Oliver Cromwell: I always thought it was interesting that one of my favorite writers, the Baptist Samuel Richardson, dedicated his work entitled “Saints Desire,” to Oliver Cromwell in the following preface: “To the Right Honourable, Sir Thomas Fairfax, Captain General of all the Parliament’s Forces in England; and Oliver Cromwell, Esquire, Lieutenant General to the said Forces, such honour as is promised to all that honour the Lord Christ.”

This appeared in 1647, when I would imagine that Fairfax and Cromwell were widely viewed, especially by dissenters, as instruments of deliverance from episcopal and presbyterian coercion. For historical context, this was well before Cromwell assumed the office of Lord Protector, (which was not until December 1653,) before the execution of Charles I, and before the Protectorate hardened into a settled form of government. At that moment, Cromwell was still seen less as a ruler in waiting and more as a military figure through whom temporary civil relief might be secured. Notice also that Richardson does not exalt Cromwell as a spiritual authority but offers “such honour as is promised to all that honour the Lord Christ.” In other words, the honour Richardson offers is not tied to Cromwell’s office or power, but only to his relationship to Christ.

In light of the historical timing of this dedication, it appears to have been strictly political, not devotional or doctrinal in any sense. Richardson addressed both Fairfax and Cromwell because they were the leading Parliamentary military figures at the time. Many writers, across a wide spectrum of beliefs, dedicated works to them, often as an appeal for protection, toleration, or simply safe circulation in a volatile period. It seems unlikely that many saw Fairfax and Cromwell as spiritual guides, and more as providential restraints, men who, for a season, held back harsher alternatives and allowed a narrow space for civil liberty.

While Richardson was clearly concerned with toleration, Cromwell faded entirely from his writings after 1647. As Cromwell’s rule developed into the Protectorate and took on an increasingly king-like form, Richardson offers no further acknowledgment. He neither praises nor condemns him. His allegiance remains with Christ’s testimony, not the shifting fortunes of government. Cromwell’s absence from Richardson’s later writings is itself instructive, but it does not lessen the weight of his historical presence. If anything, it quietly reminds us that Christ’s kingdom is not of this world, even as Cromwell’s name continues to stir strong emotion and refuses neutrality.

Oliver Cromwell - mention his name, even today, to anyone with a passing knowledge of history, and you will often meet reactions ranging from deep hostility to near admiration. My wife and I have had the privilege of visiting England on four occasions, visiting places such as Oxford, Cambridge, and other historical sites associated, in various ways, with this period and its religious movements. During our last visit, we gave particular attention to sites connected with Oliver Cromwell. The experience did not disappoint. Our interest in history, particularly the reformation era and the parliamentary struggles that followed, is not merely academic. For me, those roots are not tied to ancestry or place, but to the grace of Christ made known in the gospel, appearing in mercy and sustaining His people in their appointed hour. Ruth 1:6.

Yet as much as this history continues to matter to us, it became clear that it is not regarded in the same way by many who live among its landmarks today, who prefer to distance themselves from Cromwell entirely, a man now viewed unfavorably in a society that has largely turned away from the convictions of its past. One striking instance comes to mind. While visiting Hampton Court, we paid a small additional fee for an in-depth tour led by a certified historian. As she explained the silks, dyes, and tapestries that lined the rooms, I asked whether Oliver Cromwell had ever visited the palace. After a brief pause, she said, “Cromwell? Let’s see, he would have come right after Charles I,” and then added that it was likely he had been there. That was it as she quickly went back to her tapestries. Well, not only did he visit there but at one time governed England from this place. After the king was executed, the palace became a seat of the Protectorate, and one of Cromwell’s principal residences.

Another example of this was when we were visiting Ely Cathedral and decided to take a guided tour of the magnificent structure. As we walked through, the guide began describing how Cromwell’s troops had caused significant damage to the cathedral. At one point, someone in our group asked why Cromwell had done all this. The guide responded, rather confidently, that it was because Cromwell harbored a deep hatred for the King of England. I’m usually content to listen quietly, but in that moment I felt the need to say something. I gathered my courage and attempted to correct the narrative. I explained that Cromwell’s actions had very little, if anything, to do with personal hatred for the monarch. Instead, they stemmed from his deeply held belief that Roman Catholicism was a false religion, and that the trappings of its influence, including ornate cathedrals and religious relics, were contrary to the scriptures. I'm sure it wasn't that polished, but it was along those lines, which quickly shut everyone up.

Apart from Samuel Richardson, I can only think of one other particular Baptist of note from the Confession-signing generation - 1646 - who had direct contact with Cromwell, and that would have been William Kiffin, 1616-1701, a wealthy London merchant, and leading Particular Baptist. Kiffin dealt with Cromwell and is known to have met with him on several occasions, often in connection with petitions on behalf of the Baptists, particularly regarding religious toleration and relief from persecution.

I would suggest that religious leaders approached Cromwell primarily as a figure of civil authority rather than as a spiritual guide. Their concern was not to enlist him in the work of the gospel, but to navigate a turbulent political moment while preserving ecclesiastical liberty. Baptists in particular maintained a cautious distance from Cromwell and the Commonwealth, not because they denied the upheaval of the times or questioned his sincerity, but because they feared the confusion that follows when civil power and spiritual authority are joined. That posture of caution also helps clarify how Cromwell himself should be understood. These interactions seem to have been governed by necessity rather than enthusiasm, and by caution rather than confidence.

Cromwell should be regarded as a political and military figure, not as a reformer of the gospel. No one could seriously deny that he opposed Roman Catholicism, yet even that opposition belonged to the realm of political and military necessity rather than spiritual renewal. His resistance to Rome was exercised by the sword and by state power, and whatever spiritual language accompanied it, Cromwell’s work remained firmly rooted in civil authority. Put simply, the Commonwealth became another kind of religious establishment, unlike Rome or Anglicanism in form, but not so different in how it joined religion to state power. The issue, then, is not structure but authority. Whenever the state assumes authority to regulate doctrine, suppress dissent, or privilege certain religious expressions, it steps into territory that belongs to Christ alone.

Cromwell, then, was never an agent of Christ’s kingdom in the strict and spiritual sense. In a broader dominion sense, of course, he was, no less than any ruler, under the sovereign rule of God, for the Lord reigns over all His works. But Christ’s redemptive kingdom is not advanced by coercion, force, or political success. That kingdom is spiritual, heavenly, and unarmed, standing on an entirely different footing than earthly rule. John 18:36. It must also be acknowledged that Cromwell lived and fought in a brutal, “kill or be killed” world. Defensive necessity may explain his actions historically, but it cannot justify them theologically. The sword may preserve civil order, but it cannot establish truth or advance the gospel. What may be explained or excused by historical circumstances should not be confused with gospel faithfulness.

I think that this distinction was especially important to the Baptists of the period, who were jealous to preserve the line between Christ’s reign, spiritual and heavenly, and worldly government, which is necessary, coercive, and temporal. And lest we forget, toleration granted by the sword may just as easily be revoked by the sword. Cromwell, then, may be defended historically, but he cannot be defended theologically as advancing the kingdom of Christ. Whatever may be said in his historical defense, his use of force belongs to the necessities of civil order, not to the progress of Christ’s gospel.

This restraint stands in marked contrast to many modern reformed treatments of Cromwell. A few years ago I listened to an entire series on the life of Cromwell by a prominent Presbyterian, who “rehabilitated” him, not merely as a complex historical figure, but as a kind of proto-reformed hero, a godly ruler whose use of power is framed as the outworking of Christian principle in the public square. Cromwell’s military actions, suppression of dissent, and enforcement of religious order were all defended as necessary steps toward a Christian society. There's something very uneasy about this shift, not because we deny God's sovereignty over rulers, but the tendency to confuse Christ’s kingdom with political success or social reform. In short, where modern reformed writers often seek to rescue Cromwell for the sake of a Christian vision of history, it may be well just to leave him where Scripture leaves all rulers. Daniel 4:17. The issue, then, is not history, but gospel clarity. No one is trying to write Cromwell out of history, only to keep him out of the gospel. Cromwell belongs to history. Christ belongs to the gospel. And the two must not be merged, even when history feels sympathetic. MPJ

Postscript: A letter by Cromwell: “Since we came into Scotland, it hath been our desire and longing to have avoided blood in this business; by reason that God hath a people here, fearing His Name, though deceived. And to that end have we offered much love unto such, in the bowels of Christ; and concerning the truth of our hearts therein, we have appealed unto the Lord. The ministers of Scotland have hindered the passage of these things to the hearts of those to whom we intended them. And now we hear that not only the deceived people, but some of the ministers also are fallen in this battle. This is the great hand of the Lord, and worthy the consideration of all those who take into their hands the instruments of a foolish shepherd; to wit, meddling with worldly policies, and mixtures of earthly power, to set up that which they call the Kingdom of Christ, which is neither it; nor, if it were it, would such means be found effectual to that end; and neglect, or trust not to, the Word of God, the Sword of the Spirit, which is alone powerful and able for the setting up of that Kingdom; and when trusted to, will be found effectually able to that end, and will also do it. This is humbly offered for their sakes who have lately too much turned aside, that they may return again to preach Jesus Christ, according to the simplicity of the Gospel; and then, no doubt, they will discern and find your protection and encouragement. Beseeching you to pardon this length, I humbly take leave, and rest, Sir, Your most humble Servant, OLIVER CROMWELL.”

The letter was written by Oliver Cromwell in September 1650 and addressed to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, specifically its Presbyterian ministers and leaders. Cromwell had just defeated the Scottish Covenanter army at Dunbar. The Scots had allied themselves with Charles II, whom they crowned king in exchange for his acceptance of the Covenant. Cromwell viewed this alliance as a fatal mixture of religion and worldly power and expressed deep concern over the corruption of the gospel by political ambition, even as he would, within a few short years, find himself entangled in the very danger he warned against.

This is an interesting letter, as many rulers have spoken about God; but I seriously doubt that any ever spoke like this? In terms of biblical literacy and experiential protestant piety, Cromwell is exceptional. This letter doesn’t read like propaganda. It reads like a man caught between two worlds. The irony is not that Cromwell later contradicted words he did not believe, the fact that he actually believed them, and yet history pressed him into a role where he acted contrary to their full implication. MPJ

Suffering of Christ in Gethsemane: “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death… O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” Matthew 26:38-39. Have your thoughts ever stalled out while considering these words of our Savior, not because they are unclear, but because they open before us a depth of suffering that words scarcely convey? Here is no parable to unravel, no doctrine merely stated, but the Son of God Himself disclosing the inward anguish of His soul. We are allowed, for a brief moment, to stand on holy ground and witness what the Scriptures elsewhere describe only in shadow and prophecy. There is something profoundly staggering about hearing such words fall from the lips of Him who was “holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners.” Hebrews 7:26.

When the Gospel writers draw our attention to Gethsemane, they do not invite us to observe a moment of hesitation in Christ, nor a struggle of will, but to behold a depth of suffering that precedes the cross and yet belongs inseparably to it. Here the Son of God enters the unique inward anguish of the Substitute, standing beneath the immediate pressure of sin and divine justice prior to the outward sacrifice itself. And we must ask, as the Scriptures themselves compel us to ask, what was the cause for which this Lamb of God was thus afflicted?

He whose life was marked by perfect obedience and spotless righteousness - why such sorrow, agony, and such distress? Scripture allows only one answer. Sin, our sin, was laid upon Him, and justice demanded its full satisfaction. The sorrow is real because the substitution is real, and the substitution was real, because salvation is real. Hebrews 9:28. “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” II Corinthians 5:21.

Gethsemane must be read as a scene of divine judgment, where imposed sorrow and conscious obedience meet beneath the hand of divine justice, as Christ stands not for Himself, but in the place of sinners as their Priest and Substitute. What unfolds there is substitutional in nature: the agony is judicial, the sorrow is imposed by justice, and the obedience rendered is priestly. The cup placed into His hands is not uncertainty or hesitation, but wrath itself. Psalm 75:8. This is not Christ shrinking back from the path appointed to Him, but deliberately entering into the full weight of what it meant to stand for His people before a holy God, bearing all that was required so that nothing might remain for those He represented. Here the mystery of godliness stands before us, that God Himself was pleased to be made known in flesh, united in a way beyond all human searching. “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh.” I Timothy 3:16.

The gospel descriptions compel us to view this suffering as judgment-bearing in character. “Exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.” “Being in an agony.” “Great drops of blood.” These are not metaphorical expressions; they correspond directly to the Scriptures that speak of Christ being made a curse for us, Galatians 3:13, bearing the sins of many, Isaiah 53:11, and being bruised by the will of the Lord. Isaiah 53:10. The garden reveals the inward cost of substitution before the outward execution of justice at the cross. So the sorrow before us is best understood as the inward effect of bearing sin under divine justice.

Luke’s account is especially instructive here. He does not describe fear, but agony, a contest, a combat of the soul under the weight of what is being borne. Christ is consciously and personally entering into imputed guilt, impending wrath, the anticipated experience of abandonment, and the curse of the law itself. This is not the language of emotional recoil or human dread, but of inward suffering pressed down by an intolerable burden. Thus Gethsemane stands as a solemn witness to the reality of redemption.

