Kevin DeYoung: I don’t really cherish the promise of 2 Timothy 3:12. On the one hand, I don’t want it to happen. That seems bad. On the other hand, if it doesn’t happen, I wonder if I’m bad. The verse is sobering: “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” This is one of those Bible promises that doesn’t make it into the flower-covered book for graduates. Granted, there is a danger that some Christians do all they can to invite “persecution.” They refuse to accommodate–ever. They live to find hills to die on. They lead with their chins. They wear every bit of opposition as a badge of honor. The world hates them and they love it. But for most Christians, there is another danger, the danger of thinking that if we clean up our image, smooth out the edges of our faith, change a few songs, do a few good deeds, then we can
What “Immanuel” Means in the Bible
Levi Berntson: The Promise of Immanuel One of the more well-known passages of Scripture, particularly during the Christmas season, is Isaiah’s sweet promise of Immanuel: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isa. 7:14). The name Immanuel in Hebrew means “God is with us,” and Isaiah’s promise signals that the presence of God will bring salvation to His people. But curiously, in the next chapter, Isaiah describes a great judgment in the presence of this Immanuel, a watery judgment of torrential floods that sweep through the land and devastate abiding sinners (Isa. 8:8–10). Who is this Immanuel, and how can Isaiah describe “God is with us” in two very different ways? Immanuel: “God with Us” To answer this question, we need to turn back in the Old Testament to the opening chapters of the book of Exodus. After fleeing from Egypt, Moses spent much of
When the Persecuted Church Faces False Teachers
By Luke Harper: The book of Jude helps believers confront abuse from without and within. A few years ago, I attended a training about ministry in the Middle East. At the time, it was considered cutting-edge teaching. But as I listened, the things I heard puzzled me. The ideas weren’t clearly unorthodox on the surface, but they did seem to have some theological confusion. When I asked clarifying questions, I was dismissed as being overly critical. For the next few years, the entire experience baffled me. Unfortunately, the main leader of the training was later accused of both sexual sin and financial misdealing. While I wish that was the only example of such a thing in the work across emerging churches of the Middle East and Central Asia, it’s sadly not uncommon. We’re accustomed to hearing about the very real persecution our brothers and sisters face in the region, but we might not think as much about another significant challenge they
8 Key Differences Between Catholics and Protestants
Kevin DeYoung: Ask a serious Protestant today what is the biggest threat to orthodox Christianity today, and he might mention cultural hostilities, the sexual revolution, or nominalism in our churches. But if you would have asked a Protestant the same question a hundred years ago, he would have almost certainly mentioned the Roman Catholic Church. Until fairly recently, Protestants and Catholics in this country were, if not enemies, then certainly players on opposing teams. Today, much of that animosity has melted away. And to a large extent, the thaw between Protestants and Catholics has been a good thing. Sincere Protestants and Catholics often find themselves to be co-belligerents, defending the unborn, upholding traditional marriage, and standing up for religious liberty. And in an age that discounts doctrine, evangelical Protestants often share more in common theologically with a devout Roman Catholic steeped in historic orthodoxy than they do with liberal members of their own denominations. I personally have benefited over the years
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In Christ: A Christian’s True Identity
