Theological Treatises

  Aliens and Strangers, Yes; But Owners and Stewards, Too Sometimes we hear a lot of good teaching on how the church's saints on earth are "aliens and strangers"; and how we do not really "belong" here, and how we do not "fit in" here.  All of this is pretty much true; and it is important that we know this and believe it.  But, I wonder if sometimes we do not take this concept  too  far, and draw conclusions that are not so savory/good/biblical?   The truth is, we *are* "sojourners and exiles."  The Apostle Peter makes this clear (in 1 Pet. 2:11).  But the true regenerate church also  "owns"  the earth.  It is  ours .  It has been  given  to us by our gracious Lord, King, and Master Jesus Christ.  We have "inherited" it (Matt. 5:5). . . . In reality, the non-regenerate people do *not* own this planet; and it is  they --not  us --who are "squatting" on it. ...

  Thomas Watson One of the great Puritans, Thomas Watson (c. 1620-1686), is recently getting some well-deserved attention.  Reformation Heritage Books has just published  The Works of Thomas Watson  in seven volumes.  All I can say, is that I think this is a wonderful development.   Like Dr. Joel Beeke (of Reformation Heritage Books), I  also  came to an appreciation of the Puritans  initially  through Thomas Watson; and, interestingly, also via Watson's  A Body of Divinity . . . . One September day in 2001, a member of the church I was serving unexpectedly showed up at the door of our house, and he handed me a used hard-copy of  Body of Divinity .  I had no idea how excellent that book was, till I broke it open, and started reading it.  Since then, I have re-read it.  In my opinion, Watson's  Body of Divinity is the single best "layman's" theology book I have ever come across....

  Delighting In Christ Here are  some  of the things that every true Christian is promised, in  this  life: persecution (2 Tim. 3:12); trials (Jas. 1:2-3); tribulation (Jn. 16:33); the necessity of bearing one's own cross daily (Lk. 9:23); the hatred of the world (Jn. 15:19); harassment from Satan (1 Pet. 5:8); and the nuisance of false believers (1 Jn. 2:19). . . .   So, someone is (probably)  rightly  asking, "If all this is true, then how can you speak of 'delighting in Christ'?"  This is a perfectly good question; and it deserves a solid answer.  True regenerate Christian churchmen may (and do) "delight in Christ" partly, because this delight has  nothing  (negativity) to do with all those troublesome dynamics we just mentioned (in the first paragraph).  "Delighting in Christ" may be done in a prison, a gulag, a concentration camp.  Wherever the Spirit of God dwells in a heart, the shining and ...

  The Weirdness of Religion/How To View People Religion is one of those  strange  things, with which we are all "stuck."  There is no way  around  it; and there is no  escape  from it.  It represents the very  best  in humans created in the image of God; and it also expresses the very  worst  in humans created in the image of God.   This little paper is designed to try to help us understand how we should view people--all of whom are, in fact, "religious."  At the same time, I intend to write about those who are "seriously" religious; and about those who are not.   Ironically, when it comes to religion, we want our unbelieving friends and neighbors, co-workers and fellow-students, et. al., to  *not*  be "serious" about their professed religious faith.  For instance, to use three examples, employing the three great "faiths": Christianity, Judaism, and Islam--we desire our reg...

  Women In Worship The church's Christian women are to be treated with the  highest  levels of respect, dignity, honor, and deference.  They are to be given the  loftiest  places in the church; and they are to be regarded, in one sense, as being "above" men.  Adam was made of the dust; Eve was formed from Adam's rib.   And though it is true, that God constituted men in such a way that  they  are to lovingly  shepherd  His church--this "difference" does not make men better, or higher, or more important than women, (the women that belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, in particular).   The fact that uniquely-called and -qualified men are to do the preaching of the gospel in the church's convocated Sunday (Sabbath) Worship Services, does not make them superior to women.  The same may be said of the administration of the sacraments of the church; and the leading in her (the church's) prayers and confessions of f...

  The Third Temple Sometimes I catch wind of people talking about "the third temple."  Though I have no interest in investigating their imaginings about this, I assume they are dreaming of a third physical "temple" in the earthly city of Jerusalem.  My own inclination is to ascribe this notion to either dispensationalism and/or some kind of conservative Jewish movement.   But, in fact, there  really  was, (better-said,  is ), a "third temple"; and my design in this paper is to briefly expose it.  The "third temple" actually began to exist at the very moment of the Holy Spirit's causing of Jesus Christ to be conceived in Mary's womb.  The "third temple" was inaugurated at the Messiah's incarnation, the moment of the hypostatic union of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity to a human body.   But there is  more  to this "temple."  It grows and grows until it reaches its last stone being laid on anoth...