Christ the Center

We continue our #VosGroup series by opening pages 90–93 of Vos’ book  Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments   to learn about the patriarch Isaac. Isaac is the middle figure of the oft-repeated patriarchal formula of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He uniquely demonstrates God’s promise to his people and the hope of redemption through a sacrifice, God’s own Son, our Savior, Jesus C...

More than seventy-eight million Catholics live in the United States, representing one of the country’s largest demographics. How then can evangelical and Reformed Christians be better equipped to speak about the gospel with those Catholics? We recognize a gap between our understanding and current Catholic practice. In  Talking with Catholics about the Gospel: A Guide for Evangelicals ,  Chris Cast...

In this episode, Brandon Crowe introduces the redemptive-historical message of Peter, James, John, and John. Dr. Crowe is Associate Professor of New Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, PA. His latest book,  The Message of the General Epistles in the History of Redemption: Wisdom from James, Peter, John, and Jude   (P&R Publishing) shares important...

Joe Rigney is Assistant Professor of Theology and Christian Worldview at Bethlehem College and Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the author of The Things of Earth: Treasuring God by Enjoying His Gifts .  In the book, Mr. Rigney seeks to help Christians glorify God by enjoying him forever by worshiping him as well as enjoying his good gifts. Often, Christians fall into a false dilemma between ...

Geerhardus Vos develops the ethical elements present during the patriarchal period through a brilliant treatment of circumcision. In this episode, Lane Tipton and Camden Bucey discuss pages 88–90 of Vos’s book  Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments  to shed light on the indicative and imperative dimensions of God’s covenantal relationship to his people. In the course of this study,...

Glen Clary walks us through a Reformed order of worship, explaining the Biblical precedent and rationale for elements such as the call to worship, invocation, different types of prayer, and the benediction along with the administration of Word and sacrament. Rev. Clary is pastor of Providence OPC in Pflugerville, TX. Participants: Camden Bucey , Glen Clary , Jim Cassidy

Leviticus is a book about death, which may be why many people neglect to read it regularly. Yet the book teaches many important lessons about God’s holiness and the punishment for sin. Rev. Dr. David Graves takes us to this important book of the Pentateuch to demonstrate how Jesus Christ, the once-for-all sacrifice, satisfies the demands for God’s justice. His perfect blood atones for...

Glen Clary, pastor of Providence OPC in Pflugerville, TX, explains the origins, use, and wisdom of the regulative principle of worship. The Reformed understanding of this principle states that only those elements that are commanded in Scripture or which can be deduced by good and necessary consequence from Scripture are permissible in worship, and that whatever is not thus commanded or deduced fro...

Christ the Center  is pleased to welcome Dr. Dane Ortlund to speak about Jonathan Edwards’s views of the Christian life. Ortlund is Senior Vice President of Bible Publishing at Crossway and the author of the book  Edwards on the Christian Life: Alive to the Beauty of God . This book is in the Theologians on the Christian Life series edited by Stephen J. Nichols and Justin Taylor and publishe...

In this episode, we speak with Samuel Renihan about the doctrine of divine impassibility. Rev. Renihan is the pastor of Trinity Reformed Baptist Church in La Mirada, California and the editor of  God without Passions: A Reader .  Westminster Confession of Faith 2.1, that “There is but one only, living, and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, without bo...

We open Vos’s Biblical Theology to study pages 81–87, which deal with the divine name El-Shaddai and faith as found in patriarchal religion. While faith in God and his Word has always been present since the earliest promise of the gospel in Genesis 3:15, faith becomes an explicit part of Shemitic life with Abraham, the father of all who would believe. Saving faith is not merely faith in God...

In this episode, we recap our time at the Gospel Coalition 2015 National Conference . The conference was titled Coming Home: New Heaven and New Earth, and the sessions focused on eschatology. To start off, Erica Bucey speaks about several sessions and related books dealing with women’s ministry including Women of the Word   by Jen Wilkin and the forthcoming  Word-Filled Women’s Ministr...

Jeff Waddington compares Alvin Plantinga and Jonathan Edwards on the perennial anthropological question regarding the relationship between the intellect and the will. In 2000, distinguished Christian philosopher Alvin Plantinga offered an account of how Christian belief squares with warrant in the culmination of his warrant series,  Warranted Christian Belief . Key to this analysis is Plantinga&#8...

