Crumbs from the Master's Table

Martyn Lloyd-Jones on God's salvation in Rom. 1:16: Let us never use the term "salvation" glibly, or lightly, or loosely. Let ...

"O give me that book! At any price give me the book of God! I have it: here is knowledge enough for me. Let me be a man of one book....

Scholars often refuse to do theological synthesis or interpretive borrowing among different authors of the sacred text. So in the academic g...

How one should interpret the word "works" (Gk., ergon) when Paul speaks of our not being justified by works, or elected by works, ...

Ed Welch on medication use vis- á -vis the whole person: If your view of persons is that we are essentially bodies and nothing more, then m...

D. A. Carson on the "gospel" and "preaching" vocabulary in the Scriptures: Because the gospel is news, good news (even ...

John Piper on the preacher's dependence on the Holy Spirit in the work of preaching: All genuine preaching is rooted in a feeling of de...

A Lutheran prayer of confession for laziness in listening to God's Word on the Lord's Day: I confess and acknowledge great sin and ...

What does the doctrine of justification primarily or fundamentally address? This question is important. If we answer that it addresses first...

"Who delivered up Jesus to die? Not Judas, for money; not Pilate, for fear; not the Jews, for envy —but the Father, for love!"  ...

John Owen on handling the doctrine of justification with holy hands: It is the practical direction of the consciences of men, in their appl...

Speaking of the "God-given liveliness and authority" that used to be called unction , J. I. Packer gives this tribute to Martyn Ll...

Luther on Gal. 4:6: This is indeed a very short word, but it includes everything. Not the lips, but the feelings are speaking here, as thou...

"One leak will sink a ship, and one sin will destroy a sinner." —John Buynan, Pilgrim's Progress (New York: Penguin, 2008), ...

A snapshot of D. M. Lloyd-Jones as pictured by J. I. Packer: He was a saint, a holy man of God: a naturally proud person whom God made humb...

Summarizing what D. M. Lloyd-Jones' ministry looked like from 1943, when he became the sole pastor of Westminster Chapel after G. Campbe...

It ought to be said repeatedly that for all our methods and industry, it is God who must bestow light. For in his light alone do we see ligh...

Scholars are sometimes fond of saying that Paul couldn't be alluding to (in a given instance) an OT passage in circumstances where his a...

I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd; A host, of golden daffodils; ...

This  is undoubtedly true.

Here's my tentative summary of Romans in broad outline: Romans 1-4: The Gospel of God's Justification of the Ungodly by Faith Alon...

Yesterday some dear friends spent their last Sunday with our local church before they depart for Burma. They're going out for the sake o...

A Lutheran prayer to learn and live out God's commands: O my God and Lord, help me by the grace to learn and understand thy commandment...

Doug Moo on the implications of Rom. 1:22: In that this "becoming foolish" involves the various idolatrous religions that people ...

Augustin on God's demands in the face of human inability: The Pelagians think that they know something great when they assert that ...

What is the covenant of grace ? It's not the language Scripture uses, but I do believe that, as a theological construct, it embraces th...

Dr. David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, expounding Rom. 1:16 at Westminster Chapel in the late 1950s, proclaimed powerfully the salvation of God: Oft...

Here's Bock and Fanning on how one determines which words require closer analysis in the exegetical enterprise ( Interpreting the New Te...

The opening paragraph of Paul's epistle to the Romans (Rom. 1:1-7) functions programmatically for the whole letter. Here's my brief ...

Good point , Pastor Wilson and Mr. Murray. I'd only change the "some" to "most." But then again, I'm in graduate...

John Owen on the mystical body of Christ: "This, then, I say, is the foundation of the imputation of the sins of the church unto Chr...

N. T. Wright on the nonsense of popular myth-making: The general popular belief that the early stories of Genesis were straightforwardly di...

Consider Voltaire: "God will forgive; that's his business." Now consider the apostle Paul: "Because of your stubbor...

Here are some fundamental rules for studying words: 1. The exegete must initially pursue the meaning intended by the author for his origin...

C. H. Spurgeon gives a "diamond rule" for gaining and holding hearers' attention: I will now give you a diamond rule, and co...

C. H. Spurgeon on gaining your hearers' attention: In order to secure attention all through a discourse we must make the people feel th...

The hymnal, so theologically rich, is a great source for soul care. I believe David Powlison (certainly not alone) has often pointed this ou...

"Remember that the Scriptures throw a lot of light on the commentaries." — Donald Hagner, quoting "a wise sage," New T...

Augustin (from Letter CXX; as cited in vol. 5 of Owen's Works , Banner of Truth, p. 176): We hear the voice of the body from the mouth ...

Doug Moo says this of Rom. 5:12 ( The Epistle to the   Romans , 319): The fact that Paul attributes to Adam this sin is significant since h...

