Kevin DeYoung: One of the benefits of getting older is that you become even less impressed with recycled bad arguments. Fifteen years ago when people were still talking about the Emergent Church, I participated in a panel discussion about the pros and cons of the movement. After a riveting panel in front of 50 people, in a cavernous hall that had room for more than 500, a visibly upset man accosted me, frustrated with how I used Scripture to critique the Emergent Church. He didn’t try to argue with any particular comment I made, including my references to the Bible. Instead, he argued with me that everything I said was only my interpretation of the Bible. I tried to show him that Jesus taught as if there was a discernible meaning in Scripture that could be known, agreed upon, and meaningfully communicated. He replied that this was only my interpretation. I tried to belabor the point that the men in
Author: Peter Cockrell
Will there be a Third Temple in Jerusalem?
Sam Storms: A recent article by Abby Trivett at charismanews.com was titled, Temple Institute Doubles Down on Rebuilding of Third Temple (April 16, 2024). According to Trivett, “In the wake of Iran’s missile and drone launches against Israel, devout Jews have double-downed on their belief and dedication to the rebuilding of the Third Temple. The Temple Institute in Jerusalem has generated a lot of attention to when it comes to the rebuilding of the temple. From the discussion of the red heifer sacrifice, all eyes have been placed on Jerusalem. Now, in the middle of uncertainty, The Temple Institute has decided to stay committed to their vow that the Jewish people must rebuild. Again, “When we see evidence of Iran’s barrage of hundreds of missiles and suicide drones over the Temple Mount, where the Dome of the Rock stands where the Holy Temple once stood, where David purchased the threshing floor from Ornan the Jebusite, we are reminded of the awesome obligation
Jesus Became a Curse for Us
R.C. Sproul: One image, one aspect, of the atonement has receded in our day almost into obscurity. We have been made aware of present-day attempts to preach a more gentle and kind gospel. In our effort to communicate the work of Christ more kindly we flee from any mention of a curse inflicted by God upon His Son. We shrink in horror from the words of the prophet Isaiah (Isa. 53) that describe the ministry of the Suffering Servant of Israel and tells us that it pleased the Lord to bruise Him. Can you take that in? Somehow the Father took pleasure in bruising the Son when He set before Him that awful cup of divine wrath. How could the Father be pleased by bruising His Son were it not for His eternal purpose through that bruising to restore us as His children? But there is the curse motif that seems utterly foreign to us, particularly in this time in
Did Paul Preach a Different Gospel than Jesus?
Donny Mathis: One evening while scrolling social media, I came across a video of a pastor saying his church sides with Jesus’s gospel on the numerous occasions where Paul’s gospel contradicts it. I was less shocked by his comment than by the Christians who were. This is not a brand-new way to think about Jesus and Paul. Does Paul create a “theological” story about Jesus that contradicts the “social and ethical” gospel Jesus preached? In any conversation around these questions, building common ground can make navigating disagreements easier. Let’s be honest: evangelicals can unintentionally place a greater focus on Paul than on Jesus. The apostle’s letters usually make more direct, literal, and logical claims than what you find in narrative passages. We all have genres of Scripture that appeal to us and tempt us to develop a personal “canon within the canon.” What Did Paul Mean by ‘Gospel’? The “two gospels” claim asserts Paul was preaching a gospel story about Jesus
3 Things You Should Know about Revelation
Dennis Johnson: Confusing. Controversial. Troubling. Terrifying. If the book of Revelation brings these descriptions to your mind, you are not alone. Yet God’s purpose for Revelation is to reveal, not conceal—to encourage, not distress. Revelation promises blessing to “the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and . . . those who hear, and who keep what is written in it” (Rev. 1:3, emphasis added). Envision the scene in the first-century congregations to which Revelation was first sent: one leader stands to read the scroll aloud, while everyone else listens. They can grasp Revelation’s message and receive the blessing it promises simply by hearing it read aloud and taking its truths to heart. So can we. To receive the blessing, you should know three things about this climactic book of the Bible. 1. Revelation unveils the triumph of the Lamb in a world run amok. The first verse of Revelation is the book’s title: “The revelation of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 1:1). The Greek term represented by “revelation” (apocalypsis)
Why Is Preaching a Means of Grace?
