This is the home of Reformed Forum’s podcasts—Christ-centered, confessionally Reformed conversations and teaching shaped by redemptive-historical theology. Warm, accessible, and theologically rigorous, our shows aim to equip the global Church toward maturity in Christ—helping listeners trace the unfolding story of redemption in Scripture and find trusted guides along the way.
Jim Cassidy speaks about Karl Barth and his relationship with idealism. On the heels of Lane Tipton’s recent course, Introduction to the Theology and Apologetics of Cornelius Van Til, the panel compares and contrasts Barth’s ontology and doctrine of revelation in the Christ-event with Van Til’s critique of idealism and warnings of correlativism.
Vos Group #65 — The Nature and Attributes of God
Aug 07, 2020
Show notes
We turn to pp. 238–243 of Vos’s book, Biblical Theology, to speak about the Old Testament prophets and their understanding of the nature and attributes of God. Vos affirms that God is Spirit. This brings into view not that God is immaterial per se, as Vos notes, but rather the “energy of life in God.” This is critical to appreciate. That God is Spirit reminds us that while he is immutable in his being, he is impassible in his actions.
He acts, and his actions condition all that he acts upon, without he himself being mutually conditioned by that on which he acts. That is, God is pure act in the sense that he immutably and sovereignly acts in such a way that he is not acted upon, and in that action, changed by the creation on which and in which his actions terminate. Vos says in his Reformed Dogmatics, there is no time distinction in God, yet his acts fall in time. And they fall in time as the acts of an all-conditioning God, who is living and active, but in a way that he is not acted upon or changed by the creature.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism states that God is a Spirit, “infinite, eternal and unchangeable.” This helpfully distills the essence of what Vos is after. While immutable, God is active and living and all of his acts express his immutable being and purpose. So, a key here is that immutability and spirituality require one another: God is immutable in his life; immutable in his purposes; and his agency in creation expresses immutable but living and acting Trinitarian persons, who are exhaustively and entirely the one true God.
Isaiah 57:15 is a key text: “For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.’”
This week on Theology Simply Profound, Rob and Bob discuss living in this present evil age while living life in the Spirit. How does a Christian live in the midst of the chaos and the confusion, the virus and the violence? Is God sovereign over the affairs of men or not? Is the Spirit of God at work in the lives of his people? What does that look like?
The Call to Worship and Benediction
Jul 31, 2020
Show notes
Glen Clary speaks about the biblical basis and covenantal context of the call to worship and benediction. These elements of worship are rooted in Christ’s work on behalf of his covenant people.
In the call to worship, God calls his people to have covenant communion with him in his heavenly temple. He calls us to enter his house—to draw near to him—to have communion with him.
The benediction is the bestowal of the covenant blessing by the successful probationer. Had Adam obeyed, he would have received for himself and for all his posterity the covenant blessing. The covenant blessing would be given to those whom he represented in the covenant of works on the basis of his obedience. Now, Christ as redeemer and mediator of the covenant, the obedient federal head (successful probationer) receives and bestows the blessings of the covenant.
J.I. Packer’s “Introductory Essay” to John Owen’s The Death of Death in the Death of Christ
Jul 28, 2020
Show notes
This week on Theology Simply Profound, Bob reads J. I. Packer’s (1926-2020) well known “Introductory Essay” to John Owen’s The Death of Death in the Death of Christ as a tribute to this great Anglican theologian.
Discussing a New Course: Introduction to the Theology and Apologetics of Cornelius Van Til
Jul 24, 2020
Show notes
In this episode, we discuss a new online course wherein Dr. Lane G. Tipton teaches a thorough introduction to the theology and innovative apologetic method of Cornelius Van Til (1895–1987), a pioneer in a distinctly Reformed approach to defending the faith.
This course investigates the context, structure, and significance of Van Til’s theology and apologetics. It is designed to introduce students to the main influences and fundamental concerns of Van Til’s theological approach to apologetics. Topics include a general introduction, Trinity, image of God, covenant, revelation, worldview, antithesis, common grace, and idealism. Special attention is given to the programmatic deep structures of Van Til’s thought, distinguishing his views from Roman Catholicism, Barth, and Evangelical approaches to theology and apologetics.