Christ did not suffer in appearance only, nor in theory, nor merely in body. He bore sin inwardly, under divine justice, as the appointed Substitute for His people. And because He bore it willingly and without reserve, the cup of wrath has been drained to the dregs. John 18:11. Isaiah 51:22. There remains nothing left for those for whom He stood. Romans 8:33-34. MPJ

Puritanism: I received a brief message last week from a new friend who mentioned his interest in reformed theology and the puritans. With no particular subject coming to mind and having an entire day - Christmas - to myself, I thought I would set down some reflections on “puritanism,” approached from an angle that may be new to some, and offered simply for consideration. What follows are scattered thoughts, shared not to diminish what was good, but to highlight certain features that may be less obvious, particularly to those inquiring after the way of Zion or newly come to the faith of Christ. There is no shortage of good to be spoken of these men, many of whom the Lord graciously used to proclaim the gospel and to strengthen believers in their joy in the Lord. I Thessalonians 1:6-8.

Before I begin with any critical reflection, I should also say something positive here, and gladly so. I have been familiar with the “puritans” for nearly forty years now, and by the mercy of Christ have spent many profitable and joyful hours in their company. Their seriousness and genuine concern for godliness is unmistakable. They were not careless toward sin, nor light or casual in their dealings with spiritual things, and their writings often reflect a sincere desire to walk closely with Christ in the Scriptures. The works of Owen, Goodwin, and Bunyan naturally surface in my mind, along with others, particularly among the early Particular Baptists, who, whatever their differences, seemed chiefly occupied with making Christ known.

So, these thoughts are not offered as an attempt to tear down or dismantle puritanism, nor to place it on a pedestal, but simply as reflections formed over years of reading their writings, an interest in the history of that period, and some familiarity with reformed theology. There is no denying that the puritan period was, in many ways, a time of God’s special activity, marked by earnest devotion and writings filled with gospel substance and Christ-centered truth. Others, of course, went before them, reformers like Luther, Calvin, and many more, &c., men whose influence has been assessed differently as time has passed. Much like the Puritans, they have been praised by some and carefully scrutinized by others.

Without wandering far from the present discussion, I recall a conversation from years past in which a man, earnest and confident in his convictions, reasoned that because the understanding of Christ held by others fell short of his own, it must therefore be fundamentally flawed. From this he concluded that the majority of the Reformers, the Puritans, and especially most modern exponents of these doctrinal systems must be regarded as “lost” simply because they did not, or could not, articulate Christ according to what he believed to be a final and perfect understanding of the “one true gospel.” It was an approach that suggested the gospel had been fully grasped at last, and that nothing further remained but to measure others by it.

It is striking that some, in their zeal for precision, speak as though the gospel were preserved only by flawless articulation, and as though those who labored faithfully in earlier generations must now be regarded with suspicion for failing to express every doctrine in the terms we presently employ. The certainty with which such judgments are made feels strangely out of step with the gospel itself, which teaches us that light comes gradually, and that salvation rests not upon precision of expression, but upon Christ Himself.

Reasoning of this sort shifts assurance away from Christ and places it in comprehension. It overlooks the fact that we were once opposed to God in our own minds, and that any true apprehension of the gospel we may now possess came not from our ability to understand rightly, but from God mercifully teaching us Christ. Ephesians 4:20. This way of thinking seems to overlook the patient manner in which God brings His children into the knowledge of His Son. It assumes that clarity is the result of having arrived, rather than the fruit of being taught.

In this well fortified camp, peace can never be spoken until doctrinal arrival is confirmed. Life is not acknowledged until belief is properly articulated, repentance is clearly defined, and the gospel is received in the way they have been taught to recognize it. Christ is confessed, yet life itself is treated as commencing only when the approved understanding is reached; and whatever work of Christ may have preceded that moment is rendered invisible, unrecognized, and theologically irrelevant. Deuteronomy 8:2. The gospel no longer declares what Christ has already secured; it functions as the dividing line between those who may be spoken “peace” to and those who must remain under suspicion. The “gospel of grace” is still affirmed, yet “grace” itself is only reserved for those who already see clearly, or rather, those who see as they have been taught to see, and that only with prescription lenses.

Yet the inescapable truth remains that whatever understanding or clarity we now enjoy did not originate within us, nor was it uncovered by our own ingenuity to search out these things, but was given, revealed to us, we trust, in Christ, made precious to us by the Spirit, and mercifully taught over time through experience. This understanding is not granted all at once, nor without correction, but gradually, often through much unlearning, and always with a growing awareness that apart from Christ we cannot see, know, or judge anything as we ought, and that whatever light we now walk in is entirely of grace. “And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known, I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them and not forsake them.” Isaiah 42:16.

With that said, I return to my subject, as what follows may now be clearer in light of what has already been said. One of the defining features of puritan spirituality, and perhaps its most enduring legacy, is what has often been called “experimental Calvinism.” By this was meant a religion that refused to settle for outward profession or mere agreement with gospel truth, but sought an inward, examined, and traceable experience of grace. Though grace alone was confessed as the ground of salvation, the day-to-day emphasis frequently rested upon careful self-observation, progress in holiness, and the search for confirming signs. Faith was expected to show clear signs, progress through recognized stages, and produce visible evidence by which both the believer and others could judge whether it was real.

At first glance, this emphasis appears sound, for Scripture itself speaks of fruit, growth, and transformation. The problem is not that such things exist, nor that they really do matter, but how they are made to function. In much puritan thought, inward experience gradually shifts from being the fruit of life in Christ to becoming the standard by which that life is measured. What should follow faith begins to govern it, and assurance is quietly redirected from Christ to the believer’s own experience.

What Scripture presents as the evidence of life is then pressed into service as the measure of life itself, so that growth “in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,” II Peter 3:18, is no longer received as the fruit of light shining from “the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,” II Corinthians 4:6, but is turned into a standard by which life must be demonstrated rather than a blessing to be enjoyed. I John 5:11-13.

Closely tied to this was the idea of preparatory works. Before one could rest in Christ, one must first be suitably humbled, awakened, distressed, emptied, and made willing. Rather than being directed to Christ at once, he was taught to look inward first, to see whether the soil had been sufficiently plowed for grace to safely take root. Faith, in this framework, was no longer simply the persuasion of the gospel testimony, but a kind of inward act accompanied by proper affections and spiritual sensibilities. As a result, assurance was frequently grounded not in Christ’s finished work alone, but in the believer’s internal state. Frames, feelings, progress in sanctification, and moral seriousness were leaned upon as confirmatory signs. Here lies a vital flaw. When inward experience is elevated into a test of legitimacy, the soul is inevitably turned back upon itself. And the believer, instead of standing on a finished redemption, is left continually checking the ground beneath his feet. This is the point at which many sincere souls, especially those newly drawn to “calvinistic” theology, find themselves confused. Christ does not save us by producing proper inward qualifications. He saves by His blood, His righteousness, His obedience, His death, and His resurrection. Faith does not add to that work, nor does experience confirm it. Faith simply believes the testimony God has given concerning His Son.

Alongside this arose the notion that genuine believers are marked not only by coming to Christ as poor and needy, but by remaining in that state as a defining spiritual posture that must be preserved and displayed. What Scripture presents as our need for Christ is reshaped into a spiritual temperament that must be sustained and exhibited. Poverty of spirit, instead of leading us again and again to Christ, becomes something to be monitored within ourselves as though it were a spiritual condition to be maintained rather than a continual reason to look to Christ. In this way, even humility can be subtly turned into a qualification, and the believer’s attention is drawn away from Christ’s sufficiency back to the shifting state of his own soul.

Having said all this, the question is not whether experience matters, but whether we have allowed it to speak where only Christ should speak. Based upon the admonitions of Scripture to test all things, perhaps we should be cautious about how much weight we give to what is often called “christian experience” today. Much attention is given to inward feelings and impressions, yet little care is taken to ask whether these things are grounded in truth. What Scripture sets before us as true Christian experience is always the fruit of divine teaching. It is sustained as the word dwells in us and is applied by the Holy Spirit according to our real condition and need. In this way, true experience consists in the Spirit opening the Scriptures, giving them weight and reality in our hearts, and making them the ground upon which faith rests. John 6:63.

Through this work, Christ is revealed to us as He is set forth in the gospel, and the heart is drawn to Him in love, not apart from the Word, but through it. This is the Spirit’s own work, and He brings it about in a simple yet powerful way. He causes the truths of the gospel to live and settle in the believer’s mind, giving them weight and reality, so that they are no longer merely heard, but believed and rested in. I Thessalonians 2:13. Through this work, the believer grows in the knowledge of Christ, rooted in Him as the foundation and living from Him as the source of spiritual life. “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him; rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.” Colossians 2:6-7. And because this work is the Spirit’s own, it is always in full agreement with the Scriptures, as He brings understanding and assurance to what God has already spoken, sealing the gospel to the heart rather than adding to it. Ephesians 1:13-14.

So while I tend to view that period as shaped more by political pressures than by sustained spiritual life, there nevertheless appear to be unmistakable moments in which the Lord was pleased to preserve His truth. Important doctrines were clarified, the Scriptures were searched, and Christ was preached, though never without mixture, as is always the case when truth passes through human hands. If I have any closing thought to offer, it is simply this: The gospel does not ask us to authenticate Christ through experience, nor to sustain assurance by inward qualification. It sets forth what God has accomplished in His Son and calls us to believe that testimony. I John 5:9-11. When this order is preserved, experience finds its proper place, faith is freed from self-inspection, and Christ alone is honored as the beginning and the end of salvation. MPJ

Universal Offers of Grace: As I reflect on the subject of universal offers of grace, my mind goes back more than forty years, to about the time I finished reading Charles Finney’s Systematic Theology. Thankfully, that volume did not long survive my shelves, having been rightly returned to the dunghill from whence it originated. Yet while Finney’s system itself was easy to discard, the language it employed was not. His confident use of universal offers and invitations struck me even then as a familiar dialect within much of what the world calls Christianity. In time, it became clear that Finney had not introduced something foreign, but had merely systematized a way of speaking about grace that assumes God offers salvation indiscriminately and then awaits the sinner’s response. While Finney did not originate this way of thinking, he articulated it with such clarity and confidence that it exposed how deeply this language had already permeated modern Christianity. In this sense, he did not create a new theology so much as he systematized what had already become a widespread and largely unquestioned codebook, one that reshapes the gospel itself into an offer awaiting acceptance rather than a declaration that accomplishes what it proclaims. Romans 1:16-17.

Much has been said about so-called gospel invitations, and no small controversy has arisen over them. The discussion is most often cast in terms of extent, asking whether these invitations are addressed indiscriminately to the whole world or limited to the children of God. But in all the debate over who the invitations are for, little attention has been given to a more fundamental issue, which is whether or not Scripture ever presents the gospel in terms of invitations in the first place.

Within this framework, the Calvinist, seeking to safeguard his five-point doctrinal system, has often taken refuge in restriction. He affirms that the gospel offers are not universal, but particular, not addressed to all, but only to those whom God has already quickened. They are said to belong to the weary and heavy-laden, to thirsting sinners, to those who have been made conscious of their need. In this way, the language of offer and invitation is retained, but carefully fenced off, limited to a defined spiritual audience so as not to compromise divine sovereignty or effectual grace.

On the opposite side of the stage stands the Arminian, untroubled by such distinctions, freely and often tearfully pleading with all men everywhere to come and accept Christ as He is “offered” in the gospel. Here the invitation is unapologetically universal, resting upon the assumption that God desires the salvation of all in the same sense, and that the decisive factor lies in the sinner’s response. Christ is presented as standing ready, waiting, willing; yet dependent upon human acceptance to make His saving work effectual.

Yet despite their sharp disagreements, both positions rest upon the same underlying assumption, that the gospel fundamentally operates by way of offer. One restricts it, the other universalizes it, but neither pauses to question whether Scripture itself ever frames salvation in these terms. If that assumption is false, and the gospel is not an offer at all, then the entire controversy is built on a false premise, and the entire debate over scope collapses entirely. Perhaps the more searching question is not who is invited, but what the gospel actually is. Is it a proposal placed before sinners, awaiting their acceptance, or a proclamation declaring what God has accomplished, is presently accomplishing, and will infallibly complete? Does God’s word merely solicit a response, or does it create the response it requires? Until that question is settled, the entire discussion of universal or limited invitations will amount to little more than rearranging terms that Scripture itself never establishes.

If we pause long enough and look closely at the language itself, the word “offer” already assumes quite a bit. An offer suggests uncertainty. It implies that what is presented may be accepted or refused, and that the final outcome depends on the one receiving it rather than the one giving it. Applied to the gospel, this language subtly recasts salvation as a possibility rather than a certainty, as something placed within reach but left unrealized unless the sinner responds rightly. The issue, then, is not merely whom the offer is addressed to, but whether such a framework can be reconciled with a God who “worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,” and whose purposes never hang in suspense.

Once this implication is allowed to stand, a further question inevitably follows. If salvation is truly offered, in what sense does God intend that offer? Does He will the salvation of those to whom it is made, or does He merely express a desire that is never fulfilled? And if He withholds the very grace necessary to bring about the response He supposedly seeks, can such an offer be called sincere without doing violence to His wisdom, power, and truthfulness? This is not a harmless way of speaking. These terms strike at the character of God Himself. Language that portrays Him as proposing what He does not purpose, or desiring what He does not accomplish, risks reducing the gospel from a sovereign declaration of grace into a well-meant appeal that ultimately depends upon the will of man.