Paul Levy: “If you do not listen to me, how can you know what I’m like? If you will not let me speak, how will you ever understand who I am?” We can imagine something like that being said in a relationship between two people. For you to know another human being, there must be speaking and listening. That is simply how communication works. At the heart of the Bible is a God who speaks, who has made Himself known. This is the great contrast with idols: God communicates. In the words of Francis Schaeffer, “He is there and He is not silent.” He makes Himself known in creation, and we see something of His glory, majesty, and beauty in what He has made. He demonstrates His irresistible power in this world, but we cannot know much more than that from creation. You can shout up to the sky: “Who are You? What are You like?” But you will not get
God Unveils His Majesty
The Quiet Surprise of Christmas Day David Mathis: Bethlehem would prove to be the perfect town. Ancient Israel had no better spot for this quiet yet promising birth — for a royal heir who would grow up in the boonies but come to die in the capital. On its own, the little town was not great. It was far more like the rural village of Nazareth than celestial Jerusalem. But Bethlehem was iconic for its potential — the city of David — the place where Israel’s greatest king was born and raised, before ascending to the throne and founding the city of kings. Unlike the splendor of Jerusalem, and unlike unimpressive Nazareth, Bethlehem had a veiled majesty. So did the day of Jesus’s birth. From all appearances, this newborn was ordinary, even earthy — wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid, of all places, in the spot where barn animals fed. So too his first visitors were plain and unsophisticated: shepherds keeping watch on
Advent Prepares Us for Mission
Patrick Schreiner: Advent is a time when Christians gather. However, Advent can also remind us how we’ve been called to scatter. In the Great Commission, Jesus sends his followers to make disciples of all nations (Matt. 28:19). We sometimes neglect to see that this mission is foreshadowed in Jesus’s birth narrative (Matt. 1–2). Mission didn’t begin at the end of Christ’s earthly work; instead, Jesus’s birth foreshadows that a mission to the nations was the purpose of his coming. All Nations The nations are present at Jesus’s birth. In Matthew 2, we read of an unlikely group coming to worship Jesus as King. It’s not Jerusalem that’s ready to receive her king (v. 3). Rather, magi come to worship Jesus. Matthew specifically states these wise men come from the “east” (v. 1). This could refer to several places, and some surmise they’re from Babylon. But in their coming, the magi prefigure all nations bowing the knee before the Son. Yet the
Read Revelation’s 7 Letters as Pastoral Epistles
Jeremy Writebol: When you identify the New Testament’s Pastoral Epistles, which books do you include? Most Bible commentaries group 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus together in this category. Some may include Philemon as well. But I contend there are seven additional overlooked pastoral epistles in the New Testament. Because they’re found in a book of the apocalyptic genre, we usually don’t associate what Jesus says to seven churches in Revelation 2–3 as directed toward pastors. The challenge of translating the phrase “to the angel of the church in . . .” has obscured Jesus’s vital message to pastors about his care and love for them. Why do I think this repeated phrase should be understood as addressing seven pastors? Here are seven reasons. 1. The Greek word angelos can be translated ‘messenger.’ Let’s start with the “angel.” Each of the seven letters begins with the phrase “to the angel of the church in . . .” That phrase concludes with the name of
Twelve Ways of Christmas
How to Share Jesus During Advent Andrew Knight: According to recent surveys, over 90 percent of your neighbors plan to celebrate Christmas this year (at least if you live in America). They’re not likely to observe the Muslim Ramadan, the Hindu Diwali festival, or Buddhism’s holiest day of Vesak. But every year, 300 million Americans still choose to celebrate Christmas, despite 75% of them not being able to accurately explain what Christmas even means. They will gather with friends and family. They will enjoy large meals and fancy parties. They will decorate trees, string lights, give generous gifts, and maybe join in for a carol or two. They might even be among the 50 percent of Americans who say they plan to attend a Christmas Eve or Christmas Day service (Pew). But for three out of every four Americans, it will be a hollow holiday, a Christless Christmas. Unless, of course, the other one of those four chooses to introduce them to the One who
From Shadow to Substance: Aaronic Priesthood’s Transformation
