Romans 8: Misguided Hostility
“For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” – Romans 8:7-8 We continue now in our meditation upon…
Tag Hermeneutics
Let’s Study the Beatitudes! Part 1, Introduction
Some passages of Scripture are better known than others. How can they not be? The Lord’s Prayer is recited across the landscape of Christendom along with the Twenty-third Psalm and the Ten Commandments. But there are others. In fact, it’s…
The Ten Commandments: The Third
The third of the Ten Commandments seems simple at first read: we are not to take God’s name in vain. But the more we think about it, the deeper our reflections will become on what it means to honor God…
The Ten Commandments: The Second
There’s something of a progression when one moves from the first commandment – “You shall have no other gods before me” – to the second commandment forbidding the making and worship of idols. It’s a move delineating how the one…
The Ten Commandments: Why the Law?
According to the Westminster Confession of Faith, “The moral law doth for ever bind all, as well justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof….neither doth Christ, in the Gospel, any way dissolve, but much strengthen this obligation” (WCF, 19.5)…
Brokenness Revisited, or “I Hate to Admit It, But I Think I’m Making Progress”
In recent years, it seems increasingly rare to hear believers say, “I grew up in a happy home and we had everything we needed.” I almost never hear anyone say “I am making progress as a disciple,” although healthy…
Christ in the Old Testament
Since the rise of modern Biblical criticism, it is common in some circles to think that there are little to no predictions of a Messiah in the Old Testament. But this is not the view of the Scriptures. This is…
Christ the ladder
The dual questions of where do we meet God and how do we hear from God are important. And they are also highly relevant in 21st century Christianity. These two questions run like yellow-brick roads throughout Scripture, weaving their way…
Sanctification: A Perilous Journey for Roman Catholics
In an approved essay on the doctrine of “sanctifying grace,” an author at Catholic Answers brings us to the frightening precipice which his church’s doctrine demands. Under the grim heading, “Spiritual Suicide,” the author says of sanctifying grace: “But you…
Samuel McPheeters and His Commitment to Neutrality
Samuel McPheeters and His Commitment to Neutrality It was 1862, two days after Christmas. The American Civil War was still raging, when Samuel Brown McPheeters, Presbyterian pastor of the largest church in St. Louis, Missouri, met with President Lincoln…