New Kingdom Media

13/12/2022

This is a technical essay on Galatians, where I seek to prove that the Protestant doctrine of Justification by Faith Alone is the most accurate interpretation of the text.

This essay shall first give an overview of St Paul’s understanding of justification in his Epistle to the Galatians, looking at what he understood it to mean, how it is related to the Abrahamic Cov…

10/11/2022

Is it really true that under Sola Scriptura Protestants can't have any certainty about the Biblical canon? No! Find out why in my new video.

Responding to the argument that under Sola Scriptura we cannot know what Scripture is since the Bible doesn't tell us which books it consists of and yet it a...

30/10/2022

In commemoration of Reformation Day, here is the first of two lectures on the life and thought of Martin Luther! In this lecture, I look at the theological background of Luther's time, his life from birth until his conversion to salvation by faith alone in 1519, and his teachings regarding justification, free will, and the Law and Gospel distinction.

In commemoration of Reformation Day, River Devereux gives the first of two lectures on the life and thought of Martin Luther, the man who started the Protest...

29/10/2022

In this video I respond to a few points the Roman Catholic apologist Jimmy Akin made yesterday in his debate with Paul Facey, in the hope of defending Sola Scriptura.

A response to two points made by the Roman Catholic apologist Jimmy Akin during his recent debate with The Other Paul, in which I defend the doctrine of Sola...

03/10/2022

How and why does faith alone save us according to Anglican theology? And why do we also say that the Sacraments are salvific? This video looks at these questions and more!

River Devereux looks at how and why faith alone saves us in Anglican theology, and how we also say that the Sacraments are salvific. Quick explanation of how...

26/08/2022

An overview and clarification of the debate over Nicaea II and Sola Scriptura, looking also at how believers should obey their churches while also being bound only to Scripture.

In this video I give an update about what I've been up to lately, and what future content is to come. I also give an overview of the debate surrounding my re...

25/08/2022

J.C. Ryle on Private Judgement:
"When I say the right of private judgment, I mean that every individual Christian has a right to judge for himself by the Word of God, whether that which is put before him as religious truth, is God’s truth, or is not. When I say the duty of private judgment, I mean that God requires every Christian man to use the right of which I have just spoken — to compare man’s words and man’s writings with God’s revelation, and to make sure that he is not deluded and taken in by false teaching... This is private judgment. This is the right we are to exercise if we love our souls. We are not to believe things in religion merely because they are said by Popes or Cardinals — by Bishops or Priests — by Presbyters or Deacons — by Churches, Councils, or Synods — by Fathers, Puritans, or Reformers. We are not to argue, 'Such and such things must be true — because these men say so.' We are not to do so. We are to prove all things by the Word of God."

The last two articles I have written for The North American Anglican (which can be found here and here) looked at how the principle of private judgement was foundational for Protestantism and hence…

06/08/2022

Had a great conversation with Jonah Saller discussing Calvinism, Anglicanism, Free Will, and the Perseverance of the Saints. Look out for a good chat about Hebrews 6 as well!

River's Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc9i77qgn4y1yTat-LgjLMg---------------------------------------------------------Website: http://jonahsaller...

03/06/2022

This article looks at Herman Bavinck's summary of the Reformed view of how the Eucharist is involved in our salvation.

"The communion with Christ, which is strengthened in the Supper, is nothing other than that which is brought about by the Word as a means of grace. The sacrament does not add any grace to that which is offered in the Word. It only strengthens and confirms that which has been received by faith from the Word" - Herman Bavinck.

Herman Bavinck (1854–1921), was a Dutch Calvinist theologian, regarded by many as one of the greatest Reformed theologians in history. His seminal masterpiece, the four-volume Reformed Dogmati…

27/05/2022

A deep dive into the Anglican Formularies' teachings about the Eucharist and the traditionally Reformed understanding of it.
Is the Eucharist a sacrifice? Does it require a Priest to be "valid"? What does it being a Sacrament mean? Is it salvific? And how is Christ present in it? Find out how the Formularies answer all these questions and more!

River Devereux dives deep into what the Anglican Formularies and writings of Thomas Cranmer teach about the Eucharist. Questions that are answered include: i...