When we turn from theological systems to the language of Scripture itself, a different pattern emerges. Nowhere does Scripture treat salvation as a matter placed before man for decision or acceptance; it presents it as a work God commands, declares, and effectually brings to pass. God’s word comes with authority, not contingency. He commands repentance, calls sinners by name, and proclaims what He has accomplished in Christ. His speech does not wait upon human ability or decision; it asserts His right as Creator and Redeemer. From the opening words of creation, “let there be light,” to the gospel’s announcement of life to the dead, God’s word is never presented as a proposal awaiting acceptance, but as a sovereign utterance that accomplishes what it declares. “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth, it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” Isaiah 55:11.

This is especially evident in the biblical idea of calling. Scripture does not describe God as inviting sinners in the hope that some may respond, but as calling them in a way that brings the response into being. “Whom He called them He also justified.” Romans 8:30. The call of God is not a general appeal, but a life-giving summons that raises the dead, opens blind eyes, and produces faith where none existed. Likewise, the gospel is proclaimed as good news, not as a possibility. It announces what God has done in Christ, what He is doing, and what He will surely complete. Promises are spoken in the language of certainty, not condition, and God’s word is repeatedly said to perform that which He pleases. When the gospel is framed otherwise, assurance is weakened, God’s purpose is obscured, and salvation is subtly relocated from divine accomplishment to human response.

Passages commonly appealed to as gospel invitations: “Come unto Me,” “If any man thirst,” “Ho, every one that thirsteth,” &c., must be weighed in the light of Scripture as a whole. The question is not whether grace is expressed, but whether an offer is being made at all. Are they appeals suspended upon human willingness, or are they divine calls that presuppose and produce the very hunger they address? John 6:44. Scripture consistently presents spiritual thirst, weariness, and poverty not as natural conditions of fallen man, but as the fruit of God’s prior work in the soul. The dead do not thirst, nor do the blind seek light. These words, then, are not spoken indiscriminately to the spiritually dead as such, but to those whom God has already awakened to their need of Christ. In this light, these texts read less like offers placed before sinners and more like God’s word addressed to those already quickened by divine grace and now called to Christ. God’s manner of saving is not tentative or conditional, but sovereign and effectual, a call that gives life, a command that creates obedience, and grace that accomplishes all God has purposed.

For this reason, the language of “offers of salvation” and “overtures of mercy” is not an innocent way of speaking. It is the invention of an unsound theology that reduces the gospel to a transaction and Christ to something placed on display. To bring Christ to market, to speak as though He were being offered indiscriminately by ministers, is not a mark of gospel faithfulness but of deep confusion. Scripture nowhere presents Christ as a commodity to be proposed at random by finite creatures. Those who claim that He is “offered in the gospel” must read that language into the text, for men taught of God cannot find it there. The minister’s commission is not to dangle Christ before sinners as a possibility, but to proclaim Him as God’s accomplished salvation, especially when Christ Himself declares that He did not pray for, nor lay down His life for, the world without distinction.

In the end, the matter is not one of tone or emphasis, but of truth. The gospel is not presented in Scripture as an offer awaiting human acceptance, but as the authoritative proclamation of what God has accomplished in Christ. Salvation is not placed in suspension, contingent upon man’s will, but is declared as God’s finished work, effectually applied by His sovereign call. Christ is not proposed as a possibility; He is announced as God’s gift, God’s power, and God’s salvation. “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.” Isaiah 45:22. Where the gospel is reduced to an offer, assurance is weakened, God’s purpose is obscured, and Christ is subtly displaced from the center. But where the gospel is preached as divine declaration, sovereign calling, and effectual grace, God alone is glorified, Christ stands exalted, and salvation rests exactly where Scripture places it, not in the will of man, but in the purpose and power of God. MPJ

Question: “I was wondering if you could write about the meaning and interpretation of the word “saved” in the Bible. Pretty much all Christians I know and most of modern-day Christendom believe ‘saved’ to have one meaning and one meaning only. And that is ‘saved’ from hell to Heaven. Once you accept Christ or once you exercise faith you are considered ‘saved.’ All by our choice!”

Reply: Just like you said, most so-called believers speak of being “saved” as though the word has only one meaning and is always used in the same way. Ask the average “believer” what it means to be saved, and the answer is almost always the same: “I was saved when I accepted Christ,” “I was saved when I believed the gospel,” or “I was saved on such and such a day, at such and such a place, under such and such a ministry,” &c., as though the word describes a single event in time, fixed to a date, a decision, or an experience. In such a scenario salvation is treated as something that comes into existence when faith is exercised, or reduced to a personal milestone, much like baptism or church membership; when I was baptized, when I joined the church; when I believed, I got saved. Salvation becomes another identifiable step in a religious journey, important, sincere, but ultimately man-centered. Yet Scripture speaks of salvation far more broadly and far more deeply than a single moment of awareness or decision.

In Scripture, salvation is first and foremost the act of God, not the awareness of man. The gospel does not begin with what a sinner comes to know or feel, but with what God has purposed and accomplished in Christ. It consistently points us away from ourselves and toward Christ, toward what He has done, not what we have been brought to realize or experience. This distinction is essential, for when salvation is defined primarily by our awareness, it is subtly removed from Christ’s finished work and relocated into human experience.

Long before faith ever lays hold of salvation, salvation has already laid hold of God’s people. Scripture nowhere presents salvation as a potential reality waiting to be activated by belief, but as a completed work accomplished by God in Christ and afterward revealed through faith. II Timothy 1:9. Faith does not stand as the cause of salvation, but as its God-given apprehension; it does not bring salvation into existence but brings it to light. Ephesians 1:17-18. When this biblical order is inverted, salvation is reduced from a divine accomplishment to a human experience, and assurance is inevitably transferred from Christ’s finished work to the believer’s inward condition.

No wonder so many are weak and sickly, living on “beggarly elements,” Galatians 4:9, prepared by false shepherds who trade the bread of life for conditional gospels and experience based sideshows. Ezekiel 34:2-4. When salvation is preached as something man must activate rather than something Christ has accomplished, the flock is left feeding on itself, forever examining faith instead of beholding the Savior. It is precisely this confusion that makes it necessary to return to Scripture and ask what salvation truly is and where it is found.

At its heart, salvation is not first a description of human experience, nor a record of a decision, nor even a moment of spiritual awakening. Salvation is the work of God in Christ, planned before the world began, accomplished in time by the Son, revealed by the Spirit, and enjoyed by His people in many forms throughout their lives. I Peter 1:2. In this light, Christ is not merely the means of salvation; He is the salvation. Thus the call of God is simple and final: “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else.” Isaiah 45:22.

So if we begin where Scripture begins, with God’s purpose in Christ rather than man’s response, some of the fog begins to lift. The gospel does not announce that salvation is waiting to be activated by human faith; it announces that salvation has been accomplished by divine grace, and that faith is given to bring God’s people into the knowledge, comfort, and enjoyment of what is already theirs in Christ. Ephesians 1:18. If the elect were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, then their election must be understood as having taken place in Him when He alone stood as their life before God, before sin, before time, and before any manifestation in history. They were not chosen as detached individuals, nor merely foreseen as believers, but chosen in Christ Himself, such that their life, righteousness, and standing before God were already comprehended in His election. Ephesians 1:4. Election, therefore, is not merely a decree about us, but a declaration about Christ and all who are found in Him. This truth draws our attention away from ourselves and fixes it firmly upon Christ as both the ground and the security of our salvation. Hebrews 7:25.

Such an understanding necessarily brings us to consider Christ, for only One who is eternal and truly God could be the living Head in whom His children were chosen, and from whom, as their life, they would proceed in time. Colossians 1:17-18. Salvation is of God, and thus Christ is God. “I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.” Isaiah 43:11. This divine exclusivity is not abstract but revealed personally in Christ. The Father is never known apart from the Son, nor is the Son ever given apart from the Father, for the life revealed in Christ is the very life of God Himself. John 14:6-7.

Upon this foundation, the witness of Scripture comes into clearer focus, directing us to Christ as the eternal Word, who was with God and was God, the only-begotten Son in the bosom of the Father. Titus 2:13. From Christ flows the life of His people, so that their life is hidden with Christ in God, and Christ dwells in them as the very hope of glory. Colossians 3:3-4. From this identity flows the entire meaning of salvation. Matthew 1:21. If Christ Himself is the life and Head of His people, then salvation cannot be understood apart from Him. “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:8. Who Christ is inevitably settles what salvation is and how it must be understood.

Whether salvation is viewed as eternally settled in Christ or as experimentally known by the believer in time, it is altogether of the Lord. It began in His purpose, was completed by His work, and every provision required for it was found in Himself. God does not save His people by giving them something apart from Himself, but by giving them Himself as their life. “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” John 5:11-12. Nor does God save His people by giving them a salvation to maintain, but by placing them in His Son, giving Christ Himself as their life, their security, and their everlasting rest. I Corinthians 1:30. This union between Christ and His people is not incidental to salvation; it is the very ground of it. What Christ is, and what Christ has accomplished, necessarily determines how salvation is understood and where it is found.

Hence the church, united to Christ as its Head, is described as the fulness of Him that filleth all in all. Ephesians 1:22-23. In this union, Christ stands before God as the life of His people, and they stand before God complete in Him. Nothing is lacking, nothing is unfinished, and nothing is left in question. “And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.” Colossians 2:10. What He is, they are in Him; where He stands, they stand in Him. This is not a peripheral truth, but the very glory of the gospel itself. The good news is not merely that Christ helps us, improves us, or completes what we lack, but that He is our completeness before God. In Him, every demand is met, every question is answered, and every claim against His people is forever silenced. II Corinthians 5:21. All that Christ is before the Father, they are in Him, and this completeness is the ground of their peace and joy. Romans 8:1

Is it any wonder, then, that they are such a happy people, who have heard this joyful sound, whose cup of salvation overfloweth in Christ! A salvation that is eternal in purpose, complete in accomplishment, and secure in preservation cannot but produce joy. “Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.” Isaiah 12:3. Here is a people delivered from the burden of maintaining salvation and brought into the liberty of resting in Christ alone. “Happy art thou, O Israel, who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD.” Deuteronomy 33:29. Who indeed is like unto “this” people, whose life, standing, and salvation are bound up entirely in their exalted Head, and whose safety is secured in an everlasting salvation established and preserved in Christ alone? As the Scripture declares, “Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation.” Isaiah 45:17. “This is the true God, and eternal life.” I John 5:20.

What began as an attempt to speak about the word “saved” has, without intention, let us into these thoughts on “salvation” itself. I guess you could say that the word has been eclipsed by the glory of the thing it signifies, salvation as it stands complete and abiding in Christ. All of this being so, we confess that our grasp of these matters is small and often clouded. We see but very little, and often we see it poorly, and who can say what we “see” is without mixture? I Corinthians 13:12. At best, we catch only passing glimpses, often through much weakness and confusion. Yet how can we not rejoice when we are permitted, even faintly, to contemplate these wondrous outworkings of that salvation which is in Christ. If it has pleased the Lord to make something of this known to a few of us, it is sheer mercy, and to those who are taught of Him, it becomes life indeed. Truly, Christ is our life before the Father, and outside of him we have no life at all. MPJ

Predestination or Fate: In a recent correspondence, a dear friend shared something that really baffled me and has kept me thinking. He explained that he was raised by parents who were Primitive Baptists, of the fatalist variety. People who spoke the language of predestination, yet lived without Scripture and without Christ? I know, it sounds almost impossible, but to use his own words “they were not religious” in any fashion. They knew nothing about the Bible and believed “whatever will be, will be.” “They believed if you are predestined, you will go to heaven. Whether you are predestined, you will find out when you die.” What stood out to me was not simply the contradiction itself, but how predestination, when removed from Scripture and Christ, ceased to be a confession of God’s sovereignty and became little more than an appeal to blind necessity and inevitability. There was no sense of God revealed, no need of mercy, no urgency of truth, only a passive confidence that things would work out on their own. When predestination is severed from its proper foundation, it does not remain neutral; it collapses into fatalism.

Fatalism is a serious error. The Bible never leaves us with the idea that everything will be sorted out after death with no light along the way. It speaks of life being known and revealed in Christ now. Fatalism reduces everything to “whatever will be,” and completely removes God from the picture. In truth, fatalism and predestination are not related ideas at all, but opposing claims about God, life, and meaning. They are in fact direct opposites; the affirmation of one is the denial of the other. Fatalism reduces all things to impersonal inevitability, whereas predestination in Scripture is entirely different. It is never an abstract decree, but the purposeful work of a living God actively governing all things to their appointed end in Christ, to the praise of His glorious grace. Ephesians 1:5-6.

