This question was not a question of curiosity, but a question in search of loopholes in the command to apply the law of God to our interactions with our neighbors. It’s a question that continues to be asked today. All of us know we haven’t loved our neighbors as ourselves. And, like the lawyer, we... Continue Reading

Time and time again the apostles write with a “gospel grammar.” They write first about what God has done or has promised to do for us, and then about what God is doing in us and through us as we respond to him in faith and love. In the first twelve verses of 1 Peter... Continue Reading

Some jargon comes directly from Scripture. For example, “saved” appears many times in God’s Word, and it generally has the sense we give it in church circles. “Saved” is an important biblical term, and the danger is not that it’s misleading, but that we use it thoughtlessly, so the term loses its heft. But more... Continue Reading

God doesn’t guarantee me understanding of everything that will happen in my life. And that can be a source of great anxiety. I stress about what I can’t control and lose sleep over what I can’t change. But as Paul so helpfully reminds us, with prayer and thanksgiving, we can find peace.    A New... Continue Reading

What people typically mean when they say that Calvinism is “rigid” is that the Calvinists teach that God is sovereign in creation and salvation, that just as he spoke into nothing and created all that is, so too he freely, sovereignly, and graciously saves his elect, those whom he determined from all eternity to save.... Continue Reading

There is tremendous benefit in learning from someone who has been there and done that. But we don’t need such people. And it’s not like they are not qualified to teach or lead or counsel because of the experiences they’ve gone through. Their experience is valuable to us only to the degree that it is consistent with... Continue Reading

These new challenges actually raise three questions we must consider. The first concerns how this affects us personally. Are we subtly influenced by all of this moral decay? To ask this another way: Have we moved the line because culture is trying to erase the line?”   At the turn of the twentieth century, the sciences... Continue Reading

If we know the Savior’s care for us, and if we believe that he will give grace for every need, then we will rest in the arms of the one who carries us even to our old age (Isaiah 46:3–4). The grace of God enables us to age gracefully. The gospel empowers us to face... Continue Reading

When I say intuition, I mean something very particular. I don’t mean a hunch. I don’t mean a line of reasoning to a conclusion or a skill learned over time—like the way a seasoned batter “senses” where the next pitch will come. In fact, intuitions are not learned at all. They are something we’re born with, information... Continue Reading

Christ is the light of life and through his work of redemption, he defeated death. The gospel (good news) is the announcement of the reverse of the curse of Adam. The degeneration of Adam’s curse is overcome by the regeneration of life through Jesus Christ. The gospel denounces sin in the death of Christ and it... Continue Reading