- All
- Adoption
- Angels and Demons
- Anger
- Anxiety and Worry
- Apologetics
- Assurance
- Atheism
- Baptism
- Bible Study
- Biblical Interpretation
- Biography
- Children
- Christian Character
- Christianity and Culture
- Christian Thought
- Church and Ministry
- Church Leadership
- Church Membership
- Confession
- Contemporary Christianity
- Creation
- Creeds and Confessions
- Depression
- Discipleship
- Ethics
- Evangelism and Missions
- Faith and Repentance
- False Teaching
- General Biblical Studies
- General Church History
- General Theology
- God’s Love
- Government
- Heaven and Hell
- Humility
- Introduction to the Bible
- Justification
- Law and Gospel
- Legalism
- Life Issues
- Lordship Salvation
- Man
- Money and Stewardship
- Music
- Opposing Worldviews
- Parenting
- Pastoral Ministry
- Perseverance of the Saints
- Practical Theology
- Prayer
- Preaching
- Pride
- Race
- Reformed Theology
- Regeneration
- Roman Catholicism
- Salvation
- Sanctification
- Sin
- Spiritual Disciplines
- Spiritual Growth
- Study and Scholarship
- Suffering
- Suicide
- The Ancient Church
- The Church
- The Epistles
- The Final Judgment
- The Gospel
- The Historical Books
- The Holy Spirit
- The Nature of God
- The Nature of the Atonement
- Theologians
- The Parables
- The Person of Christ
- The Providence of God
- The Sabbath
- The Scriptures
- The Teaching of Christ
- The Trinity
- The Work of Christ
- Total Depravity
- Unconditional Election
- Vocation
- Wives and Mothers
- World Religions
- Worship
-
What is the significance of baptism?
Just as an aside, the word significance has as its root the word sign. A sign is something that points to something beyond itself. We all recognize that whatever baptism signifies, Jesus obviously thought it was very important because he …Read More
-
Are those who have never heard of Christ going to hell?
That’s one of the most emotionally laden questions that a Christian can ever be asked. Nothing is more terrifying or more awful to contemplate than that any human being would go to hell. On the surface, when we ask a …Read More
-
When a person dies, where does his or her spirit and body go until the Second Coming?
Throughout its history, the church has struggled with the concept of what is called the “intermediate state”—our position between the time we die and the time Christ consummates his kingdom and fulfills the promises that we confess in the Apostles’ …Read More
-
Has Satan been given dominion over the earth until Jesus returns? If so, why was he given this authority?
There’s only one supreme Lord over all the world, and that’s God. We are told in the Old Testament that this whole concept of dominion was shared with Adam and Eve. Man was given dominion over the earth to be …Read More
-
When Jesus says, “Be ye perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect,” does that mean we can attain perfection, and should we?
There are a couple of things we need to understand about this statement. In the first place, the word that is translated “perfect” literally means “be complete.” So often, the New Testament and the Old Testament will describe people as …Read More
-
In Numbers 14 it appears that Moses changed the mind of God. How can you explain this?
“To change one’s mind,” in the New Testament, means to repent. When the Bible speaks of my repenting or your repenting, it means that we are called to change our minds or our dispositions with respect to sin—that we are …Read More
-
How does one convince a nonbeliever that the Bible is the Word of God?
Before I try to answer that question directly, let me make a distinction that is important at the outset. There’s a difference between objective proof and the persuasion or conviction that follows. John Calvin argued that the Bible carries both …Read More
-
Can you repent at the moment of death and still have the same salvation as someone who’s been a Christian for many years?
That’s a tricky question, but I think it’s a fascinating one and certainly one that many people are concerned about. We talk about foxhole faith, when people cry out in desperate moments of crisis or postpone to their deathbed the …Read More
-
How were the books of the Bible selected and compiled, and how were the decisions made as to what would be distributed as the Word of God?
Even though we think of the Bible as being one book, it’s actually a collection of sixty-six books, and we realize that there was a historical process by which those particular books were gathered together and placed in one volume …Read More
-
Is there a difference between being baptized with the Holy Spirit and being filled with the Holy Spirit?
At times when we read the New Testament record of those who are baptized in the Spirit or filled with the Spirit, it seems that these terms are used interchangeably, that they refer to the same phenomenon. At other times …Read More
-
Scripture says that Christ stated the unforgivable sin as being blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Can you expand on that, and how should I pray for someone committing that sin?
There’s a lot of confusion over the sin that Jesus says cannot be forgiven either in this world or in the world to come. Some people think that the unforgivable sin is murder because the Old Testament gives us such …Read More
-
Did Jesus ever laugh? What do the Scriptures tell us about his character and sense of humor?
I’ve heard some people answer this question in the negative by saying that laughter is always a sign of frivolity and a thinly veiled attempt to make light of things that are sober. They say life is a sober matter; …Read More
-
Throughout the Bible we are told to fear God. What does that mean?
We need to make some important distinctions about the biblical meaning of “fearing” God. These distinctions can be helpful, but they can also be a little dangerous. When Luther struggled with that, he made this distinction, which has since become …Read More
-
What does it mean for us to call God our Father?
One of the most well-known statements of the Christian faith is the Lord’s Prayer, which begins with the words “Our Father which art in heaven.” This is part of the universal treasury of Christendom. When I hear Christians in a …Read More
