This new direction is, needless to say, carried on side by side with an attack on the traditional church. This attack has become incessant from the church marketers, as indeed it has also from emergents, and it is, on its face, quite curious.

It is true that some traditional churches are desultory, dispirited, boring, dull, lifeless, inept, small,...

We would do well to remember this in all our attempts to extend the kingdom of true religion. It is not to be propagated by violence, or by bodily strength. “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world” (2 Corinthians 10:4). “ ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD...

We have stated that the marks by which the Church is to be distinguished, are, the preaching of the word, and the administration of the sacraments. For these can no where exist without bringing forth fruit, and being prospered with the blessing of God. I assert not that wherever the word is preached, the good effects of it immediately appear; but...

Copyright © 2016 Richard C. Barcellos. All rights reserved.

In a previous chapter mention was made of the days of creation as paradigmatic for man’s week. In Genesis 1, a creational provision for the accounting of time on the earth was infused into the created realm. Genesis 1:14-19 says:

Then God said, “Let there be lights in the...

“Contemporary worship” to me is an oxymoron. Biblically, worship is what angels and morning stars did before creation; what Abraham, Moses and the Levites, and the many-tongued Jewish diaspora at Pentecost did. It is what the martyrs, now ascended, do, and what all believers since the apostles have done. More importantly, it is what we...

The life of many religious people, I fear, in this age, is nothing better than a continual course of chasing after novelties. They are always morbidly craving fresh excitement; and they seem to care little what it is — if they only get it. All preaching seems to be the same to them; and they appear unable to “see differences” so...

Antinomianism has certainly received its fair share of just criticism in recent years–predominantly on account of its pernicious presence in the pulpits across our land. While the doctrinal forms of Antinomianism are quite pernicious, its practical forms are sometimes even more dangerous; after all, “bad company corrupts good...

THE SABBATH

1. What is the Sabbath?

It is one day of the week, which God requires to be kept as a day of rest, and holy to Him.

2. What day of the week did the Jews observe?

The seventh, which we commonly call Saturday.

3. What day do Christians keep?

The first day of the week or Sunday.

4. Why do Christians keep Sunday as the Sabbath?

Because it was on...

A Survey of Reformed and Puritan Views

by D. Scott Meadows

When does God forgive anyone’s sins? Are all the elects’ sins forgiven from eternity, as they are in Christ according to God’s decree? Or are all a person’s sins forgiven when he first repents and believes the gospel? What about future sins after conversion? Does God...

Preaching involves teaching, but it is much more. It is often assumed that our job is to teach the gospel as information and then the Holy Spirit does something else within the hearer, apart from this human task. According to this view, it is when the hearer does something with the information or exhortation that he or she is born again. Yet this...

For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ – Ephesians 4:12

(1.) The word itself and all the ordinances of the gospel are appointed and given unto us for this end, Eph. 4:11–15. That which is the end of giving gospel officers to the church is the end also of giving all the...

That sermon which does not lead to Christ, or of which Jesus Christ is not the top and the bottom, is a sort of sermon that will make the devils in hell to laugh, but might make the angels of God to weep, if they were capable of such emotion. You remember the story I told you of the Welshman who heard a young man preach a very fine sermon, a grand...

1. on existence and essence

a. according to the form of a servant, our Lord’s existence is not co-extensive with his essence;

b. according to the form of God, our Lord’s existence is his essence

2. on creature and Creator

a. according to the form of a servant, our Lord is creature;

b. according to the form of God, our Lord is Creator

3. on...

The Great Commission is the manifesto that commission’s believers to habitually practice evangelism. Everything in a believer’s life is corollary to this solemn responsibility. The church must be the citadel that recapitulates the necessity of evangelism, and preachers must epitomize love and intrepidity when adjuring the populace....

Of primary importance in the Lord’s Supper is what God does, not what we do. The Lord’s Supper is above all a gift of God, a benefit of Christ, a means of communicating his grace. If the Lord’s Supper were only a memorial meal and an act of confession, it would cease to be a sacrament in the true sense. In that case, like prayer,

It’s interesting to note that some of the early rabbis sought to place Ecclesiastes in gezerah, which was a category for sacred scripture that was considered dangerous for public and general use. The reason being that this book is filled with contradictions. Some thought that it would lead to manifold heresies if it were handled without

A reading of the 95 Theses by Pastor Curt Arend.

Martin Luther (November 10, 1483 – February 18, 1546) was a German monk, theologian, and church reformer. He is also considered to be the founder of Protestantism. Luther’s theology challenged the authority of the papacy by emphasizing the Bible as the sole source of religious authority

With the ebb and flow of human history, the forces arrayed against the church and her Lord and the particular front upon which the battle rages hottest will change. Rome’s theology has evolved and her arguments have been modified, but the issues remain very much what they were when Luther and Eck battled at Leipzig, only modified and

1. on existence and essence

a. according to the form of a servant, our Lord’s existence is not co-extensive with his essence; b. according to the form of God, our Lord’s existence is his essence

2. on creature and Creator

a. according to the form of a servant, our Lord is creature; b. according to the form of God, our Lord is Creator

Confessing the Impassible God: The Biblical, Classical, & Confessional Doctrine of Divine Impassibility, eds. Ronald S. Baines, Richard C. Barcellos, James P. Butler, Stefan T. Lindblad, and James M. Renihan.

RBAP currently has two books on divine impassibility, God without Passions: a Reader and God without Passions: a Primer. What is