Tag: Calvin

  • The Reformers Didn’t Go Far Enough

    The magisterial Reformers of the Protestant Reformation, men like Calvin, Luther, and Knox, were used mightily by God to restore the preeminence of Scripture and to declare every precept and doctrine taken directly from the Word of God which itself stands as the supreme and final authority in all matters of faith, morality, and praxis.…

  • A Rejoinder to Reformed Presbyterians and Reformed Baptists

    Saints, for 20 years I’ve had only Presbyterians giving me hate, denigrating me, belittling me, ridiculing me, mocking me, being dismissive and haughty and insisting I am not Reformed. I finally got so sick of the abuse. I reached a breaking point, and that was the catalyst for my recent blog article on being Reformed.…

  • A Response to Reformed Presbyterians: Semper Reformanda

    Background The sine qua non of Reformed theology is soteriology. Covenant theology and certain types of eschatology are not essential core distinctives. Sadly, the majority of Reformed Presbyterians seem to be so bigoted and locked into their infantile theological cliques that they look down upon and refuse to recognize believers such as Reformed Baptists as…

  • Sola Scriptura: Defined and Defended – A Study in Authority Structures

    Background Sola Scriptura, Latin for Scripture Alone, is part of the 5 Solas of the Protestant Reformation. They are a cornerstone of Reformed theology. Sola Scriptura simply means that Scripture is our highest authority in matters of faith and morals. As this statement implies, there are other lesser authorities, but they are always subordinate to…

  • How should we worship God? RPW vs NPW

    Background The RPW (regulative principle of worship) is deeply flawed and problematic. It holds that everything which is not explicitly commanded or practiced in Scripture is forbidden. I believe it is overly restrictive, and the way many employ it is legalistic. I favor the NPW (normative principle of worship) over the RPW. Anything which is…

  • Justification: On What Basis?

    Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God. Romans 5:1 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of…

  • The Reformed view of salvation

    Salvation is utterly an act of GodMan has no partGod chose the Elect before the world beganWe were selected, not on merit, from the start The natural man is totally depravedDue to original sin from Adam’s FallWe have hearts of stoneWe can’t respond to a Gospel call Apart from GodMan would lay dead in his…

  • The One True Church

    I often hear Catholics and Orthodox say they are the oldest churches and can trace through apostolic succession their churches back to 33 AD. I posit that what is most important is having the correct doctrine. Men are fallible and can make mistakes. Once a church is institutionalized correcting those mistakes becomes very difficult, if…

  • The Marian Dogmas Considered

    In this post I will be discussing the 4 Marian dogmas of the Catholic church from a Reformed point of view. Even though these dogmas developed over a long period of time, Rome would have you believe they were held by the faithful always, going all the way back to the early church. Reformers such…

  • Early Church Fathers and the question of authority

    As I see it, Scripture confers no special status to the so-called Early Church Fathers. As such their theological opinions should be judged against the Scriptures and they should not be given substantial weight when interpreting Scripture. They were closer to the Apostolic age and may well have some insights into certain matters, but their…