Fatalism did not emerge from the light of biblical revelation, but from the darkness of pagan unbelief. It arose among nations that knew nothing of the living God and sought to explain history apart from Him, making fatalism a thoroughly heathen system of thought. It reflects the efforts of pagan cultures to account for suffering, chaos, and inevitability apart from revelation, explaining life without reference to divine purpose and replacing it with blind necessity. While its later expressions can be traced through Greek philosophy, Eastern religions, and Islamic thought, its true origin reaches much further back; for its roots are not intellectual at all, but moral and spiritual. Fatalism is born wherever men turn from the living God. From the earliest days, when humanity exchanged the knowledge of God for its own reasoning, blind necessity replaced divine purpose. Jeremiah 2:13. It is not merely a philosophical error, but a spiritual one, rooted in man’s refusal to retain God in his knowledge.

Sovereignty and fate attempt to answer the same fundamental human questions: Who rules? Why do things happen as they do? Is there meaning behind events? The difference is not that sovereignty explains everything clearly while fate explains nothing, but that sovereignty explains everything personally, while fate explains everything impersonally. Where biblical sovereignty confesses a living God who wills, orders, and governs all things according to His purpose, fate offers a mechanical inevitability devoid of intention or mercy. When believers adopt fatalistic language, they are drawing from sources antagonistic to biblical revelation. This confusion is not merely a matter of wording, but of underlying assumptions about God and the nature of reality. Romans 1:21-22.

Fatalism denies the centrality of Christ, and in doing so exposes itself as a false view of sovereignty, for any sovereignty that bypasses Christ is not Christian. Predestination, by contrast, is explicitly and entirely in Christ, II Timothy 1:9, not an unseen force hovering over history. “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers, all things were created by him, and for him, and he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” Colossians 1:16-17. When predestination is understood in Christ, it cannot be reduced to a distant decree or inevitability. The One by whom all things were created and sustained is the same One through whom history is governed and brought to its appointed end. Hebrews 1:2-3. This means that predestination is not merely about origins, but about government and purpose. Biblical predestination declares that God rules history and governs every detail of life, personally, purposefully, and redemptively in Jesus Christ. “Of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things.” Romans 11:36. So that history is not drifting aimlessly under blind necessity but being directed toward its appointed end in Christ. “That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him; in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.” Ephesians 1:10-11. It does not teach that things merely must happen, but that they happen under the wise, righteous, and loving government of God. Isaiah 46:10. It assures the believer that nothing is arbitrary, nothing accidental, and nothing wasted; not suffering, not delay, not weakness, not even sin in its bitter consequences. All things are held within the hands of a Father who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. Romans 8:32.

I do not wish to digress too far from the subject of fatalism, but in reflecting on this pagan notion of fate, where guilt is displaced and everything is explained by forces outside oneself, a striking modern parallel emerges. What ancient cultures attributed to fate, modern thought often attributes to psychology, biology, or circumstance, while the underlying logic remains the same. What begins as an attempt to explain suffering soon becomes a way of escaping accountability. In this framework, everything is explained away, and the world at large is rendered guiltless before God. Man is no longer addressed as a moral creature standing accountable before his Maker, but is recast as a passive product of circumstances, a victim of forces acting upon him rather than a sinner in need of grace and mercy.

Where ancient man appealed to fate, modern man appeals to trauma. In this sense, modern therapy becomes the heir of ancient fatalism. It reassures man that what he has done is largely the result of what has been done to him. The question is no longer, “how should man be just with God,” Job 9:2, nor is sin confessed before God as guilt, but rather, “what happened to me?” Man no longer stands before God as a transgressor in need of mercy, but as a victim in need of understanding. It is, quite simply, the old concept of fate, but with a couch. The question Scripture insists upon remains unchanged, not what happened to us, but how we shall stand before God, and the answer is found only in Christ. “And when they shall say unto you, seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter, should not a people seek unto their God, for the living to the dead?” Isaiah 8:19.

Now the same principle that removes accountability in modern thought does not stop at psychology; it reappears in theology itself, cloaked in the language of gospel. Galatians 1:7. Arminians accuse believers of fatalism, while advancing a theology that places ultimate outcomes beyond the will of God, thereby denying His absoluteness and subjecting His purposes to forces He does not govern. Psalm 50:21. Do they not repeatedly assert that men are appointed to destruction against the will of God? That God desires all men to be saved and has done all He can to save them, yet multitudes still perish? That Christ made a full and complete atonement for the sins of the whole world, and yet many are finally lost? If these things are so, what accounts for such an outcome but fate itself? Is there not, by this reasoning, some power to which even God must submit, an inevitability beyond His will and purpose? Man becomes central, Christ becomes instrumental, and God’s absoluteness is emptied of its meaning. In denying God's absoluteness, they enthrone man as decisive and reduce God to a conditional actor, no longer absolute, and no longer supreme. II Thessalonians 2:4. Such a diminishing of God stands in sharp contrast to the spirit of true believers.

Those who have been brought to see not merely their weakness, but their utter nothingness before God, scarcely dare to look up at all; and when they do, they are not looking for a god who hopes, reacts, or waits upon them. They look for Christ. They look to One who has already acted, already accomplished redemption, already secured the end from the beginning. “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else.” Isaiah 45:22. A theology that reduces God to conditionality finds NO echo in the heart of faith, for anything less than an absolute God leaves the soul without hope and without God in the world. Ephesians 2:12.

Additionally, if God does not govern all things by His own sovereign will, then events must be governed by something else. There is no middle ground. Either history unfolds according to the determinate counsel of God, or it unfolds according to an impersonal necessity. To deny God’s absolute predestination is not to escape fatalism, but to invite it in another form. For if any events are left undetermined by God, they must be determined by something else; and once that door is opened, fate has already assumed authority. Thus, the rejection of predestination does not remove fatalism, it merely relocates it, placing ultimate outcomes beyond the will of God rather than firmly within it. This is not a matter confined to systems of thought, but one that reaches into the interpretation of life itself.

Where Christ has given a measure of sight, life is no longer interpreted through coincidence or necessity, but through the governing hand of God present in all things. From the smallest detail of daily life to the toppling of kingdoms, all fulfill some divine design and ultimate purpose and for this reason, the believer is taught to view no moment or circumstance as meaningless or insignificant. This truth teaches us to look upon every moment and circumstance with reverence rather than indifference. God is in everything! Blind fate would have the believer see nothing but coincidence in the events of daily life, reducing them to mere happenstance shared by all alike. Faith stands opposed to this view, beginning each day with the firm conviction that God is present and active in all things, working wisely and purposefully in every detail of life. Though he walks the same roads, bears the same trials, and encounters the same losses as others, he is not taught to interpret them in the same way. They do not speak to him with the same voice. Isaiah 30:21.

What is true in the believer’s daily walk is true on a far greater scale as well. History is not propelled by chance but ordered by design. Every occurrence, quiet or upheaving, carries the signature of God’s sovereign hand. This understanding reshapes how the believer views not only the course of the world, but the circumstances of his own life, however insignificant they may seem, and however disruptive they may feel. Life is not an unpredictable series of disconnected moments, nor a chain of accidents to be explained only in hindsight. From the smallest interruptions of the day to events that seem to topple our own little world, all are part of a divine ordering moving steadily toward an appointed end. The same God who directs the rise and fall of kingdoms also orders the unnoticed details of daily life, and He does so with equal wisdom and intent. Proverbs 16:33. Under fate, the disruptions of life carry no voice and no promise. The small trials of the day are trivial and the great sorrows are simply to be endured. There is no intention behind them, no personal will directing them, and no redemptive end toward which they move. Such meaning exists only under absolute sovereignty. Where God governs, nothing is wasted and nothing is arbitrary. Daniel 4:35.

Under this understanding, life can no longer be divided into the meaningful and the meaningless. Nothing is random, nothing is meaningless. Even what appears to us as loss or interruption is shaped by wisdom we may not yet see. “He hath made everything beautiful in his time…so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.” Ecclesiastes 3:11. Thus, whilst fate empties life of any significance; sovereignty fills everything with purpose. This is the dividing line. Fate submits man to necessity; faith teaches him to trust his heavenly Father. “For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” Matthew 6:32. Such trust is not grounded in uncertainty, but in the personal knowledge of God revealed in Christ. Matthew 11:27. Only when viewed through this lens does predestination retain its true meaning.

This is why predestination, rightly understood, never breeds indifference toward Christ, Scripture, or truth. The reason is simple, severed from Christ, it degenerates into fatalism; grounded in Christ, it becomes hope. Fatalism leaves man waiting to find out what he is. Ephesians 2:12. Predestination calls man to behold who Christ is. John 1:29. One strips life of meaning; the other fills even the smallest circumstance with purpose. Romans 8:28. So against the hollow comfort of “whatever will be,” Scripture sets before us something far better, the faithful preservation of God in Christ. I Thessalonians 5:23-24. Therefore, predestination does not lead to fatalism, but to hope, for it assures us that our lives are not drifting along under blind necessity, but are held, preserved, and carried toward their appointed end in Christ. MPJ

Faith or Christ: Much of modern and not so modern theology rightly insists that salvation is by grace alone yet often locates that salvation in an act in time, namely the believer’s act of faith. Even when faith is confessed to be “the gift of God,” it is still frequently presented as the decisive instrument that secures our justification before God. Perhaps this is from where the term “saving faith” originates, implying that faith has some inseparable connection with salvation, such that salvation is no longer confessed as a finished reality in Christ, but as something that comes into being when faith is exercised or a distinctive set of doctrinal truths are confessed.

However carefully grace is affirmed, the decisive point is no longer Christ’s finished work, but the sinner’s conscious participation in it, so that salvation becomes inseparably tied not only to believing, but to believing rightly, and to believing in ways that align with an approved doctrinal framework. In this way, salvation is subtly transferred from Christ to the believer’s experience, affixed to “regeneration” or “conversion” as an identifiable moment in time.

Even careful theologians such as John Gill routinely speak of what they call “regeneration” as “the beginning of spiritual life.” In his “Body of Divinity,” Gill says this: “Regeneration is the beginning of spiritual life in the soul; it is the implantation of a principle of grace, from whence all acts of spiritual life flow.” Gill seems to be attempting to safeguard two truths. Spiritual life is of God, and that life is sustained entirely by divine grace. In my reading, and I may be misunderstanding him here, the difficulty is not in what he affirms, but where he locates the beginning of spiritual life. By saying “a spiritual life, begun in regeneration,” the starting point of life is placed at a temporal event within the individual. This shift relocates the center of salvation.

Life is no longer first confessed as existing in Christ objectively, but is instead sought within the sinner subjectively, so that either an act of believing or an arrival at doctrinal correctness becomes the moment when life is said to begin. The effect is the same in both cases. If Scripture says: “Christ is our life,” Colossians 3:4; “life is in the Son,” I John 5:11; that “we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world,” Ephesians 1:4; that “all things were created by Him, and for Him,” Colossians 1:16, &c., then spiritual life cannot begin in “regeneration” in an ultimate sense, because “regeneration” does not create life; it reveals, communicates, or manifests life already secured in Christ. If Gill is read charitably, his statement could be taken as describing the awakening of spiritual life rather than its origin. Psalm 36:9. But that is not what the sentence actually says, as it plainly says that “life” itself begins there. That difference matters, especially when some build entire systems on that phrasing. I do not suggest any bad intent here on the part of Gill, nor do I wish to be overcritical, but only to express a careful concern that language of inward quickening does not eclipse union with Christ, or experience eclipse Christ Himself.

Scripture consistently reverses this order. It does not present faith as the act that brings salvation into being, but as the result of a salvation already accomplished and secured in Christ. “As many as were ordained to eternal life believed.” Believing follows ordination. “All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me.” Coming follows giving. Faith does not create the union; it confesses it. The question, then, is not whether faith is necessary, nor whether faith is a gift of God, both of which Scripture plainly affirms. The question is far more fundamental: what is faith allowed to do? Is faith the means by which salvation is secured, or is it the confession of a salvation already secured in Christ? Does faith bring Christ to the sinner, or does Christ bring the sinner to faith? Faith does not secure Christ. Christ secured faith. That is why anyone believes anything at all.

Faith is not the essence of salvation, it is the confession of it. And when faith is treated as the hinge upon which salvation turns, Christ is quietly reduced from Savior to facilitator. But Christ is not the means to salvation. Christ is salvation. I Corinthians 1:30. “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.” I John 5:11. MPJ

Alpha and Omega: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:8 sets Christ before us as the Alpha and the Omega, and this truth is reflected throughout the entirety of Scripture. Genesis opens with God “in the beginning,” while Revelation closes with “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,” enclosing all revelation within Christ Himself. He stands at the beginning and the end, and it is He who gives meaning to everything in between, so that all of Scripture speaks with one unified voice, centering all things in Christ. It is hard not to stand back and marvel at this, for it speaks so clearly to the unity of Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, everything bears the imprint of Christ’s glory and serves one unfolding purpose. Luke 24:44.

As Scripture bears its witness and the Lord is pleased to give us light, this truth is impressed upon us, again and again: Christ is all. Colossians 3:11. Everything declares it, and the perfect unity of Scripture only confirms it, as the glory of Christ shines forth with a steady and inescapable clarity, drawing all revelation, and indeed all of life itself, back to Him as its source and its end. Acts 17:28. For from Him all things proceed, by Him all things are sustained, and to Him all things ultimately return, so that Christ stands not only as the center of Scripture, but as the very meaning and goal of all that is. “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him, and for him.” Colossians 1:16. All revelation begins in Him, moves through Him, and finds its consummation in Him. Luke 24:27.

