In sum, understanding these four categories is an essential step in removing misconceptions about the NT canon that seem to abound today.  Knowing these categories can give a person a fairly basic picture of how the canon developed:  (1) there was a core canon from a very early time, (2) there was dispute about some... Continue Reading

Obedience to the law of Christ is an outgrowth of our faith in Jesus Christ, and serves the purpose of our communion with him. This goal of communion is clear from God’s presence in the Garden (Gen 3:8), Jesus’ prayer “I in them and you in me” (John 17:23), and our marital consummation when Jesus... Continue Reading

“Humanity’s binary gender design as male and female reflects in some mysterious way the nature of God. While sharing a common humanity, the man and the woman are unique and complementary rather than identical.”   1. We were created male and female by divine design. According to the Genesis creation account, God created humanity male... Continue Reading

“Our passions ebb and flow in response to the changing world for we ourselves are subject to change. God is without passions, he is not subject to change, but he is not without hatred and he is not without love.”   A month before our son was born my wife came home from the baby... Continue Reading

“The departure from divine revelation has brought our culture to chaos in the area of ethics. We have lost our basis of knowledge, our epistemological foundation, for discovering the good.”   At the heart of Christian ethics is the conviction that our firm basis for knowing the true, the good, and the right is divine... Continue Reading

So, dry soul, look up. It is the Lord alone who can refresh you and reinvigorate you. He can make the desert sand blossom into a rose. Each of His three Persons can drench you with dew. Even one of His attributes can saturate your soul. Just one of His words can break the hardest clod. “Lord, come, beautify... Continue Reading

The common criticism of systematic theology suggests that it is an effort (whether intended or not) to put God in a box. Control. Manipulation. Sanitizing. These are the watchwords against such an agenda or effect. That there is a version of Christian doctrine which does so cannot be gainsaid, and we might note that suspicions... Continue Reading

Our surviving gothic cathedrals and organs now utter pagan heresies and cannot revive the hearts of men. We need a mighty fortress back in our lives–the presence and knowledge of Almighty God, whose pre-existing Being gave us all life, meaning and dignity. This spiritual fortress may still be evoked by the stirring sounds of a... Continue Reading

The good news is we don’t have to do monumental works. We just need to plant seeds – a simple prayer, a word of encouragement, work on memorizing one scripture. A small gift to missions. Our faith is not in our power or the size of our seeds but in God’s character:   And let... Continue Reading

“Glad submission to God’s authority, and to God’s superior value and beauty, is something we are not able to do. This is not because we are kept from doing what we prefer to do. It is because we prefer our own authority, and treasure our own value, above God’s.”   Before the fall of Adam,... Continue Reading