False teachers by definition teach false doctrine. Usually, we imagine that this means that false teachers deny certain concepts like the Trinity, the Incarnation, or the Second Coming. Yet second Peter challenges the idea that false doctrine only means denying true ideas. In Peter’s second letter, false teachers primarily are called such because of how they live. For Peter, false doctrine can mean denying true concepts or denying our Master by our behaviour. [Read more…] about False Teachers Out Themselves by Their Way of Life
Life
What happens after the servant suffers?
What’s the Christian Social Justice Debate about?
John MacArthur recently wrote, “This recent (and surprisingly sudden) detour in quest of “social justice” is, I believe, the most subtle and dangerous threat so far.” Agreeing with John Macarthur, Josh Buice says that social justice is the top issue for the church in the last 100 – 200 years (18m:25s). Small wonder then that John MacArthur, Josh Buice and eleven others wrote the Statement on Social Justice & The Gospel. [Read more…] about What’s the Christian Social Justice Debate about?
“In the Beginning God Created the Heavens and the Earth” and Other Difficult Verses
Theology belongs to the church, and theology leads to worship. And this means that worship includes prayer because it adores and shows reliance on God. Prayer is, therefore, theology put to work. As an example of theology put to work, here is a prayer to God that serves as a form of public worship. In this prayer of adoration, God for being himself and creating all things.
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1) What a simple passage but what difficulties. O Lord, you were there and you did create. But what does the beginning mean, when you already were there? [Read more…] about “In the Beginning God Created the Heavens and the Earth” and Other Difficult Verses
What Can Spiritual People Understand That Others Cannot? (Or Can the World Teach Christians Anything?)
The apostle Paul declares that “the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor 2:14). So unlike the spiritual person (1 Cor 2:13), the natural person does not accept nor is able to understand spiritual truths.
So that’s what Paul says. But what does he mean? Surely, natural people have something to say when it comes to grammar, maths, sciences, or even giving directions to the local market! So what is it that natural people do not accept or understand? [Read more…] about What Can Spiritual People Understand That Others Cannot? (Or Can the World Teach Christians Anything?)
How Ordering Our Grief Helps Us Heal Our Grief
The Book of Lamentations portrays grief in its darkest form and functions like a mirror to grieving souls. It shows readers how to grief and how to heal this malady of the soul.
The particular grief that Lamentations underscores is the grief caused by our own sinful choices. In short, it answers the question, “How should I respond when I suffer for doing what is wrong?” Part of the answer to that question involves the form of the poetry itself. [Read more…] about How Ordering Our Grief Helps Us Heal Our Grief