Sinclair Ferguson: As believers, we are citizens of two different worlds. But first and foremost, we are in Christ Jesus. If we go to any of these cities where we are complete strangers and meet Christian believers, we are conscious that we are their fellow countrymen. We belong to the same city. “Our citizenship,” Paul says, “is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20). We belong to the same nation. We are under the same King. More than that, all of us who believe in the Lord Jesus are “in Him.” In the verses that follow, Paul elaborates to this effect: “God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus.” His point—to which we will return—is that all spiritual blessings are to be found in Christ. It is also important to put that point negatively: we are not to look for spiritual blessings outside of or apart from Christ. It is to Jesus Christ and our union with Him that we
Enjoying God
Sam Storms: Few people struggle to understand what it means to fear God or to obey God or to love, honor, and worship God. But to speak of enjoying God strikes many as flippant, perhaps even irreverent. What does God’s Word say about this? Consider David’s exhortation in Psalm 37:4 that we should “delight” ourselves “in the Lord, and he will give” us “the desires of our heart” (see also Deut. 28:47; 1 Chron. 16:31, 33; Neh. 8:10; Pss. 16:11; 32:11; 33:1; 34:8; 35:9; 36:8; 40:8, 16; 42:1–2; 43:4; 63:1, 11; 64:10; 95:1; 97:1, 12; 98:4; 104:34; 105:3; Isa. 41:16; Joel 2:23; Zech. 2:10; 10:7; Luke 6:23; John 3:29; 15:11; 16:22; Phil. 3:1; 4:4; 1 Pet. 1:8). Of course, the “desires” of our heart must be desires that have God as their focus and the ever-increasing, joyful satisfaction that is found in more of him. Not to enjoy or delight in God is a serious matter. In fact, “God is not worshiped where He is not treasured and enjoyed. Praise is not an alternative to joy, but the expression of joy. Not to enjoy God is to dishonor Him. To say to Him that something else
The Right Response to Every Sin
Erik Raymond: Sin is something that’s easy to get into but often hard to get out of. This is partly because we neglect what’s essential in responding to our sin. The proper response to every sin is repentance. What is repentance? At its core, repentance means a change of mind that leads to a change of heart and results in a change of life. It is not merely feeling bad about sin but turning away from it and toward God in faith. True repentance involves acknowledging sin, grieving, hating it, seeking God’s mercy, and living differently. Psalm 51 gives us a front-row seat to true, heart-level repentance. As we look over David’s shoulder and read his words, we see a man who has come face to face with his sin and, more importantly, with the God who stands ready to forgive. God has long used this Psalm to light the pathway of repentance and restoration in the life of his people.
The Innermost Meaning of the Cross is Penal Substitution
Danny Burk: Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him… But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.”–Isaiah 53:4-6, 10 “God put [Christ] forward as a propitiation in His blood through faith, in order to demonstrate His righteousness.”–Romans 3:25 “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the
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John Calvin on the Sabbath Commandment for Christians
Graham Heslop: A while back I wrote a post explaining why I’m not a Sabbatarian. Put more simply, I argued why I do not believe the fourth commandment is binding on Christian believers, outlining three reasons. Firstly, nowhere in the New Testament are the Sabbath and Sunday viewed synonymously. Secondly, considering the historical context to the New Testament writings, very few Christians would have rested on Sundays. The “Lord’s Day” meant engaging in worship, not observing some kind of Christian Sabbath. This was the case for the first two centuries of the Christian church. Thirdly, I questioned any appeal to Hebrews 4:9 as support for abiding authority of the fourth commandment. In this post I will unpack John Calvin’s understanding of the Sabbath commandment, from his Institutes. Sabbath as “Shadow Rite” Regarding the Sabbath or fourth commandment, Calvin writes: “Christians ought…to shun completely the superstitious observance of days” (2.8.31). Amen. In that section, Calvin cites Colossians 2:16-17. For, after telling the Christians at Colossae not to
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Filthy Rags or Fragrant Offerings?
