Dr Paul Allen

The Reformer John Calvin (1509–64) ardently declared the doctrine of justification by faith alone to be “the principle hinge by which [the Christian] religion is supported” (Institutes 3.11.1). Known as the material principle of the sixteenth-century Reformation, the doctrine of justification by faith alone was at the epicenter of the battle to bring needed reform to the church. This biblical doctrine is central to preserving an accurate understanding of the gospel even as we find it so clearly taught in Paul’s letters to the churches of Rome and Galatia. As we approach the Bible’s teaching on justification, it is vital that we comprehend the finer points of the doctrine. To put it bluntly, if we get justification wrong, we get the gospel wrong. Thankfully, we have a rich and faithful heritage of believers who have courageously upheld Scripture’s teaching on justification by faith alone. The Westminster Shorter Catechism presents a clear and succinct definition of justification: Justif...

Of all the famous theologians of church history, the titans of knowledge upon whose shoulders we stand, none has been more maligned or vilified than John Calvin. The public caricature of Calvin portrays him as nothing less than a monster, a mean-spirited ogre who ruled Geneva with an iron hand, sent poor Michael Servetus to his death, and introduced a diabolical view of predestination to the church.  If Christ’s beatific promise applies,  “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven,” then John Calvin needs a tractor-trailer to cart around his heavenly reward. When I consider the great theologians of the church, I think immediately of my list of the top five: St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Jonathan Edwards. These are the giants with which God has gifted His church. They comprise the all-time all-star team in ...

John Calvin (1509-1564) is the most influential pastor in church history. He wrote commentaries on nearly the entire Bible , which are still in print today. His systematic theology, The Institutes of the Christian Religion , is arguably the most significant Christian book ever published. Calvin was the architect of Protestant theology , and his teachings gave rise to republican government, public education, and even capitalism. Calvin was first and foremost a preacher, generally giving six sermons a week. He moved the baptismal to the back of the church, and placed the pulpit in the middle, marking a change in the purpose of corporate worship— Christians would no longer gather for sacraments, but instead for the preaching of the Word. Born north of Paris , he was converted to Christ in his 20’s and then forced to flee France—Protestants were not welcome there. He eventually settled in Geneva , where he spent the rest of his life pastoring. Under Calvin’s preaching, Geneva was ...

John Calvin (1509–1564) is easily the most important Protestant theologian of all time and remains one of the truly great men who have lived.  A world-class theologian, a renowned teacher, an ecclesiastical statesman, and a valiant Reformer, Calvin is seen by many as the greatest influence on the church since the first century. Apart from the biblical authors themselves, Calvin stands as the most influential minister of the Word the world has ever seen.  Philip Melanchthon revered him as the ablest interpreter of Scripture in the church, and therefore labeled him simply "the theologian." And Charles Spurgeon said that Calvin "propounded truth more clearly than any other man that ever breathed, knew more of Scripture, and explained it more clearly." Calvin was born on July 10, 1509, to Gerard and Jeanne Cauvin in the French cathedral city of Noyon, some sixty miles north of Paris. Gerard was a notary, or financial administrator, for the Roman Catholic...

Galatians 1:8–9 “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed” (v. 8). Galatians is unique among the Pauline epistles in that a commendation of the original audience does not follow the salutation. In his other letters Paul voices his thanks for his readers’ faith and other similar fruits of their spirituality (for example, Rom. 1:8; Eph. 1:1; 1 Thess. 1:2–3), but the body of Galatians begins with him castigating the churches of Galatia for following another gospel (Gal. 1:6).  It is clear that Paul believes this “different gospel” cannot provide salvation as its content differs from the gospel he received from Christ.  Instead, this other “gospel” is no gospel at all (v. 7) . If, as the New Testament declares, the gospel is the good news that God’s kingdom has come in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ (Acts 2:14–41; Rom. 1:1–6), then works of the Law cannot be added a...

Psalm 139 “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works” (vv. 13–14). Without a doubt, Augustine of Hippo is the most significant of all the church fathers of the West. His thought has impacted not only the entire course of Western theology but also Western philosophy , psychology, and other disciplines. In redeeming Augustine, God gave us a great thinker and pastor. Augustine, who was born in AD 354 , left many works in which he explores the depths of sin, free will, the doctrine of the Trinity , and the sacraments, to name but a few. His musings on the nature of wickedness are especially illuminating, as in the case when he recounts his theft of some pears during his youth. Augustine noted that he could understand why a starving person would steal food—hunger drives him to take from others to feed himself.  Of course, Augustine was not excusing the behavior; h...

Psalm 22 begins with the most anguished cry in human history: “ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? ” These are the words that Jesus took on His lips at the depth of His suffering on the cross. His suffering was unique at that point as He offered Himself up for the sins of His people. And so, we have tended to see this cry as unique to Jesus. But such an approach to these words is clearly wrong. Jesus was not inventing unique words to interpret His suffering. Rather, He was quoting Psalm 22:1. These words were first uttered by David, and David was speaking for all of God’s people. We need to reflect on these words and the whole psalm as they relate to Christ and to all His people in order to understand them fully. The psalm begins with a section dominated by the agonized prayer of David (vv. 1–21). David is expressing in the first place his own experience of feeling abandoned by God. Here is the most intense suffering God’s servant can know—not just that enemies surr...

Psalm 19:1 "The heavens declare the glory of God , and the sky above proclaims his handiwork."  Reformation -era debates regarding divine revelation focused on the authority of Scripture and its relation to the authority of the church and the authority of church tradition. Though the Reformers and the Roman Catholic Church would finally disagree with respect to the final authority and sufficiency of Scripture , there is one aspect of divine revelation on which they did find a large measure of agreement.  Both Roman Catholic theology and Reformation theology confess that God reveals Himself in His creation.  We speak of God's revelation of Himself in the created order as natural revelation . This is in contrast with special revelation , wherein God speaks directly to His people via a prophet or an Apostle. God's revelation of Himself in natural revelation is less direct and is addressed not to a specific person or community but rather to humanity in general. ...

Understanding the relationship between God ’s sovereignty and human responsibility used to be simply an intellectual pursuit for me — just a stunning puzzle of philosophical ideas. Not anymore. The bitter fruit of laziness , anxiety, and pride have crept into my life whenever I’ve gotten it wrong. And on the flip side, the beautiful fruit of a restful heart and selfless love has resulted from getting it right. This is no distant theoretical or theological discussion. It’s the difference between the full Christian life and spiritual stagnation. How does our work in this world relate to God’s work? Let’s consider three possibilities, all of which I’ve tried at various points in my life. 1. God does nothing, and we do everything? Some people live this way by conviction. Believing there’s no God , they’re compelled to take full responsibility. Others simply live this way in practice. Lots of Christians are practical atheists: faced with a problem, we instinctively turn to...

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...

More than 450 years ago, a request came to John Calvin to write on the character of and need for reform in the Church. The circumstances were quite different from those that inspired other writings of Calvin, and enable us to see other dimensions of his defense of the Reformation. The Emperor Charles V was calling the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire to meet in the city of Speyer in 1544. Martin Bucer, the great reformer of Strassburg, appealed to Calvin to draft a statement of the doctrines of and necessity for the Reformation. The result was remarkable. Theodore Beza, Calvin's friend and successor in Geneva, called "The Necessity for Reforming the Church" the most powerful work of his time. Calvin organizes the work into three large sections.   The first section is devoted to the evils in the church that required reformation.  The second details the particular remedies to those evils adopted by the reformers.  The third shows why reform could not be delayed, but r...