In this installment of Vos Group, Camden Bucey and Lane Tipton explore pages 392–395 of Geerhardus Vos's Biblical Theology and his rich, God-centered understanding of righteousness within the kingdom of God. They emphasize that true righteousness is never a human-centered moral construct but is rooted entirely in the character, will, and sovereign rule of the triune God. Vos contrasts biblical righteousness with pagan and modern distortions that treat ethics as merely horizontal or civic. Instead, righteousness is what agrees with, pleases, and exists for God—meaning believers live every moment coram Deo, before His face, in covenant fellowship.

The episode also unpacks how righteousness relates organically to the coming of God's kingdom: it is concurrent with God's reign, a gift worked by the Spirit, and graciously rewarded for Christ's sake. Camden and Lane draw out the pastoral comfort that Christ—who possesses unlimited dominion—reigns not only from heaven but also within the hearts of His people. This kingdom reality transforms daily obedience into worship, participation in God's redemptive purposes, and hopeful anticipation of our final inheritance in Him.

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Chapters

• 00:07 Introduction
• 08:49 Righteousness Is God-Centered
• 16:42 Living Before the Face of God
• 28:03 The Kingdom of God and Righteousness
• 32:45 Participating in the Kingdom
• 40:52 Righteousness and God's Sovereign Rule
• 43:55 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Lane G. Tipton

This is the second lesson in Dr. James Cassidy's Reformed Academy course, The Doctrine of the Church. This lesson covers the following topics:

00:00 The Church Militant and the Church Triumphant

04:51 The Church as Organization and Organism

10:13 Ecumenicity

19:51 The Attributes of the Church: The Church as Holy

Register for this free on-demand course on our website to track your progress and assess your understanding through quizzes for each lesson. You will also receive free access to dozens of additional video courses in covenant theology, apologetics, biblical studies, church history, and more: https://reformedacademy.org/course/do...

Your donations help us to provide free Reformed resources for students like you worldwide: https://reformedforum.org/donate/

#church #reformed #presbyterian #ecclesiology #reformedtheology

In this episode, Dr. Harrison Perkins speaks about his new book A Penitent People: The Doctrine of Repentance (Christian Focus). Perkins brings the warmth of pastoral ministry together with the clarity of confessional Reformed theology. He explains that repentance is often misunderstood—as if it were a dreary duty or an entrance requirement for grace. Instead, Scripture presents repentance as a saving grace, a divine gift through which Christ frees his people from sin's enslaving power and draws them into renewed joy. Repentance is not the price we pay to come to Christ; it is the fruit of having already been brought to Him by the Spirit through faith.

Together they explore key biblical passages (Psalm 51, Psalm 38, 2 Corinthians 7, Luke 3), the Reformed confessions, unhealthy distortions of penance, and the pastoral challenge of helping people see repentance not as a terror but as a mercy. Repentance doesn't merely involve feeling guilty—it involves embracing Christ, turning from sin, and tasting the joy that accompanies renewal. They also discuss what a repentant church culture looks like: a community marked by humility, honesty, grace, and a shared approach to the Lord's Table as those who come on equal footing—sinners saved by a gracious Redeemer.

Harrison Perkins (PhD, Queen's University Belfast; MDiv, Westminster Seminary California) is the pastor of Oakland Hills Community Church in Farmington Hills, Michigan. He is the author of Reformed Covenant Theology: A Systematic Introduction (Lexham Press 2024), Catholicity and the Covenant of Works (Oxford University Press, 2020), Righteous by Design: Covenantal Merit and Adam's Original Integrity (2024), Created for Communion with God: The Promise of Genesis 1–2 (Lexham Press, 2025), and a number of popular and academic articles. He regularly writes articles for Heidelblog and Modern Reformation.

