“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men.”-John 1:1-4 Read the rest of this entry →

When we consider the term “eternal generation,” we need to make a distinction between the way we organize ideas in systematic theology and the way they developed historically.  The term and the thinking behind it come from the fourth century, but theologically it applies to the person of Christ from eternity past. Read the rest of this entry →

The word “Messiah” is one of those religious words which we connect to Jesus, but far too many of us don’t really know why.  In order to have a good grasp on what this important word means we must try and understand what it meant to the Jews. Read the rest of this entry →

John 3:16 in the King James Version begins with the words, “for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.” But what does the word “begotten”‘ mean?  Is it another word for birth or being born?  Was John saying Jesus was God’s firstborn son?  If so, then where was Jesus before he was born? Before he was conceived by Mary? Read the rest of this entry →

Late summer and early fall are times families spend their Saturdays canning fruits and vegetables for the coming year. Through a process of cleaning, sterilizing, and cooking the goods canned are insured to be safe and enjoyable when later needed.

In a similar way God has preserved his word so the Scriptures we read are safe and enjoyable, whenever we read them. One difference between preserved vegetables and the preserved Word of God is that the vegetable undergoes a certain Read the rest of this entry →

We’ve all stumbled our way through a dark room. We bump into the chair, the table, or step on a child’s toy while we desperately search for a light switch.  Once the light is on we are able to clearly see everything in the room.

The Bible can sometimes seem like a dark room.  We may read it, but we don’t understand what we read.  The light of understanding is still turned off in our mind, but once it is turned on then understanding comes. The process whereby God turns the light on in our Read the rest of this entry →

You’re sitting in the concert hall, having arrived a few minutes early.  You can hear the orchestra tuning up.  You may occasionally see the curtain move as someone or something moves behind it.  The lights are on, but you are in the dark about what’s happening on stage, except perhaps for a few educated guesses.

But then the time arrives, and the curtain goes up.  All that was once hidden is now open to view. Read the rest of this entry →

Many of us who grew up in a more or less fundamentalist form of Christianity are quite familiar with legalism. It has a long, though not exactly distinguished, history in the church. In fact, legalism is a significant theme in the New Testament itself. Basically legalism is Christianity by keeping a set of rules: I don’t smoke, drink, dance, or chew, and I don’t go out with girls who do. Judaism tried to make legalism a stand-in for faith in becoming a Christian, but its primary application is in the doctrine of sanctification, the theme of Galatians. The right way to become like Christ is to Read the rest of this entry →

After their successful July 1969 landing on the moon’s surface, the lunar module, named “Eagle” blasted off the surface of the moon carrying Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to dock with Columbia, their command module piloted by Mike Collins. Only after Eagle had reconnected to Columbia were the three astronauts able to return to earth. Another way to describe their reconnecting is to say the two ships were once again “reconciled” to each other. Read the rest of this entry →

Upon receiving a jury summons, the judge told those of us in the courtroom that if seated on the jury, we would not be deciding the innocence of the defendant, but his guilt. A jury can find a defendant “not guilty,” but that doesn’t mean he or she is innocent of the crime. A jury, after weighing all the evidence presented, is expected to render a fair and impartial verdict declaring the individual either guilty or not guilty. They cannot declare him innocent or righteous. Read the rest of this entry →