Fear and Trembling

(This article was originally written for my local newspaper.) In our last article, we looked at the reason for and the permanence of our adoption in Christ.   If we have true faith in Christ, God is our Father in heaven.   This week we will look briefly at some of what that means.   As J. I. Packer says in Chapter Nineteen of Knowing God , The prospect before the adopted children of God is an eternity of love.”   Our adoption is permanent, and it depends on the love of God for us and the grace of God to save us.   God will not let us go.   We are his.   We can also have hope.   Christianity is “a faith that looks forward.”   For Christians, “the best is always yet to be.”   We have the hope of an everlasting inheritance in Christ.   That was the reason children were adopted in the Roman Empire during Christ’s time: “to have an heir to whom one could bequeath one’s goods.”   In just that way, our adoption as God’s...

(This article was originally written for my local newspaper.) Last week we looked at what J. I. Packer calls the heart of the gospel, propitiation. Propitiation is the fact that “The wrath of God against us, both present and to come, has been quenched.”   The idea is that the wrath we deserved because of our sin Christ suffered on our behalf.   If you have repented of your sin and placed your faith in Christ, God is not mad at you anymore.    This week we will briefly look at one outcome related to propitiation: adoption.   The idea here is that God has become the Father of those who place their trust in Him.   As John 1:12 says, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”   Packer defines the very essence of the message of the New Testament in three words: “adoption through propitiation.”   He says, “…I do not expect ever to meet a richer or more pregnant summary of the gosp...

(This article was originally written for my local newspaper.) Over the last two articles, we have looked in turn on God’s love and His grace.   We have seen the beauty of Exodus 34:6-7: "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.”   This article turns to the second part of verse 7: “Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished.”   We too often revel in God’s love and grace while giving no thought to His justice. However, the Bible shows everywhere the terrible face of God as judge.   As J. I. Packer notes in Chapter 14 of Knowing God , God judged Adam and Eve (Genesis 3), the entire world in Noah’s day (Genesis 6-8), Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18-19), Egypt (Exodus 7-12), those who worshiped the golden calf (Leviticus 10:1-3), and even His chosen people, Israel (Judges 2:1-15, 3:5-8, 4:1-3; 2 Kings 17, 32:15-17, 23:26-2...

(This article was originally written for my local newspaper.) ARTICLE XV We affirm the necessity of interpreting the Bible according to its literal, or normal, sense. The literal sense is the grammatical-historical sense, that is, the meaning that the writer expressed. Interpretation according to the literal sense will take account of all figures of speech and literary forms found in the text. We deny the legitimacy of any approach to Scripture that attributes to it meaning which the literal sense does not support.   So begins The Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics.   Hermeneutics is the science of understanding what the Bible says, and this statement on Biblical Hermeneutics is the collective wisdom of many evangelical scholars on that subject.     An international conference produced The Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics in 1982.   Leaders from many different branches of the protestant church signed it.   Those who sign...

(This article was originally written for my local newspaper.)   Have you ever heard the story of Admiral Cloudesley Shovell?   Shovell was a famous admiral in the British Navy.   He fought in many important battles in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and he was a popular British hero.   But he is infamous for a disaster that occurred in 1707. Shovell was leading a fleet of four ships into the English Channel during a strong storm, and he navigated the four ships directly into the rocks of the Isles of Scilly.   The exact number of sailors killed is unknown, but it is said that the bodies washed ashore for many days after the incident.   The problem was that sailors at the time were unable to accurately measure longitude, the position of their ships.   In a real sense, sailors in Shovell’s day did not know where they were or where they were going.   They had no standard to determine their exact location and course. The way w...

(This article was originally written for my local newspaper.) I bet you can name which company uses all or most of the following slogans:   Reach out, reach out and touch someone.   Finger-lickin’ good.   Taste the rainbow.   Eat fresh.   Think outside the bun.   Have it your way.   Melts in your mouth, not in your hands.   (The slogans belong to: AT&T, Kentucky-Fried Chicken, Skittles, Subway, Taco Bell, Burger King, and M&M’s respectfully.) Advertisers use slogans because they help communicate a message in a brief, effective and memorable way.   The leaders of the Protestant Reformation used the same method. The Protestant Reformation occurred in 16 th Century Europe.   It was aimed at reforming, or changing, the beliefs and practices of the church at that time. Its leaders included Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Heinrich Zwingli.   The Reformation would eventually bring about great changes in the Wester...