Living Selflessly with Your Wife
God’s Word makes it clear that it is the responsibility of every husband to live with his wife in an understanding way.
A godly husband enjoys the freedom and intimacy of the marriage relationship and relishes his wife as his dearest companion and closest friend. Though any marriage is at times difficult and though any relationship will at times demand effort and require work, he is committed to enjoying his wife and delighting in the unique joys... Continue Reading
Biblical Worldview: Economics — Part 1
What does the Bible actually say about wealth, poverty, and economic inequality?
For the Christian, there are additional factors regarding wealth in the fallen world. Christians are called to be stewards of their labor and money and to use them for God’s kingdom. They do this by first providing for themselves and their loved ones (1 Tim. 5:8; 2 Thess. 3:10-12) and also caring for those who... Continue Reading
Nigeria is the Deadliest Country for Christians
Northern Nigeria’s blasphemy laws violate international human rights and they’re inconsistent with all Nigerian’s constitutional right to religious freedom.
Yahaya Sharif-Aminu is a singer-songwriter in his early 20s. He’s a Sufi Muslim, making him a religious minority in northern Nigeria’s mostly Sunni population. He shared some of his songs in a WhatsApp group in 2020. Some of the members in the WhatsApp group, however, accused Yahaya of committing “blasphemy” against the “prophet” Muhammad. Soon... Continue Reading
Prosper of Aquitaine and His Defense of God’s Grace
Letting God decide the future of each soul freed Prosper to preach to others without wondering whether or not they were of the elect. He was in fact one of the first Christian voices to speak of bringing Christ outside the Roman Empire, and his De vocatione omnium gentium (“The Call of All Nations”), was... Continue Reading
Faith Which Works is in Christ Alone
Justifying Faith is Lively Love in a Living God
True justifying faith will always be accompanied with good works, or fruit which comes from it. There is a natural change to the being as the image of God is restored that moves the justified to seek to be sanctified. However, we are never to confuse the graces which are born out of faith for faith... Continue Reading
The Peculiar Glory of Unexpected Discoveries
Three tools to chip away the veneer of strength we think we have in order for people to discover the glory of God in an unremarkable and unexpected place.
If we continue to live out our faith in carefully selected screen grabs, presented with post production filters that only show our ‘good side’, we may think that the charade is somehow advancing the gospel—but it’s not. We need to remove the distance. We need to show people the full frame. Living life up close... Continue Reading
How the False Promises of the Sexual Revolution Created a New Religion
Identitarianism: The New Religion
Mary Eberstadt’s new book, “Adam and Eve After the Pill, Revisited,” agues, not only has the sexual revolution been disastrous for American society, politics, and churches, but it has become a simulacrum of a religion, with its own dogmas, creeds, and saints. One of the most arresting substories of Eberstadt’s book is how the sexual... Continue Reading
A Tale of Two Student Protests
What Judge Duncan experienced at Stanford, while disgusting, is no innovation.
The difference between my protesters and those berating Judge Duncan is this: Mine had not lost sight of the fact that they and I both share a common humanity. Nor had they lost sight of the purpose of public discourse: to persuade opponents to change their views for the better, not to terrify them into... Continue Reading
Confessions and Worship
Historic creeds and confessions assist the church in carrying out four principal responsibilities.
When Christians publicly confess the truths that the church has always confessed, God is distinguishing between the church and the world—as well as between true and false churches. Historic doctrinal standards help draw a sharp line between orthodox teaching and false teaching in the articulation of “the faith that was once for all delivered to... Continue Reading
The Second Life of a Christian College in Manhattan Nears Its End
The King’s College, which draws students from around the country to Manhattan, has not been able to recover from enrollment and financial losses.
The King’s College is a small school. But as the city’s only high-profile evangelical college committed to “the truths of Christianity and a biblical worldview,” it is more well known than its enrollment numbers — over 600 students before the pandemic, down to roughly half that now — might suggest. Its sudden decline has drawn... Continue Reading
Heroes, Villains, and Conversation Partners: A Call to Rethink Church History
We ought to approach church history from the explicit goal of trying to cultivate virtue. And that means history must have heroes and villains.
