biblical doctrine

The Federal Vision speaks a lot about the objectivity of the covenant. What does that mean? Doug Wilson puts it somewhat crassly when he says, “It can be photographed and fingerprinted.” [1] For Wilson, the fingerprint is baptism. [2] Baptism, though an external sign, is like that of circumcision...

“You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” – Romans 8:9-10...

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” – James 1:17 The truth of God’s immutable nature, a truth stated plainly by James near the beginning of his epistle, is foundational to the entirety of the...

High school students love biology class for one simple reason. They get to dissect frogs, worms and other once living things. In addition to grossing out their weak stomached classmates they also learn a thing or two. They learn things not otherwise gleaned if the subject of dissection were still...

“For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” – Romans 8:7-8 We continue now in our meditation upon Romans 8, and we’ve been exploring Paul’s understanding of how there are essentially...

Many years ago I was listening to Christian radio. It was in the early 90s and there was a lot of talk about self-esteem. In fact, if you were raised in the 80s and 90s you probably remember the government, media, books and lingo associated with the self-esteem craze. Maybe you were small enough to...

What moves you to sing? Is it the clock that signals the end of a long work day, the child that wants you to sing to them before bed, the celebration of a milestone in life, or the spouse you hold so dear? All of these are good reasons to sing, but Scripture gives us a better reason. In Psalm 19 we...

God reveals Himself not as “Mother,” but “Father,” and so fatherhood is foundational [1] as is maintaining Biblical gender designs during the annual Gay Pride Month this June. While prototypical man and woman were in many ways the same, they also were given sex distinctions so that they could fit...

Calls to Worship, Invocations, and Benedictions Pastors and worship leaders recognize the significance of every liturgical element in the organization of a worship service. Today’s guest offers both a guide to Scripture-filled worship and some historical background on the use of these all-important...

The Law, though written on tablets of stone, is still able to condemningly penetrate into the depths of our hearts, and the last Commandment leaves us all with our “mouths stopped”, as Paul argues (Romans 3:19), that in our own strength we are unable to love the Lord our God with all our heart...