As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“I’ve read a lot by Charles Spurgeon, but the 63 volumes of his sermons alone come to 25 million words…. So when Tony Reinke shared these great and unusual quotes from Charles Spurgeon, I shouldn’t have been surprised that I had never before read them” - Randy Alcorn
Review: ‘Reformed Social Ethics’ by Herman Bavinck… “Though technology and circumstances have changed since Bavinck wrote, he was wrestling with many of the same basic questions that drive today’s political discourse.” - TGC
“This video is going to be a history of infant baptism in the early church. It will have four sections. First, a summary of the argument. Second, I’ll explain the goal of this video. Third, we’ll look at the New Testament. Fourth, we’ll look at the early church data century by century.” - Gavin Ortlund
“While the Council of Nicaea did not specifically address the matter of military service, it nonetheless marks a critical transition point. After Nicaea, Christians were no longer simply tolerated within the empire but were instead increasingly integrated….The long-standing ambivalence about military service that marked the ante-Nicene period began to fade.” - Providence
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What biblical reality do we need to add to creation and the fall in order to cultivate a more balanced view of human culture? What part of the biblical picture do the “counter-cultural” only Christians often miss?
The simple answer is “grace.” According to the Bible, God does not completely abandon mankind in his sinful state, but he shows kindness or grace. To be more specific, God bestows two kinds of grace: common grace and saving grace.
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Hebrews starts off by elevating Jesus Christ, proving from the OT that He is divine, but that He also “purged our sins” (Heb. 1:3) because He took upon Himself humanity (cf. Heb. 1:6; 2:9, 17). Jesus holds the office of High Priest (Heb. 3:1; 4:14-16). And the question arises, whose High Priest is He?
“Does your blood pressure go up when you see ads for the hit series, The Chosen? Do you have strong urges to tear up copies of the Westminster Confession? Do pictures of John Calvin send you over the edge? Do you have an impulse to ransack a garden of TULIPs when you see them? If so, you might have CDS.” - Robin Schumacher
“Gavin Ortlund discusses the Protestant canon with @javierperd2604 and @CleavetoAntiquity, considering Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox objections, the testimony of church history, and more.” - Truth Unites
Published as a single article in DBSJ 2 (Fall 1997): 81–103. Used by permission.
Part 2 continues Part 1’s consideration of what “nature” means in the “one or two natures” question.
As was previously noted, the use of the term nature as it relates to the question of one or two natures does not stem primarily from a particular text. Instead, it can more correctly be viewed as a theological term, essential to the discussion at hand, but whose meaning is generally derived from its common, ordinary usage. Webster, for example, defines nature as “the inherent character or basic constitution of a person or thing: essence, disposition, temperament.”1 Smith helpfully observes that
except when it is used for the material world or universe, the term “nature” does not designate a substance or an entity. Instead, it is a word which refers to the inherent or essential qualities of any substance or entity.2
“Though no Christian achieves the full measure of sanctification in this life, that we all struggle with ongoing sin does not justly yield the verdict of hypocrisy. A hypocrite is someone who does things he claims he does not do.” - RC Sproul
Discussion