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 4, 2025 by John Fonville | Category: Reformation Theology | Tags: grace, law and gospel, faith, belgic confession, heidelberg catechism, justification, lordship salvation, sola fide, solus christus, sola gratia, Trinity, Holy Spirit, Christology, Reformation, Nicene Creed, Anglican, Thirty-Nine Articles, pneumatology, R. Scott Clark, Confessional Theology, Reformation Anglicanism, The Center for Reformation Anglicanism
The Nicene Creed confesses both the Son and the Holy Spirit as Lord. This article shows how Reformation Christianity upholds the one saving Lordship of the triune God, contrasting it with “Lordship Salvation,” which turns the confession “Jesus is Lord” from a declaration of Christ’s deity into a moral condition for salvation. True lordship is confessed in the gos...
Keep ReadingNovember 4, 2025 by John Fonville | Category: Reformation Anglicanism | Tags: grace, justification, sola fide, Salvation, Reformation, Council of Trent, Christ alone, virgin Mary, Anglicanism, Protestant Reformation, ACNA, Rome, Anglican, Thirty-Nine Articles, theology, Catechism of the Catholic Church, doctrine, Mariology, Mediatrix, Co-redemptrix, Mater Populi Fidēlis, biblical gospel, GAFCON, Reformation Anglicanism, The Center for Reformation Anglicanism
This article examines the Vatican’s recent doctrinal note Mater Populi Fidēlis (“Mother of the Faithful People of God”) from a Reformation Anglican perspective. While the note rejects the Marian title Co-redemptrīx, it leaves untouched Rome’s official teachings on cooperative grace and Mary’s ongoing intercessory role as Mediātrīx. Drawing on the Catechism of...
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 ReadingSeptember 18, 2025 by John Fonville | Category: Ecclesiology | Tags: church, mission, marks, preaching, baptism, Lord’s Supper, means of grace, gospel, Reformation, Anglican, michael horton, Word and Sacrament, Discipleship, theology, evangelism, worship, sacraments, grace, Gratitude, Christ, ACNA, covenant theology, Visible Church, Holy Communion, Holy Eucharist, Means of Gratitude, Means of Obedience
This article explains how the mission of the Church is defined by its marks — preaching, baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. These means of grace are God’s strategy for delivering Christ to His people and sending the Church into the world....
Keep ReadingMay 4, 2022 by John Fonville | Category: Adoption | Tags: grace, 10 commandments, Mercy, Adoption, sonship, Son, slave, Thomas Watson
Thomas Watson, "Adoption is greater mercy than Adam had in paradise."...
Keep ReadingApril 5, 2022 by John Fonville | Category: Christian Living | Tags: grace, gospel, obedience, covenant of grace, covenant of works, legalism, antinomianism, Gratitude, guilt, christian life, Normative, pedagogical, law of God, three uses of the law, guide, victory, defeat, sailing
Sailing and the Christian life....
Keep ReadingApril 4, 2022 by John Fonville | Category: Three Uses of the Law | Tags: grace, righteousness, john calvin, Holy Spirit, Mercy, conviction, normative use, pedagogical use, three uses of the law, civil use, mirror, restrain, guide
John Calvin discusses the three uses of the moral law....
Keep ReadingJanuary 11, 2022 by John Fonville | Category: Forgiveness | Tags: grace, forgiveness, comfort, consolation, Reformation Anglicanism, Oxford Martyrs, Hugh Latimer
Hugh Latimer on the most comfortable thing in the world....
Keep ReadingNovember 4, 2021 by John Fonville | Category: Christian Living | Tags: grace, law and gospel, preaching, moralism, legalism, law, graeme goldsworthy, Christian living, expository preaching, indicative, imperative, Biblical theology, Ethics
Graeme Goldsworthy on the relationship of the gospel to Christian living. ...