Covenant Theology in Hebrews
Jul 17, 2020
Show notes
Jeremy Boothby speaks about covenant theology through the biblical-theological lens of the book of Hebrews. In so doing, he compares and contrasts 1689 Federalism and other particular baptist approaches to covenant theology with that of confessional Reformed covenant theology. Following the author of the epistle to the Hebrews, Boothby gets to the heart of the difference between particular baptists and Reformed paedobaptists.
The matter hinges on the present life-setting of the New Covenant Church in the wilderness. The author of Hebrews compares the church, which is presently in the New Covenant, to the first generation of Israelites in the wilderness. They were on their pilgrimage and had not yet entered their promised rest. As such, there was a real possibility of apostasy from the covenant. Likewise, the New Covenant Church has not yet entered the New Heavens and New Earth, to which earthly Canaan pointed. The author encourages covenant members to strive to enter their rest, not to fall away as they follow their forerunner and heavenly high priest, Jesus Christ.
Rev. Boothby is pastor of Christ Covenant OPC in Amarillo, Texas.
Biblical exegetes have long discussed the relationship of justification in James to that of Paul. On the surface, James 2:24 appears even to contradict many of the key Pauline passages that speak clearly of justification as occurring by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone and not by works of the law. In this episode, we discuss the different uses of the words “justification” and “justify” in James, specifically, and in the Bible, generally.
The Teaching of Jesus Concerning the Kingdom of God and the Church – Chapter 4
Jul 07, 2020
Show notes
This week on Theology Simply Profound, Bob continues a reading of Geerhardus Vos’s 1903 book, The Teaching of Jesus Concerning the Kingdom of God and the Church. In chapter 4, endeavors to test two opposing views about the kingdom of God to determine which one is in accord with the teaching of our Lord.
Vos Group #64 — The Prophets and Monotheism
Jul 03, 2020
Show notes
We turn to pp. 235–238 of Vos’s book, Biblical Theology, to speak about the Old Testament prophets and varying views of monotheism. The prophetic era begins with Samuel and the introduction of kingship in the theocracy, and the fundamental conflict between the prophets and the kings is between those who are fundamentally theocentric and those who are fundamentally political.
And the kings concerns, representative in Saul, is a carnal, earthly concern to maintain political power. The kings long to maintain the appearance of royal splendor. They do not have a fundamentally theocentric concern about them. The increasing propension of the kings is to gain and maintain political power, outward glory, and the prestige and praise of man. Saul is the prototype of this thing. The theocracy, for the kings who follow in the pattern of Saul, do not perceive the spiritual and theocentric core of the kingdom of God. And they wind up persecuting not only David, but as Stephen makes clear, they persecute and even kill the prophets. But in Isaiah we find the theocentric concern coming to its full fruition in the Old Testament.
Vos notes that there are three unique features that stand out with Isaiah, and these, taken together, comprise the eschatological intensification of the prophetic office—these become a prolepsis of the nature of the true religion that will come by the Spirit of the ascended Messiah. First, a vivid perception of divine majesty. Second, transcendence and majesty of Jehovah in contrast to the creature. Third, unqualified service to the divine glory, which is a common theme pre- and post-exile.
The monotheism of the later prophets such as Isaiah is a sign of the great advancement of the kingdom toward the original heavenly telos that was held out to Adam under the covenant of works. The monotheism of the later prophets such as Isaiah is the movement toward the great realization of the heavenly kingdom in the person and work of Christ.
As we discuss monotheism it is not the “ethical monotheism” of the critics but the eschatological monotheism of the true religion whose center of gravity is God’s glory in heaven that comes into view. That is the fundamental concern—the central importance—of the development of monotheism. The “gods” are absolutely powerless to deliver from judgment on earth or to enable entrance into the glory-heaven of Jehovah.
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
Stay Connected
