by Able Baker | Feb 11, 2015 | Reformed Theology
Perhaps you have grown up with an indelible image of God pressed into your brain through teaching and preaching that seems to boil everything in the Christian life down to God getting Glory. Not that God getting glory is a bad thing. God is glorified and should be but...
by Kenny Burchard | May 29, 2014 | God's Sovereignty, Philosophy, Reformed Theology, Theodicy, Theological Studies, Wesleyan-Arminian
It is always interesting to watch people’s faces when you remind them that Adam sinned without a sin-nature. Typically, when talking about why people sin, the average Christian’s response is — “Because we all have a sin-nature, inherited from...
by Kenny Burchard | Oct 21, 2013 | God's Sovereignty, Reformed Theology, Weekly Wesley, Wesleyan-Arminian
John Wesley was no divine determinist, but he did not minimize in any way the omniscience or the foreknowledge of God, nor the reign of God over the eternal destiny of His own creation. Read on and discover how Wesley explains foreknowledge in his classic sermon:...
by Luke Geraty | Oct 16, 2013 | Church History, Evangelicalism, Reformed Theology, Soteriology, Wesleyan-Arminian
Randall Balmer writes in The Making of Evangelicalism: “… Evangelicals have understood better than anyone else how to communicate to the masses. The message they propagate is simple, straightforward, and utterly indebted to Charles Finney. Come to Jesus....
by Luke Geraty | Oct 22, 2012 | Charismatic Theology, Reformed Theology, Soteriology
If you desire to fit in with Charismatics, you have to learn how to use 2 Cor. 3:17b: “… where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” If you are an exegete, or at the very least a careful reader of Scripture, you’ll notice that I...
by Luke Geraty | Sep 17, 2012 | Baptism, Biblical Theology, Ecclesiology, Reformed Theology, The Kingdom of God
For anyone involved in the theological schools known as Dispensationalism, Covenant Theology, or New Covenant Theology, you may be interested in reading several reviews of Kingdom through Covenant: A Biblical-Theological Understanding of the Covenants, written by...
by Luke Geraty | Sep 5, 2012 | Gospel, Reformed Theology
One of my favorite systematician writes: “An examination of some of the relevant passages reaps the following fruit of teaching. Believers have been chosen by God ‘to the praise of his glory’ (Eph. 1:11, 12); to ‘show forth the praises’ of the One who called...
by Luke Geraty | Aug 19, 2012 | Counseling, Gospel, Missional, Reformed Theology, Soteriology
As an advocate of what is essentially a Reformed perspective regarding issues related to soteriology, I fully subscribe to the idea that those whom God has chosen for salvation shall, in the end, be saved. I would gladly affirm what the Westminster Confessional...
by Luke Geraty | Aug 13, 2012 | Gospel, Reformed Theology, Systematic Theology
Heinrich Bullinger, the 16th century Swiss Reformer, wrote a book with a typically long title: “The grace of God that justifies us for the sake of Christ through faith alone, without good works, while faith meanwhile abounds in good works.” Would you agree...
by Luke Geraty | Aug 9, 2012 | Ecclesiology, Reformed Theology
James K. A. Smith writes a letter to a “young Calvinist” named Jess and touches upon a real issue: “That’s a common enough temptation, Jess. I understand it. I’ve been there. But step back and think about what you’re saying: it’s as if you’re saying...
by Luke Geraty | Mar 11, 2012 | Across the Web, Reformed Theology
When tornadoes, storms, floods, or other natural disasters and accidents happen, lots of questions get raised. John Piper, a man I greatly respect and have been blessed by, hasn’t been afraid to address the big questions that arise when they happen. In 2009 a...
by Luke Geraty | Feb 6, 2012 | Eschatology, Israel, Reformed Theology
Concerning the future of Israel, Supercessionism, and a Reformed approach to the issue, Michael Horton writes, “So while some amillennialists regard all of the saving promises to Israel as fulfilled in the new covenant church without remainder and...
by Luke Geraty | Jan 24, 2012 | Reformed Theology
As I’ve been thinking through the responses to my question, “Who are the NeoReformed?” (an open invitation for you to weigh in on). I’ve got to be honest, no one who uses that term has given me an answer. Lots of great comments though. When...
by Luke Geraty | Jan 22, 2012 | Reformed Theology
Those who are opposed to the young Reformed movement (think Young, Restless, Reformed) often refer to it as the NeoReformed. Scot McKnight thinks he may have invented that term (“NeoReformed”). His reason for thinking that is because back in 2009 he write...
by Luke Geraty | Dec 26, 2011 | Reformed Theology
Yeah, this blog’s title sounds like an impossibility. Today’s Methodists and Wesleyan’s descend from the lineage of Jacobus Arminius by way of John Wesley. These brothers and sisters disagree with significant doctrinal concepts that I believe to be...
by Luke Geraty | Dec 8, 2011 | Church History, Conflict Resolution, Reformed Theology
You can’t really talk about the Protestant Reformation without thinking about Martin Luther, right? And even though he stood on the shoulders of others who went before him (Tyndale, Wycliffe, etc.), he most assuredly changed the world. Europe was not the same...
by Luke Geraty | Nov 2, 2011 | Reformed Theology
From time to time I find myself reading through sections of John Theodore Mueller’s Christian Dogmatics. Mueller’s contribution is basically a systematic theology from a confessional Lutheran perspective that some would consider ultra conservative....
by Luke Geraty | Oct 28, 2011 | Reformed Theology, The Vineyard Movement
This week there was some discussion amongst the members of the Society of Vineyard Scholars, of which I am a member. Someone asked a question regarding how the Vineyard stands regarding Calvinism and Arminianism, and there were quite a few interesting responses,...
by Luke Geraty | Aug 18, 2011 | Eschatology, Reformed Theology
Excellent reminder: “There is no soul living who holds more firmly to the doctrines of grace than I do, and if any man asks me whether I am ashamed to be called a Calvinist, I answer—I wish to be called nothing but a Christian; but if you ask me, do I hold the...
by Luke Geraty | Aug 16, 2011 | Quotes, Reformed Theology
“Sometimes we forget that Luther, Calvin, and the rest of the Reformers were born and bred within the Roman church. When Catholics were catholic, they were Catholic too, and it was within the Roman church that they came to saving faith in Jesus Christ. To be...
