Resources

The following article by Ian Shaw is featured in the November 2025 issue of the Banner of Truth Magazine (no. 746). You can subscribe to the magazine in print or digital formats for eleven edifying issues each year. ‘It is ironic that of all the people one might expect to hold a low view of […]

The thirteenth volume of Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ exposition of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, Life in Two Kingdoms is a tour de force of Christian teaching on the church, the state, and the individual Christian’s relationship to the ‘higher powers’. One mark of Lloyd-Jones’ treatment is specific, straightforward application. One such application concerns capital punishment—the state’s use […]

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981), or ‘the Doctor’ of Westminster Chapel, was known for the clarity of his thought, the thoroughness of his exposition of Scripture, and the living vitality of his application of the Bible to the lives of his hearers. His treatment of Romans 13:1-7 exemplifies these qualities. To commend this teaching, which is […]

Life in Two Kingdoms, volume 13 of Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ series of expositions of Romans, covers Romans 13:1–7. This is, as Dr Lloyd-Jones notes, the locus classicus—the classic place—where the Holy Spirit, through Paul, addresses the question of the state: the ‘powers that be’. The following excerpt is taken from pages 51 to 53 of that […]

The following is from an appendix to Jock Purves, Fair Sunshine: Character Studies of the Scottish Covenanters by S. M. Houghton, former chief literary and editorial advisor to the Banner of Truth Trust. The story of religious covenanting in Scotland covers a long period, beginning in 1557 when certain men did ‘band thame selfis’ to maintain […]

John Howie’s The Scots Worthies offers stirring mini-biographies of the great roll-call of the Christian heroes of Scotland in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The following excerpt is the first of these: a short sketch of the life, ministry and death of Scotland’s first Reformation martyr. PATRICK HAMILTON was born about the year of our Lord […]

The Banner will release a new anthology of J. C. Ryle quotes next week (September 22). The following is the introduction to the work by the compiler, Rev. Daniel W. McManigal (Grace Presbyterian Church, Florida): ‘Of the making of many books, there is no end’ (Eccles. 12:12). What you are holding in your hand is […]

Banner trustee Donald John MacLean (Westminster Seminary UK) reviews Fred Sanders’ Fountain of Salvation: Trinity and Soteriology (Eerdmans, 2021, 221pp., pbk £19.99) in the latest issue of the Banner of Truth magazine. Fred Sanders is one of the leading contemporary evangelical voices on the doctrine of the Trinity and contributions by him on any matter related […]

John Calvin was a prolific correspondent. He wrote to civil rulers and dignitaries, to fellow reformers, and even to figures who would later stray from the path of orthodox biblical faith. One such man was the Italian Lelio Sozzini (1525–1562) who would, together with his nephew Faustus Sozzini (1539–1604,) spark the movement that became known […]

The following article appeared in the August–September edition of the Banner of Truth Magazine. To receive a monthly selection of helpful articles on theology, church history, the Christian life, and contemporary issues, subscribe to the magazine in print or digital formats. Introduction The Council of Nicaea, the first ecumenical council, was convened in AD 325 […]

The March 2006 issue of the Banner of Truth Magazine (no. 510) was dedicated to the memory of David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, on the 25th anniversary of his death. That issue included some fascinating detail about how Dr Lloyd-Jones (henceforth ML-J) assisted Arnold Dallimore in the writing of his two-volume biography of George Whitefield. The article […]

The following article is featured in the present issue (743–744) of the Banner of Truth Magazine, Aug–Sept 2025. The world is a needy place; it lies in darkness and the only remedy is gospel light. This should weigh on us, as it weighted on the Lord Jesus. As he himself was engaged in preaching the […]

The following excerpt is from Frans Bakker’s Praying Always, truly one of the hidden gems of the Banner’s backlist. ‘And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.’ — Luke 18:13 After the Israelites had […]

The following article appeared in the February 1982 issue of The Banner of Truth Magazine. In May, 1789, Adam Rankin, having travelled from Kentucky to Philadelphia for the first General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, made the following query: ‘Whether the churches…have not fallen into a great pernicious error by […]

The following excerpt is from John Calvin’s sermon A Rock of Offence, which is featured in Behold My Servant: Sermons on Isaiah 52:13–53:12, translated from the French by Robert White. Who will believe what we preach? And to whom will the arm of the Lord be revealed? 2 He will grow up before him like a young […]

The following excerpt is from Ned B. Stonehouse, J. Gresham Machen: A Biographical Memoir (1954; repr. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth 2019, 2020). The unwearied and effective manner in which Machen brought into sharp focus the centrality of the Christian view of history and its decisive significance for the understanding of the gospel must be noted. […]

The following is taken from Archibald Alexander, Thoughts on Religious Experience, page 279. “Let not the infirm and aged say that they can now do nothing for God. They can do much; and for ought they can tell, more than they ever did in the days of their vigour. It is a beautiful sight to see men […]

The following is taken from Archibald Alexander, Thoughts on Religious Experience, page 279. “Let not the infirm and aged say that they can now do nothing for God. They can do much; and for ought they can tell, more than they ever did in the days of their vigour. It is a beautiful sight to see men […]

The following is taken from Archibald Alexander, Thoughts on Religious Experience, page 279. “Let not the infirm and aged say that they can now do nothing for God. They can do much; and for ought they can tell, more than they ever did in the days of their vigour. It is a beautiful sight to see men […]

Beginning on 26 September 1680, John Owen preached three consecutive sermons from 1 Corinthians 15:31, opening up Paul’s statement ‘I die daily.’ At points he is intensely personal, preaching to himself, preparing for his own death which took place almost three years later on 24 August 1683. He was also aware of other noteworthy men […]

The Banner of Truth Trust has always been an organization which longs for the true revival of religion. Indeed, in many ways, that desire is the pulse beat of the Banner. But what revival is, and why we long for it, is often misunderstood. Indeed, the original preface to this volume begins by noting, “The […]

The following article is the editorial from the July 2025 issue of the Banner of Truth Magazine. You can purchase the issue here, and subscribe to the magazine for monthly features on Christian life, faith, and doctrine. If you were to ask the question, ‘Who needs a creed?’ the answer from many would probably be, […]

Dr Robert White has translated a number of the works of John Calvin for the Banner of Truth Trust, including a respected edition of the Reformer’s 1541 Institutes of the Christian Religion. Joshua Kellard, Communications Manager at the Banner, recently interviewed Robert by email, to find out a bit more about his background, translation work, […]

The following is taken from our forthcoming title Shapers of Christianity by Nick Needham, which presents brief sketches of twelve men from church history. The book will be released on 19 May and you can sign up for the waitlist here. The following sketch, on J. Gresham Machen, was first published as an article in […]

John Murray was arguably the premier Reformed theologian of the twentieth century. He was born and brought up in a small crofting community in the Highlands of Scotland and was shaped by the piety and confessional rigour of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland in which his father was a much respected elder. However, through […]