Guest AuthorTools like Faithlife.com, a digital home for your faith community, and the Faithlife Study Bible harness technology to grow your faith. But for every edifying use of technology, a sinister one can also be found. This guest post by Luke...
Today’s guest post by author, speaker, and blogger, Jessica Harris, bravely addresses topics that, despite being taboo, affect many women and girls. You can read more from her at BeggarsDaughter.com. In case the popularity of 50 Shades of Grey...
Today’s guest post is from Matt Brown—evangelist, author, and founder of Think Eternity. He and his wife, Michelle, are impacting thousands of people with the Gospel each year both online and through live events. They also minister to over...
We’re launching a new series of posts titled “What God Meant,” in which we will invite expert guest writers to explain some of the most commonly misunderstood scriptural passages. I invited Jesse Wisnewski, content strategist at...
I recently posted a somewhat funny post calling Andy Stanley a Calvinist. The quote I mentioned there got me thinking about the larger context in which Calvin used it. I’ve always been struck by this section in Institutes. Calvin has such an...
Book Review Ben Witherington III, Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2011, 341 pp. Ben Witherington shares a special insight in the introduction to his 2011 commentary on Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. He writes: “Words such as grace, faith, and believe...
In the prefix to the 1545 French edition of Calvin’s Institutes, Calvin seeks to explain to his readers why he wrote Institutes to begin with. While he goes into more detail, the third paragraph has some amazingly interesting nuggets of...
In his prefatory address to his last edition of Institutes, Calvin pens a letter to the King of France. While this prefatory letter contains many great statements, one line in particular stood out to me as I read: Your duty, most serene Prince, is...
Despite the popular misconception, John Calvin never wrote the five points of Calvinism, also know as TULIP. These however were five points that were drawn up some time after his death in an effort to summarize the key doctrines for which Calvin and...
It seems to be the common opinion that John Calvin was neither a master of Greek or Hebrew, yet he passionately perused them and encouraged and instructed all pastors to do the like. I find encouragement in the fact that Calvin wasn’t a master...
Book Review James D. Tabor, Simon & Schuster, 2012, 320 pp. Books that challenge conventional wisdom and provoke spirited dialogue can be much more valuable than books that simply reiterate popular opinion or buttress our own personal...
John Calvin’s aim of the Genevan Academey is inspiring and should most certainly be applied, or should I say adopted, by more seminaries today: The creation of the Academy was perhaps Calvin’s crowning achievement. However, it needs to be...
Communion was no light topic for the reformers. That’s why I’ve enjoyed reading some of Calvin’s writings on the subject. While there is a heavy emphasis on personal examination prior to coming to the table, I enjoyed finding the...
In the establishment of the Genevan Academy we see Calvin’s passion for the biblical languages shine. It is clear from the heavy emphasis on the Biblical languages that Calvin felt they were of utmost important for those who would be pastors...
John Calvin wrote against the Adultero-German Intrim in his tract The True Method for Giving Peace to Christendom and Reforming the Church. However, there is still some really great stuff in there . For instance, there is a great reminder to the...
Not only did Calvin teach and preach without any notes, he did so directly from the original language: Calvin would then read a text in Hebrew or Greek, and offer a very literal translation of it into Latin. After that, he would provide a smoother...
The thought of “retirement” in the traditional sense doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. There is a part of me that hopes I can continue preaching and ministry to the very end. I was encouraged to read of Calvin’s passion to...
Even though Geneva banished Calvin, Calvin still held the city close in his heart. His care for its people, for the truth of the Gospel, ran so deep that he even fought for its faith while in exile. “Not long after this unjust banishment, Calvin...
As one who often preaches from a transcript, I was cut by Calvin’s comments to the Duke of Somerset about the “little living preaching” done in his kingdom (emphasis mine). Calvin objected to read sermons. He was a ‘pattern...
Whenever I preach, I typically create an outline and then work on a transcription of everything I plan on saying. I then bring the transcript to the pulpit where I will reference it as needed throughout the sermon. This was not how John Calvin...
John Calvin’s dedication to preaching verse by verse through the Bible was impressive. He was a firm believer in preaching from the original language, in the historical-grammatical approach, with application to the hearer. What is even more...
At the young age of twenty-six, John Calvin finished the first edition of the Institutes of the Christian Religion. The results and response to the work was impressive, to say the very least. He was only in his twenty-sixth year, when he published...
It is painful to think of how many of John Calvin’s sermons were lost over the years. One wonders what troves of treasure were lost as trash: Over 2,000 of Calvin’s sermons have been preserved. Unfortunately many others have been lost. Bouwsma...
It never ceases to amaze (and humble) me when I look at how much work John Calvin did in his lifetime. Besides all his writing, travel, and other work, here is a report of his preaching efforts: During the decades of the 1540s and 1550s, Calvin was...
During the seventeenth century, a number of issues in England helped bring about the change from the first (1644) to the second (1689) LBC. Moreover, the Baptist and Presbyterians would be closer in work and deed than today’s American counterparts...
One of the most influential of all British Baptists wrote the following lines: The old truth that Calvin preached, that Augustine preached, that Paul preached, is the truth that I must preach today, or else be false to my conscience and my God. I...
Say what you will about the conflict between Calvinists and Arminians, at the very least Calvinists have this card to play: The judgment of his great opponent, Arminius, upon Calvin’s merits as a commentator, has been sustained by the verdict of...
The accusation that Calvinism leads to anti-mission sentiments has sometimes been leveled, but as Michael Horton shows in his recent book For Calvinism, nothing could be further from the truth. Horton observes, in the section titled “Calvinism and...
Nearing death, Calvin wrote the following to his dear friend Farel, Farewell, my best and most worthy brother. Since God has determined that you should survive me in this world, live mindful of our union, which has been so useful to the Church of...
When one examines the shear quantity of work John Calvin accomplished in his life, it is simply staggering. I am on;y personally helped in reminding myself of God’s particular gifting and calling for Calvin. If it were not for this, I would...