Most of my life I’ve been wondering, far in the back of my mind, if another spell like the Great Depression or the misery index of the 1970s would hit. This probably stems in part from the media (they always seem to be talking about the dangers of a recession, whether the economy is doing […]
How Can Jesus Be God and Man?
Equally amazing to the doctrine of the Trinity is the doctrine of the Incarnation — that Jesus Christ is God and man, yet one person, forever. As J.I. Packer has said, “Here are two mysteries for the price of one — the plurality of persons within the unity of God, and the union of Godhead […]
Why Justification by Faith Alone is Necessary for Good Works
“Justification by faith alone frees me to love my neighbor disinterestedly, for his or her own sake, as my sister or brother, not as the calculated means to my own desired ends,” writes Timothy George of why the traditional Protestant doctrine of justification by faith alone encourages rather than discourages good works.[1] The freedom to […]
What is the Doctrine of Justification?
John Calvin, the great Reformer, spoke for many when he declared that justification is “the main hinge on which religion turns.” Why is it so important? Because “unless you first of all grasp what your relationship to God is, and the nature of his judgment concerning you, you have neither a foundation on which to […]
The Freedom of Sanctification
This is the Bible study mentioned in chapter 1 of Unstuck. I. Throughout this study, the danger that comes from false views of sanctification will become evident to us. I think that most of us, myself included, have been suffering under much false (or, at least inadequate) teaching on sanctification. I hope that the truth […]
The Consistency of Divine Sovereignty and Human Accountability: Why Humans are Morally Accountable
In the last article, we saw how it can be that God from all eternity ordained “whatsoever comes to pass” and yet is not “the author of sin” (Westminister Confession of Faith, 3.1). Having shown this, the issue that we will focus on in this article is how God’s control over all things does not […]
Understanding the Inspiration of the Bible
“Everyone has a basis of authority on which he thinks and acts. For the Christian this is the Bible, claimed to be a book that is different from all others,” says Charles Ryrie. [1] The Bible is indeed different from all other books–it claims to be the inspired word of God. But this raises many […]
Nature & Existence of the Soul
It has struck me as odd for some time that I am my soul, and yet for the majority of my life have hardly known what a soul is. This can only be a mark of the horrible consequences of sin on our race that we can so easily lack even the most fundamental knowledge […]
Science and the Existence of God
Is it pseudo-science to claim that scientific evidence demonstrates the existence of God? Does science give good reasons to believe that God exists? The only way to answer this question is to examine the evidence. Too often people are willing to use science to criticize religion, but then are unwilling to honestly consider an attempt […]
Does the Bible Teach a Young Earth?
“On the basis of internal evidence, it is this writer’s conviction that yom [the Hebrew word for day] in Genesis one could not have been intended by the Hebrew author to mean a literal twenty-four-hour day,” concludes Dr. Gleason Archer, a biblical scholar who is fluent in Hebrew and over 30 related languages, one of […]