JOHN 20:10–31 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you.” And with that He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:21–22). Throughout the Old Testament God called His people to be missionaries. We can think of Abraham, who bore witness and converted … Continue reading “THE AGE OF MISSION”
THE NATURE OF THE CHURCH
JOHN 1:35–43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, He said to him, “Follow Me” (John 1:43). The Greek word translated “church” is ekklesia. The root meaning of this Greek term is “call out,” implying that the church is a “called-out assembly.” The Hebrew terms that lie in back of the … Continue reading “THE NATURE OF THE CHURCH”
TRUE REPENTANCE
MATTHEW 4:12–22 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” (Matthew 4:17). Both Matthew and Mark record that Jesus’ first sermons were a summons to repentance. The Greek word for repentance is metanoia, which comes from two Greek words, meta and nous. Meta means “after” or “beyond,” … Continue reading “TRUE REPENTANCE”
SALVATION FROM THE OLD EVILS
LUKE 1:57–80 And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for Him. To give His people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins (Luke 1:76–77). When John the Forerunner was born, his father Zechariah sang … Continue reading “SALVATION FROM THE OLD EVILS”
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD
MATTHEW 6:25–34 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (Matthew 6:33). It is interesting to observe how infrequently we hear Christians express a desire for personal righteousness. People want to learn how to be more spiritual and more holy, but seldom it ever … Continue reading “THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD”
THE AUTHORITY OF JESUS
JOHN 8:12–30 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am [the one I claim to be] and that I do nothing on My own but speak just what the Father has taught Me” (John 8:28). The question of the written Word of God boils … Continue reading “THE AUTHORITY OF JESUS”
WITHOUT DECEIT
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). Three words that are used to describe the Christian doctrine of the Bible are inspiration, infallibility, and inerrancy. The doctrine of the inspiration of the Bible means that the human beings who wrote … Continue reading “WITHOUT DECEIT”
THE NEO-ORTHODOX VIEW
MATTHEW 4:1–11 Jesus answered, “It is written: Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). Early in the twentieth century, two European theologians mounted an assault on nineteenth-century liberalism. The nineteenth-century liberals had tried to find the “historical Jesus” by discounting the testimony … Continue reading “THE NEO-ORTHODOX VIEW”
THE CANON OF THE BIBLE
2 PETER 3:10–18 His [Paul’s] 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 3:16b). The English Bible is composed of 66 books. How do we know that these books and no others are the infallible and … Continue reading “THE CANON OF THE BIBLE”
THE INERRANCY OF THE BIBLE
2 TIMOTHY 3:10–17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). In recent years a number of semi-conservative theologians have questioned whether we should hold to the doctrine of biblical inerrancy or infallibility. After all, they say, this quest for absolute certainty reflects a “Greek, … Continue reading “THE INERRANCY OF THE BIBLE”