Articles

Get up. Let us go from here. (John 14:31) After the Passover meal with his disciples, after washing their feet, after comforting them with the promise that he was going to his Father in order to prepare a mansion for them in glory, after promising the Helper, the Holy Spirit who would bring to their […]

Dr Palmer Robertson is a much appreciated speaker at Banner of Truth Ministers’ conferences and an author whose works the Trust publishes.1 Now he is settled for the next four months [May-August 2012] in a sabbatical spent in England, which is the home of his wife Joanna. Since 1992 he has been lecturing and preaching […]

What would you say is the fundamental doctrine of the Christian Faith? For many of us, the instinctive answer would be, ‘justification by faith alone, in Christ alone’. There is no doubt, or should be no doubt, that this is a biblical and evangelical fundamental. Didn’t Martin Luther describe justification by faith alone, in Christ […]

This letter was written by Sarah Edwards, wife of Jonathan Edwards, to her brother, James Pierpoint of New Haven about the visit of the evangelist, George Whitefield, who came to Northampton in October, 1740.1 October 24, 1740. Dear Brother James, I want to prepare you for a visit from the Rev. Mr. Whitefield, the famous […]

So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be present. (Acts 17:17) My wife and I were in Athens, Greece a year or so ago while I was teaching at the Greek Bible Institute and preaching at […]

The Christian believer is always living in an inescapable tension! Much as we would love to be free of this tension, until we leave this earthly scene and enter the nearer presence of our great and gracious God, we will be engaged every moment of every day in this tension. I hardly need to spell […]

. . . but now, with no further place for me in these regions, and since I have had for many years a longing to come to you, whenever I go to Spain – for I hope to see you in passing. (Romans 15:23-24) We know that Saul of Tarsus was a ‘can do’ man […]

The cleverness of the clever I will set aside. (1 Corinthians 1:19) In a church world enamoured with technology, strategy, personality, and hyper-contextualization we would do well to take seriously Paul’s marvellous declaration in 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:16. Paul, without question, was a massive intellect, one of the brightest men to ever live, yet he tells […]

It’s the time of the year that ministers send in their booking forms and fees for the Banner of Truth Ministers’ Conference in Leicester.1 I missed the first conference in 1962 but I attended the second in 1963 and I have attended almost all of them since that time. It still remains, after almost fifty […]

The title above, as many readers will recognize, is from answer 16 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism (and Larger Catechism 22). It expresses a central truth of Scripture and reflects the universal confession of the church about Adam. Why then the added question mark? Not because non-Christians widely reject this truth, as they have for […]

And all the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to their number. (Acts 5:14) Roland Allen, in his book, The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church 2, puts forth a clear distinction between the way the apostolic church grew and how our churches in the west grow. The church […]

The Christian life is full of extraordinary ‘highs’ and unsettling ‘lows’. This is something young Christians are often unprepared for. And yet God’s Word could not be clearer that our spiritual good requires that the Lord lead us through dark valleys as well as lifting us up to expansive mountain tops. This is why reading […]

How do we deal with doubts that arise against our faith? My question does not directly include how we answer the doubts of others. Our attempt to answer others’ doubts and objections has its place in the realm of what is called apologetics, but while it is legitimate and necessary at times for us to […]

. . . trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:10) Every Christian is called to heed and obey the myriad of commands for holiness, for keeping God’s law.2 And we all acknowledge that we fall short of that standard. In a desire to address legalism in the evangelical church the contemporary […]

The same day that I heard a Sudanese pastor and a Chinese missionary speak of their countries I read the text, ‘Many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them’ (Matt. 13:17). Even our little conference in New South Wales was representative of the blessing […]