What Does It Mean that Women Will Be Saved through Childbearing? (1 Timothy 2)
Is Paul suggesting that women are saved by means of bearing children?
It is more likely that Paul uses childbearing as a figure of speech known as a synecdoche.1 A synecdoche is a figure in which the part stands for the whole. Childbearing is a part of a larger whole, which is the woman’s wider role to care for the home. This is the same role Paul describes... Continue Reading
A Clanging Theologian
If theology becomes a substitute for love of God, it is nothing more or less than an idol.
I think most Christians begin to study theology with good motives. We begin to study Scripture and to read books by Christians who have been studying Scripture for many years. We want to understand the Word of God. But even something good, like the study of theology, can be twisted in an evil direction. We... Continue Reading
Quit Asking God to Join Your Side
The story of Jericho is not about God joining our plans.
“When Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua approached him and asked, ‘Are you for us or for our enemies?’ ‘Neither,’ he replied. ‘I have now come as commander of the Lord’s army.'” One of the most famous stories in... Continue Reading
The Statement on SJ&G Explained: Article 5, Sin
Recognition and repentance of sin are both central to the practice of the gospel; it is the pattern of the Christian life as we continue to walk in the light.
The Bible is replete with warnings about the danger of concealing our sins as well as the blessings of confessing them. Therefore, it is critical that we are able to know the sins for which we truly bear guilt so that we may confess them. Our salvation and blessed life as a Christian depend upon... Continue Reading
Answering “How Far is Too Far?” “Is it a Sin?” and “Can I Look at Porn?” with a Biblical Sexual Ethic
A biblical sexual ethic makes American churches unpopular in the ever-shifting tides of American culture.
“Sexual immorality” is the translation from a Greek word porneia (where we get the word pornography from). This word is a catch-all for any kind of sexual activity outside of marriage. This covers not just sexual intercourse, but any activity of a sexual nature. It even includes, as Jesus tells us, sexual feelings that stir up in the heart and... Continue Reading
Can Christians Lose Their Salvation? (Hebrews 6)
We should recall (and God never forgets) how he has turned our hearts toward himself.
The gravity of such resolute rebellion, akin to Judas’s treachery, explains why it places the apostate’s heart beyond the possibility of repentance. God, who sovereignly grants repentance to rebels (Acts 3:26; 11:18), will not intervene (as he could) to turn around those who have willfully walked away. 4For it is impossible, in the case... Continue Reading
The Cost of Surrounding Yourself with Negative People
Hollis and Osteen teach that we need to reject and avoid people who cause us to feel negative emotions or think negative thoughts.
According to the principles of positive thinking, our thoughts are the power that change and shape the world around us. To get ahead in life we need to get rid of anyone who holds us back. I am convinced this principle is abhorrent and will offer three reasons why. I recently read Rachel Hollis’s runaway... Continue Reading
What Is the Greatest of All Protestant “Heresies”?
Perhaps justification by faith? Perhaps Scripture alone, or one of the other Reformation watchwords?
If justification is not by faith alone, in Christ alone, by grace alone — if faith needs to be completed by works; if Christ’s work is somehow repeated; if grace is not free and sovereign, then something always needs to be done, to be “added” for final justification to be ours. That is exactly the... Continue Reading
Stop Living In The Moment
there are few better ways for the church to be counter-cultural salt and light than to show the world how to stop living in the moment.
If we can categorize time into the past, present and future, Scripture would lead us to see the present as taking last place in importance. 1 Peter 1:3 reminds us that we have been “born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable,... Continue Reading
Trickle-Down Theology
What we know and believe to be true in our heads ought to find its way to our hearts.
Doctrine refers to our set of beliefs about a given topic. In The Christian Life Sinclair Ferguson writes, “The conviction that Christian doctrine matters for Christian living is one of the most important growth points of the Christian life” (2). Just as a plant needs water and sunlight, if we desire to grow in faith and grace,... Continue Reading