Ligonier Ministries

How can Christians express the truth of human dignity during a global crisis?

Expressing human dignity is completely lost on our culture. A culture that murders babies wouldn’t have any adequate or accurate assessment of the value of human life. It’s an oddity that abortion advocacy has ramped up prior to this coming …Read More

How can I obtain assurance of salvation?

There are a lot of people who struggle with doubt, and there are several reasons. Firstly, some people don’t know enough about the doctrine of salvation to understand that it gives built-in security, so they need a more biblical understanding …Read More

Does God elect His people to salvation based on any condition they have met?

No. It’s totally a mystery in God’s love. Here’s the beautiful thing: go to Deuteronomy, and go to chapter 6, chapter 7, and chapter 10, and look at God’s election of Israel. At one point God says, “I did not …Read More

What Christian biographies have impacted you the most?

The biography that probably impacted me the most was the two-volume biography on Martyn-Lloyd Jones by Iain Murray, because he gave a lifetime to the preaching and teaching of the Word of God and sound doctrine. He was a bit …Read More

How has your book Surprised by Suffering helped you to face your own health challenges?

There are lots of people who’ve suffered a whole lot more than I have in the last year, but I have had some serious health issues in the last year. I have been reminded frequently of my own work in …Read More

What advice would you give to the successor to a senior pastor?

Honor your predecessor. Show love and respect, even though you may want to do things differently. He owns the hearts of those people. If you don’t show him honor, you’re going to lose the people who love him, and those …Read More

What is your view of Proverbs 22:6?

Often in the Proverbs, and in other places in Scripture as well, statements are made of general principles, or of ordinarily true realities. We sometimes get in trouble if we take a verse like Proverbs 22:6 and say, “This is …Read More

Why is it impossible for Christians to lose their salvation?

It’s impossible to lose your salvation because you didn’t do anything to gain it. I’ll reverse that a little bit: if you could lose your salvation you would. If my salvation depended on me, I would lose it. I don’t …Read More

Does the doctrine of total depravity teach that we have lost the image of God?

Total depravity teaches that the fallenness of our condition affects the radix, the core of our being. It’s a radical thing. There is no part of our humanity that has not been profoundly affected by the fall and by sin. …Read More

What does “sola Scriptura” mean?

Sola Scriptura is one of the five principal solas of the Reformation. The Reformation was, in many respects, a recovery of the authority of Scripture over all of doctrine and all of life. The final answer to any question is, …Read More

Are we living in the end times described in the book of Revelation?

Yes and no. Lest you think I’ve fallen into neo-orthodoxy and paradoxical theology, let me explain. In one sense, everything that takes place after the ascension of Christ takes place in the end times. The end times started in the …Read More

Should we tell unbelievers that God loves them?

Well, it’s true. God loves the world, and we have that message, but that’s not the whole message. If you say what the old Campus Crusade said, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life,” that’s not …Read More

How can we defend the doctrine of sola Scriptura using Scripture?

So often it’s been said that if you argue from the Bible to the infallibility of Scripture, or the inerrancy of the Bible, or the inspiration of Scripture, then you’re caught in the bonds of a vicious circle. We know …Read More

Who was Charles Finney?

Charles Grandison Finney was the figure of the Second Great Awakening. He started off Presbyterian, but he was an odd Presbyterian because he did not like the Westminster Standards. He ended up moving away from Presbyterianism. In Rochester, New York, …Read More

What does it mean that “by His wounds we are healed”?

Whether healing is in the atonement is clear in terms of Isaiah 53: it is. But when that healing takes place is a matter of great debate. There are many people who claim this passage to mean that because the …Read More