Bible

Why The Bible Is So Important For the Christian Life

October 2, 2020 by wagraham 1 Comment

Evangelicals assume the Bible is good. It is God’s word, we reason. And we would be right to make this claim. But if we interrogate further, we may not have any more ready answers to the question, Why is the Bible important for the Christian life?

Scripture is God’s word. Certainly. But why does that matter? What does that mean for us? These questions are not abstract. If we simply read the Bible due to some deontological push, then I fear we might miss the wonderful and graceful means by which we grow in the Christian life.

Here I will argue for the necessity of the Bible for the Christian life in real and substantial ways. I claim that apart from the Bible we miss out on the key way that the Spirit of Jesus makes Jesus personally present in us so that we become lost in the identity of Jesus. [Read more…] about Why The Bible Is So Important For the Christian Life

3 Common Mistakes We Make When Reading the Bible

December 24, 2019 by wagraham 1 Comment

Every January, many commit to reading through the Bible in one year. Incidentally, this commonplace is one reason why I love evangelicalism. We are Bible people. And as Bible people, we should pursue reading Scripture well by avoiding common mistakes that we sometimes make.

Here then are three mistakes that we sometimes make when we read the Bible. [Read more…] about 3 Common Mistakes We Make When Reading the Bible

What Is the Day of the Lord?

February 1, 2017 by wagraham Leave a Comment

The Day of the Lord is a major theme in the Old and New Testaments, and it appears in contexts of judgment. The phrase itself pops up mainly in the prophets of the Old Testament (Is 13:6, 9; 58:13; Jer 46:10; Ezek 13:5; 30:3; Joel 1:15; 2:1, 11, 31; 3:14; Amos 5:18, 20; Obad 1:15; Zeph 1:7–8, 14; Mal 4:5) but also with some frequency in the New Testament (Acts 2:20; 1 Cor 5:5; 1 Th 5:2; 2 Th 2:2; 2 Pet 3:10).

The Day of the Lord is not something to look forward to. In fact, Amos warns those in his day of hoping in it because they thought God’s judgment would only affect other people, not them!

Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! Why would you have the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not light, as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him. Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it? (Amos 5:18–20).

So why in the world does the Bible talk about the day of the Lord (DOL) and why should we care about it? I can give you at least three reasons. [Read more…] about What Is the Day of the Lord?