Topic Archives: General Theology

In 1964 the Banner of Truth was encouraged by the Rev. J. Marcellus Kik of Silver Spring, Maryland, then an associate editor of Christianity Today, to republish Samuel Bolton’s “The True Bounds of Christian Freedom.” It is a classic study of the law of God and its relationship to the Christian. This is the book’s […]

A number of writers of late have been trying to drive a wedge between Calvin and the Puritans. Thomas Torrance and R.T. Kendall are among the chief of them, while Paul Helm and Carl Trueman in particular have refuted their claims. The following quotations may shed some light on the issue. While we believe that […]

by Sinclair B. Ferguson [For four decades now the Banner of Truth Trust has been committed to republishing and keeping in print the works of John Owen. All over the English-speaking world there exists testimony to the incalculable value of his biblical teaching in many vital areas of Christian doctrine and experience. For some time […]

“Christian Renewal” (January 29, 2001), listed the position of some of the Reformed and Presbyterian seminaries in North America on the length of the days of Genesis 1. CALVIN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY IN GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN, allows for a diversity of views, limited only by reports and decisions adopted by the 1991 Synod of the Christian […]

The Founders Journal is a quarterly Magazine committed to historic Southern Baptist principles and indispensable for ascertaining the reformation going on in that Convention. It is edited by Dr Tom Ascol of the Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Florida (Founders Journal, P.O.Box 150931, Cape Coral, FL 33915) Visit their web site at www.founders.org In […]

Sinclair Ferguson Last thing at night, when our children were small, I often secretly watched them as they slept: there they lay, breathing rhythmically, almost imperceptibly, relaxed, at ease, enjoying “the sleep of innocence.” But man – perhaps especially a father – looks on the outward appearance. What of the heart on which God gazes? […]

It is one of the conceits of the carnal mind that it thinks itself capable of discerning and understanding the designs of God. The unbeliever thinks he fathoms God and finds the Almighty wanting. The deluded believer hesitates to embrace the teaching of Scripture unless he thinks he perceives the divine design in it. Those […]

When we talk about the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ we begin by pointing out that there was nothing supernatural in the emergence of Jesus from the womb of Mary – what we usually refer to as the ‘birth’ of a baby. The whole process of foetal and embryonic development was again normal. […]

by Dr. O. Palmer Robertson Everybody talks about being “born again.” But what does it mean? What happens if you are born again? How does this idea apply to you? Do YOU need to be born again? These important questions need answers. First, Do YOU need to be born again? If you are like the […]

Dr Jay E. Adams, recently writing of the advantages of a new confession of faith which could deal, for example, with some of the false teaching coming into the Reformed church, mentions, “Aberrations of the faith found in such movements as Sonship should be pointed out and rejected. These movements – both large and small […]

The following is the current editorial (December 1 & 8, 2000) of the “English Churchman” (1843) and “St. James Chronicle” (1761), and used bypermission:- A correspondent says it would be helpful to know in which direction the “English Churchman” considers “Reform” should have decided to move at its October’s Conference (“Readers Write” 17 November). “Reform” […]

[Earlier this year the late Dr James Montgomery Boice delivered a series of three messages – the Den Dulk Lectures – at Westminster Theological Seminary, Escondido, California. The following are his opening words which appeared in ‘Update’, the Westminster Seminary in California magazine and used by permission:-] These are not good days for the evangelical […]

On September 2 Dr Joel Beeke, Minister of the Netherlands Heritage Reformed Congregation, Grand Rapids, gave three addresses to the Salisbury Conference at Emmanuel Church, Salisbury, England, on the theme, “Calvinism: Doctrinal, Practical, Experimental.” The Conference as chaired by the pastor of the Emmanuel Church, Malcolm Watts. The following report was published in the English […]

John Piper has written “The Justification of God: An Exegetical and Theological Study of Romans 9:1-23” which is published by Baker Book House, (1993), 245 pp. paperback. In a sermon entitled “I Will Be Gracious to Whom I Will Be Gracious,” John Piper confessed that when a junior in seminary, “Romans 9 came on me […]

The God who knows and controls is under assault. Self-described evangelical theologians such as Clark Pinnock, John Sanders and Greg Boyd espouse a form of inclusivism known as the “openness of God,” the major tenets of which hold that God’s knowledge of future events is not exhaustive, that God is often surprised by the actions […]

The annual Aberystwyth Conference of the Evangelical Movement of Wales takes place during the second full week of August. The preceding week is the National Eisteddfod of Wales and the succeeding week is the annual EMW Welsh language Conference which a few hundred people attend. The significance of these weeks, carefully laid out in August, […]

For part of Monday, I missed two of the sessions of the SBC pastors’ conference, attending instead one sponsored by the Center for Church Reform, a ministry developed by Mark Dever’s church in Washington, DC. Dr. Roger Nicole was the main speaker, dealing with the extent of the atonement. There were also two Q&A sessions […]

I just returned from a Reformed pastors conference here in Spain. It was refreshing to take four days out of the usual routine to meet with other workers-pastors and missionaries-of like convictions. I preached the opening message at the conference, on Jacob’s dream in Genesis 28:10-22. The two main speakers were a Reformed pastor from […]

SESSION 1 The Conference commenced with the 300 men singing the metrical version of Psalm 65, and with prayer. Iain Murray then explained to the Conference that the sickness of Dr Robert Godfrey of Westminster Seminary, California, had prevented his attendance, and that Dr Sinclair Ferguson would speak instead of him. John Marshall opened a […]

Perhaps the most famous sermon ever preached in America was the one Jonathan Edwards delivered entitled “Sinners in the hands of an Angry God.” Not only has the sermon been reproduced in countless catalogues of preaching but it is included in most anthologies of early American literature. So scandalous is this vivid portrayal of unconverted […]

To some it might seem unnecessary and even wickedly controversial to thrust upon readers any discussion of Arminianism. This might appear to be the case for two reasons. First of all, why should we revive ancient controversies and thereby provoke animosities that have long since died the death of old age? Arminianism takes its name […]

Near the end of his life, Augustine of Hippo meticulously reviewed everything he had ever published. He wrote an entire catalogue of his own works, a painstakingly annotated bibliography with hundreds of revisions and amendments to correct flaws he saw in his own earlier material. The book, titled Retractationes, is powerful evidence of Augustine’s humility […]

The old gospel of Owen, first of all, contains no less full and free an offer of salvation than its modern counterpart. It presents ample grounds of faith (the sufficiency of Christ, and the promise of God), and cogent motives to faith (the sinner’s need, and the Creator’s command, which is also the Redeemer’s invitation). […]

How are we to pray for the world-wide success of the gospel of Christ? How are we to plead the promises of Scripture? The Larger Westminster Catechism Question 191 sums up the Puritan view. What do we pray for in the second petition of the Lord’s prayer? Answer: We pray that the kingdom of sin […]

For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night Psalm 90:4 1. Recognise that there is more than one perspective on life. Perhaps the most basic thing here is that there is more than one way of seeing things. It is […]