Sermons and Biblical Studies

EPHESIANS 1:3–14 Praise [blessed] be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Ephesians 1:3). Paul begins the body of his letter with a long sentence (1:3–14) that is usually broken up into several shorter sentences in the English translations. … Continue reading “TWO-WAY BLESSINGS”

EPHESIANS 1:1–6 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 1:1). Today we continue to refute the foolish assertions of unbelieving scholars who maintain that Paul did not write Ephesians. Their second argument is that Ephesians 2:20 says the church is … Continue reading “PAULINE AUTHORSHIP”

PROVERBS 26:4–5 Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself. Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes (Proverbs 26:4–5). Though most scholars now think that Ephesians was a letter written to circulate throughout Asia Minor, nobody is proposing … Continue reading “ANSWERING THE FOOLS”

COLOSSIANS 4:7–18 After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea (Colossians 4:16). We are not in a position to make a final determination whether “in Ephesus” belongs in Ephesians 1:1, but many conservative … Continue reading “A LETTER FROM LAODICEA?”

EPHESIANS 1:1–2 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 1:1). If you look in your Bible, you may find something odd about Ephesians 1:1. Depending on what version you have, the phrase “in Ephesus” may not be present. A few … Continue reading “A LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS?”

MATTHEW 22:23–33 Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God” (Matthew 22:29). The doctrine of biblical inspiration means that God breathed His own words through the consciousness of human writers. Men and women (such as Deborah, Hannah, and Mary) were moved by God the Holy … Continue reading “THE INFALLIBLE BIBLE”

COLOSSIANS 2:6–15 [God] forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; He took it away, nailing it to the cross (Colossians 2:13b–14). Nineteenth century “liberal” theology treated Jesus as a mere man with some good ideas. Liberal theology is a … Continue reading “NEO-ORTHODOXY AND THE WORD”

2 PETER 3:10–18 [Paul] writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction (2 Peter 3:16). Which books from the ancient Jewish culture are … Continue reading “WHICH BOOKS ARE SCRIPTURE?”

2 TIMOTHY 3:1–16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). The authority of the Bible comes from God. The writers of the books of the Bible claim for their own books and for the other books nothing less than divine inspiration. This does not … Continue reading “AUTHORITY AND AUTHORSHIP”

LUKE 7:1–10 For I myself am a man tinder authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, “Go,” and he goes; and that one, “Come,” and he comes. I say to my servant, “Do this,” and he does it (Luke 7:8). When Luther and the Reformers began to preach the doctrine of justification by … Continue reading “THE AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE”