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Introduction Not long ago, I signed to write and publish a discipleship curriculum with H&E publishing titled Confessing Sound Words: A Discipleship Curriculum Through the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith. The basis of this curriculum is the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith (2LBCF) and The Baptist Catechism (BC). I’m still in the early […]
THE UNIVERSAL CHARGE FOR CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS During his pastoral tenure at the church in Ephesus, Timothy was confronted with a geographical environment that featured many opponents of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.[1] Amidst the surrounding area of the Ephesian church plant, was a cesspool of religious heresies being postulated by those who had once identified […]
Carter, A. Craig. Interpreting Scripture with the Great Tradition: Recovering the Genius of Premodern Exegesis. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2018. 263pp. Introduction Craig A. Carter (Ph.D., University of St. Michael’s College) is a Professor of Theology at Tyndale University College & Seminary in Toronto, Ontario. He also serves part-time as Theologian in Residence at […]
Introduction I am privileged to be a pastor in one of Christ’s churches. As a pastor, I preach the Word of God to the people of God. We at Vista Baptist Church have been studying the book of Mark. The portion of Mark we have covered the last several weeks has faith as a central […]
Some Preliminary Thoughts to the Reader I’m not a person who goes out of the way to look for controversy. If you ask those who know me best, they’ll confirm that I tend to be more of a “people-pleaser.” Under most circumstances, if it means making somebody else happy or avoiding conflict, I’m willing to set […]
Single Elder-led Congregationalism The last governmental structure worthy of consideration is single elder-led congregationalism. This view denies the bishop hierarchal structure espoused in Episcopalianism. It likewise denies the interdependent connectional structure espoused in Presbyterianism. Like plural elder-led congregationalism, single elder-led congregationalism affirms the autonomy of each local/visible church. The distinguishing mark between these two governmental […]
Devotion From Genesis to Revelation, God’s desire is to showcase Himself as the origin and goal for all comprising His created order, demonstrating how He has worked in many portions and in many ways to accomplish His impeccably good purposes (Isaiah 46:9-11; Hebrews 1:1-2). Tragically, one of the most neglected realms of examining how God […]
My life as a Christian was forever changed on an ordinary day off from work in early December (2019). As my wife left for her job at a local preschool, I trudged from our bedroom to the living room table to embark upon another lengthy day of homework. The Fall semester was nearing its conclusion, […]
Opposing Views to Plural Elder Led Congregationalism The first major opposing view to plural elder-led congregationalism that we will consider is Episcopalianism. There are different groups that hold to different theological convictions that use this form of church governance. The Episcopalian governance structure teaches that bishops are a distinct office, above deacons and presbyters.[1] Some […]
The Plurality of Eldership The ninth mark of Mark Dever’s book, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, is “Biblical Church Leadership.” He writes the following concerning the matter: The Bible clearly models a plurality of elders in each local church.[1] This assertion can be proved with numerous Scripture citations. Consider the following: “When they had […]
*This article is written from the Presbyterian point of view. A Baptist evaluation will be the final part of the series. How should the broader Christian community interact with Federal Vision Theology? Asking such a question will elicit diverse responses within American Christendom. Many self-identifying evangelicals have likely never heard of Federal Vision Theology.[1] In […]
The Qualifications for Eldership Not everyone in the church is gifted for the spiritual office of elder. This office has qualifications that restrict who can and who cannot serve the church in this role. Although not everyone is gifted and/or qualified for eldership, Paul tells Timothy that desiring to be an overseer is a noble […]
The New Testament uses multiple terms interchangeably to describe this office: elder, overseer (bishop in the King James Version), and shepherd. The Particular Baptist Nehemiah Coxe helps establish these interchangeable titles: The officers that we are now treating of, which are in our text called elders (πρεσβυτέροι), are in the very next words styled bishops […]