26/04/2022

To be saved we must be born again. This sermon looks at why we must be reborn, and how we can be through faith and Baptism. Also addressed is how faith alone saves us and yet Baptism is an instrument of saving grace according to the Anglican Formularies..

To be saved we must be born again. This sermon looks at why we must be reborn, and how we can be through faith and Baptism. Also addressed is how faith alone...

09/04/2022

This sermon looks at how Jesus' turning of water into wine at the wedding in Cana is a beautiful illustration of how the Gospel has superseded the Law and brought us freedom and joy.
For the full text of the sermon see here:
https://newkingdom.home.blog/2022/04/10/john-2-law-gospel-sermon/

This is an excerpt from my sermon on John 2:1-11, which looks at Jesus' turning of water into wine at the wedding in Cana as a symbol of the Law and Gospel d...

22/03/2022

How does faith alone save us and yet Anglicans say the Sacraments are also salvific? Here's one helpful way of looking at it.

How can we say faith alone saves us yet also affirm that the Sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist save us? Here's one basic way of understanding it.Bear i...

21/03/2022

Today we honour the life and work of Thomas Cranmer, who was burned to death on this date in 1556 because of his evangelical faith.
Cranmer was the Archbishop of Canterbury from the Roman Catholic period of Henry VIII's reign, through the evangelicalism of Edward VI, and finally into the persecutions of Mary I, which saw his own martyrdom.
Cranmer was the principal writer and editor of the Book of Common Prayer, thus cementing his legacy beyond the ecclesiastical world by permanently influencing and developing the English language with his beautiful prose. Cranmer was also the author of the Forty-Two Articles, which formed the basis of the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, and three of the Homilies, including the magnificent Homily 'Of the Salvation of All Mankind.' Thus, Cranmer is the man by far most responsible for the liturgical heritage and theological positions officially held by the Anglican Church in her Formularies.
Archbishop Cranmer's beliefs were marked by his upholding of the Reformed view of the spiritual real presence (thoroughly explained and defended in his 'Defense of the True and Catholic Doctrine of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of the Lord'), his strict adherence to Royal Supremacy, his fervent belief in Sola Scriptura, and his perception of the importance of Patristic teaching. Above all, at the heart of Cranmer's theology were the doctrines of unconditional election and justification by grace through faith alone, as explained in his aforementioned Homily on salvation, and masterfully expressed in the liturgies of the Prayer Book. Cranmer had a keen sense of the depravity of human nature and our inability to attain merit or righteousness before a just and holy God. However, Cranmer also deeply felt and believed in the immeasurable grace of God, which led Him to elect His chosen people to salvation by bestowing upon them a lively faith in His Son Jesus Christ, which alone justified them in His sight. Cranmer believed that by His fulfilling of the Law, and sacrificial death on the Cross, Jesus Christ had attained for the elect a righteousness that surpassed their sins and could be imputed to them everlastingly by faith. The Eucharist was therefore not to be seen as a propitiation to appease God, but as a celebration of the propitiation of Christ and spiritual communion with His body and blood.
Cranmer's personal life was marked by his famously forgiving nature (many stories exist of the kindness he even showed to enemies that sought his death), his devoted marriage to his wife Margarete (even at a time when clerical marriage was forbidden, thus forcing them to hide their love), his loyalty to the Monarch, and his passionate desire for an international evangelical council that would bring about unity.
The holy martyr Thomas Cranmer lives on today as millions of Anglicans across the world worship his Lord and God using the very liturgies he wrote, or ones closely inspired by him, and have their theologies grounded in the Confession of Faith that he is most responsible for.
To learn more about this great man and hero of the faith I would recommend the following works:
- Thomas Cranmer's Doctrine of Repentance by Ashley Null.
- Archbishop Cranmer's Immortal Bequest by Samuel Leuenberger.
- The Work of Thomas Cranmer edited by G.E. Duffield.
- Thomas Cranmer: A Life by Diarmaid MacCulloch.

07/03/2022

Who is Jesus? Why is that question the most important one we could ever ask? How is Jesus bigger than we could possibly imagine? And how does faith in Jesus differ from mere belief?

River Devereux looks at what John 1:1-18 tells us about who Jesus Christ is and how having faith in Him differs from mere belief.

28/02/2022

My much anticipated conversation with the the Rev. Canon Chuck Collins about Anglican theology and history is finally here!

