What is Original Sin? Original sin is both the lack of original righteousness and the inclination or disposition to sin. The imputation of Adam’s guilt can be thought of distinctly from original sin, but the two are integrally related; imputation is forensic, while original sin is habitual and inherent. WCF 6:2. By this sin they… Read More Original Sin: What It Is And How It Is Propagated
“The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man’s salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture…” (Westminster Confession of Faith 1:6). What does this phrase mean and how may it be proved from Scripture? Westminster… Read More Are Only Explicit Scripture Proofs Valid?
Although “the authority of the holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed and obeyed, dependeth not upon the testimony of any man or church, but wholly upon God (who is truth itself), the Author thereof; and therefore it is to be received, because it is the Word of God (1 Thes 2:13; 2 Tim… Read More The Authority of Scripture and the Testimony of the Church
“First, We distinguish between a private brotherly teaching, admonition, exhortation of one another and an authoritative public teaching. The first grounded on charity is the common duty of all Christians, by the royal Law of love, and prescribed to all, even to women, by the Law of God under pain of sin, and this especially… Read More 8 Reasons Only Ministers May Preach
Thomas Manton Commentary on James 2:24 Works, vol. 4, pp. 260-265. You see then how by works a man is justified, and not by faith only (James 2:24). “You see then” — It is either a consectary [that which follows] out of the whole discourse, or out of the particular example of Abraham; he alludeth… Read More Sola Fide: Do Paul and James Contradict?
Edward Leigh Body of Divinity Seventh Book, Ch. 10 Whether Faith alone doth justify God justifies judicially, Christ’s blood meritoriously, Faith instrumentally, Works declaratively (Rom. 3:24, 28; Rom. 4:5; Mark 5:36; Luke 8:50; Acts 13:39). The Papists, Socinians and Remonstrants all acknowledge faith to justify, but by it they mean obedience to God’s commandments, and so make it a work, and… Read More Justification By Faith Alone
It can be known from nature that we must worship God how he pleases rather than how we please (Acts 17:24-29), but we cannot know how God desires to be worshiped unless he reveals it to us through special revelation. Being the root of the second commandment, the Regulative Principle of Worship (RPW) itself is discernable from the light of nature as flowing from “that which may be known of God” (Rom. 1:19), while the parts and acts of God’s instituted worship is of divine positive law.… Read More The Second Commandment and the Light of Nature
John Calvin, Commentary on Zechariah 13:3 “And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of the LORD: and his father and his mother that begat him shall… Read More The Death Penalty for Heresy | John Calvin
“Heresy is a gross and dangerous error, voluntarily held and factiously maintained by some person or persons within the visible church, in opposition to some chief or substantial truth or truths grounded upon and drawn from the holy Scripture by necessary consequence.“ George Gillespie, A Treatise of Miscellany Questions, ch. 9. What is meant in… Read More The Biblical Definition of Heresy
Instrumental Music in the Public Worship of the Church by John L. Girardeau A divine warrant is necessary for every element of doctrine, government and worship in the church; that is, whatsoever in these spheres is not commanded in the Scriptures, either expressly or by good and necessary consequence from their statements, is forbidden. 1.… Read More The Regulative Principle of Worship Proven From Scripture
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