Three cheers for all those who approach church history looking for heroes and villains. May the tribe of passionately subjective historians increase, may their efforts always spur us on to love and good works (Heb. 10:25). Similarly, three cheers for all those who know the value of historically diverse conversation partners. May we all long... Continue Reading
The Undeniable Importance of Fathers, For Now and Eternity
As it turns out, the consequences of fatherlessness are not only temporal, but eternal.
Of course, no earthly father can represent God perfectly. We mess up, and when we do, we must ask forgiveness from God and from our children. It is also important to note that God promises to be a father for the fatherless. If your dad failed you, know that there’s a Father who will never forsake you, Who redeems... Continue Reading
5 Misconceptions about Wealth
The struggle for many Christians is that our thinking about wealth is often shaped by influences outside the Bible.
Some people have no wealth because they’ve devoured it for selfish ends (Prov 21:20). But when a person wisely sees their wealth as not “mine” but the Lord’s, there is a strong motivation to collect more of it and put it to good use in service of others. The Bible does not lay a guilt... Continue Reading
God Will Not Reject His People
3 simple effects that this wonderful promise of God should have.
Theological systems that reject the eternal security of the believer find motivation for outward deeds in earning or keeping one’s salvation. Lives are spent doing good deeds in hopes that they can merit the favor of God. But for those whose confidence rests in God’s saving power alone, we go forth serving Christ with joy... Continue Reading
Biblical Worldview: Parents’ Rights and Responsibilities in Education
God makes it very clear that he holds parents, and not public schools, primarily responsible for the content and quality of their children’s education.
Take back the rod. God gave it to you, not to the government. Take back your kids. God gave them to you, not to the government. This will be for God’s glory. And, I would suggest, this would be the first, and most significant step, to taking back our country. One of the most... Continue Reading
How do Christians Approach the Law?
Do Christians Obey the Old Testament Law?
If the ceremonial and civil/judicial laws are no longer binding, why are there so many in Scripture? Paul makes clear that the entire Old Testament was written for our benefit (Romans 15:4). In truth, these laws are useful to Christians because there are uses of the law other than obedience. The Law restrains sin and... Continue Reading
What Knowing God Involves
Knowing God is a relationship calculated to thrill a person’s heart.
Knowing God involves, first, listening to God’s word and receiving it as the Holy Spirit interprets it, in application to oneself; second, noting God’s nature and character, as his word and works reveal it; third, accepting his invitations and doing what he commands; and fourth, recognizing and rejoicing in the love that he has shown... Continue Reading
If God Would Outsource His Sovereignty
The reality, of course, is that God does not ask what gifts of his providence we would like to receive from his hand.
It falls to us to receive what God assigns—to receive it with trust in his goodness and with confidence in his purposes, willing and eager to steward it all faithfully for the good of his beloved people and the glory of his great name. I want you to imagine that, at least for a... Continue Reading
Heaven Won’t Fit in Your Head
Our minds cannot begin to hold the multidimensional mysteries of the universe; it cannot retain ages, nations, or species, much less shape them.
We can handle only momentary glances of truth into the preexistent Godhead. Awe is the aim, not divine understanding. “Such knowledge,” the creature confesses, “is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it” (Psalm 139:6). I have long been a mental maniac. I ruminate over unanswerable questions, turning the concepts of... Continue Reading
Cancel Culture Is Not Speaking Truth to Power. It’s Just Speaking Power.
Cancel culture is muscle. It is thousands of people hurling accusations at an unprepared individual.
Online cancellation mobs are instruments of injustice. They don’t protect victims, they create them. They don’t create change. They stay in their digital plot. And they don’t just harm the targets. They harm the participants. They poison the imagination, they dehumanize, and they reinforce a self-righteous sense that such a fate must be deserved. I want... Continue Reading
Written in the Book
He takes our names with him wherever he goes.
