'Theology' Tagged Posts
Getting John 1:12 Right: Should You Invite Jesus Into Your Heart?
Is it useful to critique any person’s or ministry’s method of evangelism? For one thing, there are not enough people calling on others to follow Christ. Should I attempt to cripple anyone’s efforts in the slightest way, even for the few who might listen to me? I hope I will not. I would rather think that I’m improving our evangelism. And it does need improving. The apparent results of the method of evangelistic appeal built upon the verse in question…
An Amazing Promise NOT for You (Jeremiah 29:10-14)
10 “For thus says the LORD, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.11 For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.12 Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.13 You will seek Me and…
Good Works Are Not Your Problem
Rather than writing off good works, the Apostle Paul considered good works and faith to be the closest of friends. The Christian life is “faith working through love” (Gal 5:6). In fact, Christ “gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good deeds.” Good works are a major reason Christ died for you. Don’t think little of them. Rather, it is Mosaic Law-works (such…
An Outline for Understanding Issues of Conscience and Legalism
Most of us have seen the movie “Chariots of Fire” and have been greatly encouraged by the example of Eric Liddell who refused to compete in races on Sunday. But if a Christian held a different position regarding what is allowed on Sunday, could that believer be just as dedicated to Christ with his differing opinion? Convictions of personal conscience are those areas where a strict absolute is not laid down for us in the Bible. Having such personal convictions…
Seeking Miraculous Healings: Musings and Cautions
“While John performed no sign, yet everything John said about this man [Christ] was true” (John 10:41). Could anyone doubt that God was powerfully at work through the life of John the Baptist? Jesus said there was none like him (Matt. 11:11) and assigned him a strategic place of importance in the unfolding history of redemption. Like many great saints to follow, he did not do any miracles. Should we consider the miraculous essential to our Christianity? Yes, of course,…
Confessionism: The Misuse of 1 John 1:9
Do you believe that you must confess every known sin to God? For many years earlier in my ministry, I made statements such as the following: “In order to be restored to fellowship with God and to be filled with the Spirit you must confess every known sin to God.” What am I to think of such instructions now? Sadly, this teaching adds a layer of requirement for our forgiveness not intended by God. And it may lead to confusion…
If God is Good, Why Do So Many Bad Things Happen?
My visit to the small apartment of an Asian couple in the Chicago suburbs was disturbing. Here was a man who had innocently gone to work one day, but was caught in the crossfire of a gunfight. He was paralyzed from the neck down. What do you say to a man like that? “If God is all-powerful and is also good, why is there pain in the world?” The question is among the most difficult to answer, especially when we…
Understanding God – "Basic Truth" series, #2
How does the Bible describe God? God is Perfect We might describe our mother as “a good person.” We might say that an honest judge is “a just man.” But only God is perfectly good and perfectly just. All human beings, even those we admire and trust, are, by nature, imperfect, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). But “As for God,” David writes in Psalm 18:30, “His way is perfect.” God is…
The Guarantee of Holiness
“Say not that thou hast royal blood in thy veins and art born of God,” said puritan William Gurnall, “unless thou canst prove thy pedigree by daring to be holy.” There is no such thing as an unholy Christian (at least in any ongoing sense.) Can Christians commit any sort of sin? Yes. Can Christians repeatedly commit sin? Yes. Can Christians commit the worst of sins? Yes. But it is inconceivable that a person could be a Christian without holiness…
Two Angels on a Bloodied Slab
Guest Author: Brian Verrett Peter and John raced to the tomb to look for their Lord (John 20:3–4). Though John won the race, Peter stooped and looked into the tomb seeing only linen cloths, a face cloth, and empty space (vv. 4–7). John then looked, saw the same, and went home with Peter (vv. 8–10). Mary remained outside the tomb weeping (v. 11). When she looked into the tomb, she saw more than empty space. Surprisingly, “she saw two angels…
In A Body
What did the writers of the New Testament mean when they claimed that Jesus Christ was resurrected? It certainly was not that he only appeared to be resurrected when in fact it did not happen. That is, resurrection to these writers did not mean that he appeared in some apparitional way, or some imaginary way, or some spiritualized way similar to the kind of thing a person might say about a deceased relative (i.e. “Mother is here with us whenever…
The Law of Love: New Covenant Primacy
The Law of Moses and the Prophet’s admonitions are all fulfilled in the law of love. “Treat others the way you would have them treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets” (Mt. 7:12). The New Covenant responsibility for the believer is similar: “Bear one another’s burdens and thereby fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal 6:2). Or, put another way, “Do not look out for your own personal interests, but for the interests of others” (Phil 2:4). Love…
Imagine This: God’s Astonishing Thoughts About You
Imagine God planning the universe, intending to make the field of his great interest the world he would make. He envisioned establishing a kingdom for His Son, and in his own mind he populated that kingdom with people of his own choice to become his adopted children through the Son for the praise of his glorious grace. You are among those he chose to bless in Christ who would redeem you, forgiving every sin you would ever commit, making you…
Appearances of Jesus to Paul
Paul saw Christ. There, on the road to Damascus in Syria the future apostle met up with a vision of Christ that shaped his entire future, the future of the Christian world, and of the world in general. Later, in his defense to King Agrippa, he recalled what Christ said to him on that day: “But get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have APPEARED to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not…
Some Comments on the Wretched Man in Romans 7
Romans 7:13-25 is a difficult passage, but many concerns vanish when chapters 6 and 7 are analyzed together. Four questions are answered that arise in the Jewish mind related to grace and Law (Rom 5:20-21). This is in a section principally addressed to Jew-born believers, but not without benefits for the Gentile believer. Each of the questions are answered by “absolutely not!”. Here they are: 1. Are we to continue in sin that grace may increase? Absolutely not!….Paul uses the…
Review of Studies in Perfectionism by Benjamin Warfield
Warfield, Benjamin B., Studies in Perfectionism. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1958. 464 pages. B. B. Warfield is known as one of the major exponents of the Reformed view of theology. He studied at what is now Princeton University and Seminary, graduating from the later in 1876. He taught first at Leipzig, Germany but was later the successor to Archibald Alexander Hodge as professor of Systematic Theology at Princeton Seminary. He died in 1921. During his life he earned several distinguished degrees.…