Preface

Let us be frank.  Fesko’s Reforming Apologeticsis challenging for Presuppositionalists.  I have been a convinced Presuppositionalist in my understanding of the defense of the faith for something over 40 years.  Of course, this commitment has not been without remaining...

Theologians frequently distinguish two species of divine grace in the Scriptures: saving grace and common grace. God directs the former particularly to the elect; God showers the latter indiscriminately on all men in general. Saving grace is, as its designation suggests, efficacious in...

All the previous chapters of the of Faith (hereafter BCF) reflected the Westminster Confession of Faith (1646). At chapter twenty, however, the Baptists inserted a completely distinct unit taken from the Savoy Declaration of Faith and Order (1656).¹

As the title stated, this...

Introduction

Chapter twenty of the Second London Baptist Confession is about the gospel. This is a chapter where we cannot use commentaries written for the Westminster Confession since it is taken from the Puritan Congregationalists’ Savoy Declaration (1658). The Westminster Confession does...

Chapter 20 Expanded

I transcribe the text of the chapter with additions.  My suggested additions are in italics. Each paragraph is followed with a bracketed section referring to places in the confession that warrant the added text.  Also, I have added proof texts that support the textual...

Introduction

Of the Gospel, and of the extent of the Grace ThereofDiscussions on Chapter XX of the Second London Confession

This edition of the Founders Journalis given to the substance of Chapter 20, “Of the Gospel, and of the extent of the Grace Thereof.” We begin with a...

The doctrine of God’s simplicity can often be talked about in the same manner in which rocket scientists discuss the intricacies of propulsion and engineering. Many scholars and theologians journey into the thickest parts of the theological forest in order to discuss what exactly the doctrine...

It is a mystery as to what would motivate a Christian leader to make an unprovoked attack on the conscientious, and highly competent, ministry of fellow believers. That is exactly, however, what happened in a recent post titled, “The Pathetic State of Music at Southern Baptist Theological...

If you perform a YouTube search of Joel Osteen on Larry King Live, you can see how uncomfortable a person feels claiming to be a “Christian” and being asked if this means that Jesus is the only way of salvation. While we might not find ourselves on a TV news program, there is still a...

I realized it about five seconds before it happened. I was in the pulpit. I was halfway through my sermon. And I had no idea what this passage of the Bible was talking about. My stomach turned to lead. My throat was coarse sandpaper. In an effort to salvage the message, I went off-script.

Instead of...

“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people...

Sexual abuse is both a sin and a crime, and it causes lifelong consequences in those who are abused. The fact that a vast number of cases of abuse have been mishandled and covered-up among the churches of the SBC is inexcusable. Though media outlets have reported approximately 700 cases of sexual...

Several good things took place during the 2019 Southern Baptist Convention that met in Birmingham. There was a strengthening of the membership guidelines to address issues of racial discrimination and sexual abuse in churches, with a great deal of attention given in a variety of forums to the...

Postmodernity has seen the replacement of truth and hierarchy with lived experience and group identity. And, as any ethical or religious system necessarily demands the recognition of justified and unjustified classes, the West has embraced victimhoodas its standard of righteousness.

One’s...

Things have gotten quite serious in the Southern Baptist Convention. Al Mohler recently , “We have reached a critical moment in the Southern Baptist Convention when there are now open calls to retreat from our biblical convictions on complementarianism and embrace the very error that...

Charles Spurgeon famously commented, “Of two evils, choose neither.” Well, to borrow from the prince of preachers, I’d like to argue: Given a choice in a false dichotomy, choose both.

Recently, an scholarly evangelical voice took to the web to denounce what he termed “Great...

If you were to walk into my office at church, you would soon be met by two framed portraits. One of Charles Spurgeon. The other, John Broadus. I keep their portraits on the wall, not to idolize them, but to let their example spur me on to do my absolute best in the Pastor’s Study.

If...

A painful reality of living in a fallen world is the injustice that we regularly see or experience. People in power often use their position to oppress those under their authority rather than giving to each one what he or she is due. Some view themselves as superior and treat others with contempt...

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...

Although the church’s global mission forces us to think beyond our tribes, baptism matters deeply in missions.

Everyone wants to defy labels; few are willing to be defined by them.

Christians and non-Christians alike share an underlying suspicion of institutions and structures. As a result,...

Increasingly, biblically-aware Christians are consulting their Old Testaments to help them navigate modern issues of social justice and biblical law.

Unsurprisingly, as conversations over racial reconciliation escalate within the church, the notion of reparations has come to the fore, and many are...

During my college years, nothing impacted my walk with Christ more than reading Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theologyin a group led by my pastor. I can remember it like it was yesterday—the thrill of unpacking election for the first time, the joy of seeing my union with Christ, and the...

The Southern Baptist Convention elected J. B. Gambrell as its president in 1917, 1918, and 1919. In 1919, he felt peculiarly strong about the stewardship of truth and strategy incumbent on Southern Baptists. He issued a challenge to the gathered messengers: “We stand today with many open...

Proverbs 14:1 says, “The wisest of women builds her house, but folly with her own hands tears it down.” If we are to be women who build a house, then we need tools. God has given us a great amount of instruction, tools so that we might build well. I want to mention eight.

First, seek...

As a pastor, I have not always understood the dynamics of domestic abuse, and I have not always gotten things right when it comes to trying to minister to those who are oppressed by this grievous sin. Though I have seen numerous instances of domestic abuse, I am still learning more and more about...