The God who spoke the world into being wrote your name in his own blood on his hand. One day, when the heavens are ripped away and the earth remade in fire, you and I can sit with him and look at them together. We will find…our names, written before time, written in time, written forever.... Continue Reading
The After-Effects of Jesus’ Death: Matthew 27:50-53
The first effect of the death of Jesus in the gospel of Matthew is the tremendous visible signs which accompanied that moment.
It is understandable for the authors to only briefly mention these miraculous events as they point towards, support, and otherwise affirm and magnify the singular person of which each of the gospels is about—Jesus. One of the strangest few verses in all of the Bible, describes the circumstances around the death of Christ. Matthew,... Continue Reading
Bank Collapses & Good Investments
If you want to change the world, limit investing in the limited and maximize your investment in the infinite.
Invest in the Kingdom of God. Give your time, talents, and treasures to God’s mission on earth. Pour out your life—whether you eat, drink, work, rest, or whatever you do—with that aim in mind. Be a hearer and a doer of His Word. And you will bear thirty, sixty, or even a hundredfold return (Matthew... Continue Reading
The Eternality of God
Although we clearly cannot grasp fully what God’s eternity means, we can understand that this attribute is real.
Thinking about God’s attributes may be hard work, but no other object of study is more suitable to humble and expand our mind. It allows us to forget ourselves and focus all our attention on the only true God who is the source of all life and blessings. When we talk about God’s attributes... Continue Reading
On Culture, Caesar, and Biblical Critical Theory
Book Review—There is plenty of incisive commentary in the new volume, "Biblical Critical Theory," by Christopher Watkin.
Watkin reminds us that the biblical story, or metanarrative, is also a far ranging ideological assessment of culture. It too offers a type of critical theory: it also tests and evaluates all things, but in the light of God and his Word. And the aim is not revolution but redemption. The new book by a Monash University philosophy professor and Christian thinker... Continue Reading
Taking a Dog by the Ears
Constructive correction in controversy, rather than cancellation, is a wiser course—for everyone.
Egalitarians and progressives have learned a lesson. They have learned that they can manipulate TGC with unfounded mob accusations of misogyny and harm. This is not good for [Joshua] Butler. It’s not good for TGC. And it’s certainly not good for the truth. Last week people kept asking me if I was going to... Continue Reading
Is It Okay to Be White?
When guilt is assigned and sacrifice demanded based solely on a person’s skin color, a lack of respect can transform into indignation.
The perspectives of men like James Brown and Scott Adams are overt appeals to skin color. While the motivations for these appeals vary, the goal is the same: self-help, pride, and temporal well-being. A question like “Is it okay to be white?” and its provocative musical counterpart, “Say it loud, black, and proud,” are short-sighted... Continue Reading
Department of Education to Remove Protections for Religious Campus Groups
The U.S. Department of Education announced its intention to rescind the “Free Inquiry Rule,” which was designed to fix the pressuring and discriminating against religious student groups.
Protecting religious expression is vital, not just for Christians, but for everyone. Conscience rights are pre-political rights and provide the foundation on which every other liberty is built. In February, the U.S. Department of Education announced its intention to rescind the “Free Inquiry Rule,” established in 2020 by then-Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. According to the... Continue Reading
The Day a Dutchman Broke My Brain
There’s a divine thread running from the yellow tulip in my front yard all the way back to the incomprehensible, infinitely mysterious Trinity.
I’m glad a Dutchman broke my brain that day. He took me into a windowed room I’d never entered. And now the rest of the world is bathed in biblical light as I strive to stay low, worship well, and love deeply. Learning new things is like opening doors to windowed rooms. We can... Continue Reading
Pineapples and Biblical Interpretation—What’s the Connection?
The meaning of a word is found only in its current usage in its particular context at the time it was written.
To avoid root fallacies when interpreting the meaning of biblical words, use the help of reliable lexicons along with knowing how the same writer uses the particular word elsewhere. Then strive to understand the word in its immediate context. Your understanding of the Bible will be noticeably and fruitfully enhanced. The very first fallacy... Continue Reading
