21 Misunderstandings of Calvinism by Sam Waldron

This is an excellent resource that in short, sharp focus manages to destroy 21 common misunderstandings regarding Reformed theology.  

21 Misunderstandings of Calvinism | Sam Waldron

Warmly recommended. 

Why Are So Many Churches Closing?

Scotland in 2026 is a country where many church congregations are being linked together and others are entering into unions, to form one new congregation. This is the case in my own denomination, the Church of Scotland, and may be true in other denominations as well. Because of this, a number of church buildings are now surplus to requirements and are being closed and where viable, sold off.

You know it has reached a significant point when stories about this are even appearing with regularity in the secular media. The usual story is a small group of "campaigners" railing against "the Church" for closing down their beloved building. Cue many irrate comment from others about how this is a "disgrace"—almost all of whom have never attended the congregation in question and may never have attended any place of worship for years.

What are we to make of all this? Why are so many churches being closed down?

At a human level, the answer is very straightforward. There are (or were) many more church buildings than could be sustained by the congregations who occupied them. Outsiders may think that the central church has massive amounts of money so that they can subsidise church congregations with so few members that they cannot afford to keep a building running and in repair on their own. In a sense this is true, and one of the strengths of the Presbyterian system of church governance. We are all one church and richer congregations do heavily and generously subsidise poorer congregations. However, even in this system, a point can be reached where there are simply too many separate congregations with their own buildings. The truth is we have now reached that point.

The membership of the Church of Scotland nationally has been in decline for many many years. At its peak in the 1950s, the Kirk had over a million members, roughly one in four of the population. By 1982, the Kirk had over 900,000 members, roughly one in six of the Scottish population. Today, the membership is around 280,000—about one in twenty of the population. That decline in membership has in no way been matched by a rationalisation of the Church's buildings, not to the same extent anyway.

The cost of maintaining buildings, many of which were built over a century ago or longer, is very high for a declining membership to bear.

This is the human explanation. But behind it is an even more important one—the theological or biblical explanation.

Why is God allowing this? 

Well, the truth is made plain in the Letters to the Seven churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3. Christ promises that the gates of hell will not prevail against his church, but he does not give an unconditional pass to all congregations. Where congregations abandon God, fail to believe the biblical gospel, disobey the clear teachings on God's word, God is under no obligation to bless those churches. That he has permitted so many to survive this long is a testimony to the divine forbearance and sheer grace. Maybe today is a time of reckoning for the Church?

Some, no doubt, will advocate going further down the wrong path, to "keep the church relevant" and "to attract more people". The truth is that many churches in Scotland are healthy and growing, but I can assure you they are not the ones who have gone down the path of theological liberalism and ethical compromise with the world. That route we have been on for most of the last 100 years and it is a slow death march to oblivion. Nowhere are we commanded to be relevant in the New Testament. We are commanded to be obedient.

What the Church of Scotland needs most is a rediscovery of the truths of the Bible and a return to the message of the gospel. Thankfully there have always been and continue to be some congregations, many individual members and plenty of ministers who still hold to the old truths. My prayer is that God will continue to honour those who honour him and continue his work to reform the Church of Scotland according to the Word of God in 2026 and onwards as he did in centuries past.

Great Theologians 6: John Owen

 

John Owen (1616-1683)

John Owen is one of the most important theologians in the Reformed tradition of all time, and may justly be considered the leading theologian of the Puritan period in England. For good reason, he is often referred to as the Prince of the Puritans.

His life encompasses a huge range of achievements as a nonconformist church leader, theologian, academic, chaplain and even, briefly, a Member of Parliament.

He was of Welsh ancestry but born in Stadhampton, Oxfordshire in 1616 (his actual birth date is unknown). He graduated from Oxford University with a BA in 1632 (aged 15 or 16!) and an MA in 1635.  

He was brought up and followed the Puritan tradition and upon the outbreak of the English Civil War, he sided with the Parliamentary forces against King Charles I. This decision would cost him as he was cut off from inheriting his Welsh uncle's fortune, who was an ardent royalist.

He eventually became a chaplain to Oliver Cromwell and preached a sermon before Parliament the day after King Charles was executed in 1649. He was later appointed as Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University by Cromwell in 1652.

