Faith is effectual only if one personally trusts in Christ alone for salvation. It is one thing to give an intellectual assent to a proposition but quite another to place personal trust in it. We can say that we believe in justification by faith alone and yet still think that we are going to get to... Continue Reading

The Protestant doctrine of vocation sure looks a lot less complicated and a whole lot more compelling. By the Holy Spirit Christians offer up sacrifices to God through the duties they perform as part of God’s providential care for his creation. By the Holy Spirit, Christians are priests. By the Spirit, they perform a small... Continue Reading

“Barely a day goes by when I do not speak to someone or inquire after someone or pray for someone who is struggling with the sin of pornography. Men get in touch all the time to confess the sin and to ask for help. And what I want them to know is that they are... Continue Reading

Having ensconced the Bible at the pinnacle of worship, Luther sees an intimate connection between music and the Word: “Thus it was not without reason that the fathers and prophets wanted nothing else to be associated as closely with the Word of God as music. Therefore, we have so many hymns and Psalms where message... Continue Reading

“Do you love to hate somebody? Do you hope for their failure and inwardly delight when it comes? Do you have the slightest inkling that your desire for justice has bled into desire for vengeance? And if so: do you find any of that commensurate with loving your neighbor?”   In the midst of my... Continue Reading

“God is merciful. God is gracious. God is patient. God is loving. And God is just. He will by no means clear the guilty but will visit consequence upon people and upon communities in keeping with their actions. That is who God is. Therefore, what He says in Deuteronomy 28:63 is entirely in keeping with... Continue Reading

The Bible tells us explicitly and shows us implicitly that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. David knows this to be true. As broken as he is, he knows God and how God relates to penitent people. He understands that God never hates or despises a broken and contrite heart. This... Continue Reading

If a person achieves even a tiny amount of notoriety, they want to use that to build their name and establish themselves as experts before actually putting in the work and gaining the experience. That’s the exact opposite of the path in Scripture. God used Moses only after he spent decades tending sheep in anonymity.... Continue Reading

Even among those who hold an orthodox doctrine of the Trinity, that doctrine may be much diminished in its role within the broader firmament of Christian truth, not least on account of a failure to explore its capacity to illuminate and enrich our reading of Scripture. Rather than functioning as an integrating and coordinating doctrine,... Continue Reading

I am an Eeyore by nature. I tend to see the dark side of things and assume the worst. I see the glass as half empty rather than half full. I tend to view God’s interactions with me as an angry father doling out punishment. And so it comes as no surprise that I would... Continue Reading