Creeds and Confessions

Every relationship needs definition. Without clear terms we are unsure how to interact with each other. Marriage is a good example of how definitions aid relationships. Upon marriage an otherwise unrelated man and a woman become united by covenant. In the presence of witnesses each partner promises...

Review of James Renihan, To the Judicious and Impartial Reader: A Contextual-Historical Exposition of the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith (Founders Press, 2022). It’s rare when books promoted as landmark or groundbreaking actually are. But the publication of To the Judicious and Impartial...

Have you ever told someone, “I must have missed the first part of your story. I don’t understand”? Without a context most stories lose meaning. So it is with the story of humanity. Ignorance of our beginning breeds confusion and purposelessness. Even the drama of salvation by grace makes sense only...

Caesarius of Arles and His Sermons on Christ’s Atonement “Why did our Lord Jesus Christ, the power and wisdom of the Father, effect the salvation of man, not by His divine power and sole might, but by physical humiliation and human struggle? ... What need was there for Christ our Lord to accept his...

Foundations of Covenant Theology Several songs of the 60s refer to man’s need to “get back to the Garden.” Lane Tipton reminds us of a much greater place: a heavenly temple made holy by the presence of the glory of the triune God. It’s the starting place for Lane’s latest book, Foundations of...

There are times within a disciplinary process that some in the church must be temporarily postponed from their normal opportunity to take part in the formal fellowship or service of the saints. The status of those so suspended is not revoked (as with excommunication from membership or deposition...

Exodus Old and New Michael Morales is professor of Biblical Studies at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and his most recent book is getting some well-deserved attention. It’s titled Exodus Old and New , and Michael tells us how the book—which is not a commentary—traces the Exodus motif...

" May you live in interesting times " is an English expression that purports to be a translation of a traditional Chinese curse . While seemingly a blessing, the expression is normally used ironically; life is better in "uninteresting times" of peace and tranquility than in "interesting" ones,...

The familiar words of Isaiah 40:1-2 call to mind the sonorous strains of Handel’s Messiah: “‘Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,’ saith your God. ‘Speak comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her … that her iniquity is pardoned.’” They are also suggestive of the preaching task. In fact, the famous...

Phillis Wheatley (c. 1753-1784) and her Sovereign God Whatever moved the Wheatleys to buy the little slave that had just arrived from Africa, it was not her physical strength. Small, frightened and skinny, she looked too frail to do much work. The Wheatleys’ choice might have been due to the fact...