Westminster Assembly

Most theological and moral failures can be traced back to a wrong view of God. We charge God with being unfair only if we think he must submit to our concept of fairness. We will contentedly live one way in public and another in private only if we believe him to be local and limited like us. We can...

This and the previous article show that images of Christ undermine various essential doctrines, not simply an essential doctrine. Let us continue setting forth the reasons why. First, it undermines the doctrine of the bodily resurrection and ascension of Christ. Consider WLC question 53 which...

If you were going to introduce Christianity to someone where would you begin? You might start with God and his holiness. The first fact is that “there is one simple spiritual being, whom we call God.” [i] Or you might lead with our need for God to deliver us from Satan’s tyranny. [ii] Both...

Is there any use in studying a summary of Scripture that is pushing 400 years of age? Before answering that question let’s think about what the question supposes and what it says about our thinking today. We are suspicious of old things. Of course, not everything older is better. But truth doesn’t...

The Sum of Saving Knowledge In 1650, a brilliant young theologian joined with a legendary pastor to write The Sum of Saving Knowledge , designed to summarize the Westminster Standards for the layperson. David Dickson and James Durham’s book was so popular that it was bound with almost every edition...

Jonathan and James go guestless, discussing one-on-one the answer to Westminster Shorter Catechism Question 38 concerning the benefits believers will enjoy from Christ at the resurrection. Though we are already thoroughly blessed by our relationship with Christ, there are three distinct benefits...

The Westminster Confession of Faith begins with one of the most well articulated statements concerning the doctrine of Scripture. And incorporated right into the Confession is an ever so brief clause on how one might do theology. The clause was placed there to be an expression defending the...

In our last post we considered Paul’s warning to believers in the Galatian churches, ‘If you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another’ (Ga 5.15). And we noted that, sadly, this warning needs to be repeated to every church in every generation. The family of God...

B. B. Warfield – Not a Solitary Theologian Due to a need for brevity, many articles on Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield (1851-1921) focus on his theology and his devotion to his wife, whose illness kept the couple close to home. Because of this, he is often seen as a solitary man leading an...

Richard Vines was a member of the Westminster Assembly and was considered one of the Assembly’s finest preachers. He preached a sermon on Ephesians 4:14-15 before the Mayor and court of Aldermen of London in 1644 entitled “The Impostures of Seducing Teachers Discovered.” Apparently not everyone was...