produce a work of art, but as One who merely by speaking, by uttering a word of …
- Creator Creature Distinction
Affirming the distinction between the Creator and his creature is the starting point of true religion.
- The Gospel is Joyous for All
After all, the gospel of Christ is a joyous message not just for some people in certain circumstances, but for every person and for the whole person, for the learned as …
- Bavinck on Christianity
Christianity is no less than the real, supreme work of the Triune God, in which the Father reconciles his created but fallen world through the death of his Son and …
- Bavinck on Science and Scripture
Human scientific research cannot become an independent third-party arbitrator deciding what parts of Scripture, if any, are reliable and to be accepted. Those who make …
- The Unlikable Gospel
The gospel is not naturally to the liking of human beings, not a ready match for the needs of people as they themselves pictures those needs. Outside of revelation, human …
- If God Were Indeed a Human Projection
If ‘God’ were indeed a human projection or creation, a human effort to explain reality now known to us via science, or a means of providing security, comfort, and …