Crumbs from the Master's Table

From Calvin's will, made on his deathbead: I give thanks to God who had mercy on me. . . . He delivered me out of the deep darkness of...

A helpful and insightful interpretation for Paul's use of Deut. 25:4 in 1 Cor. 9:9 may be found  here . And the methodology modeled ther...

A Lutheran prayer for the glory of God in the home: Dear God, you have given to me my wife, children, house, and property. I receive these...

Commenting on Gen. 4:26, Edwards speaks to what begins to happen when God's Spirit moves among men: We see by experience that a remark...

From "The Minister and His Greek New Testament," originally published in The Presbyterian 88 (February 7, 1918), Machen speaks pr...

Here are a few answers. J. I. Packer succinctly gives us the standard stuff: Typology . . . looks into Old Testament patterns of divine ...

Luther on hermeneutics: I acknowledge no fixed rules of interpretation of the Word of God, since the Word of God, which teaches freedom in...

Here's trying my hand at translating Psalm 29. I've attempted to bring out something of the structure, flow, force, and poetics of t...

From The Presbyterian Guardian , February 25, 1945, John Murray pleads for "concentrated, sustained, devoted study of the Bible, the k...

Here's a quotation from Edwards' A History of the Work of Redemption that might surprise you: By God's righteousness here [I...

Hunter Baker on the difference between secularism and the notion of the separation of church and state: Secularism is not and should not b...

From his  Signs of Godliness notebook, Edwards commenting on Gen. 22:12: God would teach us this by it: that that is a sign of the truth o...

From Edwards' Signs of Godliness notebook: The fruits of grace in the life must needs be the proper evidences of it. What can be the p...

Piper speaks to the cosmic treason of relativism: Relativism is a pervasive rebellion against the very concept of divine law. Therefore, i...

Packer on inauthentic interpretation versus the real deal: Historical exegesis is only the preliminary part of interpretation; application...

D. A. Carson concludes his book  The Intolerance of Tolerance with a chapter entitled "Ways Ahead: Ten Words." What follows are t...

A Lutheran prayer for parenting: O Lord Jesus Christ, you have opened my eyes for me to see how through your death you have redeemed me fr...

D. A. Carson on popular discourse about homosexuality: Not for a moment should anyone deny that the evidence as to what "makes" ...

The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold, And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold; And the sheen of their spears was like...

A good word over at Ligonier  from John Newton about engaging in controversy. If you are sixty years old or older, read it twice a year, or ...

Doug Wilson posts on legalized governmental theft: Christian preachers need to just cut to the chase. Obamacare is not just theft, and no...

D. A. Carson on the legacy of secularism in the twentieth century: The twentieth century, the bloodiest in human history, exhibited spect...

Doug Wilson offers a helpful  review  of  The Liberal Arts: A Student's Guide   by   Gene C. Fant Jr. What these educators point out abo...

Justin Taylor links  to a recent lecture by D. A. Carson on Rev. 21-22—and also to 26 lectures on the whole book! If I'm not mistaken, I...

With the polarization that's well underway in our country (which is not a good thing, of course, for a house divided against itself cann...

What are revivals ? Here's one way J. I. Packer puts it: Revivals are "animatings and deepenings of the awareness of God, of the se...

Sentences like these (and what they convey) are why I love John Owen: It is one thing to have only the conviction of truth in our minds; a...

In a chapter on "The Reformational Revivalism of George Whitefield," J. I. Packer records these sentiments by Benjamin Franklin ab...

1. Both similarities and differences must be considered. 2. Similarities may suggest a common cultural heritage rather than borrowing. 3. ...

One of the main reasons that I believe Christianity (not cultural Christianity, I'm talking about the real deal) is utter truth is that ...

C. H. Spurgeon on John Buynan's depiction of the Christian life in the Pilgrim's Progress : John Buynan has not pictured Christian...

Doug Wilson on the biblical notion of equality and its modern distortion egalitarianism: The Christian faith teaches and brings true bibli...

I'm not a pastor. But I still find this to be an important word about guarding time to read. More to the point, it is an important word...

"Lord, what you do not do remains undone. If you will not help, I shall gladly surrender. The cause is not mine. I will happily be your...

The prayer that follows is the congregational prayer from this last Lord's Day at New Covenant Church : O God—Father, Son, and Spirit—...

A Lutheran prayer for God to speak: Dear heavenly Father, say something. I will gladly remain silent and be a child and learner. If I shoul...

Dane Ortlund cites  Calvin concerning the chief concern of the Psalms, namely, the cross. A choice quotation. Check it out.

A short way back, I posted about a marriage study a group of us have been doing together this summer using Doug Wilson's book For a Glo...

Good post over at Between Two Worlds linking to a recent post by Doug Wilson on the lordship of Christ. Read everything you can by Wilson...

A Lutheran prayer for God's guidance for the task of pastoring: You know how unworthy I am to fill so great and important an office. W...

