Reformed Forum

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Justin Poythress | Who You Are in Christ—Identity, Purpose, and the Christian Life Mar 06, 2026

Show notes

In a culture saturated with self-help strategies, identity politics, and the language of "manifesting," where do Christians turn for a stable, coherent sense of self? On this episode of Christ the Center, Camden Bucey sits down with pastor and author Justin N. Poythress to explore the deep theological roots of the identity crisis plaguing our age. Drawing from his new book, Who Am I? And What Am I Doing With My Life? Finding Stability and Purpose in Jesus (The Good Book Company), Poythress argues that only Christ can rightly function as our "master identity"—the organizing center beneath every role, relationship, and calling. Work, sexuality, politics, and even parenting all fail catastrophically when elevated to that ultimate position, because none of them can bear the weight of the human soul.

At the heart of the conversation lies a powerful biblical framework: we are in Christ while also being conformed to his image. Romans 8:29 declares that God predestined His people to be conformed to the image of His Son—a settled identity and a lifelong trajectory of growth. Poythress unpacks how 2 Corinthians 3:18 reframes the secular obsession with "manifesting" into the biblical practice of beholding Christ, the true mechanism of transformation. The episode also explores the church as a "thick community" designed for the kind of multi-dimensional, embodied relationships that curated online personas can never provide. For pastors, elders, and anyone seeking maturity in Christ, the takeaway is both liberating and compelling: the Christian life is a matter of becoming what you already are in Christ.

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Chapters

00:07 Introduction
08:50 Master and Sub-Identities
13:53 Identity as a Theological Issue
16:58 Romans 8:29
21:22 Manifesting vs. Beholding
28:09 The Means of Grace
32:19 Thick Communities
41:12 Authenticity
46:14 Work, Sexuality, and Politics as Functional Religions
51:12 Becoming What You Are in Christ
56:29 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Justin N. Poythress

Mentioned in this episode:

Christ the Center 1000 Live in Austin, TX

Christ the Center 1000 Summit

Christ the Center 1000

Christ the Center 1000 Summit

Sabbath Rest in Hebrews 3:7–4:11: Millennial Views | The History of Heaven in Hebrews (Lesson 7) Mar 02, 2026

Show notes

This is the seventh lesson in Dr. Lane G. Tipton's Reformed Academy course, The Theology of Heaven in the Book of Hebrews. This lesson covers Author of Hebrews Is Not a Premillennialist, Author of Hebrews Is Not Postmillennialist, Gaffin on the Usefulness of the Cross, and Amillennialism on Suffering in Christ as Redemptive Blessing.

Reformed Academy

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Christ the Center 1000

The Eternal Son Feb 27, 2026

Show notes

Dr. Robert Letham joins Lane Tipton and Camden Bucey to discuss Dr. Letham’s recent book The Eternal Son (P&R Publishing). Their conversation presses into a simple but urgent claim: Christology is not a side department of theology—it is the living center. When the church loses clarity about who the Son is, the gospel itself becomes unclear because salvation depends on the identity of the Savior. They also explore why the church must listen carefully to the whole ecumenical tradition, especially the often-neglected debates after Chalcedon.

Dr. Letham explains why it matters that the acting subject in the Gospels is the eternal Son, who assumes a true human nature without change in his divine person. From there, they engage contemporary confusions—especially biblicism that isolates Scripture from the church’s confession—and they address the claim that Christ was “adopted” at the resurrection, showing how such proposals unravel both orthodox Christology and the gracious character of adoption for believers.

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Chapters

00:07 Introduction
02:04 This Book within the Trilogy
04:36 Christ and the Center of Christianity
11:05 Reading the Bible in Isolation
16:44 The Ecumenical Councils After Chalcedon
26:44 The Pre-Existent Son
30:24 Christology from Below
35:54 The Doctrine of Adoption
44:48 Twin Errors of Christology and Soteriology
53:15 An Exhortation to Re-Examine the Historical Confession of the Church
56:19 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Lane G. Tipton, Robert Letham

Mentioned in this episode:

Christ the Center 1000 Live in Austin, TX

Christ the Center 1000 Summit

Christ the Center 1000

Christ the Center 1000 Summit

The Book of Daniel, Part 14 Feb 24, 2026

Show notes

On today’s episode of Theology Simply Profound, Rob and Bob continue to walk through the Book of Daniel. In chapter 5, we see the handwriting on the wall, Daniel’s interpretation of what is written, and King Belshazzar’s response.

Participants: Rob McKenzie, Robert Tarullo

Mentioned in this episode:

Christ the Center 1000

Sabbath Rest in Hebrews 3:7–4:11: Use of Psalm 95:7–11 | The History of Heaven in Hebrews (Lesson 6) Feb 23, 2026

Show notes

This is the sixth lesson in Dr. Lane G. Tipton's Reformed Academy course, The Theology of Heaven in the Book of Hebrews. This lesson covers the Wilderness-Testing and Land-Resting Paradigm, Analogical Application to the Church, the Church as Wilderness Community of Strangers and Exiles, and the Use of Psalm 95:7–11 in Hebrews 3:7–4:11.

Reformed Academy

Mentioned in this episode:

Christ the Center 1000

Cornelius Van Til’s Letters from America Feb 20, 2026

Show notes

In this episode, Dan Ragusa speaks about Letters from America (Reformed Forum). Between 1935 and 1940, Cornelius Van Til (1895–1987) wrote twenty-four letters from America for the Dutch magazine De Reformatie at the invitation of its editor Klaas Schilder (1890–1952). Daniel Ragusa’s translation presents these letters in English for the first time.