Reading Revelation 1:8 again, with its New Testament parallels in mind, my thoughts are immediately drawn to Isaiah 44:6: “Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his Redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.” That declaration allows for no rival and no division whatsoever. Yet in Revelation, this same language is taken up and spoken of Christ without qualification or apology, as the book repeatedly identifies Him as the Alpha and the Omega, especially in Revelation 1:8; 21:6 & 22:13, perfectly echoing the words of Isaiah. The title belongs to God alone in the Old Testament, yet Christ bears it openly in Revelation, leaving no room to diminish His divine identity.

As God, Christ is one with the Father, self-existent, independent, and almighty, having life in Himself and possessing authority and power over all things. We read that “all things were made by Him,” John 1:3, and that “He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.” Christ is the Creator of all things, prior to all things, and the ONE who sustains all things. It is a clear and undeniable testimony to His deity and oneness with the Father. John 10:30.

The revelation of Christ does not terminate with His divine identity but moves forward to its saving disclosure. “I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore.” Revelation 1:18. In these words, Christ gathers into Himself truths so vast that nothing could more clearly establish the foundations of our most holy faith or more fully confirm that Christ is God and that God has been revealed in Christ. And this is where the wonder deepens. In Christ, the invisible God steps into view, not abandoning His glory, but clothing it in our nature; not as a mere messenger, but as God revealed in living form. Colossians 1:15. And this revelation cannot be separated from the work He came to accomplish.

Scripture will not permit us to separate His saving work from His divine identity, for the LORD Himself declares, “beside Me there is no Saviour.” If Christ saves, and Scripture everywhere testifies that He does, then He must be the LORD who speaks in Isaiah. In Him, the first and the last meet, not as a concept or a doctrine, but as the living God revealed in Christ Jesus. As God, Christ is not derived or dependent, but self-existent and almighty, one with the Father, before all things, and the ONE by whom all things were made and continue to hold together. Nothing precedes Him, and nothing exists apart from Him.

Everything turns on this. If Christ is God, then His saving work cannot be partial, provisional, or uncertain; it is complete, effectual, and final. It lacks nothing, depends on nothing, and requires no addition, confirmation, or contribution from man whatsoever. And because He is God, as the Scriptures plainly and consistently declare, all our hope and all our salvation rest in the surest place possible; not in ourselves, not in anything we do or fail to do, but entirely and securely in Christ alone, to whom nothing can be added and from whom nothing can be lost. Hebrews 7:25. MPJ

Christmas: “Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil.” Exodus 23:2. It comes as an utter shock to many that some who would identify themselves as simple followers of the Lord Jesus Christ would refuse to participate in Christmas Celebrations and Holiday Traditions. At once, such a person is dismissed as “not really Christian,” branded as belonging to some cultish group, or accused of adopting a smug, superior holiness, as if abstaining meant they believed themselves better than everyone else. “How can you not celebrate Christmas? Don’t you believe in the birth of Christ? What could be possibly wrong with celebrating the birth of the Saviour? If anything is worth celebrating or observing, surely this is? Where would we be if Christ had not been born?” This seems to be the common reaction based upon many years of such personal encounters. Yet the effect is nearly always the same, not pride in refusing what we believe Scripture opposes, but a kind of uncomfortable awkwardness, even a feeling of isolation, as though we’ve stepped outside a circle everyone else treats as sacred.

Although at one point my mind would start racing, and attempt some sort of an explanation, perhaps even from scripture, but nowadays, if I'm pressed, I always simply reply, because I'm not Roman Catholic, which for whatever reason tends to abruptly end the conversation. I imagine because a papist would understand perfectly well what I mean, but a so-called protestant on the other hand, so eager to oppose Rome doctrinally while faithfully keeping her holy days, would hardly know how to answer. I should perhaps add that I’m not walking around with a banner declaring that I don’t celebrate Christmas. When someone says “Merry Christmas,” I thank them kindly. But if someone specifically asks what I’m doing that day, or why we don’t observe it, then I try to answer in a way that is both faithful and kind, speaking truth without harshness.

I first rewrote this paper about three years ago, when my children, already married and joined to spouses who had all grown up with some form of Christmas tradition, and now expected the same, began asking why our family had never observed the holiday. Different households and different expectations inevitably brought new questions. And now that the Lord has blessed us with ten grandchildren, Psalm 127:5, a few of these little ones are no doubt already wondering why they never receive gifts from us. Why didn’t we celebrate then? Why don’t we now? How do we navigate these things without confusion or compromise? The matter that once touched only my own home now touches theirs as well. I never wrote this to correct anyone else’s practice, but to give my children a clear biblical reason for ours, and I pray that the Lord preserves in some of them a desire to remain faithful to those convictions, seeking to honor Christ without losing themselves entirely in the mixture and confusion that surrounds them.

Perhaps here I should insert a word to speak sympathetically to the many who find themselves caught between conviction and circumstance, those brothers or sisters in Christ who, for one reason or another, simply “go along” with Christmas; who perhaps have never questioned Christmas because it has always been their world; and others that have begun to sense the issues surrounding it, yet feel bound by the realities of marriage, extended family, or cultural expectations that are not easily untangled. Some of my own children have married into homes where Christmas is regarded as a sacred institution, an anchor of family identity, memory, and tradition. In those settings, even the slightest hint of withdrawing from the holiday would create enormous strain, both within the marriage and among extended relatives who might view such a choice as a personal rejection rather than a matter of conscience. I understand that dilemma. Many find themselves caught between convictions they quietly hold and the expectations of those they dearly love, torn between conscience and family harmony. These dynamics can be genuinely difficult, and I sympathize with any who find themselves in such situations. My purpose is not to condemn anyone in such a delicate situation, but to acknowledge the weight they carry and to encourage them toward patience, prayer, and a quiet desire to honor Christ as clearly as they are able in the midst of imperfect circumstances.

Yet beyond the personal difficulties many face, there remains a deeper question worth considering. How did such a day ever become woven into Christian practice at all? Church history makes it clear that not everything done in the name of Christianity grew out of Scripture. As the early church drifted into ritual and ceremony, Rome gathered to herself a mixture of pagan custom and religious symbolism, clothing it in Christian language and presenting it as worship. Many of the Reformers saw in this the very system described in Revelation, splendid outwardly yet bound to human tradition, and they recognized in the rise of the papacy a striking counterfeit, a form of Christianity mingled with practices that obscured the simplicity of the gospel. And though the Reformation recovered much precious truth, it did not entirely sever itself from the ceremonial and sacramental patterns inherited from Rome. Over time, these blended practices filtered into wider Christianity until custom often spoke louder than Scripture.

A plain and honest look at history makes it clear that what we now call “Christmas” did not spring from the Scriptures but from pagan festivals later woven into Roman religious tradition. It does not surprise me that the world keeps such a day, (this is entirely expected, John 15:19,) but that so many believers adopt it without a moment’s thoughtful inquiry is a bit puzzling. The sheer fact that millions of ‘Protestants’ are observing a Roman Catholic holy day which has not been commanded anywhere in God’s Word speaks volumes about the deplorable state of the “church.” Few ever ask whether its origins honor Christ, or whether Scripture gives warrant for attaching His name to practices rooted in such “foreign” soil. Instead, the holiday is received out of habit, sentiment, or cultural pressure, and almost no one stops to ask whether the mixture is fitting for those who desire to worship God in truth. Which goes to show how easily tradition overtakes Scripture, and how readily something so foreign to the apostolic faith is embraced simply because it is familiar, rather than because God has spoken. Mark 7:8-9. So, whether or not one takes the traditional Protestant view that Rome is “Mystery Babylon,” the heart of the matter remains the same. Christmas did not arise from Scripture, but from the blending of pagan custom and religious tradition. They “were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works.” Psalms 106:35.

In such a climate, it is easy for the “church” to adopt practices whose origins have little to do with the gospel and much to do with this long history of mixture. When traditions become deeply rooted, especially those passed down for generations, they are seldom questioned, and their sources are rarely examined. But for those whom the Lord has taught to value His Word above all else, this mixture invites thoughtful discernment rather than blind acceptance. In such a setting, it becomes essential for believers to distinguish carefully between what God commands and what history has handed down, for mixture always blurs the line and weakens the clarity of the gospel.

Mixture has always threatened the clarity of truth. It dulls spiritual discernment, blurs the boundaries God has drawn in His Word, and merges what He has commanded with what He has never appointed. “What thing soever I command you, observe to do it; thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.” Deuteronomy 12:32. Once such blending becomes familiar, it is seldom questioned. Christmas provides a vivid example of this tendency, where sentiment, tradition, and cultural expectation gradually overshadow the plain testimony of Scripture. What God never instituted has been wrapped in “Christian” terminology until it appears entirely acceptable simply because it has become part of the landscape and long familiarity makes it seem right. After all, it feels harmless, wholesome, family-friendly, even virtuous; and when something is wrapped in enough sentiment or carries the name of Christ, few ever stop to ask whether the Lord Himself appointed it.

This is the subtle danger, not the bold rejection of truth, but the unthinking acceptance of practices never appointed by God; not the intentional worship of idols, but the subtle, almost unnoticeable blending of worldly customs with the things of Christ. “And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not.” Leviticus 10:1. Mixture always produces confusion and seldom announces itself; it settles in gradually, carried by sentiment and normalized by time, until the distinction between Scripture and custom is nearly erased. And once it takes root, confusion is close behind. When the line between what God commands and what man invents grows thin, Colossians 2:8, the customs themselves begin to take center stage, and Christ is gradually diminished beneath a cloak of human invention.

Throughout Scripture, the Lord repeatedly warns His people against absorbing the religious customs of surrounding cultures, urging them instead to keep their worship distinct and devoted to His revealed will. Israel was told not to learn the ways of the nations or imitate the practices by which they served their gods, Deuteronomy 12:30-32, and the New Testament continues this caution by calling believers to flee idolatry and guard their hearts from its subtler forms. I Corinthians 10:14; I John 5:21. As believers today navigate a world filled with religious blendings and cultural traditions, these passages invite us to examine all things carefully and to seek to honor God’s Word above all.

The seriousness of these warnings reminds us that idolatry is not found only in carved images but also in the subtle adoption of practices that blur the distinction between the worship God commands and the customs of the world. Israel was not merely instructed to avoid idolatrous worship but to remove anything that might draw their hearts toward it. The lesson for us is not to imitate Israel’s physical actions but to heed the spiritual principle behind them, which is that God calls His people to guard the purity of their worship and to remain watchful against any custom that might compromise that purity. “Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee; but ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves, for thou shalt worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God; lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; and thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods. Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.” Exod.34:12-17.

One of the clearest principles in all of Scripture is that God Himself determines how He is to be worshiped. He has not invited us to embellish His worship with our own inventions, nor to sanctify our customs by attaching His name to them. From the beginning, the Lord drew a firm line between what He commanded and what He did not command, and He repeatedly warned His people not to add to His word or reshape His worship according to their own ideas. Deuteronomy 12:30-32; Matthew 15:9. The worship of God is holy, and Scripture alone is its rule. And history shows that whenever men begin to supplement what God has appointed, however sincere their motives, the purity of worship becomes clouded, and the line between obedience and tradition grows increasingly faint.

Flowing from this principle, it must also be remembered that the Lord has never granted us authority to create holy days of our own choosing. Any festival or observance not instituted by God Himself steps beyond His prerogative and departs from the pattern of worship He has revealed. Scripture consistently teaches that the acceptable way of approaching the Lord is the way He appoints, not the way we imagine or prefer. Deuteronomy 4:2. And while believers are plainly instructed to remember the death and resurrection of Christ, there is no biblical precedent for setting aside a day to celebrate His birth. If such a day had been commanded, the world would not embrace it so freely, for the world has never loved what God commands. Yet the ease with which multitudes observe a religious festival with no scriptural foundation, simply because tradition has handed it down, only shows how far sentiment can carry people beyond the bounds of Scripture.

It speaks volumes that the world so readily embraces Christmas. People who recoil at the doctrines of Christ, who avoid His gospel, and who despise His commandments, nonetheless delight in this day. Why? Because nothing God-appointed stands behind it. What God commands, the world rejects; what God has not required, the world feels perfectly free to adopt. A day never appointed by God gives them room to enjoy religion on their own terms, to feel “spiritual” without bowing to Christ’s authority, without repentance, without submission to His Word. The world cherishes Christmas precisely because it is safe, sentimental, harmless, and undemanding. John 3:19-20.

A Christ kept in the cradle is acceptable to the world; a Christ reigning, dividing, ruling, and calling all men to bow before Him is not. Luke 19:14. The world has no quarrel with an infant wrapped in sentiment and seasonal charm. A harmless child poses no threat to human pride, no challenge to sin, no demand for repentance, no claim to absolute authority. But the Christ of Scripture, the Christ who reigns in the midst of His enemies, who wields a sword that separates truth from error, who calls every knee to bow and every heart to surrender, this Christ the world will not tolerate.

