J. Chase Davis: Articles

The 2nd Amendment Without Its Doctrine Is Just Nostalgia

Chase Davis — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 19:35:10 GMT

Most Christian men know they should be able to defend their family but very few can tell you why from Scripture.

And that’s the area Isaac Botkin spends his life trying to close.

Isaac is one of the co-owners of T.REX ARMS, a family-owned tactical gear company in Centerville, Tennessee, and the author of Path of Liberty which is a compilation of the English and American founding documents that traces the through-line of armed resistance to tyranny back through King John, Charles I, James II, and finally George III. The argument is simple: the American colonists weren’t doing something new in 1776. They were doing the most English thing imaginable: reminding a king that he is under the law.

The American church has, for the most part, kept the cultural pillar of gun ownership while quietly demolishing its doctrinal foundation. We hold the position out of patriotism or nostalgia and not from the sixth commandment, not from Deuteronomy’s case law on home defense, not from Paul’s commands about providing for one’s family.

On episode 198 of Full Proof Theology, Isaac and I worked through the standard objections: turn the other cheek, Peter’s sword in the garden, Christ’s willingness to be beaten. We also dived into the harder questions of Protestant resistance theory: when does the lesser magistrate have a duty to oppose the greater? What does common law actually require, and what do red flag laws do to that foundation? Is there ever a legitimate restriction on the Second Amendment, or do we really hand backpack nukes to every American?

Discussions on these topics aren’t isolated to gun ownership. They also deal with government authority, crime prevention, and surveillance. Isaac calls AI the crossroads moment for America. Technology, he argues, is neutral but it is never wielded by neutral people. AI is going to be the gunpowder of our era: a massive force multiplier that will either centralize power in the hands of an unaccountable state, or decentralize it into the hands of a self-governing citizenry. The deciding factor isn’t the technology. It’s whether or not America repents.

Subscribers get early access below. For everyone else, the episode will release soon. If you’ve been carrying a Second Amendment conviction without a doctrine to ground it, this conversation will give you the scaffolding you’ve been missing.

Contentment for Anxious Age

Chase Davis — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 15:39:07 GMT

When you picture someone who is content, who comes to mind? Maybe you picture a hippy who is carefree and doesn’t really have any ambition. Perhaps you picture a monk of some form who is meditating. Maybe you can even picture yourself at a certain time in your life.

I remember the most content I have ever felt. I was in Sri Lanka with my wife. We were mi…

Without Men, We Lose

Chase Davis — Fri, 22 May 2026 16:35:33 GMT

Why does it seem Christian men have lost their fighting spirit? We hail from the men who tamed the frontier, defended our way of life, and did it all under the banner of Christianity. This wasn’t a casual religious affiliation. It was born out of a sincere belief that the Lord Jesus Christ is the one true God.

The Puritan settlers of New England received…

Can the King Save England?

Chase Davis — Mon, 18 May 2026 15:50:25 GMT

Britain is being shaken awake by its own collapse.

You can walk down a high street in a small English town and feel like you have moved to Lahore without ever having packed a bag. The shops are cash-only barbers fronting drug operations. The vape stores are run by criminal gangs. The hospital waiting rooms are packed with people who cannot communicate wi…

Jesus the Merciful, Compassionate, and Offensive

Chase Davis — Tue, 05 May 2026 14:31:16 GMT

Our family is in the season of birthdays. For the last two months and for the next two months, each member of my family has a birthday. These are kind of important to keep track of. It would be a shame to forget your child’s birthday. Not only that, but you’ve got to keep track of your parents’ birthdays and your siblings’ birthdays and your friends’ bi…

Lead Like Jael

Chase Davis — Mon, 04 May 2026 14:51:52 GMT

Emma Water’s book “Lead Like Jael” has created a bit of a stir amongst the truly reformed.

The premise is simple but the implications cut hard: the daily, ordinary faithfulness of a wife in her home is not a retreat from the cultural battle but is precisely what equips her to fight when evil comes knocking at the door. Jael didn’t pick up a sword. She u…

Why I Translated a 17th-Century Dutch Theologian No One Asked For

Chase Davis — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 20:19:13 GMT

I was deep in the corners of archive.org reading facsimiles from corrupted scans trying to make sense of what Thomas Hooker was saying about the the souls preparation for Christ. I love research. But this felt like research on dumb mode. It used to be that you would have to visit specific archival libraries to find original manuscripts if you were studying a historical subject or idea. Now with the internet at least you could find the sources online. That part is exciting but lacks the thrill of finding what feels like a treasure when you go to a library.

