Dr Paul Allen

Nothing escapes God's notice; nothing oversteps the boundaries of His power. God is authoritative in all things. If I thought even for one moment that a single molecule were running loose in the universe outside the control and domain of almighty God , I wouldn't sleep tonight. My confidence in the future rests in my confidence in the God who controls history. But how does God exercise that control and manifest that authority? How does God bring to pass the things He sovereignly decrees? Augustine said that nothing happens in this universe apart from the will of God and that, in a certain sense, God ordains everything that happens. Augustine was not attempting to absolve men of responsibility for their actions, but his teaching raises a question: If God is sovereign over the actions and intents of men, why pray at all? A secondary concern revolves around the question, "Does prayer really change anything?""Let me answer the first question by stating that the s...

Oil painting of a young John Calvin. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) So then, the law is holy , and the commandment is holy, righteous and good ( Romans 7:12). What is the usefulness of the law for the Christian? The best discussion of this that I have found is in John Calvin ’s Institutes of the Christian Religion , book 2, chapter 7. Here Calvin sets out the three uses of God ’s law. I require all of my students to read this short chapter, and I highly recommend it to you. Let me summarize Calvin’s remarks for you today. THE FUNCTIONS OF THE LAW The first benefit of the law for the believer is that it reveals to us what righteousness is. If we hold up the law and look into it, as into a mirror, it will reveal to us how hopelessly unrighteous we are. Thus it shows us our need of the Savior and drives us to the foot of the cross. It humbles us, and that is a great benefit for us. This seems to contradict what we have been seeing in Romans 7. Paul has been arguing that the more the...

The Lord’s Supper, the meal that unites, has ironically been the source of much division and controversy throughout church history. It was, in fact, the primary source of division among the sixteenth-century Reformers. Numerous books have been written on the doctrine and practice of the Lord’s Supper. The following are some that I have found to be particularly helpful. General Works Robert Letham.  The Lord’s Supper .   Letham’s book is a brief introduction to the Reformed doctrine of the Lord’s Supper. It is a good place to start for those wanting to get a basic grasp of the issues. John Calvin ’s Doctrine John Calvin.  Treatises on the Sacraments .   This volume is a reprint of volume 2 in Calvin’s  Tracts and Treatises .  It contains a number of Calvin’s writings on the Lord’s Supper, although it does not include all of them by any means.  It serves as a helpful supplement to his work on the subject in his  Institutes  and co...