Moving from the issue of worship to the matter of dates, Scripture is just as clear by its silence as it is by its commands, and it gives no indication whatsoever that December 25 marks the birth of Christ. Scripture offers no month, no season, no hint of a particular day. And though many have tried to supply what Scripture intentionally leaves silent, the most careful historians and theologians, those free from sentimental bias, are nearly unanimous in concluding that Christ’s birth could not have occurred in late December. Knowing the human heart’s tendency to enshrine moments and create holy days of its own, it seems fitting that God veiled the exact date of Christ’s birth, much as He concealed the resting place of Moses’ body. Deuteronomy 34:5-6. Whatever the reason, there is nothing in Scripture that ties the incarnation to that specific day. Its selection came later, when Rome chose to dress an existing pagan celebration in Christian terminology, an effort that has proven remarkably enduring.

How can we truly honor Christ or uphold the gospel by choosing to celebrate His birth at a time that Scripture never appoints and that historical evidence overwhelmingly disproves? When those who profess His name enthusiastically embrace a date rooted in fiction and surround it with a mixture of Papal and pagan elements - Santa Claus, decorated trees, glittering lights, mistletoe, gift exchanges, yule logs, wreaths, and the like - what message does that send to the world? If Christians treat a known fiction as sacred and fill it with borrowed myths, why should unbelievers take seriously our testimony when we speak the truth? A witness that blends fantasy with faith only weakens the credibility of the truth it claims to uphold.

Moreover, the fairytale atmosphere surrounding what the world calls the Christmas “story” has so overwhelmed the biblical record that whatever gospel clarity remains is often lost beneath layers of sentiment and imagination. The true mystery of godliness, “God manifest in the flesh,” I Timothy 3:16, is overshadowed by seasonal embellishments that bear little resemblance to Scripture. In the end, what the world calls Christmas stands in stark contrast to the biblical account, and for that very reason we should be slow to place human tradition alongside divine revelation, lest we unintentionally obscure the glory of Christ behind customs He never commanded.

Even the name itself should give thoughtful believers pause. The word Christmas comes from Cristes Maesse, an early English phrase meaning “Mass of Christ,” a title that joins the holy name of the Lord Jesus with the Roman Catholic Mass. In Rome’s system, the Mass is regarded as the chief act of worship, in which the priest claims to transform bread and wine into the literal body and blood of Christ, a practice rooted in the doctrine of transubstantiation. By treating the elements as a fresh offering of Christ, the Mass presents His sacrifice as something repeated rather than finished. In this way, it symbolically reenacts the crucifixion, implying an atonement that must be continually offered. Such a position strikes at the heart of the gospel by undermining the sufficiency of Christ’s death and the finality of His redemptive work. At its core, the Roman Catholic Mass is a denial, however piously framed, of the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ. For this reason, believers should consider carefully what it means to adopt a term and a tradition so closely tied to a system that redefines the very work of the Savior.

Once the work of Christ is redefined, whether by ritual or by sentiment, it is easy for the world to embrace a softened, diminished version of the Savior. This same tendency appears in how Christmas shifts attention from the Redeemer’s finished work to the sentimental scene of His infancy. While the world lingers sentimentally over the picture of a harmless infant lying in a manger, Scripture itself gives surprisingly little attention to the circumstances of Christ’s birth and instead directs us to the purpose of His coming. Instead of dwelling on the scene, it lifts our eyes to the substance. The glory of the Incarnation is not bound up in shepherds, swaddling cloths, or a Bethlehem night, but in the One who is “the image of the invisible God,” Colossians 1:15, taking on flesh, John 1:14, to consummate the work of redemption appointed by the Father. Galatians 4:4-5.

The birth was never intended to stand on its own as a season of celebration; it was the first step in the redemptive work that would climax in His death, resurrection, and ascension. Yet by dwelling endlessly on the cradle, the world turns aside from the Christ who came to destroy the works of the devil, I John 3:8, to put away sin by His own sacrifice, Hebrews 9:26, and to carry out the Father’s purpose perfectly. John 6:38. Christmas, then, recasts what Scripture declares with weight and wonder into something merely soothing, reducing the Incarnation from a redemptive triumph to a harmless holiday scene.

Some will say that Christmas falls under “Christian liberty,” but it is important to remember what liberty actually is. Christian liberty is indeed a precious truth, yet it is often misunderstood. It does not grant believers the right to invent worship or establish holy days of their own; rather, it frees us from the traditions of men and the bondage of the law. Galatians 5:1. Scripture teaches that matters of liberty belong to things indifferent, areas where God has neither commanded nor forbidden. Romans 14:5. But worship is never indifferent. Liberty is not the freedom to reshape worship according to our preferences, but the freedom to obey Christ without the burdens others may try to impose. Matthew 15:9. It applies to matters where Scripture is silent about daily conduct, not where God has spoken concerning how He is to be approached. In worship, God alone sets the terms, and liberty serves to keep the conscience free from human invention, not to authorize new religious observances. Colossians 2:16-17. When we speak of liberty, therefore, we must do so in a way that honors the Lord’s own boundaries. John 4:24.

Christian liberty does not give us new holy days; it gives us Christ, and in Him the believer possesses a continual feast. “I am the bread of life, he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” John 6:35. Gratitude, worship, and meditation on the Person of Christ are not seasonal privileges but the steady life of faith, granted to believers every day of the year. Far from diminishing joy, refusing man-made holy days guards it, keeping our affections anchored to what God has spoken rather than to traditions men have devised, so that our worship remains shaped by Scripture and not by sentiment.

Obviously, there is much more that could be said. One can easily consult the many “construction manuals” developed by men through the centuries, as numerous resources, old and new, attempt to trace the development of Christmas. Some, like A. W. Pink’s Xmas or various Puritan writings, (especially from the Westminster era, when man-made holy days were firmly rejected on the basis of the regulative principle,) focus on the theological issues surrounding unauthorized observances. Others explore the historical roots of Christmas practices, often attempting to link them to ancient pagan customs. Popular works such as Alexander Hislop’s The Two Babylons or Ralph Woodrow’s Babylon Mystery Religion have prompted many to rethink Christmas traditions, though their conclusions are frequently speculative, overstated, and lacking in solid historical foundation. Yet even apart from such disputed connections, the central issue remains unchanged, a point these works, in their own way, help to illustrate. Christmas arose not from Scripture but from centuries of accumulated tradition, and for that reason it deserves thoughtful examination rather than automatic acceptance.

In conclusion, I have no desire to bind another’s conscience, nor do I imagine myself above those who see these matters differently. My plea is simply that every believer would bring their practices, Christmas included, before the clear light of Scripture, and that we would seek thoughtful faithfulness in a world that presses us toward unthinking conformity. Whether one abstains or participates, every believer is called to walk thoughtfully before the Lord, testing all things by His Word, holding fast to what is good, and laying aside whatever obscures the glory of Christ. In all things, may Christ be our celebration, our joy, and our continual feast, for nothing seasonal can enhance what we already possess in Him every day. Colossians 2:10. MPJ

Postscript: Additional thoughts. Let me add a few thoughts in follow-up. Without a doubt, there are many dear saints who sincerely love Christ and yet feel hemmed in by long-standing customs that they never consciously chose. Some are only now beginning to question the legitimacy of those practices; others feel the pressure more keenly because marriage or family structures make disentangling themselves seem impossible. Not everyone is called to walk out of these traditions in the same way, or at the same pace, or under the same circumstances. I believe that the Lord leads His children along paths tailored to their particular burdens, histories, and relationships. “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd; he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.” Isaiah 40:11.

If the believer feels grief or uncertainty because of the tension this issue creates, that very grief is often itself evidence of spiritual life, a tenderness of conscience, a desire to honor Christ even when doing so feels costly. And if some brothers or sisters see no issue with Christmas at this point, or feel no inward disturbance about it, that is perfectly alright. This is not in any sense to belittle them, for many who observe it do so with sincere affection for the Lord. Our aim is not to question their devotion but to speak simply about matters that have troubled our own consciences. This is not a hill to die on, nor a cause to separate over. We all see in part, and the Lord brings truth to each of us in His time. My intention here is simply to raise awareness, not to create suspicion or fracture fellowship.

So, to those brothers and sisters who feel the weight of this issue, take heart. Christ does not despise small beginnings, nor does He leave His sheep to wander helplessly through the maze of family expectations. May the Lord be gracious to us as we seek to follow Him as clearly, as simply, and as peacefully as we can, looking unto Christ, believing that He supplies what we lack and upholds us in our weakness. II Corinthians 12:9. The Lord knows how to preserve us when circumstances restrict the outward expression of our convictions, and all we can do is cling to Him inwardly and look to Christ for every measure of strength. Isaiah 41:10. MPJ

A few more thoughts generated by friends who commented on this post: Thank you for the kind words, brother. I regret if anything in my post sounded condemning, as that was never in my heart. I fully agree that Christ’s work is complete and perfect, and that nothing we do adds to it, nor was I suggesting that refusing Christmas makes a person more “acceptable” to God. My intention was simply to explain why the holiday troubles my mind and to offer encouragement to others who perhaps have traveled the same path. As I was thinking a bit more about this today, I can clearly see how these are, in the end, matters of conscience, places where the Lord teaches each of us in His own time and according to our own circumstances. We all as believers travel various paths in life, but at the end, we all hope to stand before God with no claim but Christ. For my wife and I, walking away from Christmas was actually quite easy, mainly because our childhoods were so hard. When the Lord began, as I hope, to open our eyes to His grace in Christ, our view of Christmas changed almost immediately. Oddly enough, it was Pink’s little booklet Xmas that sealed it for me in a moment. But honestly, there wasn’t much to overturn, we both grew up with memories of that season that were anything but joyful, and as far as relatives go, both of us had none to speak of so there was no one to offend. And honestly, my response back then probably wasn’t rooted in some noble desire to “honor” Christ. It was more a longing to flee from anything that belonged to the world’s system, to escape horrible childhood memories and to get as far away from it as I knew how. Looking back, I realize that most of my strong feelings in this area were mine alone; my wife may not have fully understood them, though she faithfully stood beside me, and I’m profoundly thankful for that. But I also recognize that, in holding to those convictions, I placed a burden on my children, especially as they formed friendships through the years, and even now as they raise little ones of their own. So yes, apart from the burdens my own children have had to navigate, I haven’t felt these issues in the same way. Seeing their difficulties has helped me understand how real and personal this struggle can be for many dear believers, and why patience and compassion are so necessary. Marc

Thank you for taking the time to write that brother. For one, I've never thought of that 'merry christmas' phrase having any reference to II John 10-11, but you have a very good point there. I’m glad you brought up your own experiences because these things really do touch believers in different ways. These are not easy situations, and every believer feels the strain of wanting to honor Christ while still loving their families and being peaceable in everyday settings. Additionally, not all of us are in identical circumstances, and we all navigate these things differently, but the Lord who knows our circumstances also gives grace for the path He’s put before each of us. I’m thankful the Lord gives wisdom in measure as we walk. As believers, we all share these same desires - to love Christ, to avoid the entanglements of this world - in whatever measure He is pleased to work in our hearts. We stumble often, but the desire to honor Him while resting in His finished work is something every child of God knows in measure. I’m grateful you received the post that way. Marc

A reply to the daughter of a dear friend and brother in Christ who is troubled about these things: I just went back to reread her post, which I first came across at work yesterday while I was on break. You know, when I read those thoughts, I was thinking to myself, is this one of my daughters that is commenting on this post? I have four of them, and they are all married, and all but one have married into the Christmas tradition. I'm certain that all my children would have a lot to share along those lines of missing out on something that is associated with so much merriment and joy. I love this thought in particular: “I married a man that loves Christmas and out of love for him we decorate and celebrate.” Wow, “out of love for him.” That chokes me up just reading it, because I know that my wife is the same way. I would never encourage her to do anything different. Whilst we can take some comfort in the fact that regardless of where we are found in this life, the LORD “knoweth our hearts” - greater still is the truth that He has ordained the very shape of our lives, where we live, whom we marry, the families we enter, and even the tensions we need to navigate. Nothing about our homes, our marriages, or our family dynamics is accidental. And with that assurance, we just try to move through life with a humble spirit, seeking to honor Christ as best we can in the circumstances and roles that He has kindly appointed for us. Let me share this, that I just shared with another friend: These things really do touch believers in different ways. These are not easy situations, and every believer feels the strain of wanting to honor Christ while still loving their families and being peaceable in everyday settings. Additionally, not all of us are in identical circumstances, and we all navigate these things differently, but the Lord who knows our circumstances also gives grace for the path He’s put before each of us. I’m thankful the Lord gives wisdom in measure as we walk. As believers, we all share these same desires - to love Christ, to avoid the entanglements of this world - in whatever measure He is pleased to work in our hearts. We stumble often, but the desire to honor Him while resting in His finished work is something every child of God knows in measure. I love you brother, Marc

Prayer & the Sovereignty of God: An inquiry from a dear friend. “If you remember, several months ago I asked your understanding of whether we should pray for the salvation of specific people. Here are a couple of reasons why I have that understanding. I cannot recall a single time in the New Testament where someone prayed for the salvation of another person. The only time I can think of in Scripture where one person prayed for the salvation of another person was Abraham in Genesis 17:18. My understanding of the verses is that Abraham, the father of them that believe, asked for the salvation of his son. God replied: 'I heard your request, but I have already chosen the spiritual seed of Isaac as those that were established in the eternal covenant with Christ.'' So, the only time God was asked in Scripture that someone be saved, His answer was no. After that, it seems that no one else asked. I am open and ask for instruction and guidance if you think I am wrong on prayer, both regular prayer and prayer for salvation. I will try to make it quick, but my thoughts regarding prayer, excluding praying for someone's salvation, are as follows. Prayer changes nothing in God's providence because God has foreordained all things. The LORD's interchange with Mary at Lazarus's grave gives an illustration. Mary protested the taking away of the stone at Lazarus's grave. The LORD told her: Said I not unto thee that if thou wouldest believe thou shouldest see the glory of God. Did Mary's prayer (request) affect what the LORD was going to do? Of course, not at all. He had already prophesied that He was going to raise Lazarus. But, the LORD told her that if she believed she would be able to see His Glory. That is my understanding of prayer. When we pray, through the guidance of Christ's Spirit indwelling us, He guides us to ask for such things as accord with His providence. Thereby when His will is done, we can rightly see that the LORD is sovereign over all things, and thereby we see the Glory of Christ. As I said, instruction on this matter would be most appreciated.”

