Topic Archives: Theology

And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). In our pluralistic, post-modern, western world few things irk people more than the gospel message of exclusivity. After all, absolute truth statements have caused major […]

It is beyond question that God wants ‘clean hands and a pure heart.’ What God desires is not one or the other, but both – doing the right thing for right motives. However, when we do what is as right as best we know it with as sincere hearts as we are able, we, our […]

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). Paul’s marvellous proclamation is most often terribly misunderstood. I have been guilty of misunderstanding it myself. Romans 8 is not grounded in justification but sanctification. (If you would rather not follow this technical language then skip down to paragraph three). […]

My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth . . . (James 5:19). Perhaps you have a loved one who has left the faith. You are fearful, anxious, hurt, dismayed, and perhaps even angry. What can I write from God’s Word to encourage you? Why does this happen? What should you do? How […]

This is a fascinating selection of the writings of the great Scottish reformer John Knox first published in 1845. The text is unabridged and unaltered except that the spelling has been updated. Covering the period 1554 to 1558 the book includes 15 personal letters, 2 sermons, an exposition of Psalm 6 and a number of […]

Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals1, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9b-10.) A professing Christian husband and father leaves his wife of thirty years for a young woman the age of his daughter. […]

I spoke on the phone yesterday with a south London vicar whose parish had been hit by rioters. Actually, ‘rioters’ is not quite the word. The disorders straight after the death of Mark Duggan may have been riots with the associations of protest that brings, but by now a better word than rioters is looters, […]

Deuteronomy 29:29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children for ever, that we may follow all the words of this law. In this chapter God is reminding the people that they are in covenant with him. He is their God and they […]

. . . to be cast into the eternal fire. (Matthew 18:8) One of the big questions today is this, ‘Does God send people to hell? Why would a loving God do that?’ How should you respond to such a question? First of all, since the Bible is God’s inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word, it […]

Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? (John 21:15) One of the more glorious promises in Scripture is John 10:28-30, And I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish. No one shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater […]

Some verses in the Bible are deeply disturbing, and unexpected. As Paul commends Timothy to the church in Philippi, he tells them, ‘I have no one like him (of like soul), who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare (Phil. 2:20). So far, so good. But then Paul continues, ‘For they all seek their own […]

Are you the Coming One, or shall we look for someone else? (Luke 7:19) I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. (John 14:6) There are at least three questions that often surface in today’s contemporary world concerning the person of Jesus: Was Jesus an impostor who did not fulfil Messianic prophesies? Are Christianity’s […]

The Lord Jesus told the parables of the shepherd who left the ninety-nine in the open country and he went after the lost sheep, and the woman lit a lamp and swept the house and searched carefully for the lost coin. Neither of them shrugged their shoulders and thought, ‘Only one . . . we […]

PART I Thy word is truth. (John 17:17) So many today have so many different views about Jesus. Who is the contemporary Christ? Some view him as a mythical figure, a sort of modern day Robin Hood or Santa Claus, one akin to the tooth fairy. Others believe that he was a wonderful, compassionate man, […]

I want to focus on three influences which shaped the so-called ‘Authorised Version’: King James himself, the translators, and the printers. Such attention to the human aspect of the making of a Bible translation in no way conflicts with belief in the Bible as the infallible and inerrant Word of God (Isa. 40:8). The Bible […]

If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most to be pitied. (1 Cor. 15:19)1 So think of it like this – if the disciples and these three women were travelling around the countryside telling people that Jesus had been raised from the dead, when he really had […]

What is a true coming to Christ? There are three things involved: i) Coming to Christ always involves an awareness of my spiritual need of him. That is the only reason to come from where you are to be where he is. That is why he left his Father, became incarnate, lived a holy life, […]

First published 1667 This book is an exposition of Romans 7:21, ‘I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present within me.’ In essence this is a book to help Christians know themselves and their enemy. The original was written by the great Puritan theologian John Owen and first published […]

There are some profound and practical implications contained in the way that the Ten Commandments are stated. One of the easiest things that anyone reading them can observe is how they are cast in negative terms. We are not to have any gods before the Lord God our redeemer; we are not to make and […]

Some people may feel that, if Christ was still present in the world, spiritual conditions would be very much better than they are. They may imagine that he, now exalted to heaven, seems remote from them and their needs – but if they could meet him in a Jerusalem street, for instance, or by the […]

And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead. (Luke 8:53) These words record the reaction of certain people to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in the days of his flesh. In different forms they are the words which are to be found constantly in the Gospel records of his life and […]

He has risen; he is not here. (Mark 16:6)1 Christianity stands or falls on the resurrection of Jesus. Why do Christians say that? Because the Hebrew Scriptures repeatedly prophesied it, both directly and through typology! King David said that God would not allow his Holy One to undergo decay, to see hell or what the […]

The concluding part of a paper delivered at the 2009 Theological Conference of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. See here for the first part of this paper. 3. Echoes of the downgrade movement The echoes we can hear of the downgrade movement which destroyed the orthodoxy of the old Free Church, and indeed brought […]

Introduction Martin Luther is not merely a key figure in the unfolding of events in the Protestant Reformation; he also played a major role in moulding its ideas. ‘Perhaps more than any other person, Luther shaped the presuppositions that define Protestantism.’ (Stephen J. Nichols) These presuppositions are known to scholars in their Latin form as […]

Extracts from ‘Definitive Sanctification,’ (pp. 277-280, 284) and ‘Progressive Sanctification,’ (pp. 294-296, 299), in The Collected Writings of John Murray, Volume 2.1 When we speak of sanctification, we generally think of it as that process by which the believer is gradually transformed in heart, mind, will, and conduct, and conformed more and more to the […]