C. H. Spurgeon sees Christian in Pilgrim's Progress as an example of being charitable toward all who profess to be Christians. In the wo...

A Lutheran prayer for a beginning preacher: Dear God, I have begun to preach, and to teach the people. It is hard. If it offends here and ...

The apostle Paul commands the redeemed of the Lord to "rejoice always" (1 Thess. 5:16). And seeing the importance of this, he urge...

A Lutheran prayer for understanding and doing that glorify God: Dear Lord God, give me your grace that I may rightly understand your Word, ...

We're heading out of town for a few days. I'll be back to posting when we get back!

There is undoubtedly much for which to give thanks to God this July 4th. However, we ought not to forget how far we've fallen from the t...

A Lutheran prayer for upholding by God's Spirit amid trials: O Father of all mercy and God of all comfort, strengthen and uphold me by...

C. H. Spurgeon on the preacher humbling himself in the pulpit for the sake of coming clear to his listeners: It is said that many of the s...

William Dumbrell on the trajectory of the Pentateuch: The remainder of the Pentateuch comments on Genesis 1-11. By the time that the coven...

Blaise Pascal: "The last thing one discovers in composing a work is what to put first." —Taken from Mark Trendinnick, Writing Well...

Old Testament scholar William Dumbrell on the term  torah ("law") in Deuteronomy: The concept of torah is critical for Deuteron...

Recalling the man named "Help" in Pilgrim's Progress , C. H. Spurgeon has a wonderful chapter in his  Pictures from Pilgrim...

"Dear God, I am your creature. You have sent me a cross and suffering, saying to me: Suffer a little for my sake and I will reward you ...

Over at Blag and Mablog, Doug Wilson helpfully describes the task of systematic theology: Systematic theology is nothing less than remembe...

A Lutheran prayer for a robust faith: O Father and God of all comfort, through your word and Holy Spirit grant us a firm, glad, and gratefu...

A Lutheran prayer of thanksgiving for the sure sign of baptism: O my God, I am a sinner, and yet I am not a sinner. Alone and apart from Ch...

Ahhh. A breath of fresh air. Peter Leithart on our approach to the Scriptures: Since the Reformation, "grammatical-historical" b...

C. H. Spurgeon on a man's public conduct as a preacher called of God: My brethren, if the Lord has indeed ordained you to the ministry...

Jonathan Edwards gives the most profound explanation I've ever read or heard for the interplay between divine sovereignty and human will...

I judge that unless we seek to do what Mark Dever urges  here , our churches will never see the much needed reformation, growing maturity, s...

C. H. Spurgeon on the value of learning languages to the expositor of sacred Scripture: The acquisition of another language affords a fine...

When the time came for God to send his Son into the world, did he do so in the light of the categories that happened to be in place? In othe...

Are "affections" (what we would call "emotions" or "feelings" today) important in Christianity? In 1746, Jonat...

C. H. Spurgeon on devouring the Word à la John Buynan: Oh, that you and I might get into the very heart of the Word of God, and get that Wo...

C. S. Lewis defines what he calls "chronological snobbery" as "the uncritical acceptance of the intellectual climate common t...

"All the rules of rhetoric, and all the artifices of oratory cannot make a man eloquent, it is a gift from heaven, and where it is with...

 Dr. D. A. Carson on plagarism in the pulpit over at The Gospel Coalition : First: Taking over another sermon and preaching it as if it we...

Commenting on the language of Rom. 5:17, 20, John Owen speaks of the natural tendency of the language, which natural tendency supports under...

Athanasius on the comprehensiveness and sufficiency of the Psalms: Let whoever reads this Book of Psalms take the things in it quite simpl...

A Lutheran prayer to the Good Shepherd: O God, these are your words: There is greater joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ...

In Part One of his book The Supremacy of God in Preaching , John Piper unpacks four elements in making God supreme in preaching: (1) The G...

A Lutheran prayer before receiving communion: My Lord Christ, I have fallen, I would be gladly strong. For this purpose you have institute...

From the Letter of St. Athanasius to Marcellinus on the Interpretation of the Psalms : Among all the books [of the Bible], the Psalter has...

Below is the outline (with bullet applications) we gave everyone for the sermon I preached last Lord's Day evening. President Philip Ryk...

A Lutheran prayer to the Lord Jesus: Dear Lord Jesus Christ, I feel my sins. They bite and gnaw and frighten me. Where shall I go? I look ...

David Powlison turns Ps. 131 into its opposite, the anti-psalm: Self,       my heart is proud (I'm absorbed in myself),       and my...

C. S. Lewis on keeping a diary (what we'd call "journaling"): If Theism had done nothing else for me, I should still be than...

A Lutheran prayer of confession and confident trust: Dear God, before you I confess that I am a great sinner. The Ten Commandments would ...

Do you know who you are? I'm talking to you, Christians. I mean, do you really understand who you are in God's Son? Consider the ad...