The Churchly Authority of the Office of Deacon, Part 3
Deacons and Church Power
At stake in the larger debate over deaconesses is not merely the narrow question of what is and is not permitted for women in the life of the Body of Christ, but also the broader question of the nature of the office of deacon, the nature of the representative character of church government, the nature... Continue Reading
J. V. Fesko’s Reforming Apologetics—Retrieving the Classical Reformed Approach to Defending the Faith—A Critical Review (4 of 4)
From the beginning of his book till its end Fesko consistently fails to understand the distinction between natural revelation and natural theology in Presuppositionalism.
We are glad for the emphasis of Fesko and others that there is a generally agreed upon classical theism that resides in the scholastic tradition of the church. We agree that 21st century Christians do not get to re-define the Christian God. The Reformation itself, however, shows that the scholastic tradition could deviate into bypaths. ... Continue Reading
Deliverance
With Paul in the School of Spiritual Warfare (2 of 5)
Paul provides for us an important principle for spiritual warfare right from the start. Deliverance from the bondage of sin and the tyranny of the devil comes not from our conquest of Satan but Christ’s. Jesus is the strong man who binds the enemy (Mt. 12:29). The victory is His; the spoils are ours. We... Continue Reading
A Bird Nest in Your Hair
A key part of the Christian life is to pray and watch against falling into temptation.
It isn’t biblically accurate to say that temptation is only sinful when we yield to it. This minimizes the truth of sin and temptation. Nor is this a trivial point to make. Richard Sibbes sounded a note of caution when he wrote: “And in nothing the sinfulness of sin appears more than this, that it... Continue Reading
Do You Know the Enemy?
God gives us clear insight into the maneuverings of the evil one, from the opening pages of the Old Testament through the entirety of the New Testament,
Many of the seventeenth-century Puritans emphasized the importance of knowing the enemy and his tactics when they approached the subject of spiritual warfare. For instance, in his Precious Remedies against Satan’s Devices, Thomas Brooks highlighted “the essentials” of spiritual warfare: “Christ, the Scripture, your own hearts, and Satan’s devices, are the four prime things that should... Continue Reading
How Paul Explains Christ’s Presence at The Lord’s Supper
The cup of blessing which we bless—does not the cup commune with the blood of the Messiah?
If we return to the Biblical text, we can, I believe, gain a clearer grasp of the meaning of Christ’s presence at the Supper. In so doing, we will ground our theology in the Bible. One key place to look is Paul’s explanation of the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 10. Christians from across... Continue Reading
The Dragon Hiding in Your Desires
Why Temptation Feels So Harmless
Over and over, God comes alongside us in moments of temptation and invites us to imagine what we are really facing. What is really happening when you walk past a woman and are tempted to look back? Or when you stand in front of a mirror and feel insecurity rising? Or when fantasies of a better life... Continue Reading
The Mountain that Faith Moves
"If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you."
The traditional understanding of this statement is that a little true faith can see God do great things. The situation this father and his son were in was mountainous in size, and if the disciples would just exercise “mountain-moving faith” it could be dealt with. Even Paul in I Corinthians 13:2 speaks of faith removing... Continue Reading
Machen’s God-Centered Vision
The structure of the modernism of Machen’s day is not too different from the postmodernisms of our day.
In some churches the triumph of modernism is complete. But it is still a menace at the door of all our churches and schools and agencies. One of our great protections will be the awareness of stories like Machen’s — the enemy he faced, the battle he fought, the weapons he used (and failed to... Continue Reading
The Serious Problems with Being a Red-Letter Christian
Focussing on the ‘red letter’ words of Jesus is the wrong way to address the world's problems.
What is actually needed here is not to read less of the Bible, Jesus’ words alone, but to read more of it. If Campolo and others are concerned that abortion and homosexuality are taking up too much of evangelicals’ attention, then the answer to that is to locate these issues in the whole of the Scriptural... Continue Reading