Little Greek Gems: To Bind or Beg?
This story illustrates the great weight and importance of a Word centered ministry.
If you read the first twenty verses of this story in Mark 5 of the New American Standard Bible you would get the impression that the demoniac (v. 7), the demons (v. 12), the townspeople (v. 17) and the healed demoniac (v. 18) were all imploring Jesus for something. However, the Greek word used in verses... Continue Reading
Is Salvation Conditional?
The Scriptures are clear that there are only two possible ways of salvation—one by works and one by grace, one by law-keeping and one by faith.
Because of man’s natural condition since the fall, we need a sinless descendant of Adam to keep the demands of the law for us. Jesus Christ, the last Adam, the God-man, does this by living a sinless life—keeping all the precepts of the law of God perfectly for us. Jesus kept the legal conditions of the covenant... Continue Reading
Catholicism Made Me Protestant
The causes of any conversion (or near conversion) are many and confused.
Certain elements of my attraction to Catholicism were adolescent, like a sixties radical’s attraction to Marx or a contemporary activist’s to intersectionality: I aimed to preserve the core beliefs of my upbringing while fleeing their bourgeois expressions. When I arrived at the University of Chicago, I knew just enough about Calvinism to hold it in... Continue Reading
Psalm 119: The Psalmist Who Was Fixed on God’s Word
We all go through dark times in this life and challenging seasons, and it’s extremely important to keep our eyes fixed upon God’s Word.
Out of all of the psalms that we have in the Bible—Psalm 119 is the longest and perhaps the one with the most light. With the lengthy arrangement of 22 stanzas each containing 8 verses—the total of 176 verses are solid gold. While some insist the unnamed author is David, there is good reason to... Continue Reading
Faithfulness Is Not Theologically Complicated
Why, then, are many who claim to be Christians foundering on fundamentals with such regularity?
I’m mystified because there’s no good reason for faltering in the face of these particular trends because Scripture speaks with clarity against them. Since there is no biblical ambiguity on any of these issues, there is no real cause for a Christian’s confusion. Lately I have been mystified by—and distressed with—a trend I’ve seen... Continue Reading
How Do I Know That God Is for Me?
Nothing can be against us if God is for us.
We can be sure that God is for us because this God, the God of the Bible, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up to the cross for us all. If this is true, Paul affirms, we can be confident He will give... Continue Reading
Worship That Smells: Calvin on Genesis 8
Calvin ultimately discovers two ingredients in Noah's worship that rendered it pleasing to God.
Noah’s reluctance to exit the ark without divine bidding was apparently informed by the tremendous episode of judgment and salvation he had just witnessed/experienced. It was clear to Noah that God was no one to be trifled with. It was equally clear that God was a God who kept his promises. The only sensible thing... Continue Reading
3 Questions to Test Your Ambition
"You are trying to peel an onion: if you succeed, there will be nothing left."
Lewis warned about the ambition that would never satisfy. All of us are familiar with this ambition as all of us have given ourselves to a pursuit that does not quench. The Scripture, however, gives us examples of holy ambition. The apostle Paul spoke about his ambition: “My aim is to preach the gospel where... Continue Reading
3 Truths That Fuel Self-control in the Christian
Temperance is moderation in action, thought, and feeling.
A Christian who is growing in self-control experiences the same life events and circumstances as anyone else, and such a person also experiences the same anxiety, panic, or jubilation as anyone else, and yet they respond differently. They respond in a self-controlled manner to those feelings. What kinds of things do you think of... Continue Reading
How to Restore Your Spiritual Sanity
A prayer for those feeling fragile.
Jesus Christ is great David’s greater son. He is the total fulfillment of all David embodied, and of all God promised to David, as the king of his people. Jesus is not great because his ancestor is David. Rather, David is great because his descendant is Jesus. When we believe in Jesus — when we... Continue Reading