In the opening scenes of Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Fellowship of the Ring, a narrator sets up the plot of the story by giving the viewer a condensed history lesson on the mythological world of Middle Earth. The movie touches on critical events over thousands of years of history, explaining […]

The covenant of grace is the one covenant through which all believers are saved. It began in Genesis 3:15 with God’s promise to send a Savior and runs throughout redemptive history until Christ’s second coming. Although it was administered differently during different epochs of redemptive history, its substance remains the same in all periods. In […]

We begin our survey of covenant theology with a consideration of that covenant from which all other biblical covenants flow: the covenant of redemption. The covenant of redemption is essentially God’s blueprint for our salvation. Just as a house begins with a plan of meticulous engineering and technical design, so also did our redemption originate […]

The debate between supralapsarianism and infralapsarianism has caused many a sound theologian to throw up his hands in bewilderment and utter words akin to R.L. Dabney’s reaction: “In my opinion this is a question which never ought to have been raised.” But whether or not Dabney was right is beside the point at the present […]

It is that time of year again. With the Thanksgiving holiday behind us, we once more make the month long journey toward Christmas. For about thirty days, we see decorations on homes and businesses; we hear Christmas music in the grocery store; we get Starbuck’s coffee served in red cups; and we watch the mall […]

In 1677, when John Owen (1616–1683) published his book, The Doctrine of Justification by Faith through the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ; Explained, Confirmed, and Vindicated, the Protestant doctrine of justification was still engulfed in controversy. “In my judgment,” said the English Calvinist, “Luther spake the truth when he said, ‘When the article of […]

Over the past several years, I have heard some humorous names used for the cry room in our church building, names such as, “the penalty box,” “romper room,” and “the torture chamber.” My favorite, however, is “purgatory.” Like the purgatory of Roman Catholic dogma, the cry room is a place where souls suffer until they […]

What Is Covenant Theology, and Why Should I Care? Covenant. As anyone who has read the Bible knows, that word seems to be one of God’s favorites. Yet it is more than just a word that appears frequently (more than three hundred times); it is one of the most important themes of sacred Scripture. The […]

How does the elder in the local church fulfill his responsibility to “actively promote the work of missions”?1 What does this look like practically? How should we define the work of missions? Why is it necessary? What is the goal? And how can the elder actively encourage this work in the church he serves? If […]