Welcome to The 1646

So what is The 1646 all about, well the 1646 is the ministry that we’re creating with the vision that it would be a place where non-Christians and Christians of all stripes can come to know of the Reformed faith. With that said, our articles, blogs, this podcast, anything we seek to publish would be geared towards reaching those who have not heard of the Reformed faith which means that all of our outreach are self-consciously written and produced in such a way that the Reformed faith can be understood by others who may not necessarily be acquainted with the particular nuances and jargon that the Reformed tradition often uses.

But this does not mean that we don’t use words such as "justification, sanctification, election, covenant, or perseverance and so on" - because we certainly plan to discuss very difficult topics and life situations - but it does mean that we are conscious of defining them in confessionally appropriate yet accommodating ways to reach those who genuinely wish to learn but may find the undefined jargon causing unnecessary obstacles. 

We are also scriptural, confessional, and presbyterian. 

Scriptural: well, first it means that we agree with and proclaim the cry of the reformation that the scriptures alone provide all truth necessary for our salvation and spiritual life and that it is taught either explicitly or implicitly in Scripture. And the WCF outlines this for us, is wcf1.2. So with that we would also affirm that it isn’t just the words of Christ in the NT that are most significant, but that it is the triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), who speaks with equal and absolute authority in and through every part of scripture. 

Confessional: all churches in the world are credal and confessional. But there is a difference between those who write their confessions down, and those who do not. We affirm the doctrinal standards of the WCF, and the WLC and WSC, which we believe to be faithful to the word of God. What confessions do is create a kind of barrier around the word of God preventing someone from inventing new and wayward doctrines that could end up being harmful. Being confessional however does not mean that we hold these confessions above the scriptures. The WCF will help us here once again; wcf 1.10

“The Supreme Judge, by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture.”

Presbyterian: "Presbyterian" refers to our form of church government. Each congregation is under the oversight of those elected as elders, who are also part of the higher courts known as presbyteries and Synod, each church’s elders generally being referred to as a session. And there are definitely other specific beliefs and nuances to presbyterianism, but we’ll get into those in another episodes. 

So really all of this points to our underlying goal, and that is to proclaim the sufficiency of scripture for all of life. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says “  All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” And really the idea is that all of scripture - the entire OT and NT - are given to christians by God to make us “perfect” in Christ. And the sad thing is much of christiandom is unaware of the immense power that the scriptures, the Gospel can have in a persons life, and how God would have us use the scrptures. So it is our hope to help people see how the word of God can be used to heal the most broken people and how it can make those who know Christ, perfect and mature. 

What we are not: we’re not trying to replace other blogs, or podcasts, but rather come along side them and be another voice that harolds the excellencies of Christ to a very needy world. There are many other great christian podcasts, that we hope you listen to, and we pray that ours is simply added into your rotation. 

We’re also not a church. God has blessed us with a massive amount of technology to listen to theology all day, everyday, but nothing can replace being a member of a local Gospel believing body of believers, gathered together to partake in worship, and in for the obedience of Christ and the faithful partaking of the sacraments. So we pray that you would listen to us and many others, but let this not replace you being a member of a church.  

Dive on in! The water is nice, warm, and ready for baptizing ;)