Justin Dillehay: Let’s say you’re reading through Exodus and you get to chapter 40, where the Levitical priesthood is being described. There you read that Aaron and his sons were to be a “perpetual priesthood throughout their generations” (Ex. 40:15). Wait, what? Perpetual? As in, never-ending—the opposite of temporary? If the Levitical priests are supposed to be perpetual, then how come we don’t have them in our churches? This same question arises for other related issues. If the Levitical priesthood is perpetual, then one would think the tabernacle in which they worked would also be perpetual. Turns out it is: Bible-believing Christians are perfectly comfortable living our lives and leading our churches with no Levitical priests, no golden lampstands, no Day of Atonement, and no circumcision. Why? Is it because we don’t take these passages seriously? Have we somehow embraced a “Greek” Christianity that’s shorn of its Jewish roots? The answer is no. But the question is worth exploring because this
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Adoration of the Lion and the Lamb
Sam Storms: What is it about Jesus that makes him worthy of your adoration and praise? What is it about Jesus that makes him irresistibly attractive? Why is he alone worthy of your whole-hearted allegiance and love? Consider the portrait of Jesus in symbolic language. In Revelation 5:5 he is called “the Lion of the tribe of Judah,” but in Revelation 5:6 is also portrayed as the “Lamb” who had been slain, though now standing, because alive. So, which is he? Both! Jesus is both Lion and Lamb. And it is in this glorious juxtaposition of what appear to be two contrasting images that we find the answer to our question. Think about this for a moment: The Lion in whom we find unimpeachable authority is also the Lamb who embodies humility and meekness in the highest degree. The Lion who wields power and strength that none can resist is also the Lamb who walked this earth in weakness and suffering, resisting none. The
The Five Solas
Matthew Barrett: DEFINITION The five solas of the Reformation, which distinguished the Reformers from the teachings of Rome, include sola scriptura (Scripture alone), solus Christus (Christ alone), sola fide (faith alone), sola gratia (grace alone), and soli Deo gloria (glory to God alone). SUMMARY These five statements of the evangelical faith lay at the center of what distinguished the theology of the Reformation from the theology of the Roman Catholic church in the 16th century. Sola scriptura is the belief that because Scripture is God’s inspired Word, it is the only inerrant, sufficient, and final authority for the church. Solus Christus is the assertion that Christ alone is the basis on which the ungodly are justified in God’s sight. Sola fide maintains that the believer receives the redemption Christ has accomplished only through faith. Sola gratia proclaims that all of our salvation, from beginning to end, is by grace and grace alone. Because of these things, the Reformers held fast to the phrase soli Deo gloria, that only God receives glory for our salvation. The five solas form the nucleus of the evangelical faith. They
Real Protestants Keep Reforming
David Mathis: In the time it takes to read the Bible cover to cover, you could read the Westminster Confession almost seventy times. Just think of it. Westminster, seventy times through. Almost four centuries ago, 120 of the best English-speaking pastors and theologians in the world labored for three years to hammer out the key theological and ethical teachings of Scripture. What good might it do you for a lifetime if you worked diligently through those learned 12,000 words some five or six dozen times? Cast in such terms, normal Bible reading can begin to seem inefficient. Might your time be better spent in seventy readings of Westminster than one long journey through the whole terrain of Scripture with its genealogies, cultic regulations, esoteric aphorisms, and minor prophets? Hopefully, you would answer “no,” but in responding to a question put that way, you might intuit both the profit and peril of our creeds and confessions. Wonder and Danger of Creeds
The Primacy of Proclamation in Missions
Elliot Clark We believe the gospel is the power of God for salvation; our task is to represent Christ by faithfully and verbally proclaiming God’s Word to the world. The gospel of Jesus Christ is central to the Christian faith, and we believe its proclamation is central to the missionary task. As ambassadors for Christ, his love compels us to make the gospel known to those who haven’t heard. But proclaiming the message of Christ is important for more than just the lost; it promotes the health of the church and transforms the way Christians live in the world. Though some today may question the primacy of gospel preaching, we believe it remains a priority, since the gospel itself is of first importance. God’s Power in the Gospel What is this gospel that we preach? It starts with God as our powerful Creator and good Provider (Acts 17:24–25). But ever since Adam, all humanity has failed to honor God rightly,
Pastor, Not Entrepreneur