Thomas Hooker, “The Soules Preparation for Christ,” https://archive.org/details/bim_early-english-books-1475-1640_the-soules-preparation-f_hooker-thomas_1638_0/page/n1/mode/2up

If I was going to study Hooker, I couldn’t just read Hooker. I needed to read Perkins, Ames, Cotton. I had to read Dutch theologians writing in Latin. All in all there were over 300 books I needed to read and research in order to answer the question: How did the theological anthropology of Thomas Hooker inform his approach to Christian spirituality and community?

Somewhere in the middle of all this I started translating Cocceius. Johannes Cocceius was a Dutch federal theologian whose Summa Theologiae ex Scripturis Repetita shaped covenant theology on the continent and, downstream, in New England. I needed to read him in English, and I couldn’t. So I started translating it myself.

Months in, I went looking for an existing English edition to check my work against. Not a partial, not a selection in a journal but a real edition. There isn’t one. As far as I can tell, no complete English translation of Cocceius’s Summa has ever existed in print.

That got me thinking. I had been thinking of this as personal study. It wasn’t anymore.

I realized this wall I kept hitting in research, the late nights reading corrupted scans on a computer screen, wasn’t unique to me. It was common for anyone doing research. And more than that, the non-academic Christian didn’t even know where to look to find these resources from our Protestant history. The retrieval project has been working on this issue for at least a decade. Institutions like Davenant have been translating works, reprinting old works, and providing education for Protestant Christians on these old sources for years. I myself took a course on Richard Baxter’s political theology from and .

But some of the works of Baxter and many others still lay dormant for Christians today. Worse, many Christians don’t even know these figures exist.

So I built it. Commonplace.study.

Maybe you’re not a scholar. You’re just a Christian who wants to read good books (books that have stood the test of time and aren’t found on the shelves at Hobby Lobby). This site is for you too. You can read works that have never been translated into English. You can read works that have shaped Protestant history. You can read works that will deepen your walk with God.

Three years ago I was up late on archive.org trying to read corrupted scans of Thomas Hooker. Commonplace.study is the thing I needed then.

A clean library with readily accessible English translations of Zanchi, Keckermann, Cocceius. A library retrieval system that quotes real sources with real footnotes instead of telling you what it thinks they said. And study guide that pulls Scripture, commentary, and sermons into one place with notes you can export (I’m a pastor after all).

If you’re doing research, it will save you nights. If you're a curious Christian who suspects there's more in our Protestant inheritance than what's on the shelves at Mardel, now there is. Start a 14-day trial at commonplace.study and read the full translation of Cocceius Summa, plus the rest of the exclusive translations, while you decide.

The Tomb Is Empty. Go and Tell.

Chase Davis — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 16:16:55 GMT

Every year, during this season, something amazing happens. In my backyard, we have an apple tree. We don’t really care for it that well. I think we have a strand of lights connected to it. It got damaged a decade ago from a late freeze so it’s got some character. But without fail, every year that apple tree buds again. We don’t water it, or fertilize it…

Who Belongs in Jerusalem?

Chase Davis — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 19:10:34 GMT

Before Nehemiah came to Jerusalem there was no order. Imagine the situation: you had some Jews who were left behind, but there is no organization, they are in disarray, they have no worship, no identity. That’s what Nehemiah was stepping into when he was led by the Lord to return and rebuild the walls. Chaos and disarray.

In Nehemiah 11–12, we see the ci…

Most Baptists Don't Know What Their Own Confession Teaches

Chase Davis — Sat, 21 Mar 2026 13:48:27 GMT

Most Baptists don’t know what their own confession teaches about church membership.

The 1689 Second London Baptist Confession, the document that historically defines what it means to be a confessional Baptist, does not teach regenerate church membership. That may sound like clickbait but it’s not. In fairness, most churches who promote regenerate church membership actually practice what the 1689 calls professing church membership.

Professor Josh Tinkham, who teaches at Founders Seminary and pastors Covenant Community Church in Newark, Ohio, joined me on Full Proof Theology to walk through confessional subscription, the real presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper, and what baptism actually does according to our own tradition.

The average evangelical church in America operates with what’s called the “memorial view” of the Lord’s Supper. That means it’s just a symbol, a time of remembering, and if you have the Lord’s Supper too often (like weekly) it somehow loses its uniqueness.

Josh and I discussed how this view came about and how it is different than what the 1689 LBCF teaches. We go through the history of Baptists and their views on the Lord’s Supper (among many other things). This is the longest podcast I have recorded to date.

We also got into why Baptists used the word “ordinance” instead of “sacrament” (it’s polemical, not a denial) and why indefinitely delaying the baptism of young believers can do real spiritual damage to their walk with Christ.

Paid subscribers get early access below. Enjoy.

What Does National Renewal Look Like?

