“He was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.”  Isaiah 53:5

At the very heart of our Christian faith is a precious red substance: the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. The sin-atoning death of Christ is remarkable for being at once, most offensive to the world, most treasured by the church, most astonishing to the mind, and most stirring to the soul. Simply put, the one thing we would least expect to hear about God is that He sent His own Son to die for our sins. Thus it is Christ’s precious blood that puts the amazing into grace, puts the wonderful into the gospel, and puts the marvelous into God’s plan of salvation. There can be no greater truth to be faced than the gospel message of the cross, no greater mystery to be considered, and no greater comfort to be received. The cross is a theme that Christians will meditate on forever without exhausting its wonder, and of the cross, God’s redeemed will sing with glorious praise to unending ages.

With this in mind, the Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology returns in 2008 to the doctrine of Christ’s atonement. There are many good reasons to return to this theme. First, the atonement is the divine work on which the entire structure of our salvation rests and the truth on which our doctrine of salvation must be built. Recent years have seen a pastoral neglect of the cross and an increasingly intensive doctrinal assault from the academy. This gives us a second important reason to return to the atonement: if Christians are to have any faith to defend at all, we will have to defend our gospel here.

Thirdly, there is a perennial need to proclaim and explain the doctrinal categories associated with the cross. What are atonement, substantiation, redemption, propitiation, expiation, and reconciliation? These are the themes of the 2008 PCRT, both to refresh the souls and minds of veteran believers and to instruct and inspire those coming to grips with the cross for the first time. Our plenary sessions will set forth the biblical doctrine of the blood of Christ.
 
We look forward to the contributions of some of the most able preachers of our time: Joel Beeke, Robert Godfrey, Richard Phillips, Philip Ryken, R. C. Sproul, and Derek Thomas. What a delight it will be to sit together before the cross, lifting up our minds and hearts in praise to God through the preaching and hearing of Christ’s precious blood.