A conversation with the Rev. Canon Chuck Collins on Reformation Anglicanism. The website of the Center for Reformation Anglicanism:https://www.anglicanism.in...

10/02/2022

Do we have any free will in our salvation? Can we freely choose to take the leap of faith? Must we continue to will our perseverance? Or is our salvation the work of God alone? Let's see what the Anglican Formularies, following Augustine, Luther and Calvin, have to say.

What do the Anglican Formularies, following Scripture, Augustine, Luther and Calvin say about the place free will has in our salvation? A fuller treatment of...

02/02/2022

“Can they do anything by the free determination of their own will? Again I say, God forbid. For it was by the evil use of his free-will that man destroyed both it and himself… when man by his own free-will sinned, then sin being victorious over him, the freedom of his will was lost” (The Enchiridion, ch.30).

This article provides an in depth look at the writings of St Augustine, showing that he believed man has no free will in regards to his salvation, which is instead attributed solely to the grace and work of God.

“[God] beyond doubt had the most omnipotent power of inclining men’s hearts whither it pleased Him…. He wrought this in them who works what He will in the hearts of men… He wrought within; He held their hearts; He stirred their hearts, and drew them by their own wills, which He Himself wrought in them… He has the wills of men more in His power than they themselves have”(On Rebuke and Grace, XIV.45).

https://newkingdom.home.blog/2022/02/03/st-augustines-refutation-of-free-will/

Following on from our articles on how John Calvin and Martin Luther denied that man has free will in regards to his salvation, we turn now to the man who stands behind them both: St Augustine. Luth…

26/01/2022

Do these Scriptural quotes show that we cannot turn our wills toward God and that all goodness in us was solely the result of His turning them without our cooperation?

This catalogue of Biblical quotes is intended to show that God’s Word reveals us to be so enslaved to sin that we cannot turn our wills towards God (and thus we have no free will) but that Go…

26/01/2022

St Basil the Great taught salvation by faith alone, and Baptismal Regeneration, just like Anglicans do.

Justification by Faith Alone:

Homily on Humility
"This is the perfect and pure boasting in God, when one is not proud on account of his own righteousness but knows that he is indeed unworthy of true righteousness and is justified solely by faith in Christ."

Letter 260
"He who stands in his sin should fall and die, and then should live in righteousness and rise, both of which graces our faith in Christ confers on us."

Salvation by Faith Alone:

Letter 234
"How then am I saved? Through faith. It is faith sufficient to know that God exists, without knowing what He is [in His essence]."

On the Holy Spirit, ch.18
"In delivering the formula of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, our Lord did not connect the gift with number. He did not say into First, Second, and Third, nor yet into one, two, and three, but He gave us the boon of the knowledge of the faith which leads to salvation, by means of holy names. So that what saves us is our faith."

Saving Faith produces Good Works:

Letter 295
"Unless illumined by faith in God, strictness of life avails nothing; nor will a right confession of faith, if void of good works, be able to present you before the Lord.
Faith and works must be joined: so shall the man of God be perfect, and his life not halt through any imperfection. For the faith which saves us, as says the Apostle, is that which works by love."

Salvific Grace Received through Baptism:

On the Holy Spirit, ch.10
"Whence is it that we are Christians? Through our faith, would be the universal answer. And in what way are we saved? Plainly because we were regenerate through the grace given in our baptism."

On the Holy Spirit, ch.12
"Faith and baptism are two kindred and inseparable ways of salvation: faith is perfected through baptism, baptism is established through faith, and both are completed by the same names. For as we believe in the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, so are we also baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost; first comes the confession, introducing us to salvation, and baptism follows, setting the seal upon our assent."

24/01/2022

“I should not want ‘free-will’ to be given me, nor anything to be left in my own hands to enable me to endeavour after salvation; not merely because in the face of so many dangers, and aversities, and assaults of devils, I could not stand my ground and hold fast my ‘free-will’… but because, even were there no dangers, adversities, or devils, I should still be forced to labour with no guarantee of success… Whatever work I had done, there would still be a nagging doubt as to whether it pleased God, or whether He required something more… But now that God has taken my salvation out of the control of my own will, and put it under the control of His, and promised to save me, not according to my working or running, but according to His own grace and mercy, I have the comfortable certainty that He is faithful and will not lie to me, and that He is also great and powerful, so that no devils or opposition can break Him or pluck me from Him” (Luther, The Bo***ge of the Will, p.313-314).

