Covenants

Old and new: law, promise, shadow and substance.

Essay

Baptism: A Name You Cannot Unname

Drawing on Sinclair Ferguson, David argues that physical baptism is a seal because it is a naming ceremony: like a family name it cannot simply be undone, only accepted or denied, so believers should rejoice in it daily.

1 min read

Watercolour of a red leather-bound copy of Reformed Dogmatics lying on a polished library table, with bookshelves and a sunlit window behind.

Notes on Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics · 3

Bavinck 3: Creation, Humanity and Sin

Notes on Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics, pp. 277-375: angels, providence and secondary causes, humanity between angels and animals, Adam as head of humanity, sin as a parasite and privation of the good, and the moral law as the standard of sin.

4 min read

Notes on Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics · 4

Bavinck 4: Christ and Salvation

Notes on Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics, pp. 401-563: the old and new covenants, Christ's full humanity, the benefits given through Christ, salvation by grace rather than works, and grace and the human will, with David's reflection on how Jesus was tempted.

6 min read

Notes on Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics · 5

Bavinck 5: Last Things

Notes on the closing pages of Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics, pp. 731-754: the Old Testament as the shadow of the New, the resurrection body as the same body raised, and history as judgment, with David's musing on whether we keep our DNA.

2 min read

Watercolour of three wooden frames on a pale wall, lettered Christology, Eschatology and Sola Scriptura, with a cross, an hourglass and an open Bible.

Worth knowing

Theological Terms

A glossary of theological terms: the branches of theology, the five points of Calvinism, covenant theology, the church, the end times, key Reformed concepts from sola fide to concupiscence, and the major theological and philosophical systems.

8 min read

Watercolour of an open Bible on a wooden table, with small painted scenes of biblical figures streaming up out of its pages.

Poem

A Poem for Every Book of the Bible

Short rhymed poems for the books of the Old Testament, Genesis to Malachi, grouped as Law, History, Wisdom and Prophets, each followed by a brief commentary on the book's message and how it points to Christ.

24 min read

Sayings on covenants

In the collection

Truth and Love. Law and Faith. Important pairs of the Christian faith. Law is needed because we lack faith. Truth is needed because we lack love (Love for God).

David Visser