Tag: Common Grace

Must Christian life involve religion?

My readers may be interested in the article: Must Christian life involve religion? by Shirley Lancaster. “We need to rediscover spirituality as an interior journey and this will involve new institutional forms.” I have commented extensively on it.

Repentance

Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth. —Jeremiah 31:19 “We hence learn how…

Nonconformity

The restoration of the English King, Charles II, in 1660 brought back into power all those spiritual influences which the Puritans had stood against prior to the English Civil War. Episcopacy (rule of the church by the clergy), compulsory liturgy,…

Informality

Informal Christianity What it isn’t… It is not a church, but is the personal, internal, subjective faith that identifies church members as belonging to Jesus Christ. It is not formless, but conforms to the biblical reality described in Scripture. Its…

Knowing God

Knowing God It takes one to know one. I can identify another regenerate person because I know what God’s Holy Spirit has done to me. I know how He has changed me, so I can recognize similar changes in other…

Halfway Covenant

Half-Asked Questions, Half Assessed Answers Classical Congregationalism had barely been hatched when its demise began. Expectations for church membership had always been strict among Congregational churches, in keeping with Christ’s demands upon the faithful. The high-water mark had been set…

Statement of Faith

This statement of faith is an effort to summarize and capsulize our understanding of the essential principles that Scripture teaches. So, it is more a function of the biblical narrative than of prooftexting. All such statements at some level will…

Common Grace

The truth is that we cannot know or do what is good apart from Jesus Christ. It is not that people who don’t know Christ as their Lord and Savior actually do good, and that Christians must account for the…

What is a Christian?

What makes a person Christian? It sounds like a simple question, but it has been complicated by sin and history. Jesus’ first sermon set the standard — “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). Clearly, Christians…