Articles

Many treat gospel grace with frightful flippancy, and much of this abuse spawns from a misunderstanding of how grace works . In the next few SQN columns, we will work through the all-important theme of biblical grace and its essential relationship to works. Let me put the first premise starkly:...

Read Matthew 4:1-10 Here’s the situation. You are away on a business trip; you are lonely and want some company. And, it is far too easy to locate such company just down the corner. So you go to your room, thinking yourself noble to have resisted temptation. Then you turn on the TV, and the movies...

Read Mt 3:11-17 Baptism can be a confusing topic. This symbol, however, is so important that God the Father had God the Son baptized. Thankfully, he also provides clear information on baptism’s import. Baptism is a symbol; it’s a logo of sorts. It is a visible stamp. While I normally shy away from...

My name is David. So, it seems, is nearly every other man I meet. OK. I am exaggerating a bit, but my entire life I have been surrounded by Davids – grade school, sports teams, church, the neighborhood. Family moves prove the name is no respecter of geography: North Carolina, Texas, Illinois,...

According to Herman Bavinck, it is only the Christian faith that consistently maintains both God’s absoluteness and his intimate, personal nearness to creatures. All unbelieving philosophies inevitably pit one against the other. Pantheism, for instance, dissolves God’s transcendence and Deism...

I offered a longer review of David’s book over at First Thoughts a few weeks ago so my overall appreciation of David’s analysis and argument should be evident. Thus, here I want to offer a line of critique or, if not critique, at least a proposal as to what is further needed in order for David’s...

In an age when “knowing” and “comprehending” are generally taken to be interchangeable concepts, to confess God as incomprehensible may seem odd. Yet such was nearly the universal confession of the Church prior to the Modern period. [1] Moreover, God’s incomprehensibility was not regarded as a...

Read Matthew 3:8-12 For Jesus, Repentance was a mainstay in his preaching and ministry. It is a first truth in the first gospel. It has an early place in the scheme of truth. As we continue to explore the vital importance of repentance in the Christian life, we should observe that the word is a...

“Wonderful are your works and my soul knows it very well.” (Ps 139:14b, ESV) One chief evidence of gospel grace in the life of the believer is wonder. The Lord God himself and his care for us should dumbfound us. Any attention to them catapults the soul into an orbit of awe. The fact is, the more...

Read Matthew 3:1-1 Repentance is a medicine that we need in regular dosage. That sounds rather bracing, I know. But think about it. Most of us view repentance as something which is unusual or over-and-done-with at conversion. Repentance is viewed as un common and not the norm for most Christians...