June 12, 2024 by John Fonville
Carl Trueman clarifies a common misconception that is popular among Evangelicals concerning the Protestant Reformation doctrine of sola scriptura....
July 26, 2023 by John Fonville
J.C. Ryle answers the common arguments in favor of “Baptismal Regeneration,” which are based on the Baptismal Service of the Prayer-book. ...
July 14, 2023 by John Fonville
J.V. Fesko on the sacraments as visible words- a visible proclamation of the gospel....
July 13, 2023 by John Fonville
J.V. Fesko on the Word of God as the chief means of grace. ...
July 7, 2023 by John Fonville
Martin Davie explains from the homily, ‘Of Prayer’ in the Second Book of Homilies, how the English Reformers taught that the only true purgatory is the death of Christ and no other purgation is either necessary or possible....
May 15, 2023 by John Fonville
Why Use Written Prayers?- Why does your church use prewritten prayers in your service? Isn't this a dry, rote, unthinking, way for the church to pray and worship? Don't pre-written prayers stifle the Spirit and hinder freedom and promote mechanical, vain repetition? Aren't spontaneous prayers more genuine and heartfelt than prewritten prayers? ...
May 5, 2023 by John Fonville
This writing of Martin Luther is from the introduction to his “Postils” (a group of model sermons which he wrote while at the Wartburg Castle). This brief foreword is full of comfort and good news. In it, Luther sets forth insightful instruction on how to read the Gospels (and the entirety of Scripture- the OT and NT)....
August 25, 2022 by John Fonville
My argument is this: By the year 1700, Protestant Christianity had begun developing significantly new practices and understandings of the Christian faith that focused upon Christian renewal, conversion, new birth and the coming millennial kingdom. These new practices and understandings were a dramatic departure not only from Roman Catholic Christianity, but also from the original Reformation convictions of Martin Luther and John Calvin some one hundred and fifty years earlier. Evangelical Christianity, of the free church variety especially, is the contemporary expression of this third form of Christianity. Probably most Evangelicals are unaware that their Christian experience and piety are far removed from Reformation Protestant beginnings. Evangelicals would do well to recover their lost heritage....
August 20, 2022 by John Fonville
Martin Luther's primary concern when constructing the German mass and order of the liturgy in 1526 was that the gospel be proclaimed for the people in their context....
July 28, 2022 by John Fonville
Martin Luther on the worthy reception of the Lord's Supper....
July 27, 2022 by John Fonville
Infant baptism sets Christian discipleship from birth within a covenant context, which means means to understand discipleship as something connected to the ordinary means of God’s grace and the routine work of the church....
June 27, 2021 by John Fonville
Richard Sibbes discussing the Christ-centered focus of all the Scriptures....
February 28, 2020 by John Fonville
Richard Sibbes: The Glory of God is Greatest in the Gospel...
February 25, 2020 by John Fonville
Michael Horton on what the third use of the law can and cannot do....
February 25, 2020 by John Fonville
Gerald Bray: "'What would Jesus do?’ seems like an innocent question to ask, but it is impossible to answer literally and does not reflect the teaching of the New Testament. ...
February 24, 2020 by John Fonville
The late 16th century Anglican pastor/theologian, William Perkins, on seven differences between the law and gospel....
February 21, 2020 by John Fonville
No Creed But The Bible?- Carl Trueman on the unbiblical creedal statement, "The bible is our only creed and our only confession."...
February 20, 2020 by John Fonville
Philip Schaff: The 39 Articles are found in every collection of Reformed confessions....
November 19, 2015 by John Fonville
A review of David Platt's book, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From The American Dream....
November 10, 2015 by John Fonville
George Hunsinger shows how Jonathan Edwards crosses the fine line laid down by the Reformation concerning justification sola fide. Edwards taught that works are not simply external evidence that faith exists. Rather, works are necessary to the efficacy of faith. Works, as the external expression of faith, play a role in justification....
November 6, 2025 by John Fonville | Category: Reformation Theology | Tags: gospel, sanctification, law and gospel, assurance, belgic confession, heidelberg catechism, justification, lordship salvation, sola fide, Salvation, Dispensationalism, Reformation, faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone, reformed theology, Reformation Anglicanism, theology, Westminster Confession, R Scott Clark, John MacArthur, Heidelblog, michael horton
This article offers a pastoral response to a chart circulating on social media titled “Keeping Doctrine in Its Place,” which misclassifies Lordship Salvation as a secondary issue and, in doing so, risks confusing believers about the very heart of the gospel. Drawing on R. Scott Clark’s 25-part critique of John MacArthur’s The Gospel According to Jesus, it argues th...
Keep ReadingNovember 4, 2025 by John Fonville | Category: Reformation Theology | Tags: sanctification, assurance, belgic confession, heidelberg catechism, justification, sola fide, Union with Christ, Reformation, duplex beneficium, George Hunsinger, Jonathan Edwards, dispositional soteriology, faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone, Protestant Reformation, reformed theology, imputed righteousness, Anglican, Thirty Nine Articles, Reformation Day, Reformation theology, Calvin, Justification by Faith, fides caritate formata, Westminster Confession, forensic justification, Reformation Anglicanism, The Center for Reformation Anglicanism
This article contrasts John Calvin’s Reformation doctrine of justification by faith alone with Jonathan Edwards’s later “dispositional soteriology.” Drawing from Calvin’s Institutes (3.11) and the Reformed confessions, it shows that saving faith is receptive—accepting, receiving, and resting on Christ’s righteousness alone—while Edwards’s model redefines ...
