The Inexhaustibly Rich Significance of Christ’s Resurrection (Bavinck)

You don't have to read the New Testament very long to realize that Christ's resurrection is a central event in the Bible's story. From the gospels to the epistles, the resurrection of Christ is a major theme. The OT also foreshadows and prophesies about the resurrection. For good reason, people have written entire books explaining …

Sin, the Fall, and God’s Will (Bavinck, Aquinas, and Augustine)

When Herman Bavinck wrote about the origin of sin in volume three of his Reformed Dogmatics, he spent several pages discussing the possibility of sin as God's will. This, of course is a huge discussion: how do we reconcile the entrance and reality of sin in this world with God's sovereign will and providence? Bavinck …

The Covenant of Grace-Law-Faith-Obedience: Rushdoony’s Rejection of the Westminster Standards’ Covenant Theology

This morning I was doing some reading on covenant theology. Although I'm not a big fan of R. J. Rushdoony, I took the time to read parts of his view of covenant theology found in chapter seven of his Systematic Theology (vol. 1). First of all, he is very critical towards and firmly rejects the …

Herman Bavinck on the Two Kingdoms

(Note: this is a repost from March, 2009) Earlier, I noted how some Reformed teachers from around 1700 talked about the two kingdoms, the two-fold reign of Christ.  For review, Thomas Watson and Wilhelmus a Brakel (along with others) talked about Christ's general reign over all things and his special reign over the church.  The …

“…It Is Not God You Comprehend” (Augustine/Bavinck)

When the Bible talks about knowing God it does not mean a person can or will know God exhaustively, comprehensively, or fully (e.g. Is. 40:13ff, 1 Cor. 2:16, etc.). But it does mean there is such a thing as true and saving knowledge of God (e.g. 1 John 2:13). As various theologians have rightly said, …