If you missed any episodes of the Modern Marrow Men podcast, you can now find them with a dedicated channel on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. A new episode will release each week until the season is complete. Modern Marrow Men is a podcast John Divito and I hosted for one year to try to explain …
Continue reading How can you listen to the Modern Marrow Men podcast?
The Reformed confessions of faith all affirm that God made a “covenant of works” with Adam in the Garden of Eden. For example, The Second London Baptist Confession 20.1 explicitly refers to this covenant: “The covenant of works being broken by sin, and made unprofitable unto life….” But some aren't sure the doctrine is found …
In his magnificent work, A Treatise on the Law and the Gospel, John Colquhoun has a chapter titled, “Rules for Rightly Understanding the Ten Commandments” (pp 85-98), which is similar to Question 99 of the Westminster Larger Catechism, “What rules are to be observed for the right understanding of the Ten Commandments?” I highly recommend all …
Continue reading What does it look like to apply the Ten Commandments?
Is part of the “good news” of Jesus Christ that He threatens His blood-bought people with an eternity of hell's torments if they don't believe and repent and keep on believing and repenting? To be clear, there is no question about whether the law as a covenant threatens anyone who does not believe. If you …
Continue reading Does the gospel threaten believers with condemnation?
Some of those who identify as theonomists today refer to themselves “general equity theonomists,” believing that this identification lands them within the boundaries of Reformed confessional orthodoxy. But if it does, then the term “general equity” needs to be defined the same way the tradition defined it. The technical term “general equity” is used in …
Continue reading Is general equity theonomy a confessional and biblical doctrine?
Before critiquing theonomy, we need a good definition. Some people today who use the word “theonomy” don't mean anything more than “God's law” because the etymology of the word theonomy is "theos" which means God, and "nomos" which means law. They only want to affirm that God's law is supreme over man's law. And they're …
The Bible teaches us to search the Scriptures (Acts 17:11), and to rightly handle the Word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15). Christians are to hide God's Word in their hearts (Psalm 119:11). And yet, many people want to avoid difficult questions of theology. They make excuses for not coming to careful biblical conclusions about what …
Continue reading What are some reasons people wrongly avoid studying theology?
Classical liberals often say that Christianity is a life, not a doctrine. Have you ever heard anyone say that? People sometimes say: It doesn’t really matter what you believe. What matters is that you love other people. What matters is that you do good in the world, rescue the oppressed, care for the sick and …
Continue reading Is Christianity a religion of doctrine or love?
Historically, American Calvinistic Baptists have been fairly unified on their understanding of the role of civil government. They expressed their views in various confessions but the the Second London Baptist Confession was their mother confession. In Chapter 24, Of the Civil Magistrate, it provides the historic Calvinistic Baptist understanding of the role of civil government. …
There seems to be a fair amount of confusion today about what it means to be “under the law.” And there’s confusion about what it doesn’t mean. Some suggest that all of the members of the Old Covenant were “under the law.” Others say that for a believer to accept any commands or directives from …
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