This is why the doctrine of imputation is so precious to me. I still remember the day when it clicked as I was raking leaves and listening to R.C. Sproul. A huge weight that I had been carrying for years rolled off my soul. The covenant of works that I had been laboring to fulfill... Continue Reading

I find that many Christians have a similar identity crisis in their spiritual lives. They act like sinners, rather than the saints whom God has justified. They act like orphans, rather than the adopted sons and daughters of God. They act like outsiders, rather than the holy priests that God has called them to be.... Continue Reading

When we are thinking rationally, we can see the insanity of sin. Why would anyone throw away a livelihood, a family, or a reputation for a 30-minute roll in the hay? What good will it do to seek revenge, and feel satisfied for an afternoon, if it means reaping a whirlwind of consequences for decades?... Continue Reading

During the Reformation (and after), our critics in Rome and among the Anabaptists agreed that the Reformation message of salvation by grace alone through faith alone must be rejected because it will not produce the desired results. They were quite plain about this. The Reformation churches (Reformed and Lutheran), however, were convinced that sanctity, and... Continue Reading

At the cross, Jesus “crushed the head” of the great Serpent of old, and “disarmed principalities and powers…making a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them” (Col. 2:13-14). The death of Jesus was the exorcism of all exorcisms–namely, the casting out the evil one (John 12:31-33). From the wilderness to the cross, Jesus was showing... Continue Reading

For Calvin, this passage is law, an expression of God’s righteous demand. Anyone who would present himself to God on the basis of the law must actually keep the law. The only thing that satisfies justice is actual, complete, perfect fulfillment of the law. The slightest disobedience to God’s holy law merits only one thing:... Continue Reading

In a world of exponentially increasing virtual connections, this reality is probably easier to forget than ever before. I, for one, am relearning it, thanks to a women’s group that meets weekly to study the spiritual disciplines. Those in-the-flesh conversations with other women from all walks of life are sacred opportunities to experience God in deeply... Continue Reading

Whether you are in a season of blessing or a season where you feel beaten up and crushed, the Psalms have something for you. The book of Psalms is a collection of men pouring out God-besotted truth before the face of the Lord. The result of their prayers and pleas to the Lord was not... Continue Reading

“Lest readers think that Protestants were the ones who gave the Christian world a prosperity gospel, Jake Meador provides a useful reminder that Luther’s objections to Roman Catholicism concerned precisely the profits that church officials made from selling forgiveness for sins that held deceased Christians in purgatory.”   Sarah Pulliam Bailey has a piece today... Continue Reading

In the Bible’s creation account God keeps Adam’s job description simple. Man’s life in the world involves two basic poles: work and rest. The creation mandate to work is clear: Adam was given dominion so as to be fruitful and fill the earth (Gen. 1:28). God put the man in the garden “to work it... Continue Reading