Category Archives: People

Romans 11:26 – ‘All Israel’ and the land

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Romans 11:26 (NET) — ‘And so all Israel will be saved’.

I have compiled extensive notes on this provocative phrase.  The key question is whether Paul is referring to

(a) ethnic Israel (as the majority of scholars think), or to

(b) the ‘new’ Israel, comprising Jewish and Gentile believers alike.  The latter view is advocated by John Calvin and N.T. Wright (along with some others), and I am inclined to agree with it.

In the course of his discussion of the question of whether the modern State of Israel has a divine right to occupy ‘the land’, Ian Paul has expressed support for this second view. …

‘Your kingdom come’

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What does Christ mean, when he teaches us to pray, ‘Your kingdom come’?

According to Augustine (ACCS), we should not think of this petition as implying that God is not now reigning:

‘“Come”…is to be understood in the sense of “manifested to humanity.” Just as light that is present is absent to the blind or to those who shut their eyes, so the kingdom of God, though it never departs from the earth, yet is absent to those who know nothing about it.

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Richard Baxter on the intermediate state

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Richard Baxter: The Saint’s Everlasting Rest (1650).  Abridged by Benjamin Fawcett (1759).

Baxter was suffering from a serious illness when he set down his thoughts on the blessedness of the life to come.

At the end of ch. 4, Baxter sets out his conviction ‘that the souls of believers do enjoy inconceivable blessedness and glory, even while they remain separated from their bodies.’

What can be more plain than those words of Paul? We are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at home, or rather sojourning in the body, we are absent from the Lord.…

Trans censorship row

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It all began with the publication, on the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) web site, of an article by ‘non-binary’ author and FFRF fellow Kat Grant titled, ‘What is a Woman?’

After rejecting biology-based definitions, such as ‘a woman is someone with a vagina’, or ‘a woman is someone who has (or lacks) certain chromosomes’, Grant concludes that ‘a woman whoever she says she is’.

This article prompted a response, on the same web site, from distinguished biological scientist Jerry Coyne. …

The Crucified God

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[Based on an article by Donald MacLeod in The Monthly Record, March, 1982]

This title, and the contents, of a book by Jurgen Moltmann are worth pondering, even though ‘Moltmann could not satisfy Karl Barth as to his orthodoxy and can hardly expect, in the circumstances, to be endorsed by The Monthly Record (assuming he reads it).’

The sufferings the crucified God experienced were:

1. Physical

His body, like ours, was limited in its powers of endurance and highly sensitive to pain.…

Ryle on repentance

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[Notes of ch. 16 of ‘Old Paths’, by J.C. Ryle]

Lk 13:3 “Unless you repent, you will all perish!”

This text seems severe, but it comes from the lips of out loving saviour. It is, after all, a sign of love, not hate, to warn of coming danger.

1. What is repentance?

It is one of the foundation-stones of Christianity, and is spoken of at least 60 times in the New Testament.

  • Jesus preached it, Mk 1:15
  • The Apostles preached it – Lk 6:12
  • Jesus commissioned his disciples to preach it – Lk 24:47
  • Peter preached it – Acts 2:38
  • Paul preached it – Acts 20:21

‘Repentance is a thorough change of a man’s natural heart upon the subject of sin’.…

Authority and freedom

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Notes from chapter 1 of Freedom, Authority and Scripture, by J.I. Packer.

“Authority” – makes most people think of law and order, direction and restraint, command and control, dominance and submission, respect and obedience. The word has almost become a “dirty word”. Opposition to authority is now the name of the game.

The Quest for Freedom

“Freedom”, on the other hand, is today the “in word”; World War II was described in terms of Four Freedoms: want, fear, speech, religion.…

What happens after death?

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J.I. Packer has a helpful summary of biblical teaching.

  • The separation of body and soul at death is both a fruit of sin and a divine judgement, Gen. 2:17; 3:19, 22; Rom. 5:12; 8:10; 1 Cor. 15:21.  This separation is a sign of the separation from God that first brought about physical death, and will be deepened after death for those who leave this life without Christ.  Death is, accordingly, to be seen as an enemy, 1 Cor 15:26 and a terror, Heb 2:15.
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Dare to believe all that God has said about himself

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‘All of God’s acts are consistent with all of His attributes. All that God does agrees with all that God is, and being and doing are one in Him. He cannot act out of character with Himself.

‘I think it might be demonstrated that almost every heresy that has afflicted the church through the years has arisen from believing about God things that are not true, or from over-emphasizing certain true things so as to obscure other things equally true.…

Christ applied to believers

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Summarising:

Flavel, J. The Method of Grace, ch. 1

1 Cor 1:30 “—Christ Jesus, whom God has made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption.’

Just as the plaster must be applied to the wound, the coat must be worn, the cordial received, so Christ must himself be applied to the heart.

In this text we have,

(a) an enumeration of the chief privileges of believers:

  • wisdom, which answers to man’s natural ignorance
  • righteousness, which answers to our guilt
  • sanctification, which answers to our pollution
  • redemption, which answers to the whole range of the effects of sin

(b) the method by which we come into these privileges: ,(i) by receiving the person of Christ

  • by personal application
  • by the work of God
  • Christ’s work is suitable to our needs

Hence: ‘The Lord.…