Paul is continuing with his apologetic apostolic autobiography—to defend the gospel against the Judaizers. What happened when Paul went up to Jerusalem with Barnabas? What should we, with the Galatians, learn from Paul’s story? Thanks be to God, first, the truth of . . . Continue reading →
People often say, “Freedom is not free. You have to fight for it.” This is true in the realm of individual liberty. And it is true all the more in the realm of the gospel, because if you believe the gospel of . . . Continue reading →
Paul is recounting how the false teachers from Jerusalem—the Judaizers— challenged his apostolic credentials. They also believed that Jesus is the Messiah, that he died for sinners and rose from the dead. But they rejected Paul’s “faith alone” gospel, that we are . . . Continue reading →
Presbyterians adhering to the Westminster Standards do not follow the church calendar as a matter of conviction. We do not observe various man-appointed holy days. We observe fifty-two God-appointed holy days per year—the Lord’s Day. Many American evangelicals will observe not only . . . Continue reading →
It is absolutely astonishing for anyone to desert the gospel of grace and peace for another so-called gospel. That is why we see next the double damnation of “other gospel” preachers in verses 8–9: But even if we or an angel from . . . Continue reading →
“If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” This timeless bit of parental advice is usually given to children prone to complain about everything and everyone—all the time. There are many adults who could still benefit from . . . Continue reading →
In this episode of the Heidelcast, the Superfriends talk about creation days. Continue reading →
I remember standing in a parking lot as my dad panicked that gas prices approached one dollar per gallon. The panic that my dad and many other consumers experienced led to another fallout that remains with us today, the concern for mileage. . . . Continue reading →
In this episode of the Heidelcast, the Superfriends talk about Paul’s Response to the Judaizers in Galatians. Continue reading →
As we continue in our exposition of Galatians 1:1–5, we are reminded of the key issues driving this epistle: Do Gentiles need to become Jews in order to be justified? Or is Christ all sufficient as our righteousness? Thankfully, we have the . . . Continue reading →
Think of your most trusted confidant and ask yourself why you welcome his input. What causes you to trust his advice and be open to whatever he might say? What about that person makes you feel like even his hard feedback will . . . Continue reading →
Matthew opens his Gospel with a genealogy whose arithmetic has long been regarded as problematic. After tracing the line of promise from Abraham to Jesus (Matt. 1:2–16), Matthew divides the genealogy’s history into three sets of fourteen generations, totaling forty-two (Matt. 1:17). . . . Continue reading →
The Acts of the Apostles contains some truly epic accounts of what Jesus continued to do and to teach as he worked from heaven through his appointed church officers (Act 1:1). We easily focus on Peter, who preached the first Christian sermon, . . . Continue reading →
Martin Luther called Paul’s letter to the Galatians his “Katie Von Bora,” the name of his dear wife. In God’s grace, Luther had a wonderful marriage; as a former monk, he had never expected to be married.1 So Luther meant that this . . . Continue reading →
Dispensationalism has fallen on hard times. What was the dominant eschatological view of twentieth-century Evangelicals, dispensationalism today is overshadowed by the resurgence of postmillennial eschatology and the ever-stalwart amillennial position. This article offers a brief critique of dispensationalism. My remarks about dispensationalism . . . Continue reading →
Did Paul Allude To The Ninth Commandment In 1 Corinthians 15:15? Christ (and his apostles) lived a millennium and a half before the invention of the printing press; as individuals, they did not own Bibles (or any other books). Most would have . . . Continue reading →
Our story begins in the dining room where Dr. and Mrs. Clark recently hosted my wife and I during our recent visit to Westminster Seminary California for a short teaching stint. Since we never want to pass up an opportunity to be . . . Continue reading →
Linguists have provided significant help to biblical scholars, not the least in the area of lexical semantics. Lexical here means words and phrases and semantics deals with meanings, so that lexical semantics is the study of how words mean. One area of . . . Continue reading →
Last time, I mentioned that the great Aaronic benediction in Number 6:22–27 concludes with the wonderful line: “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.” The notion of God putting his name upon someone . . . Continue reading →
I once preached through the book of Hebrews. When I arrived at the end of the book, I was very excited about preaching on the benediction in Hebrews 13:20–21. I love benedictions. If you study the “mother of all benedictions,” that of . . . Continue reading →