Mark Horne

“For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins” (2 Peter 1.9).
He now expresses more clearly that they who profess a naked faith are wholly without any true knowledge. He then says that they go astray like the blind in darkness, because [...]

One of the things I find really disappointing about N. T. Wright’s commentary on Romans is how he denudes the force of Paul’s warning in Romans chapter 11 in favor of a rather vague idea of “once saved, always saved.”
I mention this because, while in seminary, I made a point of spending some time reading [...]

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? (6.1) What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace?  (6.15a)

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in [...]

For when Gentiles, who do not have the law by nature, do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.
So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?
So much text to free associate; [...]

I was driving down I-240 from the Saint Louis Airport to my (rather temporary) home in Fenton, Missouri, when I realized that I was an atheist.
This was not a proud moment for a seminary student who aspired to serve God in the pastorate. Thankfully, I was granted repentance.
What had happened was this: An elderly lady [...]

Here’s a pretty excellent quotation from Caspar Olevianus:
We can see from the following that this covenant between God and us is a gracious one and does not rest upon any condition of our own worthiness or merit, but exists through faith alone. For so far as God is concerned, He, strictly speaking, makes the covenant [...]

So on the local NPR station I got to listen to a long plea for making Sudafed a prescription drug and how that is a minor inconvenience which all law-abiding Missourians are willing to submit to for the Sacred Cause of closing down Meth Labs.  The only opposition to such an enlightened system comes from [...]

N. T. Wright claims that in the Apostle Paul’s writings “righteousness,” as it predicated of humans, denotes “covenant membership.” When he wrote this in the New Bible Dictionary edited by Sinclair Ferguson, J. I. Packer, and David Wright, no one thought this was too big a deal. However, when he expressed himself again later in [...]

A Justification Debate Primer | Bible.org; NET Bible, Bible Study.
I thought this might be a reasonable review, but it is full of so much unnecessary polarization and false dichotomization that it is pretty much useless..
It is entirely possible Wright himself is responsible for some of this problem.  But I fear Evangelicals have been all too [...]

The elders at First Presbyterian Church of Capernaum assembled dutifully but none too cheerfully on a Saturday evening. Sabbath was over and no one was yet as strict on how to think of Sunday since Jesus had risen closer to dawn than the previous dusk. In any case, they simply had no choice but to [...]

I’ve mentioned that the question in Romans 6.1 is not a question about “Why repent if God always forgives?” but rather a mocking application question, “If God aggravates sin in order to bring about the atonement and grace as a result, then why shouldn’t we follow God’s example?”  It is the same question dealt with [...]

And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.
If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, [...]

[This was a newspaper column that I wrote for the Minco Millennium back in January of 2000 when I had first moved to Minco, Oklahoma to pastor First Reformed Presbyterian Church (PCA).]
I wasn’t able to catch the recent performance of the musical, Godspell, in Oklahoma City. However, my dad loaned me his cd of the [...]

I originally wrote this for the Act 3 Journal, which was then known as the Reformation & Revival Journal of the ministry of the same name. I really appreciate John Armstrong for many things and was quite encouraged that he considered this brief essay worthy of publication.
If one raises the issue of “doctrine” and [...]

Diligent Oyster Avoidance.
I can’t find my password at the moment so I’ll address it here.
Am I the only one who thinks that this works better as a defense of Wright’s view (though it may point to clarifications he needs to make) rather than a rebuttal?:
certain things are enclosed by boundaries. The border to a country [...]

I’m not Anglican Catholic, but I thought this post was a pretty good (and humorous) use of Tolkien.
It may not seem fair at first since Julie Andrews’ character goes into a crisis after her first song among the live hills (and that is something of a Tolkienish emphasis).
But Tolkien’s epic is a much better [...]

Particularly S5E1. Remember how Dracula said her power was rooted in darkness and she had this addiction to go preying in the middle of the night? I can’t be the slayer and as much as the internet is like a haunted graveyard, this blog can’t be my patrol.
Sorry.
If you don’t know what any of this [...]

The Confession is clear on this matter. Saving faith is not the same thing as faithfulness.
via On this day, October 5, 2009, TE Wes White comes and protests the action of the Presbytery of the Siouxlands on September 24, 2009 when it passed the following resolution:.
Unbelievable.  Yes the Confession is clear on the matter [...]

YouTube – “Fear the Boom and Bust” a Hayek vs. Keynes Rap Anthem.

I’ve already posted this multiple times on other social media.  But I keep returning to listen again.  As you will see, the ending quotation caused me to disagree.

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YouTube – MasterLard.

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