The following outline is the basic method for doing an exegesis paper as taught by Prof. G. K. Beale in his Principles of Interpretation co...

Do you know God to be the kind of God who counts your tossings and keeps your tears? Do you know him as a loving heavenly Father who puts yo...

In his sturdy work on The Doctrine of Justification by Faith (vol. 5,  Works , Banner of Truth), John Owen models engaging in polemics in th...

If you want to see the "syntactical bone structure" (as Prof. G. K. Beale calls it) of a text, a sentence flow is one way to do it...

Last week I went with a group of men from my local church to DG's 2012 Conference for Pastors: God, Manhood, & Ministry: Building Me...

As many have been pointing out, the  Journal of Biblical Counseling  is back — and available online for free! Happy news! Thank you, CCEF! ...

A Lutheran prayer for God's providential protection and provision: Oh, God, grant that all people — in city and country — be diligent a...

No doubt many are aware that Luther's addition of the word "alone" in his translation of Rom. 3:28 caused quite a row. And to ...

In an earlier post , I pointed up the importance of Christian conversation from Buynan's Pilgrim's Progress . Here's another tri...

From the margin of the Luther Bible of 1534, Luther calls Rom. 3:21-26 "the chief point, and the very central place of the Epistle, and...

Oh that blessed "but now" of Rom. 3:21! Here's Doug Moo's redemptive-historical understanding of it, surely right on: The...

Can one overstate the place and importance of Paul's gospel paragraph in Romans 3? I'm talking, of course, about vv. 21-26. I doubt ...

Speaking on writing well in the vernacular of your subject matter, Mark Tredinnick says this about writing to your target audience: It...

I'm heading out of town with some men from the church for  Desiring God's 2012 Conference for Pastors , so the blog will be on hold ...

C. S. Lewis: "The greatest service we can do to education today is to teach fewer subjects" ( Surprised by Joy , 113).

Luther's barber, Peter, inquired of him how he, an ordinary guy, might pray without being distracted by worldly thoughts and occupations...

It is not uncommon in Protestantism to hear preachers and teachers say that the cross of Christ is the center of the faith and the Gospel. I...

"Anyone who wants to become acquainted with Paul's gospel must above all study Romans" (Peter Stuhlmacher,  The Roman's De...

Martin Luther (citing Augustine, I believe) once said somewhere that the primal and primary problem with humanity is that we are curved in o...

Professor Greg Beale's course Principles of Interpretation  taught at Wheaton College (before he left for Westminster East) has been one...

Reading through the Pilgrim's Progress , I'm reminded again and again of how Charles Spurgeon said of Buynan that if you pricked him...

How do you do when tried and tempted? Can you sing with Faithful in Pilgrim’s Progress these wonderful words? The trials that those men do ...

Calvin answers ( Institutes 3.11.7): Faith is "a kind of vessel" with which "we come empty and with the mouth of our soul op...

Next I want to expand a little on this lesson among  the twelve : 1. Don't try to get out of a vacation more than it can give. Expec...

A few days ago I posted the "Twelve Lessons Learned on Vacation,"  and I said I'd likely be expanding on the points I only out...

            Philosophers have measur’d mountains, Fathom’d the depths of seas, of states, and kings, Walk’d with a staff to heav’n, and trac...

How important is Christian conversation? And in asking this question, I’m not asking with the emphasis on conversation . That is, I’m not as...

Emily and I spent a week in Cozumel, Mexico moving into 2012, and had a wonderful time. Our goals of seeking the Lord and finding refreshme...

Well, Emily and I are eager to move through God's Word again together in 2012. Freshly resolved to lay up more of that sacred Word above...

Since Em and I will be going somewhere warm, the blog will be on hold for a week or so. We're going to spend some time seeking the Lord...

Pressing on in the journey we set about weeks back with Christian through  our reading plan , we've come to rockier road. This has happe...

A Lutheran prayer commending all against temptations: Heavenly Father, may we commend to you all who strive and work against great and many...

From J. I. Packer's classic Knowing God (pp. 63-64): We talk glibly of the "Christmas spirit," rarely meaning more by this tha...

Anselm on the person of Christ ("On the Incarnation of the Word " in Anselm of Canterbury: The Major Works ; Oxford: Oxford Univ...

Tim Challies  links to a Christianity Today article  written by Elesha Coffman that answers this question. Update : See also Justin Taylo...

A Lutheran prayer against greed and cosmic treason: Preserve us from a corrupt desire and greed for the wealth of the world. Guard us from ...

In his excellent discussion on textual criticism in Interpreting Galatians ,  Mois é s  Silva says that "the textual discussions one fi...

A Lutheran prayer in the face of false accusations: As you have promised, give us your goodness in place of our wickedness. Silence all cru...

The temple motif pervades Scripture. And I am willing to argue that it is one of the main theological realities that holds the whole togethe...