Tag: Calvin

  • 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…

  • Reformed vs Catholic: determining doctrine

    “The Bible claims to be the sole and sufficient infallible rule of faith for the Christian church. The Scriptures are not in need of any supplement; their authority comes from their nature as God-breathed revelation; their authority is not dependent upon man, church, or council. The Scriptures are self-consistent, self-interpreting, and self-authenticating. The Christian church…

  • Sanctification Considered

    Sanctification is the spiritual process of us sinners becoming holy by the work of God as we are in union with Christ. When we are first regenerated and born again (second birth) we receive justification and initial definite sanctification. But as we live our Christian lives, we engage in progressive sanctification whereby we are made…

  • Total Depravity

    TOTAL DEPRAVITY == UTTER DEPRAVITY Original sin means that people by nature are hostile to God, utterly unable to obey God out of their old corrupted heart, and therefore they are unable to do anything that truly acknowledges God’s truth (Rom. 8:7-8). All of Adam’s offspring are born naturally depraved and with a bent toward…