Ligonier Ministries: The teaching fellowship of R.C. Sproul

If questioned, some Christians might think that the biblical doctrines of man and sin are second in importance behind other doctrines such as the doctrine of God or of salvation. Upon further reflection, however, it is evident that these doctrines are equally important. Without a proper understanding of the biblical doctrine of man, for example, one's doctrine of Christ would be adversely affected. A proper understanding of sin is necessary for a proper understanding of salvation. All of these doctrines are intertwined. Keep Reading

The Westminster Assembly Project, best known for the edition of Assembly minutes and papers to be published by Oxford University Press, has now entered an extensive publishing agreement with Reformation Heritage Books. Keep Reading

The afternoon sessions of the Ligonier Academy Winter Conference began with Dr. Derek Thomas’ lecture entitled “Take Up Your Cross.” Dr. Thomas reflected on Matthew 16:13ff., showing how cross-bearing and self-denial is the biblical pathway for Christians to follow. Dr. Thomas explained that chapter 16 is a turning point in Matthew’s gospel. Up to that point, Jesus had been speaking and preaching about the kingdom. Keep Reading

In many systematic theology texts, the divine decrees, predestination, creation, and providence are found in a section titled “the works of God.”  Interestingly, they are among the most difficult and disputed doctrines of the Christian faith. Keep Reading

In the early centuries of the church’s existence, Christian apologists would sometimes appeal to the distinctively holy lives of Christians as evidence for the truth of Christianity. Would such an appeal be of any use today? According to numerous surveys, the behavior of professing Christians is not discernibly different from the behavior of those who profess other religions or no religion at all. The phrase one often hears on the lips of pagans who observe contemporary Christian behavior is: “The church is full of hypocrites.” This should not be. We worship a holy God who calls His people to be holy and who has provided the means by which they may be holy. The problem of lax and hypocritical Christianity is not a new one, and one of the best treatments of the entire subject is a classic written by J.C. Ryle (1816–1900), who served as the Anglican Bishop of Liverpool for twenty years. Ryle was a deeply committed and non-compromising evangelical Christian. In fact, Charles Spurgeon referred to him as an “evangelical champion.” His book Holiness has been reprinted numerous times since its original publication in 1879. It is deservedly considered a Christian classic on the subject of sanctification. It ranks up there with the work of John Owen on the mortification of sin. Keep Reading

2009 was a banner year for Reformed bookhounds like me.  Being the 500th anniversary of John Calvin's birth, we were blessed with a number of great new works about the life and theology of the Reformer. There were also significant new books in other fields. The following list is certainly not exhaustive (I do not have the chance to see every new publication). It merely contains some of the books published in the last year that are, in my opinion, significant for one reason or another. Keep Reading

Does God exist, and if so, what is He like? Has God revealed Himself, and can we know Him? The answers to these perennial questions are vitally important for every human being to understand. There are a number of good books on the doctrine of God. The following are among the best. Keep Reading