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The following series was a paper submitted for the course ST 711 at Reformed Baptist Seminary. It has been adapted into blog posts. Appendix I: The Blessings of Salvation in Christ This table was adapted from Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, Volume 3: Sin and Salvation in Christ (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006), 594-595. Bavinck does…
2.0 Christ’s Relations with His People: Union with Christ Miller’s exhortation for us is to “make use of Christ’s offices, titles, and relations.” That relation to believers is union with Christ, apprehended by the gift of faith. There is no benefit from Christ unless there is union with Christ; his threefold office would mean nothing…
The following series was a paper submitted for the course ST 711 at Reformed Baptist Seminary. It has been adapted into blog posts. 1.0 The Offices and Titles of Jesus Christ Christ, the Greek translation of the Hebrew word Messiah, meaning anointed one, has been since Pentecost the church’s way of expressing Jesus’ Spirit-given authority…
The following series was a paper submitted for the course ST 711 at Reformed Baptist Seminary. It has been adapted into blog posts. Introduction: The Cure for Deadness in Religion In 1761, the minutes of the Philadelphia Association contained a pastoral letter, as it did every year, written to its member churches. In this brief…
Ichabod Spencer, the “Bunyan of Brooklyn,” (whose pastoral sketches I recommend to anyone interested in evangelism), records a “deathbed gospel presentation” with a young lady. I was amazed at the Scriptures he could recall and the orderly method of presenting the gospel to a woman who did not have much time to live. He must…
As a Christian who has taught many ESL classes of lower-proficiency English learners, I’ve always felt a tension between the need to share the gospel personally, heart to heart (not through a translator) and the limited production/reception ability of the English learners. What if there was a way to “infuse” into an ESL unit…
Sanctification has two aspects: Mortification (the killing of sin) and Vivification (living a godly, virtuous walk, bearing the fruit of the Spirit)–dying and rising daily. Here are strands of thought unfolding this distinction from a web search: 1. From the Abiding Fruit Blog from Calvin’s 1541 French translation of the Institutes. This is an excellent summary of…
How do we become free from the burden of sin? During a Q&A session after a church service where 2 Tim 3:6-17 was preached, someone asked “How do we become free from the burden of sin and how do we live in that freedom?” The preacher answered “Trust in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins…
Using the Categories of God’s Image and the Functions of Covenant Mediator Johnson’s volume is worth its weight in gold in my estimation because of the section he provides on categories for understanding Christ as head of the new creation and mediator of the new covenant who restores mankind to the image of God.[1] He…
Staying on the Straight and Narrow Some practical observations on best practices while preaching Christ from the OT are in order. Johnson helps preachers move from the OT through its own truths, through Christ’s fulfillment of that truth, and on to application to contemporary hearers. When interpreting an OT passage, preachers should 1) look for how…