James 2:20 But would you like evidence, you empty fellow, that faith without works is useless? 2:21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 2:22 You see that his faith was working together with his works and his faith was perfected by works. 2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Now Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend.…
8:28 And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose, 8:29 because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 8:30 And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.
Baghdad, July 30th 1919.…
27:3 Now when Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus had been condemned, he regretted what he had done and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders, 27:4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood!” But they said, “What is that to us? You take care of it yourself!” 27:5 So Judas threw the silver coins into the temple and left. Then he went out and hanged himself. 27:6 The chief priests took the silver and said, “It is not lawful to put this into the temple treasury, since it is blood money.”…
A few years ago, a visitor to our home expressed surprise at seeing a copy of Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion lying around. My response was that I find it helpful to know what those I might disagree with are actually saying.
In the same spirit, I present here the key points in this 2013 essay by Daniel Bastion. These twenty reasons for not taking Christianity seriously have garnered high praise from sceptics such as John Loftus (‘Read ’em and weep Christians’) and David Madison (‘Bastian’s essay is indeed essential homework.…
In The Complete Handbook of Everyday Christianity, art. ‘Spiritual Gifts’, Fee and Stevens compare popular understandings of spiritual gifts with (what they regard as) the biblical reality:
Myth: spiritual gifts are given at the time of conversion and do not change during one’s lifetime.
Reality: the biblical data affirm that gifts may be temporary or long-term.
Myth: Christian maturation is hampered if we do not know what our gift is.
Reality: being able to identify our gift is not as important as making sure our personal ministry edifies others.…
While not all Christians are called ‘prophets’ (1 Cor 12:29), all are (potentially, at least) engaged in prophetic ministry.
So argue Fee and Stevens (The Complete Handbook of Everyday Christianity):
…‘Outside of Paul’s letters prophecy is mentioned as a crucial endowment of the Day of Pentecost by which Spirit-ministry has been universalized as proof that Joel’s prophecy has been fulfilled (Joel 2:28-32; Acts 2:17-21). Thus prophecy in this present age of the Spirit and these “last days” (Acts 2:17) is a potential ministry for everyone since the Spirit has been poured out “on all people .
‘I love Jesus, but not the church’.
This is the sentiment, I suppose, of those who call themselves ‘Christians’ while having little or no commitment to a local congregation.
But to love and serve Christ is to be in union with him. And that union is corporate. Consider the following biblical metaphors:
So far as membership of a local church is concerned, Thom S.…
The text of a sermon can be anything from (less than) a single verse to (more than) an entire book. Proverbs, aphorisms, summary statements and theologically rich passages in, say, Paul’s letters serve well as short texts. Narratives and parables more suitably serve as longer texts.
Whatever the length of the text, the sermon based on that text must hang together. It must have unity. This means paying close attention to the context. How does your text (whether short or long) fit into the whole?…
Wyatt Houtz (The PostBarthian) asks, ‘Why is it so difficult for Christians to accept that Paul abandoned his wife?’
Houtz’s thesis is that it is likely, from the available evidence, that Paul had been married but that he had his wife had separated following his conversion to Christ.
Here are the main steps in the argument.
1. Paul had been married. It is unthinkable that Paul, as a strict Pharisee (Phil 3:4-6; Gal 1:13-15; Acts 9:1f), would not have been married. …
You don’t need me to remind you that our world, wonderful and beautiful as it is, is shot through with suffering and evil.
In a recent lecture, Don Carson spoke of six ‘pillars’ of the Christian worldview that will provide bulwarks as we seek to face up to this reality.
1. Insights from the beginning of the Bible’s storyline
God created a world of ‘breathtaking beauty and unfathomable goodness’. But the perfection was short-lived. We now find ourselves, from Genesis 3 onwards, in a world marked by ‘sin, suffering, death and decay’.…
