Latest Articles on Guard the Deposit
How to Start Running if You are as Lazy as I am
Quite frankly, I hate to exercise. I always have, and I suspect that I always will. But, during the last few months of last year, my laziness began to cause some major problems in my life. The less physical activity I did, the more exhausted I felt, day after day....
The Incarnation of the Son and the Wisdom of God
A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life in a Year: The work of Christ manifests the wisdom of God as both just and the justifier of the ungodly; but the person of Christ also reveals the preeminent wisdom of God, for in the incarnation the finite is united with the...
2nd Century Advice on Living in a Post-Christian World
I wrote about my initial reaction to David VanDrunen's accessible introduction to Two Kingdoms Theology, Living in God's Two Kingdoms. VanDrunen has also written a longer, more scholarly account of the history of Two Kingdoms...
The Gospel and the Hidden Wisdom of God
A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life in a Year: In the person and work of Jesus Christ, wisdom shines forth with a luster seen nowhere else in God's dealings with creation (Col. 2:3). In the gospel, the wisdom of God is described in several ways, all of which serve...
Two Kingdoms Theology, Neo-Calvinism, and Dispensationalism
A few weeks ago, I finished David VanDrunen's Living in God's Two Kingdoms. On the whole, I thought that VanDrunen built a very strong case for Two Kingdoms Theology, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book. Like I mentioned in an earlier...
How God’s Love for God Differs From His Love for Us
A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life in a Year: As noted above, God knows Himself, which has reference to His speculative and practical knowledge. Knowledge is speculative, [Stephen Charnock (1628-1680)] says, "when the truth of a thing is known without a respect to...
Unprompted Hosting Testimonial for Digital Ocean
I love the current hosting provider for my website, Digital Ocean. They are a fairly new hosting company, but they have a unique approaching to website hosting that fits my needs perfectly. Digital Ocean Gives You Complete Control In the past, I have used the shared...
Why the Covenant of Grace is Conditional AND Absolute
A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life in a Year: The covenant of grace is both conditional, for faith is required, and absolute, for the condition required by the covenant is also promised by the covenant. On the one hand, [William Ames (1576-1633)] said one cannot...
Thoughts on a Sick Day
As much as I tried to dodge the viruses, germs, and bugs that every last person I know has succumbed to over the last couple of months, I finally caught something unpleasant. Taking a sick day from work on Wednesday, I had a few thoughts during a more lucid moment....
How Jesus’ Story Perfectly Answers Adam’s Story
A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life in a Year: "With regard to Adam, [Thomas] Goodwin argues that because Adam was a type of Christ other particulars also come into the picture: Adam's fall, you know, was in a garden; Satan there encountered him, and overcame him,...
Do Attempts to Redeem Culture Compromise Justification by Faith Alone?
I did not go to a Presbyterian/Reformed seminary, so I missed out on a lot of the intramural debates that my brethren had who went to Covenant, RTS, or the like. Not that I would change my time at Beeson, but I do have to play catch-up at times on subjects like...
Puritans on the Song of Songs: The Allegorical Is the Literal
A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life in a Year: Nonetheless there are places, albeit few, where to interpret the passage or book literally requires the reader to interpret it allegorically. In his commentary on the Song of Solomon, James Durham (c. 1622-1658) affirms...