Good News! The Only and Eternally Begotten God Became Incarnate
The gospel of John is both simple and profound simultaneously.
Believer, your Savior is the eternally begotten Son of God, the Word, the revelation of God, the One by whom we come to know God in salvation, who not only revealed God but who was in the womb of the virgin Mary, who by the mysterious operation of the Holy Spirit, took on our humanity,... Continue Reading
The Most Important Question You’ll Ever Answer
Who you believe Jesus is matters.
The proper response to the revelation of the truth about Jesus is worship. He is worthy of it! If you know him, rejoice that this treasure is yours and that you have been adopted into God’s family. God has settled your debts! Phyllis’ pre-teen body had always been frail from her sickle-cell anemia. Her... Continue Reading
Reenchanting Humanity: A Theology of Mankind–Owen Strachan (2019)
Strachan never backs away from controversy and he is unafraid of telling the truth about the condition of mankind.
Reenchanting Humanity is clear, consistent, compelling, comprehensive, and countercultural. These important attributes will likely make the book vulnerable to criticism and mark out the book as a target for detractors. But readers who maintain their allegiance to Scripture will appreciate Strachan’s approach, which is relentlessly biblical and faithful to the truth. Owen Strachan, Reenchanting... Continue Reading
What is the Dominant Theme of the Bible?
Scripture unfolds the story of the kingdom, and God’s glory is the reason for the story.
The drama of God as King and human beings as his subjects is worked out in history and in a certain place. The story of Scripture is not only the relationship between God and human beings; it also relates to the universe. What is the destiny of the world that God has made? The Scriptures... Continue Reading
The Christological Heresy of Critical Theory
If critical theory is correct, the orthodox doctrine of the sinlessness of Jesus Christ can no longer be maintained with any logical consistency.
Christian adherents to tenets of critical theory might respond that Jesus divested himself of privilege by identifying with the outcasts of his society (e.g., the Samaritan woman). And to be sure, we should rejoice in the numerous stories in which we see Jesus doing so. Yet we are left with the bare fact that, when... Continue Reading
The Ten Commandments: The Second
There’s an unholy absurdity in making a finite representation of an infinite and immense God.
It should be noted that in the Bible idolatry is consistently linked with both sexual immorality and greed.[2] Sexual immorality because idol worship usually involved participating in ritual orgies or fornication with the temple prostitutes. As the saying goes, sex sells, and the demons behind any given idol know this (1 cor. 10:18-22). There’s... Continue Reading
Pastor, Don’t Imply That Church is Optional
Most Christians see church attendance as something optional.
We live in an anti-institutional age. Institutions—whether they be educational or political or religious—get a bad rap, and some of that is deserved. We see how corruption can take root in institutions or how rituals and routines can stifle creativity and innovation. Americans are suspicious toward institutions, including religious ones, and tend to trust individuals... Continue Reading
Seasoned with Thanksgiving
For Christians giving thanks is not seasonal so much as it is a seasoning.
Thanksgiving sets the table of the heart with a feast of the blessings of God. It drives the conversation around the table of the redeemed, eager to testify to the bounty of God. And it spreads throughout the life of the believer influencing those around us for the cause of Christ, not just on a... Continue Reading
Praise, the Doxology’s Descant
Praise is the essence of worship.
This Thanksgiving Day many will know how to offer thanks, even if it is only for the table spread before them or for the family that is gathered together that day. However, as Christians, let’s not just tally our thanks nor tarry at thanksgiving. Let’s go beyond what the world can do because we know... Continue Reading
Preaching to the Heart (Bartholomew)
A sermon is theological, to be sure, but a sermon also involves the will, the emotions, and of course, the heart.
…The sermon is aimed primarily, although not exclusively, at the hearts of the congregation. I use “heart” here in the sense in which it is used in Old Testament Wisdom literature: to refer to the center of a person, to the part of the human person that needs to be guarded because out of it flow the... Continue Reading