One of the ongoing intramural Reformed debates centers on what would have happened to Adam if he hadn’t fallen into sin. Would he have continued in an earthly paradise? Or would he have been elevated to a higher, heavenly stage? Would his obedience have counted as “merit”? Does that make Eden a kind of temporary […]
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Does nature need addition? Bavinck against the donum superadditum
August 23, 2019 
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One of the central points of disagreement among the various Christian traditions is the question of the relationship of grace and nature. Should we say that grace opposes nature? Affirms nature? Perfects nature? Flanks nature? The answer that Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck famously gives is that grace restores nature: it gives back to us what […]
Continue reading Who Belongs in the New Covenant? Three Views and their Implications for Infant Baptism
September 11, 2015 3 Comments
Note: I originally presented the following paper in January 2013 for the second annual meeting of the Theological Fellowship at Covenant Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. Introduction One of the ongoing debates within the evangelical world centers on the question of infant baptism—that is, should we baptize professing believers only, or should we baptize both […]
Continue reading Berkouwer on the Covenant of Works
October 21, 2014 1 Comment
G.C. Berkouwer (1903-1996) was a leading 20th-century Dutch theologian in the neo-Calvinist tradition of Abraham Kuyper and S.G. De Graaf. His major work was his 14-volume Studies in Dogmatics, from which the following quote is taken. Here he critiques the language (though not the substance) of the Westminster Confession’s “Covenant of Works.” In many respects, his […]
Continue reading Patrick Fairbairn on the Law’s Promise of Life
August 31, 2014 0 Comments
Patrick Fairbairn was a 19th-century minister in the Free Church of Scotland and Professor of Church History and Exegesis at Free Church College in Glasgow (now Trinity College). His most notable works included The Typology of Scripture, The Interpretation of Prophecy, and The Revelation of Law in Scripture. The following is an excerpt from his work An Exposition […]
Continue reading Paul and the Faithfulness of God: A Review
July 24, 2014 1 Comment
At Reformation 21, New Testament scholar Simon Gathercole has written a review of N.T. Wright’s massive new volume, Paul and the Faithfulness of God (Fortress, 2013). Considering that the book itself is about 1,600 pages, Gathercole has done a remarkable job of distilling Wright’s main ideas in relatively little space. Gathercole says that the main thesis of PFG is: […]
Continue reading What Is the Doctrine of “Republication?”
July 19, 2014 4 Comments
Over at Old Life, D.G. Hart has written this piece on the recently published book Merit and Moses by Andrew Elam, Robert Van Kooten, and Randall Bergquist (Wipf & Stock, 2014). As the subtitle indicates, the book is a critique of a relatively obscure and ambiguous doctrine known as “republication.” This doctrine has been around in some form or […]
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