The Aquila Report

Your independent source for news and commentary from and about conservative, orthodox evangelicals in the Reformed and Presbyterian family of churches

Home/Biblical and Theological

Self-Examination for the Lord’s Supper

What do I have to do to “pass” this exam? I have to check that I know three things.
Written by Simon Arscott | Thursday, January 19, 2023

I have to check I know God’s grace comes to me in Jesus Christ alone. Am I confident that my friend Jesus has aced the exam set by God’s holy law? Do I know he’s passed that exam for me? I have to be ready and willing to express my gratitude to God. To take... Continue Reading

The Second Commandment, Westminster and Images of Jesus

By creating an image of Jesus (e.g., in a painting or a stained-glass window), a person is inserting his or her own ideas of what Jesus looked like. Because we do not know what he looked like, this image would not be a true image or representation of Christ.

Written by Brian Cosby | Thursday, January 19, 2023

If you haven’t thought through this issue before, I want to encourage you to consider studying it. It shouldn’t scare us to think through the wisdom of our Confessional heritage. Rather, it should–at the very least–cause us to ponder the rationale and explanation for Westminster’s interpretation of the second commandment. Wherever you land on this... Continue Reading

Should Christians be Revolutionaries? Mark 8:27-38

Only as we fully understand who Jesus is, not just potential “political revolutionary” but as the true king, can we understand all this in its fullness, appreciating what we must do also.
Written by Bruce Lowe | Thursday, January 19, 2023

It is Satan who would have Jesus to be something other than the king he is really meant to be. And straight away we can begin to see what is at stake in Mark 8. This passage is incredibly relevant today because it gives us a picture of the issues that have always been at... Continue Reading

Guarding the Heart

The heart is the battleground of your soul.
Written by Joel Fick | Wednesday, January 18, 2023

The work of keeping our heart is not an easy work, but it is an attainable work, and we can be assured that it is an attainable work because God has promised that it is a work that He Himself is working in us by His Spirit. If we stand firm, it is because we... Continue Reading

Restoring 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 as a Parallel to 1 Timothy 2:12

Both passages require women to be submissive and quiet/silent in worship.
Written by Zachary Garris | Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Most egalitarians and complementarians limit the debate over the involvement of women in public worship to 1 Timothy 2:12. However, Reformed theologians historically held that 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 is a parallel passage to 1 Timothy 2:12. The reason can be seen when the language of the two passages is compared.   Most of the debate today... Continue Reading

How to Preach Parables

The parables feature what the whole of the New Testament covers: gospel need, gospel proclamation, gospel response, and gospel ethics.
Written by Douglas Sean O'Donnell and Leland Ryken | Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Whatever mistakes we make in reading and preaching the parables, let us not make the mistake of not making much of Jesus. He is the sower of the good seed of the gospel, the heaven-sent Son, the bridegroom of his church, the king upon his glorious throne, the final judge of all people everywhere, and... Continue Reading

The Crushing Obligation to Keep Doing More and More

The needs seem so urgent. The workers seem so few. If we don’t do something, who will?

Written by Kevin DeYoung  | Tuesday, January 17, 2023

Jesus didn’t do it all. Jesus didn’t meet every need. He left people waiting in line to be healed. He left one town to preach to another. He hid away to pray. He got tired. He never interacted with the vast majority of people on the planet. He spent thirty years in training and only three... Continue Reading

A Forgotten Fact about the Earliest Christian Movement

One of the central features of the early Christian movement was that they were a people who traveled, and traveled extensively.
Written by Michael J. Kruger | Tuesday, January 17, 2023

So, if you want to recapture your identity as a believer, don’t just think about the future. Look to the past. Remember what Christians have always been: voyagers. We are travelers. As such, take up the invitation of Paul: “Travel with us as we carry out this act of grace that is being ministered by us,... Continue Reading

Peace Outside the Church

The world in all its crookedness and depravity is still God’s world.
Written by William C. Godfrey | Tuesday, January 17, 2023

The presence of the image of God in all human beings is cause for hope. God’s will concerning peacemaking, for both maintaining and mending peace, can be applied even in our workplaces, schools, communities, and digital spaces in the world.    We undergo a radical change in becoming Christians. We are born again to a... Continue Reading

Jonathan Edwards and 5 Spiritual Habits for 2023

Let us be more in prayer, more in Scripture, and more focused on Christ this year.
Written by Adam Nesmith | Tuesday, January 17, 2023

What spiritual habits are you going to develop in 2023? Each year brings new opportunity to grow to be more like Christ. Thankfully, God has left us many examples of godly men and women throughout history who have pursued Him and His glory. Let us learn from such examples what it means to seek and... Continue Reading

DISCLAIMER: The Aquila Report is a news and information resource. We welcome commentary from readers; for more information visit our Letters to the Editor link. All our content, including commentary and opinion, is intended to be information for our readers and does not necessarily indicate an endorsement by The Aquila Report or its governing board. In order to provide this website free of charge to our readers,  Aquila Report uses a combination of donations, advertisements and affiliate marketing links to  pay its operating costs.