What Does Repentance Look Like?
Repentance of the heart is the work of God the Holy Spirit.
The Bible tells us explicitly and shows us implicitly that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. David knows this to be true. As broken as he is, he knows God and how God relates to penitent people. He understands that God never hates or despises a broken and contrite heart. This... Continue Reading
The Popular Christian Article We Need Fewer Of
Everyone has opinions, but few have wisdom.
If a person achieves even a tiny amount of notoriety, they want to use that to build their name and establish themselves as experts before actually putting in the work and gaining the experience. That’s the exact opposite of the path in Scripture. God used Moses only after he spent decades tending sheep in anonymity.... Continue Reading
The Eternal Subordination of the Son Debate: Concluding Reflections (Part 2)
The true integrity of the doctrine of the Trinity cannot be maintained where a commitment to pursuing its theologically integrating function is absent.
Even among those who hold an orthodox doctrine of the Trinity, that doctrine may be much diminished in its role within the broader firmament of Christian truth, not least on account of a failure to explore its capacity to illuminate and enrich our reading of Scripture. Rather than functioning as an integrating and coordinating doctrine,... Continue Reading
Does God Balance Blessings with Hardships?
When we find ourselves anticipating the worst, we need to remind ourselves of the truth.
I am an Eeyore by nature. I tend to see the dark side of things and assume the worst. I see the glass as half empty rather than half full. I tend to view God’s interactions with me as an angry father doling out punishment. And so it comes as no surprise that I would... Continue Reading
Luther’s Life: Anfechtung
it is only in light of that bad news that the news of Jesus Christ and what he’s accomplished for us in his life, death and resurrection can be seen as Gospel.
But it seems that it was not just Luther’s theology that set the direction for what came to be known as evangelical but it was also his life. And in particular there was one aspect to his life, interestingly a part of Luther’s pre-conversion life, that has found a place under the evangelical banner. This... Continue Reading
Jesus in Genesis 3:15?
Does Genesis 3:15, which has long been considered the protoevangelium (the “first good news”), really not contain a foreshadowing of the messiah?
In the midst of God pronouncing a number of effects that result from Adam and Eve’s decision to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil “to obtain wisdom,” Gen. 3:15 offers a ray of hope. God promises that there is a particular child to come who will deal the death blow to the... Continue Reading
How Christ was Administered: Sacrifices
All orthodox believers understand that the sacrifices of the Old Testament were typical of the one vicarious, life for life, substitutionary sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ offered Himself once at the end to accomplish that which was mediated to His People from the “foundation of the world”. The sacrifices performed from the foundation of the world were sufficient and efficacious for the elect because of the one typified sacrifice at “the end of the ages”. We read that if the... Continue Reading
“I Am Who I Am”
As important as the salvation of Israel from Egypt is, it cannot properly be understood unless it is framed within the revelation of God’s twofold character as expressed by God’s own declaration and as displayed in the burning bush.
The name that God gives to Moses—“I AM WHO I AM”—is a revelation of God’s utter and complete self-sufficiency. It is a revelation of God’s aseity. He alone is of Himself (a se). God, and only God, is dependent on nothing. And this means, for Moses and for Israel, that God is not dependent on... Continue Reading
Guilty!
'Lord, do whatever it takes to save him.’
He is now in a prison wing for drug abusers where he will be forced to reduce his dependence on drugs. He is safer than he ever was left to his own devices on the outside. Most important he is, for the first time in a long time, facing up to the consequences of his... Continue Reading
Believer, You Are Being Graciously Sanctified
If any part of our salvation (justification, sanctification, glorification) is by works, then it is not by grace (Rom 11:6).
As those who have been united to Christ we ought not, we may not live as if we have not died with Christ to sin, as if we have not been raised from the dead. We ought to, we must present ourselves to God as the offerings we are, “as instruments of righteousness.” Sin no... Continue Reading