Justin Dillehay: How Does God View Our Good Works? Growing up in a rural evangelical church, I often remember hearing Isaiah 64:6 (in the King James Version): “All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6). And I’m glad I did. It’s good to be taught you’re not saved by works (Eph. 2:8; Titus 3:7). It’s vital to remember that “those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom. 8:8). But what if you’re not in the flesh? What if you’re in Christ by the Spirit (v. 9)? What if God is now your adoptive Father? How does he view your “righteous deeds” then? Are they still filthy rags? Do you still think you’re unable to please him? I fear that as Christians, we sometimes underestimate the change in status that took place when we were united to Christ and adopted into God’s family. We speak of ourselves as though nothing had changed in our relationship, and as if God still viewed
Epistles of Christ
Sam Storms: Salvation and our relationship to the Lord are described in any number of ways in the New Testament, using a variety of images, metaphors, and analogies. Jesus is the Good Shepherd and we are the sheep. God is the giver of life and we are born again. He is the compassionate Father and we are adopted. God is the righteous judge and we are justified. The Spirit is an indwelling presence and we are his temple, and the list could go on without end. But one of the more intriguing and instructive images is that of Christians as a letter or epistle which Jesus himself has written, the Holy Spirit being, as it were, the pen or instrument by which he has authored us. “And you show,” writes Paul, “that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on
Twice Healed: The Blind Man at Bethsaida
Benjamin Gladd: Most Christians struggle to make sense of miracles in the Gospels. They appear random and disconnected from Jesus’s teaching on the kingdom of God. Part of the problem is that contemporary readers often separate Jesus’s teaching from his actions. But miracles, in one author’s words, are “acted parables.” Like parables, miracles contain layers of meaning and must be interpreted in light of the Gospel’s narrative and the wider drama of redemption. Mark is the only evangelist to record the healing of the blind man at Bethsaida (8:22–26). What makes this miracle instructive, even odd, is its two-staged nature. Let’s consider why this healing at Bethsaida is central to Mark’s Gospel and how believers can draw comfort from it. Walking like Trees Whereas Matthew and Luke often mention Jesus healing the blind, Mark includes only two such episodes (8:22–25; 10:46–52). In the first account, Jesus spits on the man’s eyes, lays his hands on him, and then asks him, “Do
What Makes God Sing?
Sam Storms: The steadfast love that God has for us is not only seen in the gift he gave to us of his Son, by whom we are justified and are being sanctified, but also revealed in the passion in his heart, which is so intense he cannot help but break forth in joyful singing!1 Zephaniah 3:17 tells us that “the Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” After careful study of this verse, I’ve come up with my own paraphrase. It’s not a word-for-word translation but an expanded rendering of what I think the original author had in mind: The Lord your God is with you all the time. He is a powerful and mighty warrior who saves you and fights on your behalf. When he thinks of you, he exults in festive
How Do I ‘Give Glory’ to God?
David Mathis: “I just want to give glory to God . . .” Whether it’s a post-game interview with a Christian athlete or everyday talk with friends and family, we’ve all heard it and likely said it. The strength of such a line is its Godwardness and rightness. A weakness of such talk can be its vagueness. How exactly does one “give glory” to God? “Giving glory” to God is clearly a biblical category — and Scripture is not as vague as we often are. So, what does it mean to give glory to God, and how do I myself give him glory in my life? ‘Giving’ Glory First, and vitally, what it does not mean is that we creatures give God something essential that he does not have otherwise. This is a critical qualification. We don’t “give glory” to God because he is lacking in glory and could use our help. As Paul preached in Athens, The God who made the world and everything in it, being
The Gospel Isn’t Good News Without Justification
Michael Horton: According to Genesis, the curse resulting from the fall of humanity is all-encompassing. The breach between humans and God (both judicial and relational) bled into blame-shifting toward one another. The earth, crying out against human violence and death, yields its produce grudgingly, groaning for release from its involuntary captivity. And, launching the story behind all stories in the Bible, the war of the Serpent’s surrogates (evident as soon as Cain) and the woman’s offspring (Abel) ensues. No longer holy, endowed with a holy calling, living in a holy land with God in peace and safety, the royal family lives “east of Eden.” At the same time as he announces the curse, God issues a surprising announcement of a promised redemption and institutes a regime of common grace as space for this gracious pledge to be realized in history. For example, when God elects Abraham and Sarah out of sheer grace as the parents of a chosen nation, the promise continues