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Chapters

• 0:00:07 Introduction
• 0:10:03 Background to the Book
• 0:16:22 Reframing Our Understanding of Repentance
• 0:20:39 The Joy of Repentance
• 0:24:35 The Reformed Confessions on Repentance
• 0:37:17 Psalms 38 and 143
• 0:43:26 Bearing Fruit in Keeping with Repentance
• 0:48:15 Distinguishing Fruits of Repentance from Acts of Penance
• 0:53:28 Illustrations of Repentance
• 1:00:41 Exodus 24, Covenant, and the Repentant Community
• 1:06:45 Hope for Readers of This Book
• 1:12:06 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Harrison Perkins

This is Christ the Center episode 936 (https://www.reformedforum.org/ctc936)

This is the first lesson in Dr. James Cassidy's Reformed Academy course, The Doctrine of the Church. This lesson covers the following topics:

00:00 The Church as the Covenant Assembly

07:18 The Church as the Dwelling Place of God

15:12 The Church as God's Chosen People

19:00 The Attributes of the Church: The Church as One

25:38 The Visible Church and the Invisible Church

Register for this free on-demand course on our website to track your progress and assess your understanding through quizzes for each lesson. You will also receive free access to dozens of additional video courses in covenant theology, apologetics, biblical studies, church history, and more: https://reformedacademy.org/course/do...

Your donations help us to provide free Reformed resources for students like you worldwide: https://reformedforum.org/donate/

#church #reformed #presbyterian #ecclesiology #reformedtheology

Reformed Forum is happy to introduce a major new publishing initiative: the Redemptive-Historical Bible Studies series. In this episode of Christ the Center, Camden Bucey is joined by Ryan Noha, Jim Cassidy, and Dan Ragusa to discuss how these resources embody Reformed Forum's vision for accessible, Christ-centered theological education.

This series begins with two volumes—Jim Cassidy's The Book of Job: Suffering unto Glory and Dan Ragusa's Exploring 2 Peter: The Promise and the Path—each drawn from Reformed Academy courses. Designed for adult Sunday schools and small groups, these studies help readers encounter Christ in every book of Scripture. Rooted in the conviction that all Scripture testifies to the sufferings and glories of Christ, these studies move beyond mere grammatical-historical observation to unfold the redemptive unity of God's Word.

Together, these books and their free companion courses mark the beginning of Reformed Forum's long-term plan: to produce faithful, Christ-centered studies for all sixty-six books of the Bible—so that the church may mature in Christ through the Word.

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Chapters

• 00:00 Word & Deed
• 01:18 Introduction
• 03:59 Our Plan for Reformed Academy
• 11:42 Writing the Books
• 18:26 Themes in Job
• 25:49 Themes in 2 Peter
• 29:27 The Importance of Studying the Bible Redemptive-Historically
• 42:21 The Relevance of Redemptive-History
• 43:58 The Textual Divisions of Job
• 49:57 How to Get the Books
• 52:24 Other New and Forthcoming Books
• 57:27 Conclusion

This is Christ the Center episode 935 (https://www.reformedforum.org/ctc935)

This is the twelfth lesson in Dr. William Wood's Reformed Academy course, Redemptive History and the Regulative Principle of Worship. This lesson covers the following topics:

0:00 Introduction

3:25 Old Testament Laws on Oaths and Vows

13:08 Old Testament Literary Forms of Oaths and Vows

19:30 The Faithful Vows of Jacob, Israel, and Hannah

27:07 The Negative Examples of Jephthah and Absalom

33:45 Oaths as Covenant Commitments

41:16 The Nazirite Vow

47:46 Oaths and Vows in the New Testament Epoch

Register for this free on-demand course on our website to track your progress and assess your understanding through quizzes for each lesson. You will also receive free access to twenty-seven additional video courses in covenant theology, apologetics, biblical studies, church history, and more: https://reformedforum.org/courses/red...

Your donations help us to provide free Reformed resources for students like you worldwide: https://reformedforum.org/donate/

#biblicaltheology #worship #reformedtheology

In this rich conversation, Camden Bucey sits down with Dr. Chad Van Dixhoorn—historian, pastor, and professor at Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte—to explore the remarkable work and enduring wisdom of the Westminster Assembly. Together, they discuss how the divines pursued theological clarity through collaboration, not compromise, and how their humility and respect shaped confessional standards that have guided the Reformed church for centuries.

