The Ruling Elder: Past & Present
I don’t know about you, but I find it interesting that Hebrews 13 ends with an encouragement to obey and submit to the elders of the congregation. In fact, leaders are mentioned three times from v. 7 to the end…
Tag Biblical Exposition
The Ruling Elder: Basic Function
For the proper functioning of the church, God has established the offices of elder and deacon. Elders have the function of overseeing the church, proclaiming the Word, and shepherding the flock. While all elders must be able to teach…
Biblical Elders: Leaders Reflected in Those They Lead
God’s covenant blessing of salvation has come through his line of covenant descendants. Thus, the covenant people of God are not only identified as God’s family, but also every human family is a miniature model of God’s spiritual family, the…
Sola Scriptura: Four Profitable Words
Many years ago, my two friends and I developed an interest in rock climbing. We lived in an area where you could do a lot of top roping. We would walk into the woods and find a rock face. Someone…
Sola Scriptura vs Opinion
One of the most important doctrines of the Reformation is the doctrine of Sola Scriptura. It means that the ultimate and final authority for all things is the Bible, which is the Word of God. As Protestants, we stand…
Sola Scriptura: A Brief Historical Summary of the Seige Against Scripture
When Satan tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden his angle of attack was to bring into question the sufficiency of God’s word. “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?” Not only…
Priesthood of All Believers: Two Basic Tasks
Our lives, for the most part, are routine. In fact, truth be told, you struggled to get up early and do devotions because the kids were sick the night before. After you did get them off to school, you went…
The Priesthood of All Believers: A Covenant Community in Christ
The Lord through the prophet Jeremiah prophesied of a day when He would establish a new covenant for His people, a covenant unlike the old one enacted under Moses. It was under the Old Covenant where Israel was called…
The Priesthood of All Believers: Enabled to Praise Him!
In the Old Testament, the king ruled the people on behalf of God; the prophet represented God to the people, speaking God’s word to them; and the priest represented the people to God, performing sacrifices on their behalf in the…
The ‘More and More’ of Holiness
Holiness has too often been embroiled in confusion and distortion within the Christian community and, sadly, ends up being neglected rather than cultivated within the church. This is especially true in times, like our own, when the gospel becomes more…