A congregationalist in church polity, Owen took a leading part in the Savoy Declaration of 1658, which was a revision of the Westminster Confession of Faith, the main revisions being the sections on the Church and Church governance.

Owen married his wife in 1644 (Mary Rooke) and the couple had 11 children, but 10 of them died in infancy, as was not uncommon in those times.

Owen's legacy to the church is an enormous body of writings. He was, by any standard, a prolific writer. However, unlike other Puritan writers like Thomas Watson, Owen was not blessed with an easy or attractive prose style and many of his works are a challenging read for the modern Christian. That said, his volumous output contains many classic works of the Reformed and Puritan tradition. His collected works run to 16 volumes. He also penned a monumental commentary on the Letter to the Hebrews, which runs to a further seven thick volumes.

Of the individual works which comprise his collected output, many are worthy of careful and repeated reading. His early work, A Display of Arminianism, written when Owen was 26, is a defence of Calvinist monergism and a refutation of Arminian synergism. One of his greatest and most enduring works is The Death of Death in the Death of Christ (1648) which is a full and polemical defence of limited atonement. In the words of J. I. Packer in his introduction to tbe Banner of Truth edition, Owen's work has never been refuted. Other works in Owen's output include an excellent treatises on the doctrine of justification and the work of the Holy Spirit.

Far from being a cold academic theologian, many of Owen's better known works are known for their practical application and warmth. These include Communion with God, The Glory of Christ, and perhaps Owen's most practical book of all, The Mortification of Sin.

Owen continued writing in his later life. He died in 1683 aged 66 or 67 and is buried in Bunhill Fields cemetery in London.

Chosen in Christ (Book Review)

 

Chosen in Christ: Revisiting the Contours of Predestination by Cornelis Venema (Reformed Exegetical Doctrinal Series, Christian Focus, Fearn, Ross-shire, 2019) 

It's been a while since I've done a book review on blog, despite having read a number of excellent Christian books in the last year. So, I thought it was high time to do one and the book I have just finished, is well worth reviewing and recommending.

The difficult doctrine of predestination or election has long been of particular interest to me and Cornelis Venema's book on the subject is an excellent contribution to this area of doctrine, often regarded as being at the heart of Reformed theology. As might be expected, Venema takes a Calvinist point of view and endorses unconditional election. This is reflected both in his positive presentations of his view and in his critiques of other approaches to election and predestination.

The book reads like a collection of essays on topics concerning predestination rather than a single cohesive treatise or argument on the subject. 

The first part of the book takes a biblical theological tour of the Bible's teaching on election and predestination across three chapters that look at, in turn, the doctrine of election in the Old Testament, the doctrine of election in the New Testament (excluding Paul) and then the doctrine of election in Paul's epistles. This material takes up about a third of the book.

The remaining chapters take a more historical theology perspective, with chapters on election and predestination in Augustine, Reformation theology, Arminian conditional election, Karl Barth's doctrine of election, and what Venema calls "Neo-Arminianism" - more commonly called Open Theism. As expected, Venema's treatment of Augustine and Reformed theology is positive, while his assessment of Arminianism, Barthianism and Open Theism are negative critiques.

The final chapter is entitled Concluding Theological and Pastoral Reflections where the author presents his own reflections on some common objections to the Reformed doctrine of predestination, such as regarding evangelism and the gospel offer.

Election and predestination are scarcely the simplest of Christian doctrines and any treatment of them is bound to be somewhat complex. Venema's book is no exception. In my view, this is at least a semi-technical treatment, aimed at theology students and pastors more than a general Christian readership, I think many people would find it difficult to work through this book. It offers an in depth treatment, particularly of the various deviations from the Reformed doctrine. I would not recommend it as a first read on this topic by any means. For that, I would suggest various other works, whether one of the many books on the Five Points of Calvinism, or A. W. Pink's The Sovereignty of God or James White's The Potter's Freedom. In addition, the relevant chapters of a good Reformed systematic theology, such as Berkhof, would be worth reading before turning to this book from Cornelis Venema. 

The work is valuable for a more in-depth study of the subject, particularly as I said, for the historical analysis and context.