Reply: This line of thought is one most believers rarely pause to examine. What is prayer in relation to a God whose will is immutable, whose decree is all-comprehensive, and whose eternal counsel actively governs all things? Isaiah 46:10. Once that question is faced honestly, it inevitably leads into the deeper issues bound up with it: God’s sovereignty, the true nature of prayer, and, as you mentioned, the notable absence of any New Testament example of believers praying for the salvation of a particular individual. Most “believers” instinctively talk about prayer as if they were altering the course of history, persuading God to take a different path, or pushing Him toward some alternative possibility; as though the Lord of heaven were weighing His options and waiting upon man to help bring His own purpose into clear alignment. But such a notion collapses the very moment we confess God to be “the One who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.” If the decree is eternal, unchanging, and all-comprehensive, then every outcome is already fixed in the wisdom of God long before a believer ever opens his mouth. That means, blessedly, prayer cannot possibly be an attempt to change God, nor does Scripture ever frame it that way. Job 23:13.

Just as you pointed out, Scripture offers not a single instance of a believer praying for the salvation of a particular individual. The record is entirely silent. The closest example Scripture gives, Abraham’s request for Ishmael, is not met with consent but with a sovereign correction that points him back to God’s established decree. Abraham’s desire was sincere, but it was not aligned with God’s eternal purpose, and simply reflected the natural affections of a father rather than the sovereign purpose of God. And the Lord, instead of granting the request, reveals the unalterable direction of His covenant: “Sarah shall bear thee a son indeed…but my covenant will I establish with Isaac.” Genesis 17:19-21. Here God makes clear that salvation and covenant blessing proceed according to His eternal election, not human desire or petition. In other words, God reveals that the line of promise was already settled, that mercy had already been sovereignly assigned elsewhere, and no human request could alter the counsel of His will.

Abraham’s intercession for Lot in Genesis 18-19 is similar. Abraham prays not for Lot’s salvation but for the sparing of Sodom. And even then, God does not modify His decree in the slightest. Judgment proceeds exactly as appointed, and Lot is delivered for reasons rooted in God’s own mercy, not Abraham’s effort. As Peter later affirms, God “delivered just Lot,” II Peter 2:7, by His own gracious determination, not because Abraham’s bargaining persuaded Him to act differently.

Scripture does record other instances of believers praying for others, but none of them involve pleading for the eternal salvation of a specific unbeliever. Job prayed for his friends, Job 42:8-10, but this concerned temporal forgiveness and the removal of God’s displeasure, not their eternal state. David prayed earnestly for the life of his child, II Samuel 12:16-18, yet even this petition dealt with temporal mercy, and the Lord’s decree stood immovable, for the child’s death had already been determined. II Samuel 12:14. The apostle Paul frequently prayed for individuals, Timothy, Philemon, and the Ephesian believers, but always for those who were already in Christ, never for the conversion of anyone apparently outside of Christ. And notably, throughout the entire New Testament record, we do not find a single example of a believer praying for the salvation of a particular unbeliever. In every example, prayer is shown as a movement of the heart toward God, an expression of need, reverence, and quiet submission to His understanding rather than our own.

Does this suggest that we cannot bring our concerns for someone’s salvation to the Lord? I personally don’t think that conclusion is warranted. What it does rule out is the idea that our prayers in any way determine or affect their salvation. But the desires and longings that rise within us for others, especially for those whose lives are intimately interwoven with our own, are not meaningless. They form part of the Lord’s way of fashioning our hearts; teaching us compassion, deepening our confidence, and enabling us to cast our cares upon Him rather than attempt to shoulder them alone. As the apostle reminds us, “casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you.” I Peter 5:7. These burdens themselves are often shaped by the Lord, formed in the heart by His Spirit, and they naturally move us to cry out to Him, not because we think prayer alters His decree, but because prayer aligns our hearts with it.

So, when our thoughts are stirred, and our hearts directed to call upon the name of the Lord on the behalf of someone, we are not questioning the sovereignty of His decree; we are acknowledging it. We are saying, in essence, “Lord, please be merciful, Psalm 86:15, thou art God alone, our life is in your hands, Acts 17:28; see this one, hopeless, helpless, and in need of your mercy. Ezekiel 16:6. If it would please you Lord, to open their eyes, Acts 26:18, to put a word in their hearts, Jeremiah 31:33, to show them their desperate situation, Ephesians 2:12, and drive them to Christ. John 6:37. Thou alone can save. Undergirding every true cry of the heart is this quiet certainty, “it is the LORD; let Him do what seemeth Him good.” I Samuel 3:18. Every plea is made through Christ, every outcome belongs to Christ. His will is perfect, His wisdom infinite, His purpose unchangeable. “For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.” Romans 11:36.

We pray out of what God has already decreed, and we rest because His purpose is sure. “Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10. In that quiet certainty, prayer becomes an act of worship, not because we have managed to yield ourselves or made our wills more compliant, but because the Lord Himself bends our hearts beneath His hand. And when He does, prayer is simply the soul responding to God’s own work, a God-wrought bowing before the One who does all things well. “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.” Psalm 62:5.

Incidentally, this may be a good moment to remind ourselves that when believers speak of the Lord “saving” someone, we never mean that salvation is undecided until God acts in time, or that an individual’s salvation is somehow “still in question.” Nor do we suggest that God’s saving purpose is in any sense reactatory, triggered by something within us, or dependent upon some condition we fulfil. And far less do we imply that salvation is somehow unsettled until the Spirit applies it in time. We mean the unveiling and personal application of what God has long ago decreed and completed in Christ, Ephesians 1:4, not the settling of anything uncertain. Salvation was secured in Christ before the foundation of the world, ratified in His death, and declared in His resurrection. Romans 4:25. The moment of conversion is not when salvation becomes real but when it becomes known. Ephesians 1:18. It is the Spirit shining light upon a work already finished, bringing the soul into the conscious enjoyment of a redemption accomplished outside of them, for them, and long before they drew breath. Thus “being saved” refers to the awakening of a heart to the truth of God’s eternal purpose, not the formation of that purpose in time. II Timothy 1:9.

And so, with salvation understood as something already completed in Christ, this brings us back to the question of prayer and what it means to bring an individual before the Lord. When we speak of praying for individuals, we do not mean praying in order to change their destiny or influence the secret workings of God’s grace; we are laying them in the hands of the ONE who alone holds life and death, mercy and judgment. Such prayer is not an attempt to alter God’s decree, but a confession that we yield ourselves, and those we love, to whatever that decree may be. Deuteronomy 32:39.

When I consider my prayers for those around me, each one a person the Lord has deliberately woven into my life and, at times, into my intercessions, I find that the impulse behind them is not as pure as I might wish. I would love to say that every burden springs chiefly from zeal for Christ’s glory, yet most often it arises from a sense of compassion, a kinship of weakness. Philippians 2:4. It reminds me of the dying thief’s words in Luke 23:40, “dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?” That single line captures the shared desperation of the whole human race. His words remind me that we all share the same helpless condition by nature, and that whatever concern rises in me for another is really a recognition of my own need for mercy. Psalm 51. My petitions become expressions of fellowship in ruin, laid before a “God who is rich in mercy.” Ephesians 2:4. And it seems at times that, in this very way, the Lord uses our own sense of need to turn our hearts toward others, drawing them into our thoughts and into our prayers.

As so I believe the LORD brings people into our lives, and into our thoughts, in order that we do pray for them, regardless of any other considerations. Are we going to pray for someone only because to us they show some “marks” of grace, or indications that they belong to Christ? As in everything, we may not know what we ask? Matthew 20:22. In a paradoxical way, it is precisely because we believe in the absolute sovereignty of God, who has meticulously fashioned all things to serve His own glory, that we can commit the safety of our souls “to Him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.” I Peter 4:19. And even in committing ourselves into His hands, we lean neither on our “strength” nor on our “weakness,” but on the unshakable certainty that the LORD keeps His people and accomplishes all His purpose. Summarized as, our hope is in the Lord alone! Salvation is of the Lord. Isaiah 46:10. As our thoughts are formulated in harmony with what God has clearly declared in his word, (otherwise known as “the mind of Christ,” I Corinthians 2:16,) which is all we can go by, being confidently assured of this, that it is GOD which worketh in us “both to will and to do of his good pleasure,” Philippians 2:13, which includes our prayers.

That fits perfectly with the admonition, “be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” Philippians 4:6. Why pray “in everything”? Not as a means of securing outcomes or getting things, but to behold everything in the light of God's purpose in Christ. Ephesians 1:11. That is a profound key to understanding prayer. We see this most vividly in the Lord’s interaction with Mary at Lazarus’s tomb. When Christ says, “if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God,” He is not saying, “your belief is the trigger.” The trigger was the decree, and faith the lens, the spiritual capacity to recognize the hand of Christ when it moved. “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” II Corinthians 4:6.

In my own experience, when it comes to praying for others, I do not believe I have ever told someone, “I will be praying for you.” The words never seem to rise naturally in me. I may feel compassion for them, I may feel a deep sense of empathy, and at times a real burden, but to promise prayer feels foreign, almost as though I were claiming the power to summon something in myself that I know I cannot produce. At best I have said, “I’ll be thinking about you,” which is true, and those thoughts sometimes rise into prayer. But to promise prayer outright feels dangerously close to suggesting that prayer is something I can initiate at will. It is not. Proverbs 16:1. True prayer cannot be commanded into existence by human will; it must arise from the Spirit’s own movement within us. Galatians 4:6.

The religious world talks endlessly about prayer, but seems to grasp very little of its true nature. True prayer cannot be summoned by human impulse; we cannot command it into existence, nor adjust it to our timing. Genuine prayer must be wrought by the Spirit of the Lord, who alone helps our infirmities and formulates our petitions. Romans 8:26. “For we know not what we should pray for as we ought,” but thanks be unto God, our access is certain, for it rests solely within the parameters of the merits of Christ. We come to God only through Christ, and only in the Spirit’s enabling. “For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.” Ephesians 2:18. Every true prayer rises on this ground alone, and without that access, there is no prayer at all. When prayer is rightly understood as God’s work in the soul, the futility of humanly engineered “instruction” becomes unmistakable. And here the contrast could not be more striking.

We cannot generate true prayer any more than we can generate life itself. Such a thought immediately exposes the futility of what often passes for “instruction” on prayer, and the superficiality of the many books promising to teach men how to pray. You might as well attempt to write a manual on how to be born again as to produce a handbook on how to pray. Yet the religious world is full of such books, stitched together by men like E.M. Bounds or George Müller, books that once had a place in the infancy of my own theological library. But prayer, in those systems, is reduced to a technique, a discipline, a skill one can acquire if only the right formula is followed. They reveal a theology that begins with man; man initiating, man awakening himself, man stirring up devotion. But true prayer begins with God. It is the Spirit who quickens, the Spirit who burdens, the Spirit who gives utterance. Any approach that starts with man cannot lead to God. John 6:63.

This contrast between manufactured religion and Spirit-wrought prayer is worth pausing over. Manufactured religion teaches men how to pray; the Spirit teaches men that they cannot pray. Romans 8:26. Man-centered “spirituality” always begins with man, it assumes that he is capable of stirring up devotion, capable of generating desire, capable of producing acceptable prayers before a holy God. It assumes that spiritual life can be manufactured so long as the method is correct and the sincerity and zeal behind it strong enough. Hence the endless exhortations to, “pray more, pray harder, pray longer, pray better,” as though spiritual life could be increased by human pressure or refined by technique. But this reduces the work of God to a predictable formula, as though life from heaven could be triggered by fleshly zeal and intensity. It shifts the entire weight of spiritual reality onto the creature, forgetting that whatever is born of the flesh remains flesh, no matter how devout the effort. This sort of self-generated devotion says, “pray this way and God will respond.” It is Pelagian in its roots and Arminian in its methods. Spirit-wrought prayer says, “God must work first, or nothing we do is prayer at all.” Philippians 2:13. It begins with God, is formed by God, and returns to God through the merits of Christ. “For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.” Ephesians 2:18.

