Theological Treatises

  The Wonderful Christology of Thomas Goodwin Thomas Goodwin (1600-1680 AD), was another of the truly great Puritan pastor/scholars of the 17th Century AD.  He was a brilliant exegete and theologian-- but he was also an incredibly tender undershepherd  of Jesus, the Chief Shepherd of our souls (1 Pet. 5:4).   Goodwin's writing style, for me at least, is not the easiest to navigate; but once you can get used to his rhythm and flow he becomes more comprehendible.  (Not every Puritan writer is a Thomas Watson[!])  Goodwin's content is  so  savory, that it will be  worth  your while to take him  on  (at any cost).   In my limited (so far) reading of Goodwin, I have been  most  impressed by his  Christology  (doctrine of Christ).  In my opinion, Christology is not only super-important, it is also the key "link" between understanding life in this world as a regenerated churched Chris...

  Should  The  New  Testament Be Interpreted Through a  Prioritized  Study of The  Old  Testament? The  short  answer I am going to give to the query (above), is, "No."  It is  good  to study the Old Testament; but the Old Testament itself is  now  to be always interpreted in light of the New Testament.  It is actually perverse, to (now) seek to understand the New Testament through the  exclusive  "lens" of the Old Testament. . . . To do so, is analogous to trying to see a far away distant object, by looking into the  large  end of a telescope, (instead of looking through the  smaller  end).   . . . It would be  one  thing, if we did not  have  (or possess) the New Testament.  In  that  case, the study of the Old Testament, to gain insight into what God had promised, etc., would not only be a  good  idea, it would ...

  " . . . I Do Not Wish Them To Be Brave In The Devil's Service" Though it is probably not  absolutely  historically-verifiable, the story has come down through the years, that Lt. Gen. Thomas J. ("Stonewall") Jackson (CSA), told one of his staff officers that his (Jackson's) troops should, with regard to the Union soldiers, [quote],  "Kill them all. I do not wish them to be brave in the devil's service."   The staff officer had noted the courage of the northern warriors; and Gen. Jackson was concerned that their example of valor would have a savory effect on the other men in blue.  (This incident allegedly occurred during the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1862.)  It is no wonder that someone who could not understand Gen. Jackson's Christian faith, would call him a "blue-eyed killer," and a "religious fanatic"--as Ken Burns described him (in his Civil War series).   But Gen. Jackson's  command --assuming the truth...

  What To  Always  Do When you Just Do Not Know What  Else  To Do So, this paper is written for Christians who love God in Jesus Christ; and who are  continually  asking,  "What can I do to forward the gospel of Jesus--so that others will hear of Him, and have life in Him?"   More-specifically, this encouragement is for  regenerated  Christians who are  already  members in good standing in faithful Christ-loving, gospel-preaching, Spirit-filled churches.   When all  else  fails, and we have nowhere  else  to turn, in terms of how we may more fully broadcast the good news of Christ--let us  always  do this  one  thing: let us be good and faithful members of the churches (we spoke of above).   . . . And  the  single most important activity we participate in as church members is to worship the Triune God through our faith in Jesus Christ, as we are the gathere...

  Be Satan's Worst Nightmare One of the privileges of the true (regenerate) saints of the church, is that we get to frustrate the devil's designs against us--and hence, make his existence even  more  miserable than it already is (because of his rebellion against God). A principal way we do this, is by sincerely giving our Heavenly Father thanks for *everything* that happens to us, through Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit, (cf. 1 Thess. 5:18).  When we do this via sovereign gospel grace, it is  extremely  frustrating for Lucifer--because even his  worst  deeds foisted against us cannot wrench us from our love for God through our Blessed Redeemer. Another way we become the old snake's headache, is through sincerely loving our enemies--even when they, at Satan's bidding--come to murder us or torture us or persecute us (in any way). We recognize  who  is behind this undeserved ill-treatment; and we recall that  we  ...

  The Visible Church As a "Corpus Per Mixtum" "Corpus per mixtum,"  is Latin, and it means,  "mixed body."   The term was popularized by the great Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (354-430 AD).  In this paper, I will be largely depending on two amazing geniuses: the aforementioned Augustine and Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758 AD).  The point of my abbreviated thesis is this: the  visible  church, i.e. that body of those baptized in the Trinitarian formula in credally-faithful Christian communions, constitute  all  kinds of people--from a "spiritual" point of view.  I do wish to make  this  one preliminary comment, however, and it is this: in fact, ultimately (and most-importantly) there are only  two  categories of persons in the visible church, (or in the world, for that matter); and they are: the  regenerate  in Christ, and all the rest (who are all  not  regenerate).   Both A...