A Better Way to Look at Missions
Brooks Buser: People often ask me: “Is such and such a good idea in missions?” The reason for this question is that there are thousands of different things going on in the missions world today. It makes sense why pastors are at a loss in sorting through the good and bad. How do we know what amounts to “good” missions? Several friends and I are presently working on a series of books on church-centered missions. In that series, we define missions as church planting across significant barriers, barriers that are usually linguistic, geographic, and cultural, or some combination thereof. Yet contained within that big picture are four different channels we can view as “missions.” Before I explain all four, which is the goal of this article, we should remember that not every strategic missions effort is an “ends of the earth” effort. This is where John Piper helps us in distinguishing between Timothaine and Pauline missions. Timothy and Titus left
C. S. Lewis on Glorification
Sam Storms: Of all that C. S. Lewis wrote, one of my favorites is his essay, “The Weight of Glory.” I’m especially interested in what Lewis says in it about the experience of what we refer to as glorification. Glorification is the truth found all through the NT that when Christ returns he will, by the power of the Holy Spirit, utterly eradicate sinful, fallen flesh from us and wholly and completely transform us into the likeness of Jesus himself. Lewis refers to the glory of glorification as brightness, splendor, or what he calls, luminosity. “We do not want merely to see beauty,” explains Lewis, “though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words – to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it” (37). In Colossians 3 Paul assures us that “when Christ who is your
Good News! God Hates Sin.
Trevin Wax: One of the vexing challenges in our day is helping people understand the biblical vision of sin and why God responds so vehemently against iniquity. The Bible doesn’t shy away from visceral descriptions of God rejecting evil in stark, unsparing terms. Take the image of the land of the Canaanites “vomiting” out its inhabitants due to their immorality and idolatry—a dramatic metaphor if ever there was one. John Stott comments, The holy God’s rejection of evil is as decisive as the human body’s rejection of poison by vomiting. Vomiting is probably the body’s most violent of all reactions. . . . God cannot tolerate or “digest” sin and hypocrisy. They cause him not distaste merely, but disgust. They are so repulsive to him that he must rid himself of them. He must spit or vomit them out. God hates sin. Full stop. It’s an abomination to him. It disgusts him. It angers him. But why? In evangelism and
“Lest We Drift”
by Jared C. Wilson Theological drift is always a danger within evangelicalism. When Reformed evangelicals are not drawing their polemical passion from the rise of Protestantism beginning in the early sixteenth century, they are inspired by the cautionary guidance of more recent historical episodes like the Downgrade Controversy in the late 1800s of Victorian England, the Fundamentalist/Modernist controversy of the 1920s–1930s, the Southern Baptist Convention’s “conservative resurgence” in response to liberalizing influences in the denomination in the late 1970s–1980s, and the concerns in the mid-1990s over Evangelicals and Catholics Together. If the early history of Christianity was fraught with the codification of orthodoxy, late Christianity has been about the enforcing of it. We are well acquainted with the danger of drift; we seem less acquainted with our own susceptibility to it. And while we are accustomed to noticing the drift of others, we are woefully blind about noticing it among ourselves. While the bulk of this book is concerned with
10 Things You Should Know about the Biblical Covenants
Thomas R. Schreiner: 1. Covenants are the backbone of the biblical story. Peter Gentry and Stephen Wellum have argued that the covenants advance the storyline of the Bible in their book Kingdom through Covenant: A Biblical-Theological Understanding of the Covenants, and they are on target. If one understands how the covenants function in the Bible, one will have a good grasp of how the Bible fits together. If we see the big picture in Scripture, we will do a better job of interpreting the details, and the covenant plays a fundamental role in seeing the big picture. 2. Covenant can be defined as follows: a covenant is a chosen relationship in which two parties make binding promises to each other. A covenant should be distinguished from a contract because it is a personal relationship which people voluntarily enter. The definition of covenant here is rather broad, but that is because there are many different kinds of covenants in Scripture. Marriage is
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Already Not Yet 