Christ has Redeemed us through His Obedience
John Calvin: Christ has Redeemed us through His Obedience, which He practiced throughout His Life (Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2.16.5)...
Keep ReadingParamount Blog
Richard Sibbes: The Scope of the Whole Scriptures is Christ
June 27, 2021 by John Fonville
Richard Sibbes discussing the Christ-centered focus of all the Scriptures....
Richard Sibbes: The Glory of God is Greatest in the Gospel
February 28, 2020 by John Fonville
Richard Sibbes: The Glory of God is Greatest in the Gospel...
Michael Horton: What the Third Use of the Law Can and Cannot Do
February 25, 2020 by John Fonville
Michael Horton on what the third use of the law can and cannot do....
Gerald Bray: WWJD is Impossible to Answer
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. ...
William Perkins on Seven Differences between the Law and Gospel
February 24, 2020 by John Fonville
The late 16th century Anglican pastor/theologian, William Perkins, on seven differences between the law and gospel....
No Creed But The Bible?
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."...
Philip Schaff: The 39 Articles Are Reformed
February 20, 2020 by John Fonville
Philip Schaff: The 39 Articles are found in every collection of Reformed confessions....
Confusing Law and Gospel: A Review of David Platt's book, Radical.
November 19, 2015 by John Fonville
A review of David Platt's book, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From The American Dream....
Dispositional Soteriology: Jonathan Edwards on Justification by Faith Alone
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....
Andy Stanley, Marcion, and the Bible
February 8, 2019 by John Fonville | Tags: Old Testament, covenant theology, graeme goldsworthy, Authority, Christ-centered hermeneutic, inspiration, Andy Stanley, Marcion, Marcionism, Aesop's Fables, Bibliology, evangelicalism
According to Andy Stanley, the 21st century church must “unhitch the Christian faith from their Jewish scriptures.” Is this correct? No! We know this from Jesus' attitude towards the Old Testament, as well as the Apostles' and NT writers. We also object to Stanley's suggestion because of the nature of progressive revelation and the Scriptures central witness to Christ ...
Keep ReadingHow Do I Know I'm A Christian?
January 14, 2019 by John Fonville | Category: Assurance | Tags: assurance, Christian Freedom, lordship salvation, direct act of faith, reflex act of faith, pietistic nomism
Assurance lies in the very direct act of faith as one is presented with Christ, the object of faith. The reflex act of faith can support our profession but it cannot become the ground our assurance....
Keep ReadingThe Mountain of Law vs. The Mountain of Grace
October 9, 2018 by John Fonville | Tags: sanctification, hebrews, perseverance, obedience, holiness, adam, judgment, jews, jewish, old covenant, new covenant, jesus, mediator, assurance, covenant theology
In Hebrews 12:18-24, the author of Hebrews expresses deep concern about where his readers stand in relation to the God who asks, “Adam, where are you?” To prevent his readers from a calamitous reversion to Jewish beliefs and practices, the author of Hebrews sets forth two contrasting relationships with God, determined by two antithetical covenants. By contrasting the...
Keep ReadingThe Movement of Baptism: From God to Us
June 20, 2018 by John Fonville | Tags: faith, assurance, covenant of grace, baptism, sacraments, promise, Confession, Faithfulness, sign, seal, pledge
Why does understanding the movement of baptism matter?...
Keep ReadingEternal Functional Subordination and the Problem of the Divine Will
June 7, 2018 by John Fonville | Tags: Trinity, Christology, Athanasian Creed, Subordinationism, ESS, EFS, eternal functional subordination, male and female relationships, eternal subordination of the Son, Nicene Christianity, manhood, womanhood
The doctrine of eternal functional subordination (hereafter EFS) has been growing in support in evangelical circles in recent years. EFS claims that the Father and the Son are eternally distinguished by an “authority-submission structure”1 such that the Son eternally submits to the Father and the Father eternally has au- thority over the Son. This structure is the patt...
Keep ReadingGood-Day, Bad-Day and the Covenant of Grace
May 14, 2018 by John Fonville | Tags: sanctification, covenant of grace, covenant of works, legalism, justification, imputation, blessing, gospel-centered, Jerry Bridges, good-day-bad-day scenario, obedience, gospel-driven
Why is the covenant of grace important for the Christian life? We will consider two radically different days in a Christian's life to understand....
Keep ReadingThe Collapsing of the Covenants: Narrow is the Way that Leads to Destruction
October 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 ReadingDishonoring the Spirit?
October 13, 2017 by John Fonville | Tags: sanctification, good works, assurance, moralism, inherent righteousness, covenant of grace, antinomianism, justification, Holy Spirit, Union with Christ, antecedent conditions, consequent conditions, duplex beneficium, substance of the covenant, imputed righteousness
Does placing primary emphasis upon justification for assurance understate the importance and necessity of good works (i.e., sanctification)? Does this emphasis dishonor the Holy Spirit’s indwelling work?...
Keep ReadingJohn Calvin on the Four Causes of Salvation
October 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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