TPC Pastor's Page

Blog

  • Reno on the Post-War Consensus, Populism, and Liberalism

    A few quotes from R. R. Reno: “Neoliberalism” is the word that gets tossed around to describe our current system. It describes an economic and cultural regime of deregulation and disenchantment. The ambition of neoliberalism is to weaken and eventually dissolve the strong elements of traditional society that impede the free flow of commerce (the… Read more

  • What Calvin Thought He Was Doing

    Ronald Wallace explains what John Calvin thought he was doing (from the book Calvin, Geneva, and the Reformation, p. 134): Calvin thought of himself in relation to the Church as an architect of reconstruction. In the letter dedicating his Commentary on Isaiah to King Edward VI he described the state of the Church. It had become like… Read more

  • 1 Corinthians 7:14

    How should we understand the holiness of the unbelieving spouse and children in 7:12-16? This is a complex issue on which good Christians can and will continue to disagree. Some commentators assume that the holiness in the two cases has to be precisely analogous. On this reading, the holiness in view is probably best construed… Read more

  • Infant Baptism and Church History: Did the Doctrine of Covenant Children Vanish Without a Trace? What Do We Conclude from the “Missing Controversy”?

    Baptists have to argue children stopped being members of the covenant sometime in the first century with no controversy, no discussion, no explicit statement from Jesus or an apostle, and no church council. If Baptists were right, the Jerusalem Council should have been about the exclusion of infants, not (merely) the inclusion of Gentiles. Children… Read more

  • Notes on 1 Samuel 25: Pissing Against the Wall

    In 1 Samuel 25, David and his men have acted as a “wall” of protection (v. 16) for Nabal’s servants, guarding Nabal’s men and numerous animals from attack by roving marauders (probably raiding Philistines).  Soon after, when Nabal is having his great sheep-shearing feast, David sends men to ask him for provisions. David was not… Read more

  • Notes on Political Theology

    Petrus Van Mastricht’s systematic theology text (“Theoretical-Practical Theology”) takes up the office of the civil magistrate in his section on Christology, under the heading “The Mediator as King.” In other words, political theology is treated as a subdivision of Christology. The magistrate represents Christ and is to rule in submission to Christ.  He then proceeds… Read more