substitution

Many believers misunderstand God’s grace, and therefore lack assurance of it. They wonder if they are really saved. They live thinking they are never enough. They wonder if they forget to confess some of their sins if they will be kept from the kingdom of heaven. They may look at mature Christians...
After reading through this prophecy, one doesn’t need to make it further than the first five chapters to realize that there is a profound problem. The people of God know the right things to say. In 1:15, they spread out their hands in prayer. They know the right things to do. In 1:11, they...
Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens (Rom. 9:18). In the well-known story of Israel’s exodus from Egypt, God is described as hardening Pharaoh’s heart so that Pharaoh disobeys God. In point of fact, ten times God is said to harden Pharaoh’s heart, six times it...
The dangers facing the church today are subtle. They are like those facing the family. Imagine a young man sits his parents down at the kitchen table for a talk. He then outs himself as gay or perhaps transgendered. The danger facing that family at that moment is very real. Traditionally they have...
With All Your Heart Dr. Craig Troxel is professor of Practical Theology at Westminster Seminary California and James’ former pastor. Craig visits the podcast to discuss his recently written book, With All Your Heart: Orienting Your Mind, Desires, and Will toward Christ. When Scripture mentions the...
Everybody loves the Joseph story. Chapters thirty-seven through fifty with the minor exception of chapter thirty-eight seem to be all about Joseph. And that is exactly why we have to remind ourselves that the story is not Joseph’s but Jacob’s story. Genesis 37:2 reminds us that these are the...
John Biegel
When I found that Banner of Truth was slated to reissue nineteenth-century Scottish pastor Horatius Bonar’s exposition of the doctrine of justification The Everlasting Righteousness [1] this year, I was inordinately delighted. That’s because, outside of Scripture, The Everlasting Righteousness is...
John Calvin called justification as “the main hinge on which religion turns” and said we must devote great attention to it ( Institutes, III.xi.1). When we consider justification’s role in the order of salvation it plays a crucial role in distinction from other element but not in separation from...
There is a logical progression when one moves from the doctrine of the incarnation to the doctrine of Christ’s obedience. As Jeff Stivason argued in a previous post, Christ Jesus not only came into the world to save sinners (1 Tim. 1:15) but, in order for God to save sinners, the Son had to become...
Last week, Wyatt Graham published a post titled, " The Father Was Not Angry at the Son of the Cross ," in which he rightly explained that God the Father never stopped loving the Son--even when the Son hung on the cross. While there are many good and helpful statements in Wyatt's post--and, while he...