Theology / Salvation

  • Saving Faith

    James 2:14–17

    The works that James discusses in 2:14–26 are the works done in obedience to God. While such works can take a variety of forms depending on the circumstances in which we find ourselves, today’s passage focuses on ...Read More

  • Separated from Christ

    Ephesians 2:12a

    In the modern world, it can be easy to think our non-Christian neighbors are not really all that bad off because many of them enjoy a high standard of living. Yet, to be separated entirely from the covenants of promise ...Read More

  • Severed from Christ

    Galatians 5:2–4

    Martin Luther says that Galatians 5:2 “is a touchstone, whereby we may most certainly and freely judge all doctrines, works, religions, and ceremonies of all men.” Any of these that promise righteousness and salvation through them are to be ...Read More

  • So Great a Salvation

    Hebrews 2:1–3a

    The great message of salvation revealed in Christ brings with it great responsibility. If we neglect it and fall away, our punishment will be immeasurable. In prayer, thank God for the great salvation He has given us, and confess your ...Read More

  • Source of Salvation

    Hebrews 5:9–10

    The Father, like He did with Christ, often uses suffering to set us apart for His work even though we cannot always see how He is doing this while the suffering is taking place. Look back and consider how God ...Read More

  • Sovereign Regeneration

    Acts 9:1–19

    Some of us have had dramatic conversion experiences that we remember vividly. Others cannot remember a time when they did not trust in Jesus. Whatever our story, the same God who raised Jesus to life and knocked Saul of Tarsus ...Read More

  • Strangers and Exiles

    Hebrews 11:13

    John Calvin said that if the old covenant saints, having only a shadowy glance of Christ, could persevere in faith to the end of their lives, how much more ought we do the same? We know more fully the superiority ...Read More

  • Supplement Your Faith

    2 Peter 1:5–7

    The order of the virtues listed in today’s passage emphasizes faith and love. Faith is listed first because without true faith we cannot be holy, and love is listed last because it is both our final goal and the ...Read More

  • Take Me Back to Canaan

    Genesis 50

    Though Joseph did not know how God would bring His people back to Canaan, he did have a lifetime of experience to testify that the Lord is always utterly faithful to His promises, even when it seems He is taking ...Read More

  • Taken Up by God

    Hebrews 11:5

    Two thousand years ago, God spoke to His people face to face in the person of Christ Jesus. One day, Jesus will return, and we will live in the direct presence of God forevermore. We show our longing for this ...Read More

  • The Apostolic and Prophetic Word

    Ephesians 3:5

    The nature of the fuller revelation under the administration of the new covenant means that we must always interpret the Old Testament in light of the New Testament. As much as possible, we read the old covenant revelation through the ...Read More

  • The Blessedness No One Has Imagined

    1 Corinthians 2:9–10

    The first question and answer of the Westminster Shorter Catechism tells us that our chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. In glory, we will enjoy God face to face and experience His loveliness and holiness directly ...Read More

  • The Blood and the Spirit

    1 John 1:7

    “Just as the Word of God does not return to him void, neither does the exercise and administration of his sacrament return to him void” (R.C. Sproul, Truths We Confess, vol. 3, p. 89). The preaching of God’s ...Read More

  • The Bones of Joseph

    Hebrews 11:22

    The Bible does not teach that we will spend eternity as disembodied spirits. Rather, it teaches that one day our physical bodies will be transformed along with all of creation, and that we will live on in glorified bodies. Rejoice ...Read More

  • The Carnal Christian

    1 Corinthians 3:1-4

    We must always be clear that our good works can never make us righteous before God. Yet we must be equally clear that justifying faith immediately and inevitably evidences itself through good works such as our confession of faith and ...Read More