Van Dixhoorn explains why the Westminster Confession should be seen as "a document with compromises, not a compromise document," how its chapters differ in tone and theological armor, and what this teaches us about confessional fidelity today. The conversation also explores doctrinal preaching—how to preach theology without losing the text—and why confessions must unite rather than constantly be rewritten.

With warmth and clarity, Dr. Van Dixhoorn reminds us that Reformed unity is not built on uniformity, but on the shared pursuit of truth before the face of God.

• 00:00 Introduction and Word & Deed Ministry

• 01:18 At the Reformation and Worship Conference

• 04:10 Introducing Dr. Chad Van Dixhoorn and the Westminster Assembly

• 06:00 Consensus, Collaboration, and Compromise in the Assembly

• 09:30 The Process of Drafting the Westminster Standards

• 12:00 Respectful Debate and the Spirit of the Divines

• 19:30 Comparing the Westminster and Heidelberg Traditions

• 25:30 Confessional Revision, Study Committees, and Doctrinal Reports

• 33:00 Doctrinal Preaching: From Text to Theology

• 40:50 The Joy of Teaching and Ongoing Research on the Divines

On today's episode of Theology Simply Profound, Rob and Bob continue to walk through the Book of Daniel. Having discussed the faithfulness of God's people in the midst of fiery trials in Daniel 3, we take a look at Nebuchadnezzar's response to that ordeal, he praises God or is it the gods?

This is the eleventh lesson in Dr. William Wood's Reformed Academy course, Redemptive History and the Regulative Principle of Worship. This lesson covers the following topics:

0:00 Introduction

3:58 Tithing in the Patriarchal Narratives

13:59 Tithing in the Mosaic Era

26:40 Tithing in Malachi

33:26 Giving in the New Testament

40:15 Giving as a Continuing Act of Worship

53:08 Concluding Observations

Register for this free on-demand course on our website to track your progress and assess your understanding through quizzes for each lesson. You will also receive free access to twenty-seven additional video courses in covenant theology, apologetics, biblical studies, church history, and more: https://reformedforum.org/courses/red...

Your donations help us to provide free Reformed resources for students like you worldwide: https://reformedforum.org/donate/

#biblicaltheology #worship #reformedtheology

In this episode of Christ the Center, Camden Bucey and Lane Tipton explore Geerhardus Vos's profound treatment of faith in the Gospel of John (pp. 390–392 of Biblical Theology). Vos unfolds faith not as an abstract belief but as a living, continuous union with the incarnate and ascended Truth—Jesus Christ Himself. John's theology binds faith and truth together: the Son comes down from heaven as the true light, true bread, true vine, and the Truth (John 1:9; 6:32; 15:1; 14:6). Faith, therefore, is a Spirit-wrought communion with the heavenly reality revealed in Him.

Tipton and Bucey trace how this Johannine vision lifts believers from the shadowy worship of the old covenant to true, eschatological worship "in spirit and in truth." Faith beholds Christ even now, anticipating the beatific vision. In contrast to philosophical or impersonal notions of truth, Vos insists that truth is personal, Trinitarian, and heavenly—rooted in the self-revealing God. Thus, saving faith is not blind trust but an intimate, knowing participation in the life of the risen Christ, a foretaste of the age to come.

Order Lane Tipton's book, Introduction to the Theology and Apologetics of Van Til

Chapters

• 00:07 Introduction
• 01:44 New Book: Introduction to the Theology and Apologetics of Cornelius Van Til
• 11:11 Faith in the Gospel of John
• 16:19 Defining Truth According to the Son
• 26:49 Heaven and the Truth
• 29:44 The Typological Dimension of Truth
• 34:32 Faith as the Human Relation to Truth
• 37:35 Faith Anticipates the Glorified Christ
• 40:56 Faith, Unbelief, and Knowledge
• 44:25 Faith and Beholding the Lord
• 46:48 Scripture and the Truth
• 52:00 The Need for More Redemptive-Historical Study in John
• 57:40 Conclusion