Nathan Knight: Imagine being on a first date with someone who spent the whole evening emphasizing a love for Mario Brothers. Imagine being served by a chef who emphasizes how good a store-brand steak sauce is. Or imagine riding with a helicopter pilot who emphasizes how new he is to flying. Emphasis matters. When it came to making disciples and planting churches, Jesus or Paul never emphasized being entrepreneurial. It’s true, they believe hell is real and that making disciples and planting churches is desperately urgent. Yet this never led them to highlight industriousness or creativity for church planters. Instead, they emphasized character (1 Tim. 3:1–7, Titus 1:5–8), conviction (1 Tim. 4:1–4, Titus 1:9), and capability (1 Tim. 3:2) for church planters. They underlined the need for men who taught the gospel faithfully and embodied that message in their daily lives. They emphasized character, capability, and conviction because they knew a few things we tend to forget. They knew that the devil prowled and was powerful. They
Want to Reach the World? Evangelize the Church
Glen Scrivener: What is the church’s greatest need today? I imagine there are all sorts of answers. One of them, surely, is mission-centric: “The church needs the world to be evangelized.” And that’s true. But so is the reverse: the world needs the church to be evangelized. First Things First Some things never change. Perennial indifference to the things of God—even open hostility—was the experience of the prophets (Isa. 52:5) and apostles (Rom. 2:24). It’s also our experience today. But a major cause of the hostility is as unchanging as the hostility itself: “God’s name is blasphemed among the nations because of you.” A primary reason for unbelief among the nations is unbelief among God’s people. Problems with the world are often found first in the church. This is why the Bible insists that judgment begins “at the household of God” (1 Pet. 4:17). Whenever someone asks, “What must the church do to help our neighbors find faith in Jesus?” my first answer
Standing Firm in the True Grace of God
Sam Storms: At the conclusion of his first epistle, the Apostle Peter says that he has “written briefly,” “exhorting and declaring that his is the true grace of God” (1 Pet. 5:12). He then concludes with this brief exhortation: “Stand firm in it!” All of us regularly encounter countless obstacles and opposition and temptations and excuses and seemingly reasonable grounds for compromise or that would appear to justify backing off from the grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Peter knew this. But his words are pointed, and we need to hear and heed them. Don’t give in. Stand firm in these truths. It’s as if Peter is saying, “What I have written to you will not be popular in the prevailing culture. You will be portrayed as out of step with the times or as naïve or as a person who simply lacks the discernment to know how society has changed. You will be tempted to soft-pedal some of these
Do I Really Need to Be a Member of a Church?
Thom S. Rainer: This question and its ensuing discussion continues. Do I really need to be a member of a church? We need to first separate the concept of church membership from other types of organizational membership. Church membership is not like civic club membership, even though many civic organizations do have altruistic purposes. Church membership is definitely not like country club membership, where you pay your dues and expect perks in return. Sadly, many church members do view their membership like joining a country club. When that attitude becomes our perspective, we then start insisting on getting things “my way.” My style of music. My order of worship. My length of sermon. My ministries. My programs. You get the picture. Membership in a New Testament church is metaphorically like being a member of a physical body. You are but one part of a greater whole, but your part is vital for the overall health of a church. Read again
Who Is the True Israel of God?
Nick Batzig: I recently read an article in which a noted Christian theologian was encouraging Christian churches to celebrate the Passover Seder. The author’s line of argumentation was not that God requires Christians to keep the Old Testament feasts and festivals but that by observing Passover, Christians can better remember the Jewish foundation of their faith as well as help foster improved Jewish-Christian relations. Strikingly absent from this article were any biblical references to Christ’s fulfillment of the old covenant feasts and festivals. Yet the Apostle Paul, along with the other New Testament authors, in no uncertain terms explained that Jesus fulfilled each and every single shadowy and typical aspect of the old covenant ceremonial law (Col. 2:16–17), just as He came to fulfill all of the Old Testament promises and prophecies (2 Cor. 1:20). While Christians profess that Jesus is the fulfillment of all of the preparatory and anticipatory aspects of the Old Testament, many lack the overarching framework by which
Already Not Yet 