Struggle, Progress, and Beauty
Our lives can be beautiful and point, however imperfectly, to Christ.
By God’s grace, we can adorn the gospel and so win people to it. People may not ask the questions we want them to ask: Who is Jesus? How can I overcome the problem of guilt?” But they do ask legitimate questions: Who am I? Does life have meaning? How can I find the joy,... Continue Reading
The Practical Importance of Systematic Theology
The truths concerning God and his relations are, above all comparison, in themselves the most worthy of all truths of study and examination.
The contemplation and exhibition of Christianity as truth, is far from the end of the matter. This truth is specially communicated by God for a purpose, for which it is admirably adapted. That purpose is to save and sanctify the soul. And the discovery, study, and systematization of the truth is in order that, firmly... Continue Reading
Can We Still Trust Evangelical Theology?
The dogmas of divine simplicity, eternality, infinity, immutability, impassibility, and triune relations of origin have been widely redefined and even rejected.
This change confronts us with the question: can we trust our theology? Is it correct? Why are we biblical now but not then? What makes us right and them wrong? What confidence can we have in unshakeable revealed truth if we cannot agree on the central topic of Christianity anymore, namely, God? A number of recent evangelical... Continue Reading
Invisible Providence
What are we to make of the fact that God is “missing in action” from Esther?
The author portrays God’s presence by not mentioning the presence of God at all.1 In other words, it’s the silence that proves His presence; the lack of theology is in fact the theology. In this way, the book of Esther teaches an important lesson for Christians today. In fact, rather than being a neglected book, Esther... Continue Reading
Love Your Wife Like Jesus Loves Her
Ten Great Loves for Every Husband
One spring day in 1998, as an 18-year-old college freshman, I understood marriage in a way I never had before. I had signed up for a Bible study taught by my college pastor, “Preparing for Marriage.” That day, Pastor Doug Busby gave me and all of the young men in the room an assignment that... Continue Reading
Why Does Paul Quote Psalm 44 in Romans 8?
What Paul is doing in quoting that verse is connecting the suffering of Christians with the people of God in the OT.
They have lost in battle. They are suffering. They are being taunted. They are even being slaughtered. I think they could stomach that if they were being ungodly or idiotic. But they aren’t. They are being faithful to the covenant, and what’s really unsettling. Bad things are happening to good people. I’ve preached through Romans... Continue Reading
Enslaved: A Theology of Addiction
There is always hope of liberation.
When you hear the word addiction, think enslavement. The difference in wording is crucial—you can be freed from enslavement, but you cannot ultimately be freed from an addiction. Why? Because as the world so joyfully and pessimistically exclaims, once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic. Once addicted to pornography, always addicted to pornography. But that’s just not true. You’re not going... Continue Reading
Reconciliation
"The change which brings about the reconciliation between God and men is regarded as taking place in them rather than in him."
Such a theory of the atonement as is advocated by Professor Barclay: ‘He died to show men what God is always like, not that he should threaten us into a prudential response, but that at the sight of him we should be moved and compelled to love him as he first loved us. Jesus came... Continue Reading
The Canaanites Within
We need to know what the Scriptures teach about the remainder of indwelling sin in every part of our being.
Romans 7 is, of course, the chapter to which most theologians appeal in discussions about the apostolic teaching on indwelling sin. Though there has been plenty of debate about whether Paul was speaking of himself prior to his conversion or in the place of Adam, the “indwelling sin in believers” interpretation of this passage is... Continue Reading
The God of All Comfort
Our heavenly Father is tender-hearted, not hard-hearted.
The good news is that God comforts His own (Isa. 40:1–5). Jesus fulfills these promises (61:1–4), as He declared in His sermon in the synagogue in Nazareth (Luke 4:16–21). God’s comfort is complete in Jesus the Good Shepherd (John 10:1–21). How well do you suffer? I am God’s adopted child, but I’m not good... Continue Reading