My Husband Sinned Against Me—Why Do I Carry the Shame?
Jesus, your loving, gracious, sovereign Lord, knows what it’s like to experience the “dirtiness” of someone else’s sin becoming his.
Sin in any relationship is serious, but since marriage is a unique covenant that represents Christ and the church, betrayal from a spouse is particularly devastating. Sexual unfaithfulness can shatter a wife’s sense of identity and worth. Her husband has not only gone outside the marriage but has actually brought pollution and idolatry into their union.... Continue Reading
The Postmodern Self: The Slope Immediately Becomes Slippery
Truth and falsehood are no longer discernible, and what is known to be factual becomes blurred and distorted—including biology, identity, and sexuality.
Mankind has always struggled with pride and hubris, but Selfism elevates vice to virtue and packages it as illumined personal discovery. Selfism, a product of the human potential movement, feeds our desire for meaning while stroking our ego. The Self rises as a divine spark. We are each divine selves, masters of destiny and voices of... Continue Reading
A Response to J.V. Fesko’s “Should Old Aquinas Be Forgot?” In Defense of Protestant Evangelicals
The passage from “Justification by Faith” Fesko quotes proves that Owen and other Protestant theologians vigorously distinguish between imputed and infused righteousness.
In other words, faith justifies, and the various “other saving graces” that accompany it come into view in sanctification with its operation of the Spirit in which he “infuses grace” per Larger Catechism Q. 77. It is not an accurate summary to say that there is an infused habit of faith that is first passive... Continue Reading
Natural Law and Scriptural Authority
We cannot retrieve natural law without allowing Scripture to remain the final authoritative norm of our teaching.
Natural law, then, remains as indispensable for Christians today as it was for the many centuries in which it held a central role in Christian ethics. As Protestants, however, we cannot retrieve natural law without allowing Scripture to remain the final authoritative norm of our teaching. How should we then live? So Francis Schaeffer... Continue Reading
The Antifragile Christian
The meek Christian is the truest form of antifragility that can be found.
It is God himself who will bring you to your glorious completion. Transforming you by His Spirit through good and pain, bracing you against the difficulties of life and hardening you along the way, this is just one more way He has shed his limitless love upon you. You may look weak, you may even feel... Continue Reading
The Remnant is Like a Fuse
A time of decline is never the time for the faithful follower of Jesus Christ to grow fainthearted.
As we grow in union with him, if the Lord wills, he might decide to set the broader culture on fire through the Holy Spirit as he has done in the past. However, even if he does not, the remnant will experience revival and be the bright and shining light to the culture around us... Continue Reading
Ephesians: Uniting All Things in Christ, Part 2
Paul transitions to application with the urging to walk in a manner worthy of the calling described in the first three chapters (Eph 4:1).
The unified God has united believers to himself, the church ought now walk worthy of its calling by pursuing a full-orbed unity. This unity does not require uniformity, but it presumes a diversity of opinions, personalities, social roles, and people groups. Because diversity naturally produces friction, the church ought to give particular attention to humble... Continue Reading
Is It Time to Go Back to the Heart of Worship?
Somehow music changed from being a means to worship Jesus to a means to impress unbelievers.
As I think about the first 20 years of modern worship and the song that got it all started, I can’t help but wonder when churches last unplugged their instruments to let their people just sing. I can’t help but wonder how many churches actually could. The organic and entirely unprofessional moment that contributed to... Continue Reading
Biblical Conversion is Not Self-Improvement
Forget this bogus idea that we can somehow save ourselves.
The very bad news of the gospel regarding the sinner’s hopeless and diabolical situation is more than matched and surpassed by the very good news of the gospel that speaks of the incredible saving power of God. It is the power to transform us into forgiven saints with the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and... Continue Reading
Divine Images, Part 9: Mountains
God's righteousness is like great mountains.
In Song of Solomon the sin of the bride is like great mountains or hills that separates her from her beloved Groom. Sin separates us from God. Here is One Altogether Lovely. And yet we cannot come near Him. We have no right of access, no privilege of communion. We are by nature condemned... Continue Reading
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