"Blogging the Institutes" is my on-going attempt to paraphrase John Calvin's work, the Institutes of the Christian Religion. You can find out more about the series in the Introduction. For all the posts in this series, check out the Master List. Terms Explain Divine Mysteries Heretics bark and howl over the use of the term "person." Yet…
Blogging the Institutes–1.13.2–God in Three Persons
"Blogging the Institutes" is my on-going attempt to paraphrase John Calvin's work, the Institutes of the Christian Religion. You can find out more about the series in the Introduction. For all the posts in this series, check out the Master List. God in Three Persons There is another special mark by which God designates Himself in order…
Blogging the Institutes–1.13.1–God is Immense and Spirit
"Blogging the Institutes" is my on-going attempt to paraphrase John Calvin's work, the Institutes of the Christian Religion. You can find out more about the series in the Introduction. For all the posts in this series, check out the Master List. God is Immense and Spirit The teaching of Scripture about the immensity and spirituality of God's…
Blogging the Institutes–1.12.3–Worship is Due to God Alone
"Blogging the Institutes" is my on-going attempt to paraphrase John Calvin's work, the Institutes of the Christian Religion. You can find out more about the series in the Introduction. For all the posts in this series, check out the Master List. Worship is Due to God Alone The distinction between "service" and "worship" is useless. Paul speaks…
Blogging the Institutes–1.12.2–No Real Distinction between Service and Worship
"Blogging the Institutes" is my on-going attempt to paraphrase John Calvin's work, the Institutes of the Christian Religion. You can find out more about the series in the Introduction. For all the posts in this series, check out the Master List. No Real Distinction between Service and Worship Catholics invented the distinct between dulia (service) and latria (worship) to permit worship…
Little Notes on Anger
Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly. - Proverbs 14:29 Great understanding of what? I think the patient person has great understanding of himself. He knows anger only hurts himself. When you harbor anger, you can begin to have it harden to hate. It can…
Michael Horton’s Understanding of the Lord’s Supper
From God of Promise: Introducing Covenant Theology: Salvation and the Sacraments The Holy Spirit brings to fruition the “new creation” in Christ. Horton uses speech-act theory in relationship to God's work in the world, “The Father speaks, the Son is spoken, and the Spirit brings about in history the effect and perfection of this speech” (137).…
How To Deliver a Gripping Sermon
Many preaching books focus on the content of preaching. They will provide a detailed method of understanding the Bible and then turning your study into an outline to preach. But what happens when you actually get up to speak? How do you keep people awake? In their preaching book, Saving Eutuchys, Gary Millar and Phil Campbell cover…
You Are What You Love by James K.A. Smith (Or, how do you grow in love?)
James K.A. Smith in his book You Are What You Love. According to Smith, love is “a baseline inclination” of the heart (16). All people love something at the core of their being. Not only is love at the core of who people are; love is a virtue. And “virtues, quite simply, are good moral habits” (16). We…
Blogging the Institutes–1.12.1–One God; No Idols
"Blogging the Institutes" is my on-going attempt to paraphrase John Calvin's work, the Institutes of the Christian Religion. You can find out more about the series in the Introduction. For all the posts in this series, check out the Master List. One God; No Idols At the beginning of my work I made the claim that knowledge…
Raising Lazarus 