Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15) Hold in your mind this image from John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress: the path to the Celestial City. The central figure of the story, Christian, is summoned to leave the City of Destruction and sojourn upon this difficult path. The path is straight, but fraught with peril. If Christian can faithfully walk this path, avoiding snares like the House of Legality, Vanity Fair, and Doubting Castle, he will arrive at his destination safely....
Here is an excerpt from the book “King Jesus Claims His Church” The claims of the gospel are in fact political, or perhaps better described as counter-political: 1. The phrase "repent and believe" itself has political overtones. The first-century historian Josephus describes a fascinating story where he learns that a brigand chief is plotting to kill him. He tells this brigand to abandon his efforts and "repent and believe in me [Josephus]", or translated otherwise "repent and show loyalty to me." The underlying language is nearly identical to that which Jesus employs in Mark 1:15. Other political uses of "repent and believe" can be found in multiple sources from 100 BC-150 AD....
How liberating to approach God’s Word openly and faithfully, allowing a simple and logical rendering of Scripture! How freeing to read without bias or preordained conclusions that deviate from God’s heart for His people. How empowering to let “cultural context” only add richness and color to my understanding, rather than to twist and mangle Scripture to reinforce my comfortable and culturally acceptable lifestyle....
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15) Hold in your mind this image from John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress: the path to the Celestial City. The central figure of the story, Christian, is summoned to leave the City of Destruction and sojourn upon this difficult path. The ...
Keep ReadingEarly in church history, divergent interpretations of Scripture were recognized and judged as problematic. One powerful tool to find the correct interpretation was proposed by the church fathers. Irenaeus and Vincent of Lérins proposed that the true teaching of Scripture would be found in the church across time (semper), across persons (ab omnibus), and across distance (u...
Keep ReadingThe sufficiency of Scripture is closely related to sola scriptura, but has a different emphasis. The sufficiency of Scripture means, "Scripture contained all the words of God he intended his people to have at each stage of redemptive history, and that it now contains all the words of God we need for salvation, for trusting him perfectly, and for obeying him perfectly."121 ...
Keep ReadingScripture attests that the Spirit is required to understand the things of God: "And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spirit...
Keep ReadingSola scriptura is one of the most misunderstood and maligned slogans from the Reformation. Today's opponents of the doctrine mistakenly attack positions that bear little resemblance to the original doctrine as articulated in the sixteenth century. Being richer and more complex than most doctrines, we will build up a definition slowly, drawing heavily on church history. Wit...
Keep ReadingUnderstanding the relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament is best achieved by examining how Jesus and the apostles used the Old Testament. Several themes emerge from a disciplined examination of how Jesus and the apostles handled the Old Testament. First, Jesus teaches that His commands supersede those of the Old Testament, most notably in the Sermo...
Keep ReadingWhile nearly everyone claims Christocentric exegesis, very few put this interpretative principle into practice. There are two ideas behind Christocentricity: order and focus. To understand the concept of order, the scriptural description of Jesus as the cornerstone proves useful. The cornerstone is the very first stone set in a building, which all subsequent stones are set...
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