In the Protestant view, Christ’s perfect righteousness is accounted or reckoned or imputed to us. The ground of acceptance is Christ’s work, his obedient suffering (i.e., all his life, his whole, perfect obedience) for us. It is not what is done in us, even that wrought by the Spirit, that is accounted or imputed to... Continue Reading

A little over a week ago I posted an article about accountability groups. In that article I talked about my disdain for the kind of “accountability groups” where the primary (almost exclusive, in my experience) focus is on our sin, not on our Savior. These types of groups, I argue, breed self-righteousness, guilt, and a... Continue Reading

The desire to be in control, to make a mark, to make ourselves indispensable: these are all drives that are universal within fallen humanity. Our worlds may be smaller, the damage we do somewhat more modest, but our ambitions are in their own ways just as absurd as his Seeing Colonel Gadaffi clinging desperately to... Continue Reading

The President has made his decision. The Attorney General has now made his announcement. Mark your calendars for February 24. That day now represents a tragic milestone in the betrayal of marriage. Attorney General Eric Holder informed Congress yesterday that President Obama had ordered the Department of Justice to cease all efforts to defend the... Continue Reading

You have to relate to a wide variety of people no matter where you work, and some of them will probably have very different personalities from your own. Those differences can cause tension and conflict on the job if you let them bother you. Or, if you recognize that each different personality is actually a... Continue Reading

Something happened this morning that was a mixture of challenge, inconvenience, and concern. And my first reflex was, “I should post that to Facebook.” You see, I have some friends who would be intrigued by the oddness of it, others who would sympathize with me, others who might know something and suggest it, still others... Continue Reading

And so the steeple is dying out, as is the visual testimony of the cross that typically sits atop it. And a church building looks like a warehouse looks like an office supply building looks like an accountancy firm looks like denuded, secularized campus “spiritual space.” Recently I was in a meeting on the top... Continue Reading

I am also very much in favor of women not only being theologians, but being good theologians. I thoroughly enjoy being in the presence of intelligent and competent sisters in the Lord. What I am not in favor of is placing women in positions for the sake of enculturation or adapting to the culture. This... Continue Reading

Now let’s be clear. What’s happening in these Midwestern states is not democracy. But it will be a critical test for democracy, whether our system can survive. Stand firm, governors. Protect the rule of law. For if the mob can overrule public officials who are seeking to save their state from insolvency, then America is... Continue Reading

The believer of better Bible understanding and balanced mental health knows that people are always going to find fault with something you do. If the grand central truth in our lives were that whatever someone stumbles over has to go, then we would soon be existing as hermits in a cave somewhere. One of the... Continue Reading