Tag: soteriology

  • Christ the King

    Hail Christ the KingThe Lord of LordsIt is His praises I sing Born in a humble manger so smallHe would redeem manFrom the curse of the Fall He is fully God and fully manBecause of loveHe enacted the Father’s plan Man was lost in sinWe needed a Savior to ransom usA holy propitiation Christ came…

  • A Primer on Salvation

    Does man have free choice as it pertains to salvation? I believe a careful study of Scripture will reveal that man has the ability to make choices, yet we are not totally free in our moral agency. This is due to the fact that the natural man, before he is saved, is spiritually dead and…

  • Sovereign Grace

    As a Reformed Christian I believe we, as sinners, are saved by God’s sovereign grace. But what exactly does this term mean? God is all-knowing and all-powerful. He is the uncaused causer. God has always existed. He has no beginning and no end. Everything that happens in our vast universe is either caused by Him…

  • The Glorious Protestant Reformation: Some Thoughts on Reformation Day

    On this day, October 31st, in the year of our Lord, 1517, an Augustinian friar (monk) in the Roman Catholic church, Martin Luther (1483-1546), who was also a theologian, priest, and a professor at the University at Wittenberg, nailed his 95 theses, which were theological problems he saw with Catholic theology as well as practices…

  • Imago Dei: Lost or Retained?

    Was the Imago Dei (Image of God) lost in the Fall of man, or was it retained, yet in a distorted or compromised sense? The phrase has its origins in Genesis 1:27, wherein “God created man in his own image…” I posit that the Image of God was lost in the Fall of man and…

  • Water Baptism: A Reformed Examination of John 3:5

    When a person is baptized is it the water itself that regenerates? Or is it the washing by the Holy Spirit that regenerates? According to Calvin, and other Reformed commentators, the water in John 3:5 is not referring to water baptism. And it is the washing by the Holy Spirit that regenerates. And that alone.…

  • 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…

  • Justification: by works or by faith?

    Justification by faith alone (Sola Fide) is the sine qua non (the essential thing without which it cannot be) of the Protestant Reformation. It is this doctrine upon which the Reformation stands or falls. However, there is sharp disagreement with the Roman Catholic church on this topic. What does the Bible say? Who is more…

  • 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…