No Creed but the Bible?

In his book Minority Report: Unpopular Thoughts on Everything from Ancient Christianity to Zen-Calvinism, Carl R. Trueman has a chapter on creeds and confessions entitled "A Good Creed Seldom Goes Unpunished."  In some ways, this chapter is a trimmed down version of his book-length treatment of the same topic. Trueman points out the problems with …

A Final Judgment for the Justified According to Works?

Not the way some would have you think.  Cornelis Venema writes: If the confessions of the Reformation clearly speak of justification as a once-for-all act of God, which does not comport with a final justification according to works, this still leaves open the question regarding the way they handle the final judgment and the obvious …

The Westminster Confession of Faith and the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith Compared

I found this interesting resource today (here is the .pdf version).  It's a comparison of the wording of the 1689 London Baptist Confession with the Westminster Confession of Faith.  Here is a link to James Anderson's website where this stuff is housed.  Since I'm plugging his comparison chart, I wanted to give him proper recognition. While …

The Church Order: Aren’t these just “man made” rules?

Nelson Kloosterman, in his chapter entitled "Office Bearers and Church Government" (in the book Called to Serve: Essays For Elders and Deacons), tackles the matter of an authoritative church order that is used in a church committed to sola scriptura. Though many Christian traditions speak disparagingly of church orders - as though they were simply …

Why Study the Belgic Confession?

From Guido De Bres' "Dedicatory Epistle to Philip II" (trans. Alastair Duke, cited in Danny Hyde, With Heart and Mouth: An Exposition of the Belgic Confession, pg. 499.): If we had been permitted, most gracious Lord, to appear before your Majesty to defend ourselves against the charges which have been laid against us, we would …