Have You Read a Book Yet This Year?
The new year is an ideal occasion to audit your time by auditing your reading.
Where to begin? Begin with a book that looks interesting, not necessarily with one that looks like it will change your life. Find one that looks intriguing and let yourself get swept into it. There will be time to read the life-changers later on. The most important thing for today is to just build the... Continue Reading
Defining the Will of God
Defining the will of God is important for us as Christians because it unveils who He is as the eternal, all-powerful, all-knowing God.
Geerhardus Vos describes God’s will as “that perfection of God by which in a most simple act and in a rational manner He goes out toward Himself as the highest good and toward creatures outside Him for His own sake.” Stated negatively, God’s will cannot be separated from God Himself. Since God is one is... Continue Reading
Reforming God?
I have become convinced that the doctrine of God as Trinity is central to Protestantism.
It is arguable that the Protestant heresy par excellence is Unitarianism, an error on the doctrine of God which can co-exist with a very high view of scripture. Many of the early Unitarians, the Socinians exhibit this. Thus, when John Owen engages with the Socinians, he really doesn’t have much to say about their doctrine of... Continue Reading
Old Testament Redemptive-Ethical Concessions
What are we to make of the fact that the patriarchal narratives seem to teach that God tolerated polygamy in the Old Testament?
“The case of polygyny being tolerated in the Old Testament is the classic illustration of the supposed low type of Old Testament ethics. Yet…Jesus himself interprets this as a pedagogical measure on the part of God in order to lead Israel on to the absolute ideal. It was for the hardness of man’s heart, and... Continue Reading
Commanding the Ravens: God’s Unexpected Provision
We need to widen our perspective if we want to see the full picture of how God cares for his children.
Elijah was a man, and by that we understand that he suffered from weakness, fears, and a keen ability to feel like he alone was on God’s side [see 1 Kings 19:18]. In many ways, aside from his specific prophetic ministry, he was just like you—a man with personal struggles and a wonderfully powerful God.... Continue Reading
On Politics and The Binding of Consciences
Don’t try to be the conscience of other believers in gray areas.
Over the past several years, and seemingly (to me) increasingly in the past few months there is one issue specific to the church in the United States over which many seem more than willing to attempt to bind other’s consciences, voting behavior. The epicenter of the issue is voting for the current president, Donald J.... Continue Reading
Examples of Callings in Scripture
A true calling need not be extraordinary, even in the examples from Scripture.
Ordinary human callings do not occur in the same dramatic fashion as that of the prophets and heroes of the Bible, yet there is an important similarity between their callings and that of every other human being. We are all called by God to live our lives as those made in the image of God (Gen.... Continue Reading
Humbly Coming Before Our Father
The Privilege of Christian Prayer
When I hear people claim the universal fatherhood of God, I immediately want to respond by saying, “Well, yes and no.” Everyone is indeed a child of God in the sense that we are all creatures made in the image of God — we are “God’s offspring,” as Paul declared on Mars Hill (Acts 17:29).... Continue Reading
Forgetting What is Behind?
In order to get the prize, runners must not get distracted.
To reach the racer-goal, and receive the 1st-prize call, needed total mental focus, eyes fixed on the finish, motivated by smell of success, to make sinew-strain worthwhile. When we translate this metaphor into the spiritual arena, it is helpful to think of the following when applying it to ourselves. I thought it might be... Continue Reading
Faithful Application of the Word of God
Reflections on James The Apostle's Portrait of Working Faith
It is the distinction between faith and works, and their relation to a sinner’s justification, which of course cornerstones Protestantism, by which we would mean biblical Christianity. And so the letter of James can feel a bit squirrel to us. Few preach it. Even fewer perhaps preach it well. Protestants wrestle with those stunningly direct... Continue Reading