‘I Don’t Need Theology, I Just Need Jesus’ Just Means You Have Bad Theology
Knowing God, as He is presented in scripture, is a non-negotiable for Christians.
Theology is critical for all, especially for Christians. A denial of the need for theology is often just an excuse for laziness and disbelief. It is this poor logic that plights the liberal and shallow branches of Christianity. Embracing such deceptions, they will convince themselves that aimless acceptance and/or misguided passion is an adequate replacement... Continue Reading
Seven Letters Seven Dangers: Christ-less Christianity
What is Christianity if not Christ?
A Christ-less Christianity is not Christianity. It is a form of humanitarianism. Now, loving our neighbor is a wonderful thing. However, when all of Christianity is reduced to loving our neighbor, then we have a Christ-less Christianity. Sadly, this is the very Christianity espoused by many in churches today. Dear Theophilus, I find that the... Continue Reading
Kingdom Metaphors for the Christian Life
The Son of God and the Son of Man from David’s lineage would establish a kingdom over which He would reign forever.
The social mores of our society anchored in materialism, sexual immorality, intellectual elitism, self-centered pride, postmodern cynicism, idolatry, and atheism remind us that we are indeed aliens whose citizenship is in the kingdom of Jesus Christ. We are humbled as we were once willing participants in that ungodly culture, having been rescued only by the... Continue Reading
Mission: Make Worshipers
Making disciples is making worshipers of God through Christ.
When God’s people make their center the worship of God through Christ, set apart from the world by truth, Christ indicates that two things happen: first, as we draw near to fellowship with God, we become one with one another, and second, that very communion we have with God and with one another causes the... Continue Reading
How Could Heaven Not Have Sex?
In the resurrection, God’s people will be like the angels in heaven—without spouse or sex.
To sigh at heaven because we lose something of earth, to cling to earth’s most brilliant shadows with trembling grip as they give way to the substance, is to forget what is coming. Even now, we can remind ourselves: heaven’s pleasures threaten to overwhelm earth’s best delights. “So what does your heaven offer me?”... Continue Reading
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