Salvation is based on… the Scripture alone by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone to the glory of God alone Or, put another way, the core theology of the Reformation advocated for the… sufficiency of Scripture to lead us to understand the sufficiency of grace for salvation through the sufficiency of faith in …
Category: Theology
Martin Luther: Guilt versus Grace
As I watch a documentary on the reformer, Martin Luther, I am struck by the contrast between guilt and grace. As a Monk, Martin Luther was driven by guilt. The feeling that he may never be able to live up to the standard of God. A guilt fulled by the teaching of the church. The …
The 5 Solas of the Reformation
On October 31, 2017, we celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. I thought it would be beneficial personally to review the history and benefits of the Reformation. So I read a few articles and started watching several documents. And am looking forward to reading Eric Metaxas’ recently released biography of Luther, Martin Luther: The Man …
Reflections on the Cross
The Impact of Christ’s Substitutionary Atonement on the Cross God could not accept us as we are, sinful, rebellious, selfish, unrighteous, unholy, unloving. He could not just ignore our condition without the cross. God does not accept us as we are, but in spite of the way we are, He… declares us righteous in Christ’s …
Grieving with Hope
My Mom always said she wanted to be buried with a fork in her hand, because at every church pot luck, someone would say, “Keep your fork, the best is yet to come.” We often talk about Christian hope, but we have trouble defining it. In common use, “hope” is either as an emotion— “I …
Union with Christ
Union with Christ perhaps the most significant theological concept of the Christian life that is the least taught, understood and believed. Union with Christ is the linchpin of Paul’s teaching on sanctification. Below is a short but dense summary of union with Christ. I’ve added Scripture references to enable me to not only think deeply …
Why–“newer isn’t always truer”
This is a good reminder for those studying Scripture and those reading to grow in their theological understanding. Thanks to Justin Talyor J. I. Packer describing the heretical spirit of our age, which holds that: the newer is the truer, only what is recent is decent, every shift of ground is a step forward, …