Letters from America opens a window into a critical moment in Reformed history—when orthodox and confessional Presbyterianism in America was under siege from both modernism and the rising influence of Barthianism, which Van Til labeled “the new modernism.” Ragusa introduces these letters by situating them within the broader relationship between the Dutch Reformed in the Netherlands and the orthodox Presbyterians in America—a relationship that reaches back to the seventeenth century.

Van Til’s wartime-like correspondences—written in the heat of theological conflict—offer a firsthand account of the spiritual and ecclesiastical upheavals of the era. Through Van Til’s eyes, fixed steadfastly on his risen and reigning Lord, readers witness pivotal moments in American Presbyterian history, among them J. Gresham Machen’s trial, deposition, and sudden death; the founding of Westminster Theological Seminary and the evangelistic work of its graduates; and the formation of the Presbyterian Church of America and its subsequent renaming as the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

These letters bring to life a pivotal chapter in the defense and development of the Reformed faith that helps us to make sense of our present ecclesiastical and theological landscape.

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Chapters

00:00:07 Introduction
00:06:13 Upcoming Seminar in Raleigh, NC
00:09:29 Dr. Ragusa’s Introduction to Van Til’s Dutch Letters
00:20:54 Van Til’s Concern for the Church
00:29:16 Highlights of the Letters
00:36:19 Van Til’s Hope for the Church
00:42:38 The Afscheiding (Secession) of 1834
00:57:46 A Vision for the Future of the Church
01:06:05 Remaining Faithful Today
01:12:15 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Dan Ragusa

Mentioned in this episode:

Christ the Center 1000 Live in Austin, TX

Christ the Center 1000 Summit

Christ the Center 1000

Christ the Center 1000 Summit

Sabbath Rest in Hebrews 3:7–4:11: Use of Genesis 2:2 | The Theology of Heaven in Hebrews (Lesson 5) Feb 16, 2026

Show notes

This is the fifth lesson in Dr. Lane G. Tipton's Reformed Academy course, The Theology of Heaven in the Book of Hebrews. This lesson covers the Reading of Hebrews 3:7–4:11, Introductory Comments and Observations, the History of Heaven, and the Use of Genesis 2:2 in Hebrews 4:4.

Reformed Academy

Mentioned in this episode:

Christ the Center 1000

Vos Group #106 — Repentance Feb 13, 2026

Show notes

In this episode, we continue engaging Geerhardus Vos’s treatment of repentance and the righteousness of the kingdom. The discussion begins by clarifying the close relationship between faith and repentance: Both are saving graces, sovereignly gifted by God, inseparably joined in conversion, yet not identical. Faith uniquely receives and rests upon Christ for justification, while repentance—though necessary—never functions as the instrument of union with Christ or the ground of God’s verdict. This careful distinction protects the gospel from subtle moralism and keeps repentance in its proper place as fruit flowing from mercy apprehended in Christ.

Vos then situates repentance within Jesus’ proclamation of the kingdom: Repentance corresponds to the kingdom’s righteousness-aspect, just as faith corresponds to its power-aspect. Repentance is not a meritorious condition for entry, but the moral-spiritual “fitness” that belongs to life under God’s righteous reign. The episode explores Vos’s “vernacular of repentance” in the Gospels—regret, inner reversal, and outward turning—showing that biblical repentance is comprehensive, God-centered, and transformative. Far from mere remorse or isolated moral adjustment, repentance is a whole-life reorientation toward God, forming a people whose inner and outer life increasingly reflects the righteousness of the kingdom.

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Chapters

00:00 2026 Raleigh, NC Seminar
02:19 Introduction
04:40 Faith and Repentance
11:42 The Connection to the Kingdom of God
16:05 The Logical and Instrumental Priority of Faith
22:19 Aspects of the Kingdom
32:47 The Vernacular of Repentance
37:05 The Universal Demand of Repentance
46:36 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Lane G. Tipton

Mentioned in this episode:

Christ the Center 1000 Live in Austin, TX

Christ the Center 1000 Summit

Christ the Center 1000

Christ the Center 1000 Summit

The Land of Canaan and Typology in Hebrews 11:8–16 | The Theology of Heaven in Hebrews (Lesson 4) Feb 09, 2026

Show notes

This is the fourth lesson in Dr. Lane G. Tipton's Reformed Academy course, The Theology of Heaven in the Book of Hebrews. This lesson covers the Order of the Texts and the Path of Redemptive History, the Call of Abram, True Religion and the Symbol of the Altar, and the Land of Canaan and Typology in Hebrews 11:8–16.

Reformed Academy

Thy Word Is Truth: Scripture's Authority, God's Character, and Worship That Follows Feb 06, 2026

Show notes

In this episode, Nick Bullock, senior pastor of Christ Church (PCA) in New Braunfels, Texas, joins Camden Bucey and Jim Cassidy to discuss an upcoming conference themed "Thy Word is Truth" (February 27–March 1, 2026) and, more importantly, why a sturdy doctrine of Scripture is not a luxury but a necessity for the church. They explore how Scripture's authority undergirds every other theological conversation, shaping how Christians understand God, worship him, and resist the many counterfeit "voices" that compete for allegiance.

The conversation also highlights a timely pastoral burden: weak views of Scripture often leave believers vulnerable—whether to "me-and-my-Bible" isolation (confusing sola with solo), or to the perceived stability of traditions that promise rootedness without delivering true unity. By reconnecting the doctrine of Scripture to the doctrine of God—his truthfulness, immutability, and steadfast love—the episode invites listeners to hear again the shepherd's voice in God's word and to respond with reverent, regulated, Christ-centered worship.

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