Christ Covenant Church is in the midst of a study of the book of Galatians, the Apostle Paul’s first epistle. This sermon is the last of an in-depth look at the historical circumstances which caused the book to be written before we dive into the text itself. The backstory is a history of Paul from […]
What are the deeds by which we will be judged?
Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? —unless indeed you fail to meet the test! – 2 Corinthians 13:5 What exactly does the Bible mean by “good deeds”? Scripture tells us that everyone, both believers and […]
Galatians Backstory
Christ Covenant Church is in the midst of a study of the book of Galatians, the Apostle Paul’s first epistle. This sermon is an in-depth look at the historical circumstances which caused the book to be written, dealing with questions such as: How many times did Paul go to Jerusalem and what happened during each […]
Criteria for a Biblically-defined Church from Acts 11
The New Testament makes it clear that for one to be considered a Christian, that person must be recognized by a biblical church because there is no salvation outside of the Body (John 15:1-11; Colossians 1:24; 1 John 2:18-20) and because it is the church who holds the keys to the kingdom (Matthew 16:18-20; 18:18-20). […]
“In Christ” = In the visible Church
From The Baptized Body by Peter J. Leithart: 1 Corinthians 12:12 is particularly striking the way Paul identifies the Head-and- members body of Christ as “Christ.” “‘Christ” is not just the title of the Anointed Head. The anointing flows like the dew of Hermon down from our priestly Head, down the beard, down to […]
Justification Rediscovered: History
One of the key factors in understanding the Bible’s teaching on Justification is history or historical context. In other words, words have meaning which are directly tied to and determined by the historical context in which they are communicated. This means, if we are going to understand what any of the given biblical authors are […]
6 MORE Arguments for the Imputation of the Active Obedience of Christ Examined and Refuted
In the last article on this topic, we dealt with six textual arguments that are meant to be in favor of the doctrine of the imputation of the active obedience of Christ (IAO). The source of these arguments was an article written by Phil Johnson and posted at Pyromaniacs a couple of years ago. Today, […]
6 Arguments for the Imputation of the Active Obedience of Christ Examined and Refuted
On a couple of occasions, we have stated that the doctrine of the Imputation of the Active Obedience of Christ (IAO) has no textual support. Obviously, proponents of IAO disagree with that assessment and to be fair, we have spent little or no space on this blog dealing with the textual support that is […]
10 Truths Taught by the Clothing Metaphor in Scripture
A metaphor is used to illustrate unfamiliar ideas through the means of familiar objects and Scripture often uses the common object of clothing as a picture of man’s standing before God. There are scores of instances where Scripture uses the metaphor of clothing in order to picture one’s standing before God. We find instances of […]
A Short Biblical Definition of Justification
Nearly every Christian and student of theology will readily accept that the doctrine of justification is one of the most important doctrines in Scripture. Yet nearly 2,000 years after the death and resurrection of Christ, the doctrine of justification continues to be controversial and unsettled. This is despite the fact that a proper understanding […]
So, you call yourself a Christian: 10 Legitimate Evidences of True Faith
In our last article here at Sound Church, we highlighted 10 Illegitimate Evidences of True Faith. After focusing on many of the false evidences of the Christian faith, it would hardly be helpful to allow the discussion to end there. So, today, we are listing the characteristics that will be true of your life if […]
Justification Rediscovered Affirmations
As a catalyst for expediting the material Christ Covenant Church’s study of justification and as a hermeneutical and theological control for future discussions and criticisms, we assume the following ten statements to be well supported in the biblical text:
Justification Rediscovered
Is the doctrine of Justification settled theology? There have been battles over justification since the beginning of the church and those debates will no doubt continue. To make things worse, the debates tend to focus the theories of justification that have been advanced by great men of the faith rather than on the actual biblical […]
Imputation: justification through the righteous act of Christ
Modern Reformed theologians such as RC Sproul, Wayne Grudem and others teach that in order for the believer to be justified, he must be imputed with both the righteous life of Christ (His active obedience) as well as the sacrificial death of Christ (His passive obedience). This teaching, sometimes called “double imputation” or the doctrine […]
The believer and Friday the 13th
All kinds of superstitions surround the calendar event that occurs when the 13th day of a month falls on a Friday. Triskaidekaphobia is the fear of the number “13” and friggatriskaidekaphobia is specifically related to the fear of Friday the 13th. One of the blessings of knowing Christ is in realizing that this day is no […]
Imputation: Mutation
This is the first article in a small series dealing with the doctrine of imputation, the term “the righteousness of Christ” and the doctrine of active obedience. Recently we here at Christ Covenant Church realized that there exists a bit of confusion surrounding the term “double imputation.” For some, the term refers to imputation of […]
VIDEO: The heresy of the imputation of the active obedience of Christ
The doctrine of the imputation of the Active Obedience of Christ is settled doctrine in Reformed circles . . . or is it? Listen and watch as Pastor Scott discusses the heresy and danger of double imputation:
Christ Covenant Church is Life Reformed
CCC members get this question a lot: what kind of church do you attend? In this video, Pastor Scott explains that CCC (formerly Denver Sound Church) is a reformed church, but there is at least one key area where we differ slightly from the major reformed creeds. This difference is what makes us “Life Reformed.” […]
Women in positions of spiritual leadership Part 1: 4 reasons that the Bible does not allow it
Recently, there has been a great deal of discussion about an interview given by Mark Driscoll to a British journalist. During the interview, it was discovered that the journalist is married to a woman who is also the head elder in their church. Driscoll rightly points out that her holding that position is wrong according to the […]
What is the true Gospel?
The message of the Gospel is the good news of abundant life in Jesus Christ if we submit to Him as Lord before Savior in the relationship of covenant. Fallen and depraved men who deserve only death can have Life through Jesus Christ. He said, “I came that they may have life and have […]