Regeneration / New Birth
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) The opening words of John’s Gospel take us back to the opening words of Moses’ gospel—the Pentateuch, the opening words of the Bible. They introduce us to the divine Word who was present at the Creation, […]
As a pastor of a church plant in the Minneapolis metro area, I have found the books in the 9 Marks: Building Healthy Churches series to be helpful in teaching congregations why it is important to “grow in loving the church.” The books in this series are faithful to Scripture, solid in doctrine, readable and […]
“For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of […]
We’ve all heard of people in witness protection programs or defecting from another country who have had to assume new identities”killing off’ their old selves’for reasons of personal safety. Paul appeals to this sort of language when he says, How shall we who have died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you […]
Growing up in evangelicalism, I was one of those kids who felt mediocre at meetings where ex-drug addicts gave their "testimony" of suddenly losing their craving for LSD. My grandmother used to speak of two groups of Christians: those who were "saved," and those who were "gloriously saved." Everything a good, clean Baptist youth is […]
On the first day of class, my seminary English Bible professor announced that he was a "Calminian." As he explained, there are certain passages in the Bible that are "Calvinistic" and others that are "Arminian." Throughout the semester he peppered his lectures with phrases such as "this is a Cal passage" or "this is a […]