Keep ReadingNovember 4, 2025 by John Fonville | Category: Reformation Theology | Tags: faith, worship, assurance, sacraments, Eucharist, Holy Communion, Reformation, faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone, Mass, scripture, transubstantiation, Anglican, Reformation Day, English Reformation, Oxford Martyrs, Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, Lord’s Supper, Cranmer, Church History, theology, Anglican History, Reformation history, Marian martyrs, Black Rubric, Martyrdom, Reformation Anglicanism, The Center for Reformation Anglicanism
On Reformation Day we remember Bishop Nicholas Ridley, martyred in 1555, whose Brief Declaration of the Lord’s Supper defended the gospel against transubstantiation. Ridley taught that in Holy Communion believers truly receive Christ by the Spirit through faith — not by the bread changing into flesh — so that faith, not fear, is the way of communion....
Keep ReadingNovember 4, 2025 by John Fonville | Category: Reformation Theology | Tags: gospel, Eucharist, Holy Communion, faith alone, grace alone, Thomas Cranmer, Book of Common Prayer, comfortable words, Anglican, Reformation Day, Reformation Anglicanism, English Reformation, Oxford Martyrs, Ashley Null, Reformation theology, Lord’s Supper, Church History, Martyrdom, All Saints Day, Archbishop of Canterbury, Real Presence, Spiritual Presence, Edward VI, Stephen Gardiner, Communion of Saints, Paramout Church, Theology of the Sacrament, Cranmer Doctrine, Anglican Worship, Sacrament of Faith, Cranmer’s Defence, Cranmer's Martyrdom, The Center for Reformation Anglicanism
On this Reformation Day—the Eve of All Saints’ Day—we remember Thomas Cranmer, the English Reformer and Archbishop of Canterbury who gave the Church the Book of Common Prayer and a gospel-centered vision of the Lord’s Supper. Cranmer taught that Christ is truly present in the Eucharist—not in the bread and wine themselves, but spiritually to the faith of believer...
Keep ReadingNovember 4, 2025 by John Fonville | Category: Anglican Formularies | Tags: grace, gospel, justification, sola fide, sola scriptura, sacraments, Salvation, Authority, Reformation, faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone, Roman Catholic Church, purgatory, imputed righteousness, scripture, Anglican, Reformed confession, Thirty-Nine Articles, Reformation Anglicanism, theology, Catechism of the Catholic Church, Marian doctrines, invocation of saints, relics, images, Adoration, indulgences, pardons, The Center for Reformation Anglicanism
This article contrasts the Catechism of the Catholic Church’s teaching on justification with the Reformation Anglican doctrine confessed in the Thirty-Nine Articles. Whereas the Catechism presents justification as an infused, cooperative process involving grace and merit, the Articles proclaim the biblical gospel of justification by faith only—Christ’s righteousness ...
Keep ReadingOctober 29, 2025 by John Fonville | Category: Reformation Solas | Tags: works, grace, faith, assurance, justification, sola fide, Love, Reformation, George Hunsinger, Jonathan Edwards, dispositional soteriology, faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone, imputed righteousness, Anglican, Thirty Nine Articles, Reformation Day, Calvin, Luther, Turretin
This article examines George Hunsinger’s critique of Jonathan Edwards’s “dispositional soteriology,” showing how Edwards blurred the line between faith and love in justification. Against this, the Reformation upholds sola fide: we are justified by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone with love and good works as necessary fruits but never the ground of ...
Keep ReadingOctober 24, 2021 by John Fonville | Category: Lordship Salvation | Tags: good works, faith, repentance, Reformation, King, Rod Rosenbladt, lordship salvation, justification, michael horton, assurance, faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone, prophet, priest, W. Robert Godfrey, Kim Riddlebarger
Ten propositions in response to Lordship Salvation....
Keep ReadingOctober 12, 2021 by John Fonville | Category: Justification | Tags: faith alone, sola fide, justification, 5 Solas, English Reformers, Thomas Cranmer, Thirty Nine Articles of Religion, The Book of Homilies, catholic faith
According to the Thirty-nine Articles, the Homily of Salvation or Homily of Justification outlines “a most wholesome doctrine”, that “we are justified by Faith only”. Lee Gatiss...
Keep ReadingMay 1, 2020 by John Fonville | Tags: graeme goldsworthy, Reformation, faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone, Five Solas, Scripture alone, Reformation solas, Reformation Anglicanism, hermeneutics
Graeme Goldsworthy on the Four Reformation Solas: Grace alone, Christ alone, Scripture alone, Faith alone....
Keep ReadingOctober 9, 2017 by John Fonville | Tags: john calvin, sola gratia, sola scriptura, soli deo gloria, Mercy, Salvation, Glory of God, formal cause, material cause, faith alone, Reformation 500, sola Fidea, efficient cause, Christ's obedience, Christ's death, instrumental cause, final cause, 5 Solas, soulus Christus
John Calvin discusses the four "causes" of salvation (i.e, the efficient cause- God the Father's mercy; the material cause- Christ's obedience/death; the formal/instrumental cause- faith alone; the final cause- the glory of God)....
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