Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
In this concluding installment of Vos Group’s extended journey through Geerhardus Vos’s Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments, Camden Bucey and Lane Tipton reflect on one of the most significant themes in Vos’s account of redemptive history: the relationship between the kingdom of God and the church. Focusing especially on Matthew 16 and Jesus’s promise, “I will build my church,” they explain that Christ is not introducing an unrelated people, but bringing the covenant people of God into a new, eschatological mode of existence through his death, resurrection, ascension, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
The church is not a mere institutional add-on to the kingdom. Rather, in its inaugurated form, the church is the kingdom of God as constituted by the Spirit of the ascended Christ. The episode also explores the church’s indestructible life, the meaning of the “gates of hell,” the centrality of the means of grace, and the already/not-yet character of the kingdom’s coming. Along the way, Camden and Lane also mark the end of this long-running series on Biblical Theology and preview the next phase of Vos Group on The Teaching of Jesus concerning the Kingdom of God and the Church.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Vos Group finale
01:06 Save the date for the 1,000th episode celebration
07:23 Transition from Biblical Theology to The Teaching of Jesus concerning the Kingdom of God and the Church
09:01 Matthew 16 and the meaning of “my church”
12:14 Continuity and redemptive-historical newness in the church
15:28 Pentecost, Acts 2, and the constitution of the church
21:56 The church after Christ’s ascension and the new mode of life in the Spirit
29:23 The indestructible life of the kingdom and the gates of hell
35:29 The means of grace, preaching, and the keys of the kingdom
36:52 The nearness of the kingdom and inaugurated eschatology
42:10 The church is not merely instrumental to some higher kingdom purpose
49:20 The church as the kingdom of God in inaugurated form
53:20 Pilgrim identity and longing for consummation
56:42 Closing reflections and upcoming resources
Listen and watch: reformedforum.org/ctc957
#ChristTheCenter #VosGroup #ReformedTheology #BiblicalTheology #Ecclesiology
In this concluding installment of Vos Group’s extended journey through Geerhardus Vos’s Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments, Camden Bucey and Lane Tipton reflect on one of the most significant themes in Vos’s account of redemptive history: the relationship between the kingdom of God and the church. Focusing especially on Matthew 16 and Jesus’s promise, “I will build my church,” they explain that Christ is not introducing an unrelated people, but bringing the covenant people of God into a new, eschatological mode of existence through his death, resurrection, ascension, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
The church is not a mere institutional add-on to the kingdom. Rather, in its inaugurated form, the church is the kingdom of God as constituted by the Spirit of the ascended Christ. The episode also explores the church’s indestructible life, the meaning of the “gates of hell,” the centrality of the means of grace, and the already/not-yet character of the kingdom’s coming. Along the way, Camden and Lane also mark the end of this long-running series on Biblical Theology and preview the next phase of Vos Group on The Teaching of Jesus concerning the Kingdom of God and the Church.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Vos Group finale
01:06 Save the date for the 1,000th episode celebration
07:23 Transition from Biblical Theology to The Teaching of Jesus concerning the Kingdom of God and the Church
09:01 Matthew 16 and the meaning of “my church”
12:14 Continuity and redemptive-historical newness in the church
15:28 Pentecost, Acts 2, and the constitution of the church
21:56 The church after Christ’s ascension and the new mode of life in the Spirit
29:23 The indestructible life of the kingdom and the gates of hell
35:29 The means of grace, preaching, and the keys of the kingdom
36:52 The nearness of the kingdom and inaugurated eschatology
42:10 The church is not merely instrumental to some higher kingdom purpose
49:20 The church as the kingdom of God in inaugurated form
53:20 Pilgrim identity and longing for consummation
56:42 Closing reflections and upcoming resources
Listen and watch: reformedforum.org/ctc957
#ChristTheCenter #VosGroup #ReformedTheology #BiblicalTheology #Ecclesiology



![William Dennison | Van Til and the Problem of Evil
In this episode, we are joined by Rev. Dr. William D. Dennison, pastor of Emmanuel Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Kent, Washington, to reflect on Cornelius Van Til’s student paper “Evil and Theodicy” and the enduring challenges of explaining evil in a world governed by a sovereign, good God. Dennison has edited The Problem of Evil, a new volume that includes an edition of this paper and a helpful introductory essay that brings Van Til’s paper in dialogue with contemporary thinkers.
Dr. Dennison offers a deeply personal and theological meditation on Van Til’s conviction that God himself is the only sufficient theodicy. We explore how the mystery of evil cannot be unraveled by philosophical speculation or evidentialist reasoning, but only understood through the revelation of the triune God in Scripture. The conversation moves from Van Til’s early insights as a seminary student to the contemporary relevance of his critique of autonomy, his rejection of theistic rationalism, and his insistence on beginning all thinking with the self-attesting Christ of Scripture.
Along the way, Dr. Dennison shares biographical reflections on Van Til, his own pedagogical experiences in teaching apologetics, and the pastoral importance of grounding theological inquiry in the redemptive narrative of Scripture rather than speculative philosophy. This episode is a must for those who desire to think confessionally and presuppositionally about one of the most difficult questions in theology.
Chapters
[0:00:07] Introduction
[0:05:04] Background to the Project
[0:16:55] The Historical and Biographical Context of Van Til’s Student Paper
[0:22:55] Van Til’s Main Point
[0:28:21] God Is His Own Defense
[0:35:26] Van Til and Plantinga’s Free Will Defense
[0:41:59] The Fourfold Estate of Man
[0:54:42] Van Til’s Critique of Kant
[0:58:40] Treating Theodicy as a Fundamentally Religious Matter
[1:08:45] Conclusion William Dennison | Van Til and the Problem of Evil](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/cm0K_otPjNo/mqdefault.jpg)