Jeff Waddington, Jim Cassidy, and Camden Bucey discuss the importance of intellectual discipline for cultivating the life of the Christian mind. In addition to speaking generally about persistent study, the panel also offers several practical tips and suggestions for continued learning. Links Suggested reading list Pocket Flipboard Galaxie Online Journal Subscription Participants: Camden Bucey , J...

Dr. Carl Trueman joins us to speak about his book  Luther on the Christian Life , in which he paints a portrait of Martin Luther through his historical context, theological system, and approach to the Christian life. Luther is often treated in a black-and-white fashion or exclusively through his succinct theological quips and mottoes. Trueman helps us to see the practical and pastoral context in w...

Carlton Wynne leads us into the world of modern theology by introducing the theology of Wolfhart Pannenberg. Pannenberg (1928–2014) was a leading systematic theologian who introduced an innovative relationship between eschatology and theology proper. By studying his theology in a polemical fashion, we may become better theologians of redemptive history. Carlton Wynne is Lecturer in Apologetics and...

Vern Poythress joins us to speak about his book Redeeming Mathematics: A God-Centered Approach . Dr. Poythress explains how the Triune God of the Bible is the foundation for mathematics by arguing that the harmony of abstract mathematical truths, the physical world of things, and the personal world of our thinking depends on the existence of the Christian God. Participants: Camden Bucey , Jeff Wad...

Lane Tipton and Camden Bucey discuss the patriarch Abraham as they turn to pp. 76–81 of Geerhardus Vos’s book Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments . This chapter covers Abraham’s election, and we connect that to the doctrine of God, the nature of biblical covenants, and God’s gracious gift in the gospel of his Son. Participants: Camden Bucey , Lane G. Tipton

Michael Allen and Scott Swain discuss whether Christians and churches can be both catholic and Reformed. In their book Reformed Catholicity: The Promise of Retrieval for Theology and Biblical Interpretation   (Baker Academic), Allen and Swain suggest Reformed Christians can commit not only to the ultimate authority of Scripture but also to receiving Scripture within the context of the apostolic ch...

Throughout history, Genesis 6 has puzzled Bible interpreters. Who are the sons of God? Are they human royalty? Angelic beings? Demons? And who are the daughters of men? Did the union of these two produce demigod offspring who would plague the land? Rita F. Cefalu joins us to bring clarity to this discussion. Ms. Cefalu has written an excellent article, “Royal Priestly Heirs to the Restoratio...

It’s that time of year again—the time when the latest issue of  The Confessional Presbyterian  Journal  is published. We discuss the new issue and celebrate the journal’s continued focus on historic confessional presbyterianism. This issue includes many interesting articles: “J. Gresham Machen and LeRoy Gresham: Cousins, Confidants, and Churchmen” by Barry Waugh “By T...

Lane Tipton and Camden Bucey speak about theophanies before turning   to pages 72–76 of Geerhardus Vos’s Biblical Theology   to speak about the Angel of Jehovah, or the Angel of the Lord. The presence of the Angel punctuates epochal moments in covenant history, and his presence is critical during the patriarchal period. Camden’s article, “ The Lord and His Mes...

In this program we welcome Dr. Donald Macleod to speak about the meaning and significance of Jesus Christ’s work on the cross. In his book  Christ Crucified: Understanding the Atonement  ( IVP Academic ), Dr. Macleod considers how the atonement is substitution, expiation, propitiation, reconciliation, satisfaction, redemption and victory. Rev. Macleod was ordained as a minister of the Free C...

Today we speak with John Shaw, the General Secretary for Home Missions and Church Extension in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. This interview took place in the wake of the OPC’s annual Church Planter’s Conference, in Atlanta, GA. We discussed the biblical principles for planting distinctly Reformed, Confessional, and Presbyterian churches in America today. Participants: Camden Bucey...

Nathaniel Gray Sutanto joins us to speak about apologetics and his recent article titled, “ Covenantal Apologetics and Common-Sense Realism: Recalibrating the Argument from Consciousness as a Test Case ” in  JETS , 57/4 (2014) 773–91. In this article, Gray offers a covenantal and presuppositional criticism of common-sense realism. Links Covenantal Thoughts Participants: Camden Bucey ,...