When Israel lost its Temple in A. D. 70, you might imagine it would have prompted much soul-searching and repentance among the rabbis that had rejected Jesus as Messiah. In fact, the rabbis had known for forty years before that date that something was amiss. Yoma 39b of the Talmud records the strange occurrences from… Continue Reading
Left-click the bread icon to consume the bread. >Click< >>> Thank you. You have eaten the bread. Left-click the cup icon to consume the cup. > Click< >>> Thank you. You have drunk the cup. Sound preposterous? Why shouldn’t we do virtual Lord’s Supper? Our technology has made this scenario possible. But is it desirable?… Continue Reading
Church leaders find themselves today harangued and prodded to build an “online presence”. This usually means a busy Facebook page, a Youtube channel, a Twitter account, a static website, live-streamed services and more. Without these, we’re told, a church is mostly “invisible” to the world, and is “failing to reach its community”. It is even… Continue Reading
Over the past several weeks I have been tracing how western culture was impacted in eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by the rise of secularism. An initial response to the rise of secularism by Christians was to accept a separation of reason and faith and attempt to affirm both. However, adopting the rationalist redefinition of reason… Continue Reading
Scripture loves unity among the saints, but does not mandate uniformity. Somewhere Tozer points out that a hundred pianos all tuned with the same tuning fork will all be in harmony with one another. So believers, when conformed to Christ and submitted to the same sound doctrine, will find their Spirit-given unity (Eph. 4:3). But… Continue Reading
Of late many high-profile apostasies have rattled evangelical Christianity. Some of the men who have departed from the faith were much admired and loved for their earlier writings and teachings. After all, they were pastors and Christian leaders. News of their exodus from the Promised Land back into Egypt exploded on social media. Fear and… Continue Reading
The legalization of Christianity by Roman Emperor Constantine I (272–337) in 313 with his Edict of Milan marked the beginning of a period lasting up to the Reformation and Enlightenment that some call “Christendom.” Religious toleration in the empire created conditions for the freedom and growth of Christianity to be sure, but when in 391… Continue Reading
Christ’s disciples obeyed his command to remain in Jerusalem until he sent them the Holy Spirit and formed his spiritual body. Acts 2 records the amazing event that occurred on the Day of Pentecost—the Holy Spirit descended upon them, attested by visible and audible signs, forming the church and empowering them to accomplish the mission… Continue Reading
After Jesus died and rose again, he appeared to his disciples and many others, beginning a short period of teaching before he ascended back to heaven. During this time, Jesus prepared his disciples for the mission he was giving to them, telling them, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you”… Continue Reading
Christian 1: So I hear you have a problem with lollipops? Christian 2: Lollipops? No, I think they’re just fine. Christian 1: But you apparently won’t eat them for family meals. Christian 2: That’s true. I prefer my family eats some kind of meat, vegetables or healthier food for their meals. Christian 1: So you… Continue Reading
Once we understand that beauty is close to glory in meaning, we will without any difficulty find beauty at the heart of many Christian endeavors. The most obvious is worship. Worship is the act of returning to God affections corresponding to His beauty. Psalm 29:1-2 captures this: “Give unto the LORD, O you mighty ones,… Continue Reading
Paul clearly describes in 1 Corinthians 12 the core elements of a theology of unity and diversity withing the Body of Christ. God grants a diversity of ministry functions to the church, but because of Spirit baptism, people of diverse backgrounds and abilities are unified into one body. His whole purpose in this discussion is… Continue Reading
In this brief essay, I’m making several assumptions. The first is that baptism is rightly administered only to professing believers. I don’t intend to engage here with arguments for paedobaptism. The second is that baptism is a strongly ecclesiastical ordinance. Baptism is not a mere personal devotional experience; it is a public profession of faith,… Continue Reading
Last week, I made the point from Paul’s discussion in 2 Corinthians 12 that all members of the church, because of their diversity, make up the unity of the body of Christ. And Paul specifically defends that notion beginning inverse 17 by considering, what would the results be if every member of the body had exactly the… Continue Reading
In his first letter to the Corinthian Christians, the apostle Paul emphasizes the functional diversity and spiritual unity of the Body of Christ. But Paul knows that based on how things naturally work, diversity of function within the body might lead to some people within body thinking that because their giftedness is different than others, then… Continue Reading
Unity in the Body of Christ comes due to the fact that Christ baptizes each believer with the Holy Spirit into his spiritual body. This is true for all Christians from the moment of their salvation and forevermore. And if this is difficult for us to wrap our minds around, Paul gives us one more… Continue Reading
A great king had two sons, who were come to the age where one should be named as the crown prince. The custom of that country was that the king would choose his heir directly, without weight given to birth-order. He was hard-pressed at the choice, for they both loved him and had noble and… Continue Reading
Our study of elders in New Testament churches has suggested that the concept of lay elders is not as self-evident as some of its advocates propose. Our argument consists of four premises. First, Scripture describes plural elders in first-century New Testament churches, but does not prescribe this plurality, removing the need to find and appoint… Continue Reading
Despite the functional diversity of individual believers within the church, the church has unnatural unity. How does this happen? How are people of diverse giftedness and ability and background and status unified together in one body? Verse 13 of 1 Corinthians 12 tells us: “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.”… Continue Reading
In considering the question of lay elders, we have seen that the New Testament describes but never prescribes a plurality of elders in a New Testament church. It does, however, prescribe the remuneration of elders that rule well. In part 2, we saw that ruling well is likely best understood as equivalent to laboring in the… Continue Reading