Chase Davis — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 14:54:50 GMT

The year 1517 may not mean much to you, but for many people, including myself, we remember the great Martin Luther who nailed his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg.

We tend to bring it to mind every Reformation Day, October 31, aka All Hallows’ Eve, aka Halloween. Nailing the 95 Theses to the church door was a declaration, like Doc Holliday qui…

They Promised Basic Training. They Delivered Group Therapy.

Chase Davis — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 14:45:33 GMT

There’s a tell in men’s ministry that most men sense but can’t name.

You sign up for the retreat. The branding is masculine with names like Basic Training, The Crucible, Survival School, etc. The promotional video has a voiceover that sounds like a movie trailer. Men hiking or praying with clenched fists. They’re staring meaningfully into campfires or th…

Love Is Not Flat

Chase Davis — Sat, 07 Mar 2026 19:50:28 GMT

One of the most clarifying books I’ve read in the last year is Alex Kocman’s Ordered to Love, out now from Founders Press.

The premise is simple but the implications are significant: love has a hierarchy. The ordo amoris, the order of loves, is embedded in the plain reading of Scripture, traceable from Genesis to Revelation, and it directly addresses nearly every contested question in the church and culture today. While some are cautious about it’s scholastic or Catholic associations, evangelicals would do well to heed the truth about God’s design for love.

When JD Vance brought this concept into the mainstream conversation a couple years ago, a lot of Christians were surprised to learn it had deep roots in Christian tradition. Liberals were very upset. Even some evangelical Christians were worried about the implications (probably because they are closet liberals). But the concept didn’t originate with Vance, or even with Augustine. You can find it in the pastoral epistles, the household codes, and even in the way Jesus himself ordered his affections even from the cross.

I endorsed Ordered To Love and I mean what I said: This work deals with some of the most contested ground in modern life with reasonableness and Biblical clarity.

Alex joined me on episode 194 of Full Proof Theology to walk through the book and talk about something I find particularly important: the danger of Christians using a supposed “love for the nations” as a socially acceptable cover for contempt toward their own people and culture (see also Roger Scruton on Oikophobia). Paid subscribers get early access below. Enjoy!

Joe Carter Wants You to Be Gelded

Chase Davis — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 17:35:35 GMT

The election of 2016 saw the rise of the memelords, those who created quick graphics to mock opponents and promote friends. I came late to the party but quickly took to the model. In the early days, some would call me a theobro or edgelord. I was not familiar with these terms (I have now become educated). The basic critique was that I was engaging in ta…

Remember Who You Are

Chase Davis — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 20:28:36 GMT

Why Can’t We Remember?

One of the most important and frequent commands God gives His people is to remember. God’s people are to remember what He has done: how He brought them out of Egypt, delivered them, and made them His people for His purposes.

Remembering is one of the most difficult things for people to do. We are frail and weak. We are forgetful and…

Conspiracy Against God’s Work

Chase Davis — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 17:53:29 GMT

One of the more difficult situations you may face in life is dealing with a false accusation. People will levy charges publicly about you that are untrue. And they do this in order to get you in trouble and turn people against you. This happens to many people from time to time, whether in small circles or big.

I think of my sons who often have disputes …

Usury and Division Among God’s People

Chase Davis — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 17:28:01 GMT

In Nehemiah 4, God’s people faced threats from outside their ranks. They were mocked, slandered, reviled, and even threatened with death. These are significant threats that come against those who follow Christ. In short, Satan and all those who hate God will oppose Christians.

Experiencing opposition often means you are doing important kingdom work, and…

An Egalitarian Church

Chase Davis — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 21:08:11 GMT

This was a talk delivered on January 21, 2026 at the Pre-Conference gathering for the Founders Conference. You can learn more about Founders Ministries here. Some of this talk includes excerpts from my upcoming book.

What’s the Big Deal?

Here’s my working assumption. I don’t think that if you’re reading this article, you’re the type of person who has wom…

Christian: It’s Time to Go on Offense in the Public Square

Chase Davis — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 18:26:50 GMT

If you haven’t heard, my next book, “Offensive Christianity: Restoring the Strength of Men in a Feminized Age” is available for pre-order here. Go buy it here. Do it now.

I’ll have some pieces and podcasts coming out to discuss “Offensive Christianity” soon. For now, here’s a piece originally published by the Center for Baptist Leadership and hits on so…

The Fall of the West: The Post-War Consensus and the Sexual Revolution

Chase Davis — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 19:59:52 GMT

This is a shorter version of a talk I gave at Trinity Church Denver this past fall. It was well attended and we had a lively discussion. I’m thankful for them hosting me. Think of this as a quick hitter reference guide to shed some light on an important meta-narrative that has basically permeated every aspect of our world.

What Is the Postwar Consensus?

B…