Imagine a grown man intentionally acting like a baby, wearing diapers and crying like an infant. Some people actually do. In reading the news about a situation with this behavior, I learned a new term: paraphilic infantilism—acting like a baby as an adult. Now imagine a newborn Christian who does not grow but remains in… Read More »
Romans 9–11 is a difficult and debated section of Scripture in terms of God’s role in salvation and ethnic Israel’s role in the redemptive plan of God. Over the next few weeks, I hope to crystallize my own thoughts about these chapters into a few posts, passage by passage, as we work through this section… Read More »
Is eternal life really eternal? Does my salvation really last forever? Will my present standing in Christ truly result in glorification? Will heaven be mine one day? Romans 8:31–39 answers these questions in multiple ways. This passage powerfully teaches the doctrine of eternity security—that once we are saved, we will always be saved, thanks to… Read More »
The Holy Spirit helps us on our way to heaven. He lives within us, empowering us for good and enabling us for service, and He endeavors by praying for us to the Father. Romans 8:26–27 teaches us about the Spirit’s ministry of intercession. Some of what Romans 8:26–27 teaches is fairly clear. Our human weakness… Read More »
Psalm 121 contains “the pilgrim’s promise” for us today as we journey through life toward heaven. The promise is this—the Lord is our help and keeper, whatever life brings our way. Like its companions in Psalms 120–134, Psalm 121 is “A Song of Ascents,” a song sung while ascending to Jerusalem for one of the… Read More »
Romans 8:16 asserts, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” What does this verse mean? The verb “bears witness with” is all one word in the Greek (summartureō), a combination of the preposition “with” (sun) and the verb “to bear witness” (martureō). Paul uses this verb only two… Read More »
The New Testament uses the word adoption (huiothesia) five times. Theologically, “Adoption means to be placed as an adult son of God and given all the rights and privileges of a son.”1 What can we learn about adoption from these five verses? The Adoption of Israel Paul states of the Israelites in Romans 9:4 that… Read More »
Our good and holy God gave Israel the Mosaic Law. “The law is holy” (Rom 7:12), “the law is good” (1 Tim 1:8), and “we uphold the law” (Rom 3:31). The law is fulfilled in us through Christ who works in us to carry out its greatest commandments—loving God and our neighbor (Rom 8:3–4; 10:5;… Read More »
The final vision of Daniel spans three chapters (Daniel 10–12) and begins and closes with the preincarnate Son of God. The first appearance of the Son yields undeniable parallels between Daniel 10:5–9 and other passages that clearly identify the Son of God (Ezekiel 1:26–28; Acts 9:4a, 7; 22:9; Revelation 1:12–17). On the bank of the… Read More »
Good people disagree over what happens to infants and the mentally disabled when they pass away before their “the age of accountability,” the age when a child can realize the difference between right and wrong. Some emphasize the justice of God as to how to deal with the sin of the deceased, and others emphasize… Read More »