Christ’s Resurrection and Ours

1 Corinthians 15:20–23

John Calvin writes, “As … Adam did not die for himself alone, but for us all, it follows, that Christ in like manner, who is the antitype, did not rise for himself alone; for he came, that he might restore everything ...Read More

God is in the Details

Matthew 10:28–31

The control God exercises over everything that ever happens demonstrates that there is some significance to all that we do. In turn, this means that we should give thought to our actions and how we spend our time. The Lord ...Read More

In the Beginning, God

Genesis 1:1

The Creator-creature distinction is fundamental to biblical theology. Every act of sin arises when we forget that we are not the Creator and then attempt to live by our own rules. Every orthodox summary of theology submits itself to what ...Read More

Augustine on Faith and Reason Part I

John 17:17

Whenever human beings come to a knowledge of the truth, it is because the Lord has illumined His revelation. Even impenitent sinners sometimes submit to His natural revelation, but they do not do so consistently. This explains why even the ...Read More

Modalistic Monarchianism

John 17:1–5

Today’s study describes a heresy known as either modalistic monarchianism or modalism. It is alive and well today in some varieties of Pentecostalism. Analogies that compare God to water (vapor, liquid, and ice) are also essentially modalistic, even though ...Read More

Three Distinct Persons

Matthew 3:13–17

John Calvin says, “[The] Father and Son and Spirit are one God, yet the Son is not the Father, nor the Spirit the Son, but … they are differentiated by a peculiar quality” (Institutes 1.13.5). The Father is God ...Read More

The Kingdom Inaugurated

Mark 1:12–13

In our justification, God the Father counts us as righteous in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21), which means that He reckons us as having fulfilled the demands given to Israel and to Adam (this is what Jesus did as our ...Read More

Exploring the Boundaries of God’s Law

Prayerfully examine your life for sins of omission or commission. Read More

A Christology of Feeling

1 John 1:1–4

Hegel, himself no friend of biblical Christianity, criticized Schleiermacher, saying that if the essence of religion was the feeling of absolute dependence, then the dog, being absolutely dependent upon people, is the most divine creature of all. Many people feel ...Read More

Domesticating Jesus

Luke 4:16–30

The Christian faith does not believe in an ethereal kind of salvation that only encompasses a world we cannot see. Instead, because God created everything good and because He purposes to redeem His creation, we know that the final redemption ...Read More

Christology

John 20:30–31

What place does Bible study hold in your life? All of us should be concerned to study Christian doctrines, for in doing so we will be able to present a distinctly Christian worldview and be assured that the Jesus whom ...Read More

Peter, the Rock

Matthew 16:13–20

When we study Scripture, we should be careful not to let the excesses of opposing positions unduly influence our own applications of the text. All the teachings of those with whom we disagree may not necessarily be wrong, and we ...Read More

The Final Judgment

Acts 17:22–34

The assurance of the coming final judgment should motivate us to share the Gospel with our loved ones who do not know Christ. Friends and family who do not follow Jesus will suffer for eternity because their sins have not ...Read More

The Return of Christ

Acts 1:6–11

The sure hope of the Lord’s return has provided strength to many a suffering Christian. Knowing that Jesus will come again to consummate God’s kingdom helps us see the trials of life in their proper perspective and endure ...Read More

The Millennium, Part II

Habakkuk 2:14

Postmillennialists do not deny that there will be tares in God’s kingdom until Jesus returns (Matt. 13:24–30). Still, Dr. Keith A. Mathison notes that “at the end of the age, the Son returns to a field of ...Read More