RFPA Blog News

Quiz Your Knowledge of the Canons of Dordt (6)

Today in our Canons of Dordt quizzes, we continue with Head Two. (Head Two, Questions 26 to 45) Read More

Quiz Your Knowledge of the Canons of Dordt (5)

Today in our Canons of Dordt quizzes, we begin with Head Two. (Head Two, Questions 1 to 25)

Read More

Quiz Your Knowledge of the Canons of Dordt (4)

Today in our Canons of Dordt quizzes, we continue with Head One. (Head One, Questions 76 to 95) Read More

Quiz Your Knowledge of the Canons of Dordt (3)

Today in our Canons of Dordt quizzes, we continue with Head One. (Head One, Questions 48 to 75) Read More

Quiz Your Knowledge of the Canons of Dordt (2)

Today in our Canons of Dordt quizzes, we continue with Head One. (Head One, Questions 26 to 47) Read More

Quiz Your Knowledge of the Canons of Dordt (1)

The RFPA blog editor, Rev. Martyn McGeown enjoys teaching the creeds in his capacity as pastor of Providence PRC. To that end, he has written a series of quizzes for our blog readers, to test readers' knowledge of the Canons of Dordt. Try them out, test yourselves and your friends and family, and may the questions spur you on to familiarize yourselves with the confessions. (Head One, Questions 1 to 25) Read More

The Time Appointed by the Lord - A "Believing and Confessing" Meditation

It must be of great comfort to us as we see the unfolding of history around us—a history which is often chaotic, confused, and frightening—that the future is not in the hands of men and nations, or even in the hands of the devil. The future is in the hands of God. “Known unto God are all his works from the foundation of the world” (Acts 15:18). Therefore, history cannot either end one moment before God has determined or continue one moment longer than he has planned. Article 37 calls this “the time appointed by the Lord.” Read More

Book Review - The Savior's Farewell

The following review was written by Roger G. DePriest of Virginia Beach Theological Seminary, Virginia Beach, VA, on the book The Savior’s Farewell: Comfort from the Upper Room, by Martyn McGeown (Jenison, MI: Reformed Free Publishing, 2022). This review was originally published in the Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal.

To be sure, McGeown’s work is a treasure trove of exegetical and pastoral insights, and, from that interest alone, pastors will want to lean into this resource. There are several places, however, where those who do not share the Reformed hermeneutic (such as this reviewer) will find reasons to balk here and there. This is because McGeown stands firmly in the Reformed camp, so it is to be expected that his theological commitments will inevitably show.

Read More

Apostasy (6): Unto What?

Surely, we need to end on a positive note as well as on a serious warning. We would be untrue to the text if we did not. “But, beloved we are persuaded of better things of you and things that accompany salvation though we thus speak” (v. 9). Why is such a warning necessary and what should we learn from it?  Read More

Apostasy (5): What?

The word “if” might leave the impression that apostasy is hypothetical. But the writer to the Hebrews is not writing about a hypothetical, theoretical, possible apostasy. He is warning his readers about real, actual apostasy. There really is a hell and there are really people who once professed Christianity who perish forever under God’s wrath. The warning is serious. We could translate the passage this way: “impossible the ones once enlightened having tasted, having become partakers, having tasted and they falling away to renew them again to repentance, they crucifying…”  Read More

Apostasy (4): From What?

In the last three blog posts, we examined Hebrews 10:26-29, one of the apostasy passages of the epistle to the Hebrews. Perhaps even better known is Hebrews 6:4-6, the subject of this series of blog posts. It, too, describes apostasy. If Hebrews 10:26-29 describes fearful apostasy, Hebrews 6:4-6 emphasizes that such fearful apostasy is irreversible. The apostate, warns the writer to the Hebrews, cannot be recovered from his sin. That, too, makes apostasy a uniquely fearful sin. Read More

Apostasy (3): What the Apostate Deserves

There is no easy or nice way to say this: the apostate is doomed. The apostate has despised the Son of God; the apostate has despised the work of Christ on the cross; the apostate has insulted the Holy Spirit of grace; and the apostate has sinned willfully after having received the knowledge of the truth...[But] We cannot—we must not—end without hope. There is no hope for the apostate, but there is hope for us. Read More

Apostasy (2): What the Apostate Does

In verse 26 we read, “If we sin willfully.” That is a general statement. In verse 29 the Holy Spirit describes the serious sins of the apostate. He does this to underline the guilt of the apostate, to warn the reader against the sin of apostasy, and to set forth the utter hopelessness of the apostate’s case. We have in verse 29 proof that apostasy is no ordinary sin. It is not dishonesty; it is not theft; it is not adultery; and it is not murder. It is something much worse.

Read More

Apostasy (1): Who the Apostate Is

The text of Hebrews 10:26-29 is a warning against apostasy. In fact, the epistle to the Hebrews contains many pointed warnings against apostasy. Indeed, it contains some of the most chilling, most frightening, and most sobering passages of the New Testament on the subject of apostasy. In a number of blog posts I intend to explain and apply these warnings against apostasy.  Read More