What follows is a summary of Martin Luther’s masterpiece (Luther himself said it was his greatest and most important achievement) ‘On the Bo***ge of the Will,’ wherein quoted passages from the work…

19/01/2022

"How often Paul repeats the sweet Name of Jesus! And because of the glory of His Name, we are assured that we will be guiltless before our Father. God is faithful, and if by faith you are sanctified now, you will remain sanctified until the very end. The Spirit Who called you into the embrace of Jesus will not let you down or let you go, and He will sustain you during this journey in the wilderness to the Promised Land, the Land of the Promise that God is good and gracious to those He has called."

Last night the 1662 Lectionary assigned 1 Corinthians 1 as our Evening Prayer reading, and it’s one of my absolute favourite chapters in the Holy Bible. Let’s take some time to read thr…

19/01/2022

I often get criticized for "over simplifying" Anglican theology. Have I over simplified some things? Yes. Has that led to errors in the past? Definitely yes. But, my whole aim with my blog and channel is to simplify things!

I have absolutely zero interest in engaging in high level debates or being some kind of "intellectual," I really do not care. My goal is simple: explain Anglican theology to the average layman. Explain the Formularies to the sort of person who in all honesty isn't going to read all the Homilies or Cranmer's 'Defense of the Lord's Supper.' You know, regular people.

My audience is not PhD scholars or anyone who fancies themselves to be "wise" - no - instead, I would simply like those who have an outside interest in Anglicanism and those who meekly attend an Anglican church to understand the overall scope of things. Why? Because I think Anglican theology can be very beneficial to our understanding of God and our devotion to Jesus Christ.

I hope I am improving in that goal; I've certainly made mistakes and said things that I regret but that's the way life is. May God help me.

19/01/2022

An explanation of Calvin's teachings on how we do not have free will, with an extensive amount of quotations.

I said in my previous article that Calvin denied that man has free will. Since then, a few people (all of whom uphold free will, of course) have replied that Calvin in fact did believe in free will…

17/01/2022

Following Luther and Calvin, the Articles and Homilies of Anglicanism deny that we have any free will, instead, the turning of our wills toward God, and our resulting faith and good works, are entirely produced in us by God's unmerited grace and are in no way the consequence of any choice on our part.

Preamble This article will endeavour to prove that the Anglican Formularies clearly reject the idea that man has free will. By this we mean the notion that man can freely choose to have faith in Go…

14/01/2022

This exhaustive catalogue of Biblical references show that God in His sovereignty has direct control over human hearts, human affairs, and all of history.
This is the first entry of a series of articles on Free Will.

What follows is a large catalogue of Biblical quotations that show how God is totally sovereign over our lives. First we have quotations that simply describe God as being sovereign, both generally …

13/01/2022

"... just as I would never want my beloved son to feel that he has to earn my love, or fear that I would ever cast him out, I do not want my brothers and sisters in Christ to feel that they have to earn God’s love or fear His abandonment... if you do have faith in God as revealed in Jesus Christ, and if you are repentant about your depravity, genuinely striving always towards righteousness, you can be assured that just as God gave those things to you unconditionally as He purposed to do before you were born, He loves you, and will bring you into eternal life with Him in the Kingdom of Heaven."

On January 4th 2022, my son Basil was born, and I became a father. Since then, I’ve been reflecting in particular on the unconditional love our Heavely Father has for His children, inspired b…

27/12/2021

Jesus' Incarnation bridged the divide between God and Man and allowed for our nature to be recreated so that we will one day be sinless like He was, and in that we rejoice!

Jesus' Incarnation bridged the divide between God and Man and also allowed for our nature to be recreated so that we will one day be sinless like He was, and...

12/12/2021

Want more discipline in your prayer life? Want your prayer time to be more substantial? Want to read the Bible in a year? Try out this traditional devotional practice performed by Anglicans for centuries!

The Daily Office is the quintessential Anglican form of prayer and Scriptural devotion, this video summarises what it is and guides you on how to do it. To d...