Keep ReadingNovember 3, 2021 by John Fonville | Category: Justification | Tags: grace, sanctification, merit, inherent righteousness, righteousness, justification, sola fide, material cause, duplex beneficium, imputed righteousness, marvelous exchange, forensic
Justification and a Divided Church- Michael Horton discusses the two distinct positions on justification that continue to divide Protestants and the Roman Catholic Church....
Keep ReadingSeptember 16, 2021 by John Fonville | Category: Liturgy | Tags: worship, Book of Common Prayer, Thomas Cranmer, Liturgy, Anglican piety, Reformation Sunday, Protestant Reformation, opus Dei (God's Work), Gratitude, grace
June 12, 2021 by John Fonville | Tags: Love, Mercy, solus christus, kindness, Predestination, assurance, election, grace
John Calvin: Election is to be understood and recognized in Christ alone...
Keep ReadingJune 15, 2020 by John Fonville | Tags: works, grace, law and gospel, faith, old covenant, new covenant, mosaic covenant, abrahamic covenant, law, justification, galatians, promise, Inheritance
Understanding the Contrast of “Law” and “Promise” in Galatians 3....
Keep ReadingFebruary 28, 2020 by John Fonville | Tags: grace, gospel, Mercy, Glory of God, Anglican, Richard Sibbes
Richard Sibbes: The Glory of God is Greatest in the Gospel...
Keep ReadingJanuary 17, 2020 by John Fonville | Tags: grace, gospel, propitiation, Mercy, reconciliation, Jerry Bridges, enemy, enmity, justice of God
Jerry Bridges discussing the good news of God's initiative in reconciling His enemies to Himself. ...
Keep ReadingOctober 13, 2017 by John Fonville | Tags: moralism, merit, treasury of merit, roman catholic, infused righteousness, inherent righteousness, rc sproul, faith, belgic confession, heidelberg catechism, covenant theology, covenant of grace, covenant of works, covenant of redemption, law and gospel, mosaic covenant, abrahamic covenant, adamic covenant, davidic covenant, new covenant, moses, jesus christ, john murray, michael horton, andrew mcgowan, norman shepherd, robert traill, scott clark, benjamin franklin, glenn beck, legalism, antinomianism, creed, immortal, grace, law, righteousness, justification, redemption, propitiation, lordship salvation, imputation, active obedience of christ, passive obedience of christ, atonement, assurance, eternal security, evangelicalism, evangelical, thomas boston, scottish covenant theology, wwjd, zacharias ursinus, graeme goldsworthy, ebenezer erskine, ralph erskine, self justification, theodore beza, john calvin, martin luther, galatians, judaizers, john colquhoun, adamic administration, federal theology, messianic administration, headship theology, royal grant, suzerainty treaty, self-maledictory oath, cut a covenant, typology, hittite treaty, preamble, historical prologue, stipulations, sanctions, invocation, deposit of the treaty, monocovenantal, anathema, geerhardus vos, delbert hillers, covenant of promise, covenant of law, unconditional covenant, conditional covenant, meredith kline, obedience, blessing, curse, israel, mount hagar, mount sinai, mount calvary, mount zion, jesus, son of god, son of man, ten commandments, 10 commandments, resurrection, incarnation, nt wright, john piper, new perspective on paul, ep sanders, covenantal nomism, ge mendenhall, timothy george, t david gordon, bryan estelle, david van drunen, modern reformation, white horse inn, the gospel coalition, sola fide, solus christus, sola gratia, sola scriptura, soli deo gloria
Collapsing the covenants into one overarching theme of grace confuses law and gospel and effectively eliminates an explicit law-gospel distinction in Scripture....
Keep ReadingDecember 17, 2012 by John Fonville | Tags: election, missions, gospel, evangelism, preaching, church planting, grace
There often exists a widespread suspicion that belief in the sovereignty of God”"particularly election”"undermines or even inhibits zeal for missions and evangelism. Dr. J.I. Packer in his book, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, persuasively demonstrates that such a misunderstanding is, in his words, “nonsense.” Election, faith, the gospel and evangelism go ...
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