Browsing Tag:

Forgiven

In Biblical Theology, Blog, Theology on
June 16, 2024

Covenants Crash Course

Weddings are big, exciting events. My best friend just got engaged a couple months ago, and she’s been searching for the perfect venue and deciding on important details, like what colors her bridesmaids will wear and what food they’ll serve at the reception. Last month, I even got the chance to go wedding dress shopping with her (and she picked out a truly beautiful gown).

While weddings are fun to attend or be a part of, they are more than just lavish parties where people dress up, and dance, and drink, and celebrate two people who have fallen in love. The real purpose of the wedding ceremony is to establish a marriage covenant between one man and one woman who promise to love each other for the rest of their lives and build a family that honors the Lord.

Nowadays, we don’t see a lot of people making covenants (outside of marriage), but they were quite common in ancient history. In Scripture, we find covenants being discussed often (the Hebrew and Greek words that translate as “covenant” appear about 300 times throughout the Bible). In fact, covenants play a key theme in the grand biblical narrative, and it’s important that we’re all familiar with the major biblical covenants and what they mean for us today.

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In 1 Samuel, Bible Study, Blog on
November 7, 2023

Divine Regret

Have you ever been reading the Bible and come across something that appears to contradict what it says elsewhere? Have you ever discovered a verse that seems completely antithetical to what you’ve been taught by pastors and other teachers at your church?

This is not all that uncommon. There are many areas of Scripture that can be confusing and may seem at first glance to be in direct opposition of other Scripture passages. One particular place is 1 Samuel 15, where God declares that he regrets making Saul king.

But is it truly possible for God to regret something? After all, isn’t He all-knowing? Isn’t He sovereign over everything that happens in the universe? Doesn’t the Bible tell us that God can never change?

To answer these questions and gain clarity on the real meaning of 1 Samuel 15, we must examine the biblical context.

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In Blog, Book Reviews, Jesus on
November 14, 2022

Confronting Jesus

Every two years, Ligonier Ministries and LifeWay Research partner together to survey Americans about their theological beliefs. They recently released their 2022 findings, and some of the results are troubling.[1] Fifty-five percent of Americans believe that Jesus was the first and greatest being created by God, and fifty-three percent believe that Jesus was just a good teacher, not God. Thirty-six percent of American adults do not believe Jesus’s death is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of sin, and forty percent do not believe that trusting in Jesus is the only way to eternal life.

Now, these kinds of beliefs are not all that surprising in the secular world. But according to this survey, they were professing Evangelicals who agreed with the sentiments above. Sixty-one percent—nearly two thirds—of professing Evangelicals agree that Jesus was not God, but simply a creation of God. This is absolutely stunning and not in a good way.

The American Church, and American culture in general, do not have an accurate view of Jesus, who He was and what He did on this earth for us. It’s time for us to know the real Jesus. It’s time for us to confront what the Scriptures really teach about Him. And Rebecca McLaughlin’s newest book helps us to do exactly that.

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In Bible Study, Blog, Genesis on
November 6, 2022

The Better Adam

It’s no secret that we live in a cruel and sinful world. You just have to turn on the news or take a scroll down Twitter to catch a glimpse of the terrible events and horrific headlines that are happening every single day. Countries are being demolished by war, natural disasters, and political tensions. Inflation rises as people can no longer afford their basic necessities, like food, housing, and baby formula. Criminals are going virtually unpunished while everyday citizens are being targeted and attacked for what they believe in. Our children are being inundated with godless ideologies at every turn, and the evangelical church is moving farther and farther away from biblical Christianity.

Our world is a dark place, full of wicked men and evil schemes. Sin abounds in every corner and crevice of the earth. And all this death and destruction we see on a daily basis stems from the actions of one man: a man named Adam.

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In Blog, Salvation, Theology on
September 11, 2022

The Transformation of Sanctification

I am a Christian, and I still struggle with sin.

Daily.

Like the Apostle Paul, I do sinful things that I don’t want to do, and I don’t do the things I know I ought to do (Romans 7:18-20). Such is the life of a Christian. Through the work of Christ, we’ve been made righteous in the eyes of the Father and we’ve been filled with the Holy Spirit, who gives us the desire and ability to obey God’s Word and do what is right. But all of us, even the godliest of saints, are still sinners. We still mess up and make mistakes. We hurt and offend people, and we disobey what’s written in the Scriptures. We say and do the wrong things, even if we have the best of intentions.

Thankfully, God doesn’t leave us this way. He doesn’t just save us and say sayonara, leaving us to fend for ourselves and figure out how to behave on our own until Jesus returns. No, God actively works in and through us every single day to make us more and more like Him through a process called sanctification.

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