Reformed Forum

Few passages have unsettled readers like Hebrews’ warning that it is “impossible … to restore again to repentance” those who fall away. Does it teach a sin beyond forgiveness? Marcus A. Mininger clears away the common misreadings and names the real danger the author confronts: the temptation to abandon Christ and re-lay a foundation in the old covenant alone. The warning, rightly heard, is not about a sin too great to forgive but about the impossibility of going back—and it sets up the covenant question taken up in the session that follows.
Dr. Marcus A. Mininger is professor of New Testament at Mid-America Reformed Seminary, with research on Paul and the General Epistles—including a forthcoming study of the warning passages in Hebrews.
Delivered at the 2026 Reformed Forum Theology Conference, “The Covenant of Grace: One Savior, One People, One Purpose,” at Lakeland Church in Gurnee, Illinois, on September 26, 2026.
Watch this address: https://youtu.be/9B4fCp9fems
Watch the full conference: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJykAlOwqPCA
reformedforum.org
Mentioned in this episode:
Christ the Center 1000
Christ the Center 1000

A greater Joshua has come. Benjamin L. Gladd takes another look at Jesus’s exorcisms, reading them against the Old Testament backdrop of Israel’s conquest. Where Joshua led a people into an earthly rest by the sword, Christ leads his people into a greater rest by the Spirit and the word, defeating the powers that held them captive. The kingdom does not advance by force but by the triumph of the one Savior who gathers one people to himself, and the exorcisms are a preview of that greater conquest.
Dr. Benjamin L. Gladd is executive director of the Carson Center for Theological Renewal and formerly professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson. He edits the Essential Studies in Biblical Theology series and has written widely on the use of the Old Testament in the New, including works co-authored with G. K. Beale.
Delivered at the 2026 Reformed Forum Theology Conference, “The Covenant of Grace: One Savior, One People, One Purpose,” at Lakeland Church in Gurnee, Illinois, on September 26, 2026.
Watch this address: https://youtu.be/UeBRopgfpmI
Watch the full conference: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJykAlOwqPCA
reformedforum.org
Mentioned in this episode:
Christ the Center 1000
Christ the Center 1000

When does the long-promised restoration of Israel take place? G. K. Beale gives particular attention to Acts 1:8 and its use of the Old Testament and argues that the restoration is already under way in the church's Spirit-empowered witness to the nations. God fulfills his covenant promises to Israel in Christ and carries them to the ends of the earth, as the one Savior gathers one people to himself. The answer has direct consequences for how we understand the church, the nations, and the promises of the covenant.
Dr. Gregory K. Beale teaches at Reformed Theological Seminary, Dallas. He is a leading New Testament scholar known for his work on biblical theology, the use of the Old Testament in the New, and the temple theme across Scripture.
Delivered at the 2026 Reformed Forum Theology Conference, "The Covenant of Grace: One Savior, One People, One Purpose," at Lakeland Church in Gurnee, Illinois, on September 26, 2026.
Watch the full conference: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJykAlOwqPCA
https://reformedforum.org
Mentioned in this episode:
Christ the Center 1000
Christ the Center 1000

Mark Gilbert joins Camden Bucey to examine what Protestants and Roman Catholics mean when they speak of Christian unity. Drawing on Gilbert’s conversion from Roman Catholicism, they contrast a unity grounded in the Spirit’s work through the Word with Rome’s institutional claim to mediate grace and gather humanity into one visible communion.
The conversation turns to Vatican II and Karl Rahner’s doctrine of the “anonymous Christian.” Camden and Mark consider Rahner’s anthropology, his account of God’s self-communication, and the influence of this framework on Roman Catholic inclusivism. They conclude with a pastoral call to speak with clarity and charity and to offer the assurance found only in the finished work of Christ.
Resources
Talking with Catholics About Jesus
The Nicene Creed
The Nicene Creed and the Nature of Christian Unity

Chapters
00:00 Introduction
03:48 Mark Gilbert’s journey from Roman Catholicism
10:50 The Rome Scholars and Leaders Network
15:04 Catholic inclusivity after Vatican II
20:36 Institutional and spiritual views of unity
26:43 The church as a continuing incarnation
28:58 Vatican II and Karl Rahner
35:36 Van Til, Rahner, and the image of God
45:18 The “anonymous Christian”
47:30 Roman Catholicism in a pluralistic world
52:06 Inclusivity, gender, and doctrinal development
58:19 Rahner, Ratzinger, and competing Catholic trajectories
61:28 The Roman Catholic Church as a “sacrament of unity”
65:33 Unity in truth and evangelizing Roman Catholics
70:14 Resources for churches and small groups
72:59 Conclusion

Mentioned in this episode:
Christ the Center 1000 Live in Austin, TX
Christ the Center 1000 Summit
Christ the Center 1000
Christ the Center 1000 Summit

The covenant of grace has its source in eternity, in the covenant of redemption: the eternal agreement of Father, Son, and Spirit to save a people. In "Before the Foundation of the World," Camden Bucey traces the historical covenant of grace back to that eternal counsel. Following Herman Bavinck, he shows that the covenant revealed in time rests on an unchanging foundation in the counsel of the triune God. Before creation and before the fall, God purposed one redemption with one Savior at its center, and the unity and certainty of the covenant of grace rest on that purpose. This opening address gathers up the first two conferences in the trilogy and lays the foundation for the addresses that follow.
Download the handout (PDF)
Dr. Camden M. Bucey is executive director of Reformed Forum and host of Christ the Center. He is the author of Karl Rahner in P&R’s Great Thinkers series and Defending Our Hope: An Introduction to Christian Apologetics.
Delivered at the 2026 Reformed Forum Theology Conference, “The Covenant of Grace: One Savior, One People, One Purpose,” at Lakeland Church in Gurnee, Illinois, on September 26, 2026.
Watch the full conference
reformedforum.org
Mentioned in this episode:
Christ the Center 1000
Christ the Center 1000