Sinclair Ferguson

Dr. Sinclair B. Ferguson is senior minister of First Presbyterian Church (ARP) in Columbia, S.C., professor of systematic theology at Redeemer Seminary, and a teaching fellow of Ligonier Ministries.

  • Columba: Missionary to Scotland by Sinclair Ferguson

    FROM TABLETALK | August 2006

    In reading the “lives of the saints” it is difficult to the point of impossibility to discover the unvarnished truth. That is certainly true in the case of Columba, or Columcille, the Irish missionary to the Scots and Picts in …Read More

  • What’s in Your Mind, Believer? by Sinclair Ferguson

    FROM TABLETALK | June 2004

    Since the time of the Reformation in the sixteenth century, the question has been asked endlessly: “What is the role of the law of God in light of the Gospel?” The apostle Paul found himself asking it (for example, Gal …Read More

  • A Testimony of Faithfulness by Sinclair Ferguson

    FROM TABLETALK | December 2004

    Among all the names mentioned in the letter to the Hebrews, only one belongs to a member of the New Testament church. Here are four clues. If you still can’t get the answer, look up Hebrews 13:23. Clue …Read More

  • Privileges Bring Responsibilities by Sinclair Ferguson

    FROM TABLETALK | November 2004

    The letter to the Hebrews, as our studies throughout the year have shown, is full of Old Testament language and ritual. Running throughout it is an ongoing sense that as believers we are on the move, on a pilgrimage through …Read More

  • The Author of Faith by Sinclair Ferguson

    FROM TABLETALK | October 2004

    My last contact with the late Professor John Murray — to whose writings and influence I, like many others, owe a lasting debt — was particularly memorable for me, partly because I asked him a question to which he gave the answer …Read More

  • Theologian of the Spirit by Sinclair Ferguson

    FROM TABLETALK | October 2004

    The figure of John Owen (1616–1683) towers above — almost head and shoulders above — the galaxy of writers we know collectively as the English Puritans. His theological learning and acumen was unrivalled; his sense of the importance of doctrine for …Read More

  • The Life of Faith by Sinclair Ferguson

    FROM TABLETALK | September 2004

    The opening words of Hebrews 11, “now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” sometimes perplexes Bible students who are accustomed to the classical Reformed description of faith as consisting of knowledge, assent …Read More

  • The Christ of the Three Appearings by Sinclair Ferguson

    FROM TABLETALK | July 2004

    Many pastors, perhaps most, take a very deep breath before they commit themselves to preaching through Hebrews! Understandably so, for it brings most Christians into a world that is alien and distant: Melchizedek and Aaron, temple and furniture, blood and …Read More

  • How Long Will it Last? by Sinclair Ferguson

    FROM TABLETALK | May 2004

    “He’s going through a religious phase.” How often did you overhear that being said about you in your early days as an openly professing follower of Jesus Christ? Admittedly the sheer force of conversion on an untaught mind can …Read More

  • Hebrews— Does it “Do Anything” For You? by Sinclair Ferguson

    FROM TABLETALK | January 2004

    A friend — his face wrinkled in a cheerful grin — described an incident that took place at the end of a conference address I had given recently. One hearer, apparently full of the blessings of the passage I had been trying …Read More

  • The Practice of Mortification by Sinclair Ferguson

    FROM TABLETALK | January 2007

    The aftermath of a conversation can change the way we later think of its significance. My friend — a younger minister — sat down with me at the end of a conference in his church and said: “Before we retire tonight, just …Read More

  • Time to (Re)Discover Hebrews by Sinclair Ferguson

    FROM TABLETALK | January 2011

    Of all the New Testament letters, Hebrews seems to be one many Christians find strange and alien. Here we enter the world of Melchizedek and Aaron, angels and Moses, sacrifices and priests. It all seems so Old Testament, so intricate …Read More

  • Sabbath Rest by Sinclair Ferguson

    FROM TABLETALK | March 2004

    The anonymous author of Hebrews found different ways of describing the superiority of the Lord Jesus Christ. One of them, which forms the underlying motif of chapters 3 and 4, is that Jesus Christ gives the rest that neither Moses …Read More

  • “The Greatest of All Protestant Heresies”? by Sinclair Ferguson

    FROM TABLETALK | August 2004

    Let us begin with a church history exam question. Cardinal Robert Bellarmine (1542–1621) was a figure not to be taken lightly. He was Pope Clement VIII’s personal theologian and one of the most able figures in the Counter-Reformation …Read More

  • Apostasy and How it Happens by Sinclair Ferguson

    FROM TABLETALK | April 2004

    I can still recall the conversation although it took place more than three decades ago. A shocked friend asked, “Have you heard that Sarah is no longer a Christian?” What was so alarming to my friend was that Sarah had …Read More