Reformed Forum

The apostle Paul uses the metaphor of a building to describe the people of God. What is the significance of this metaphor, and what are the implications of that, particularly for ministers of the word? We also discuss how to choose a pericope and how much exegetical detail is appropriate in a sermon.

After discussing their trips to Colombia with OPC foreign missions, Jim Cassidy and Camden Bucey explore the influence of modernism upon American Presbyterianism and Roman Catholicism. Modernism led to many changes in American Presbyterianism, including the reorganization of Princeton Seminary and the founding of Westminster Seminary and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. The mainline church eventually adopted the Confession of 1967, which many have understood as a doctrinal shift toward Barthianism. These large-scale movements roughly parallel the developments in Roman Catholicism, which moved from the anti-modernist oath of 1910 to the sweeping changes of the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965).

This week on Theology Simply Profound, Rob and Bob continue a discussion of John Bunyan’s, The Pilgrim’s Progress, Book 2. In this episode, we discuss the Pilgrims’ encounter with old Mr. Honest, which brings about the recollection of Mr. Fearing. Great-heart tells the story of Mr. Fearing's many struggles with assurance, living a life of melancholy, darkness, and fear that he wouldn't be received into the Celestial City.

On this episode of Vos Group, we turn to pages 263–264 of Vos’s book, Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments, to consider the sin of Israel and the resulting rupture of their covenant bond with the Lord.

What does it mean to be predestined, and to what end does God predestine his people? Robert Arendale joins us again in an exposition of this important passage, including a discussion exploring what part polemics play in a sermon.

This week on Theology Simply Profound, Rob and Bob continue a discussion of John Bunyan’s, The Pilgrim’s Progress, Book 2. In this episode, we discuss the Pilgrims' journey through the Valley of Humiliation, into and past the Valley of

Danny Olinger and John Muether join Camden Bucey to speak about the early history of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and the forces within the young ecclesiastical body desiring broader influence throughout the culture. J. Gresham Machen gathered a broad coalition of “fundamentalists” in leading a charge against modernism at Princeton Theological Seminary and then throughout the Presbyterian Church (USA). After many within this coalition were pushed out or left to form what would become the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, different agendas arose. A significant event, involving what would come to be known as the Committee of Nine, at the 1941 and 1942 General Assemblies would set the tone for the future of the young church.

This section of Genesis showcases an alarming lack of dependence upon God, which results in deception and contention in Jacob’s family. Here we see the foundation laid for much of the conflict of the following chapters, as well as the introduction of Joseph whose story will be the subject of the last third of Genesis. In spite of Jacob’s foolishness, God will take this dysfunctional family in forming people for himself.

This week on Theology Simply Profound, Rob and Bob continue a discussion of John Bunyan’s, The Pilgrim’s Progress, Book 2. In this episode, we discuss Christiana’s crew journey into the Valley of Humiliation. With Great-heart leading the pilgrims once again, we revisit the valley as Christian went through it, and learn how the valley of humiliation is really a way of life. What is Bunyan teaching through this valley?

Carlton Wynne, Lane Tipton, and Camden Bucey open Cornelius Van Til’s book, The Defense of the Faith to pages 33–39 wherein Van Til discusses the doctrine of salvation. Van Til is insistent to maintain the incommunicable attributes of God in all aspects of theology, even here in soteriology. Throughout this section, Van Til refuses to admit any form of mutualism or correlativism in the God-man relation. He writes, "If we refuse to mix the eternal and the temporal at the point of creation and at the point of the incarnation we must also refuse to mix them at the point of salvation." If God is omnipotent, for example, and he desires to save, it is not possible for man to frustrate that plan. This carries through in the doctrine of church as well as the doctrine of last things, wherein the absolute sovereignty of God is maintained at every point throughout history.