Theology

There is no shortage of biographies on the French Reformer John Calvin (1509-1564). Interest in the “Master of Geneva” has not waned since his remarkable career as one of the Reformation’s great pastor-theologians. Arguably, most of the interest has been polemical in one of two directions. In one...

Wilhelmus à Brakel: A Systematic Theologian for the Common Person Introduction Wilhelmus à Brakel (1635–1711), a name revered in Reformed theology, holds a unique place among the great theologians of the Dutch Second Reformation, also known as the Nadere Reformatie. From around 1600 to 1750, this...

Robert Lewis Dabney and the Greatness of Old Southern Presbyterianism I’m a bit of a book collector. I love getting my hands on an old volume from some obscure theologian and basking in the riches of God’s goodness and grace, flowing from the pen of an old and departed saint. But, every now and...

The Lutheran doctrine of the Lord’s Supper is frequently described as consubstantiation . Though Lutherans do not prefer this description, it captures a key distinction being made in their eucharistic theology. Lutherans assert that along with ( con ) the bread and cup in the Supper, the humanity...

The metaphor of God’s kingdom as a vineyard is one that has Old Testament vintage, which is appropriate when talking about a vineyard. Long before Christ’s first advent, the prophet Isaiah described the Kingdom of Judah as a vineyard well-supplied to do what it is supposed to do: produce grapes for...

Our lives are filled with “but God” moments. Perhaps it was an addiction in which we were ensnared, but God delivered us. Maybe it was a place where we almost compromised our purity, but God restrained us. We may have thought a relationship was irreparable, but God restored it. Failures in...

Justification is not the gospel in its entirety. It was not enough for God to only justify us in Christ. He has also insisted on adopting us in Christ: “In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ,…” (Eph. 1:5). The final purpose of divine election has always been...

People who believe in Jesus and want in all things to please God can still struggle with assurance of salvation. Circumstances like the transition from childhood to adulthood, major trauma, and the imminence of death can trouble believers with spiritual doubts and fears. But Scripture urges us to “...

Editor's Note: Taken from forthcoming book, Daily Doctrine by Kevin DeYoung, Copyright © 2024. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org . The attribute of apostolicity does not refer to an apostolic succession of bishops, but...

Editor's Note: Taken from forthcoming book, Daily Doctrine by Kevin DeYoung, Copyright © 2024. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org . As a Protestant pastor I’ve lost tracked of how many times a congregant has asked me...