Theology
Theology
Theology
Extremism or Reasonable Service?
The Puritans were zealous not only to learn the Bible but to live the Bible. Some people think that such zealous attention to the Bible is a bit extreme. A common criticism that has been hurled at the Puritans is the charge of legalism. But their desire to honor the...
Theology
Theocentric, Scripture-Shaped Piety
Because the Puritans had a high view of the Bible, they had a high view of God. Actually, it was their high view of God that led them to have such a high esteem for the Bible, because it is His self-attested, self-authenticating, inspired and precious Word. They “received it...
Theology
The Preaching of the Word
“Preach the word” (2 Tim. 4:2), Paul charged Timothy. The Puritans took this charge seriously. The insistence of the Puritans on the primacy of preaching in the church was rooted in their conviction of the divine inspiration, authority, power, and purity of the Word. Being deeply convinced that God builds...
Theology
The Reading of the Word
The Puritans believed that the Bible should be the Christian’s daily companion. The Scottish, puritan-minded Thomas Boston (1676–1732) said, “The reading of the word is an ordinance of God, and mean[s] of salvation, of God’s own appointment. The Bible is this word, and God has given it to us, and...
Theology
All of Scripture for All of Life
Sola Scriptura, one of the five “solas,” or watchwords of the Protestant Reformation, asserts that Scripture alone is the supreme, infallible authority for Christian faith and life. Known as the “formal principle” of the Protestant Reformation, this watchword summarizes the truth that Scripture is the ultimate criterion for all that...
Theology
Crying Us into Heaven
“And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.” —Hebrews 12:24 Christ’s blood in its cry has attributed to it here a further advantage over Abel’s blood. For Abel’s cried only from earth, from the ground,...
Theology
The Spirit’s Work in Prior Ages
A superficial reading of the New Testament might lead some to conclude that the presence of the Spirit in the church and in the world was something new. The same mistake is often made regarding what Christ calls “the new covenant in my blood.” It is easy to separate the...
Theology
To Call Sinners To Repentance
When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. — MARK 2:17; CF. MATTHEW 9:13 One day Jesus passed by a tax office and saw...
Theology
To Bind Up Broken Hearts
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim...
