According to Paul, we should not take matters into our own hands. It’s not that there’s not justice to be served; there very well might be. But it’s not for you or I to administer it because we aren’t capable of doing so in a true and good and noble way. This belongs to the... Continue Reading

Remember how Romans 10:9 combines words with reality: “confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord” and “believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead.” The profoundly sober warning here is also a precious gift – Jesus wants his hearers to recognize the danger before it is too late. The reality he seeks... Continue Reading

The temptation of other religions or unbelief belongs to the flesh, and this includes both overt idolatry as well as perverse worship outside of Christ. If we worship Christ in any way not commanded in his word, we fall into this sin. As church history makes clear, we are ever prone to worship God how... Continue Reading

Even those who intend to have children don’t plan to have more than two. The reason, given by 56 percent of these respondents, was general financial constraints, which deterred them from wanting a larger family. Over four in 10 (43%) expressed concern that they wouldn’t have enough time to provide ample attention to many children. Moreover, 27... Continue Reading

With the NT, God no longer has to condescend and enter the fabric of the physical universe to manifest Himself to his people; he can now allow his people to ascend into Heaven itself to worship him, which the author argues is superior to the former worship. This is possible because of Jesus’s mediation on... Continue Reading

The Christian is to keep no record of wrongs. Yet I find it every bit as important to keep no record of rights—of the right and good things we have done to others. And that’s because the accounting we are always tempted to keep is not merely of other people’s bad deeds but our own... Continue Reading

 According to Jesus, even the Old Testament procedure for divorce (Deut 24:1–4) was only a concession to the hardness of human hearts. When introducing this teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul used the formula, “I command, yet not I, but the Lord” (7:10). What he was doing was drawing attention to the fact that divorce... Continue Reading

Dr. Pattengale joined Shane Morris on a recent Upstream podcast to talk about The New Book of Christian Martyrs. He covered a number of stories from the book in the episode and connected the ancient martyrs to modern victims of persecution. Perpetua and Felicita were two newly converted and young Christian mothers who were killed in... Continue Reading

If God be for us, who can be against us? We must keep the faith even when things get especially difficult. God’s people are called to trust God and not fear. Second, they prepared a guard as protection during the day and the night. Nehemiah teaches us that the wise man keeps his head on... Continue Reading

At the heart of modern liberalism is the belief that we belong to ourselves. The “my body, my choice” worldview offers a sense of control but provides no solutions when things are out of control, and liberals are convinced of nothing if not the fact that things are going poorly: The American dream is a... Continue Reading