Survey Finds Most American Christians Are Actually Heretics
We’re an embarrassment to heretics everywhere
Why does it matter that we’ve become a nation of doctrinal dunces? What harm is there in flunking Christianity 101? Well, for Christians, the answer is obvious. If we really believe what we profess—that the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the single most important fact of history and eternity—then we’d better... Continue Reading
“Faith that Maketh a Man Righteous”: Hugh Latimer on Being Saved by Faith Alone
"our merits are not able to deserve everlasting life: it is too precious a thing to be merited by man"
Elsewhere, in his famous sermon The Sermon on the Plough, Latimer positively and in succinct Reformation fashion, described saving faith as “a faith that embraceth Christ, and trusteth to his merits; a lively faith, a justifying faith; a faith that maketh a man righteous, without respect of works.” Little wonder that Latimer affectively described this faith... Continue Reading
Is It Really God Speaking to You?
The problem with equating the voice of your conscience to the voice of God: your conscience can be wrong.
This is why that voice in your head needs to be submitted to God’s Word and not just assumed it is God. God could very well be using your conscience. It is not wise to go against your conscience. But our conscience must be recalibrated to the word of God. It is also possible that your conscience could be... Continue Reading
Yes, You Should Say Something: Overcoming Awkwardness with Grieving People
Grieving people aren’t expecting you to say something that will take away the hurt. They’re really just hoping you will be willing to hurt with them.
What makes a great friend in the midst of grief is someone willing to overcome the awkwardness to engage. He or she comes alongside and is willing, at least for a while, to agree that this is terrible, unexplainable, the worst. No forced looking on the bright side. At least not yet. No suggesting you should... Continue Reading
The Baffling Call of God
The gospel allows us to move ahead without having all the answers, without knowing perfectly the purposes of God.
Confident of God’s call on my parents to serve Him in Africa, I was baffled by what they were enduring for the sake of the needy there. Furthermore, as I dealt with my own weary and broken heart, I was baffled at what God was doing in my own life. None of it made sense.... Continue Reading
God Works Through His Appointed Means
"Yes, it is far better that he comes through the gospel than that he would now enter in through the door; for you would not even know him even though he came in."
The Christian must give priority to the outward institutions of the Word, both in preaching and in the sacraments. As God came to us in the incarnation, so He continues to come through outward means to accomplish His purpose. They are the means that God has appointed and through which He works by His Spirit. ... Continue Reading
Does John Piper Believe in Salvation by Works?
The issue is: “Does Piper reject Reformed orthodoxy regarding salvation by faith alone?”
Reformed confessions’ teaching on salvation by faith alone, if Piper answered these questions: 1. Does justification received now in this world by faith declare not only God’s present verdict but what shall be his final verdict regarding his people? 2. Can justification, once declared, be revoked? 3. Will any who are justified in this age... Continue Reading
The Old Perspective on the Works of the Law
The Reformers understanding of Paul's argument radically impacted later Protestant formulations on the doctrine of justification.
According to proponents of the New Perspective(s) on Paul, justification does not–as the Reformed have always maintained–involve the imputation of Christ’s righteousness by faith alone. The crux of the argument has to do with how one defines the phrase “works of the Law” (and its various related forms in Pauline literature). Biblical studies have... Continue Reading
In By Grace, Stay In By Faithfulness?
Everyone must say with David: “Lord, do not enter into judgment with your servants, for before you no living person shall be justified.”
“Men cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works, but are freely justified for Christ’s sake, through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor, and that their sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake, who, by His death, has made satisfaction for our sins. This faith God imputes for... Continue Reading
Laughing with Luther
Who are we to tell God who and what He must be?
Humor, of course, has numerous functions. It is in part a survival mechanism. Mocking danger and laughing in the face of tragedy are proven ways of coping with hard and difficult situations. Undoubtedly, this played a significant role in Luther’s own penchant for poking fun. Yet I think there is probably a theological reason for... Continue Reading