Flowing from this, we must face another related misconception, the common idea that prayer alters outcomes, persuades God to reconsider, or somehow “moves the hand of God.” Such a thought cannot stand when placed beneath the light of God’s absoluteness. Prayer changes nothing in God, but it changes everything in us, and though it sounds almost cliché, I have found it to be undeniably true. Psalm 73:25-26. Scripture repeatedly affirms that God “worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.” Ephesians 1:11. If all things are already established in His eternal purpose, then prayer cannot be a means of modifying the divine plan. Rather, prayer must be understood within the framework of God’s immutable counsel.

Prayer changes things? Let’s think about that for a moment. What if that were actually true? What if the eternal decree of God, an all-comprehensive decree rooted in infinite wisdom, love, justice, and power, Isaiah 46:10, could be revised because we happened to feel strongly about something at a given moment? What if the course of nations, the salvation of souls, the rise and fall of empires, or even the path of our own lives could be steered off course by our shortsighted wishes? That would not be prayer; it would be chaos. The very idea should make us shudder. For if prayer could truly “change things,” then the perfection of God’s plan would be constantly at risk of being overwritten by our ignorance, our fears, our misguided desires, and our sinful shortsightedness. Daniel 4:35. Such a universe would be terrifying, a world in which man’s voice could distort God’s purpose, and God’s purpose would need man’s voice to be complete. Job 23:13. And no believer who knows his own heart would dare shoulder that kind of influence. Who would even dare to pray? And once we see the impossibility, and the horror, of a universe shaped by human desire, the true nature of prayer comes into clearer focus.

This means that prayer cannot be an attempt to influence God’s decisions. Rather, prayer must be understood as the Spirit’s work in bringing the believer’s heart into harmony with what God has already willed. Your example of Mary at Lazarus’s tomb illustrates this with remarkable clarity. Mary’s request altered nothing; Christ had already declared His intention. The raising of Lazarus was fixed in the divine purpose. The only thing Mary’s faith affected was her ability to perceive the glory of Christ when it appeared. Her belief did not produce the miracle; it simply enabled her to behold it rightly, moving her into the posture of seeing and savoring the glory of Christ as it was revealed before her. And what was true for Mary is true for us as well, faith does not change what God does, but how we perceive what He does. Psalm 27:13.

Thus, believers pray “in everything,” not to escape difficulties, nor to influence the unfolding of their circumstances, but because prayer is the divinely appointed means by which the anxious heart is quieted, the darkened understanding is enlightened, and the soul is taught to rest in the immutable goodness of God’s purpose. When God’s will unfolds, the praying heart is made able to trace His hand and rejoice in His sovereignty. “He shall not be afraid of evil tidings, his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD.” Psalm 112:7. The result is peace, not because the future is uncertain, but because it is settled in the wisdom and love of Christ.

And so we return to the original question. Should we pray for the salvation of specific individuals? Scripture gives us no command to do so, and no example of believers doing so; yet neither does it forbid the believer from laying before the Lord the very burdens He Himself has awakened within the heart. What we must guard against is assuming that prayer can intrude upon, redirect, or in any way adjust the eternal counsel of God concerning salvation. Isaiah 14:27. We do not pray to alter what God has purposed, but because God has purposed. It is the Spirit who moves us to entrust that soul to the One who “worketh all things after the counsel of His own will,” that the glory of Christ might be seen in whatever He appoints. In the end, true prayer is not an effort to secure a particular result, but a confession that all results belong to Christ. We pray, not to make things certain, but because they are certain, and in that posture the soul finds rest. “Be still, and know that I am God, I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10. Hope that is somewhat helpful. MPJ

PostScript: Question - I am not challenging your assertion that there is no example of anyone praying the salvation of another individual. There is a passage in Romans that came to mind when I read what you wrote, which is excellent, by the way. Romans 10:1-4;”My prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved…” Paul goes on the explain that Israel was ignorant of God’s righteousness and were trying to establish their own righteousness by the law. He says “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness for everyone that believes…” Paul was praying for Israel as a whole, not individuals. What are your thoughts on that passage? Thanks.

Reply: That’s a good point, and I actually had that verse in mind, but didn’t reference it because I’ve never understood Paul’s words in Romans 10:1 as a blanket prayer for the nation as a whole. In the flow of Romans 9-11, Paul draws such a sharp distinction between Israel after the flesh and the Israel of God that his “prayer” cannot be indiscriminate. In one sense he isn’t praying for individuals by name, but in a deeper and more exact sense he is praying for very specific individuals, the elect within that nation, the remnant according to grace, the Israel within Israel. His longing is directed toward those whom God had purposed to gather, not toward the national body he has already described as largely blinded and hardened. Paul Paul’s desire was not nationalistic but redemptive, fixed upon those foreknown and predestinated, not upon the mass that remains under judicial blindness. In that sense, I do believe it reflects a Spirit-wrought yearning uniquely tied to Paul’s apostolic role and his place within the unfolding of redemptive history. Natural Israel’s hope is the same as ours… not in who she was, nor in what she received, but in Christ alone. Strip away Christ, and Israel is no better than any nation on earth - no standing, no covenant, no righteousness, no salvation. Everything is in Him, and without Him everything is lost. So in a theological sense, you’re exactly right, Paul was interceding for one “person” in that prayer, namely the “seed” of Christ. Isaiah 53:10. And when you look at it through that lens, Paul’s desire comes into sharp focus. The “seed” of Isaiah 53:10 is not a multitude of disconnected individuals, but one corporate person, Christ and all who are in Him. “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ.” Galatians 3:16. And again in Galatians 3:28-29. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.” It’s this oneness that explains the unity of the one Seed. From everlasting, Christ and His people have been viewed as one in the purpose of God, so that His mediatorial work is, in truth, the work of the whole body accomplished in its representative Head. Hebrews 2:11-13. So Paul’s prayer in Romans 10:1 is simply the echo of that reality, he is not widening the scope beyond Christ’s intercession but yearning after the very same Seed for whom Christ lived, died, and now intercedes. John 17:9. In that sense, his prayer is directed toward one unified people in Christ, gathered up in their Head from everlasting. It's so much of a glorious consideration! Marc

Christ our Prophet: When we consider Christ as the Prophet of His people, we are not merely adding Him to a long and noble line of messengers who once spoke in God’s name. We are looking to the ONE toward whom all of them were pointing. From Moses onward, every prophet brought a real word from God, yet it was always partial glimpses and fragments of a greater revelation still to come. But when Christ appeared, everything reached its intended fullness. The God who “spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets” has now spoken “in these last days by His Son.” Hebrews 1:1-2. Every prior revelation was preparatory, provisional, and incomplete, but in Christ the prophetic age reaches its finality. What came before was real but introductory; what comes in Christ is perfect and final.

One of the clearest displays of this truth is found in the very way Christ spoke. No prophet before Him ever dared to speak as He did. The prophets said, “Thus saith the LORD,” because they were only vessels through whom God made His will known. But Christ never once used that formula. His words were always, “I say unto you.” He spoke, not as a messenger repeating what he had been given, but as the Author of the message Himself. And incidentally, we hear this same divine authority when Christ declares the persecuted blessed “for My sake.” A mere man would say, “for God’s sake.” Had He been only a prophet, He would have immediately pointed their devotion back to God. Yet He places Himself at the center of that devotion. No ordinary man speaks like that. No wonder the officers sent to arrest Him returned in astonishment, saying, “never man spake like this man.” John 7:46.

The people sensed this same authority every time He opened His mouth. They recognized immediately that His teaching was unlike anything they had heard before. His words bore the weight of certainty, not the borrowed authority of a messenger. “He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” His words did not simply convey truth, they were truth, spoken from the very source of truth Himself. His voice was the voice of God’s own wisdom, speaking directly to man. In Christ, the revelation of God was not merely communicated but embodied, and when He spoke the veil was lifted, revealing the Father with a clarity no prophet had ever been able to give. John 1:18. Every prophet before Him spoke of God; Jesus spoke from God and as God.

This is why Scripture places such unquestionable weight upon hearing Christ. Moses himself pointed forward to this greater Prophet, saying, “A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you… Him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever He shall say unto you.” Peter repeats that solemn warning in Acts 3:22-23, adding that every soul which will not hear “that Prophet” - John 1:21 - John 1:25 - John 6:14 - “shall be destroyed from among the people.” The command is not merely to admire Him or to acknowledge His greatness, but to hear Him, to receive His words as the very voice of God. This is the defining mark of Christ’s prophetic office: Christ’s word is final and divine. To hear Christ is life; to refuse Him is death. His voice is the voice of God and rejecting Him is rejecting God. MPJ

Joy of the Lord: There is a joy known only to those whom Christ has redeemed, a joy rooted not in the shifting sands of earthly delights, nor in the fragile hopes we attach to circumstances, but in the unchanging reality of the gospel itself. Yet even with such a glory set before us, I sometimes wonder if we do not confuse this deep, gospel-rooted joy with something far more fragile, the temporary warmth and ordinary happiness that rises and falls with the ebb and flow of daily life. What we often call “joy” may actually be only the pleasant sensation that arises from comfortable circumstances. It mimics joy but lacks its substance. It's a kind of happiness that is easily stirred and just as easily lost, shifting with each new turn of the day, whereas the joy of the Lord remains steady because its anchor is Christ Himself. Psalm 16:11. This lesser happiness adjusts itself to whatever lies before us; but the joy of the Lord flows from what stands behind us, the finished work of Christ. Put simply, happiness is earthly, but joy is heavenly. John 16:22.

The believer’s joy is anchored in the finished work of Christ. Philippians 3:3. It is therefore a joy that does not rise and fall with our emotions, nor depend on how well we are doing spiritually, but rests entirely in what Christ has done perfectly. And yet, though Christ’s work is perfectly secure, our experience of joy constantly falters, reminding us how entirely dependent we are upon the Lord for all things. This complete dependence lays bare the gulf between happiness and joy, showing us why we must look to Christ continually, for He alone sustains the life of the soul. Colossians 3:4.

It is remarkably easy for believers to mistake emotional or material happiness for the joy of the Lord. Both can produce a sense of warmth, both can lift our spirits, and both can make life feel lighter for a moment. Yet they arise from entirely different sources and serve completely different ends. Happiness rises naturally when circumstances align with our desires, when our bodies feel strong, when relationships are peaceful, when finances are stable, when life seems orderly. Joy, on the other hand, flows from Christ Himself and therefore does not require any of these things. And it is precisely this distinction that presses upon the heart, reminding us not to settle for what merely feels pleasant, but to seek what is rooted in Christ alone. Psalm 4:7.

Understanding that difference has made me all the more conscious of my own desire to reflect true, Christ-given joy in a sincere way. For true spiritual joy is not tied to how well we imagine ourselves to be “following” the Lord. If it were, none of us would know joy for more than a moment. But God has grounded our joy in Christ’s finished work, Isaiah 12:3, a foundation that does not crack under the weight of our sins. This joy stands independent of our spiritual ups and downs; it does not depend on whether we feel spiritual today or whether we have prayed as we ought. It depends entirely on the immutable truth that Christ has accomplished everything necessary for salvation. Hebrews 10:14. Because everything about His work is complete, everything about this joy is secure. It rests wholly on what Christ has done, and what Christ has done is unalterable.

Our joy does not cancel our sorrow, nor does our sorrow cancel our joy. II Corinthians 6:10. Both coexist in the same heart, but Christ governs both. This is why the Scriptures speak of “the joy of the Lord.” Nehemiah 8:10. And because its source is Christ, this joy remains intact even in the presence of sorrow. In fact, it is often sorrow “itself” that presses us deeper into the joy of the Lord. It has a strange way of stripping us of every false refuge, every imagined source of strength, and every shallow form of happiness. In this way, sorrow becomes a tutor, leading us again and again to the joy that flows only from Christ. Psalm 94:19. MPJ

Confessions of Faith: After sharing a few thoughts recently, thoughts some regarded as controversial, I received an email from a concerned believer. His message was extremely brief. He included a link to a confession of faith someone had cobbled together, fashioned after the old confessional standards, with little more said than: “Do you believe this?” The implication seemed unmistakable, that unless I endorsed his confession, further correspondence was futile. I tend to be long-winded by nature, but in this instance my reply was short. I simply replied NO, and pressed send. Not out of irritation, but simply because our allegiance is to Christ, not to the writings of men.

Brief encounters like this remind me how easily we drift from the simplicity that is in Christ. We seem to think that unity rests upon subscribing to documents rather than submitting to Scripture; that agreement in a formulated system is safer than walking together as learners at the feet of Christ. Confessions may have their place, but they were never meant to become gatekeepers of fellowship, nor substitutes for the living voice of God speaking in His Word. When a man requires my allegiance to his creed before he will speak with me, it reveals less about the truth and more about our fear of stepping outside the boundaries drawn by men. The gospel frees us from such bondage. It brings us back to Christ Himself, our only Teacher, our only Light, our only Foundation. Confessions can summarize what we believe, but they can never be the ground of what we believe. Only Scripture can bear that weight. Only the Spirit can give light. Only Christ can unite our hearts in truth.

I don’t often have the chance to listen to sermons, but earlier yesterday being Thanksgiving Day, while driving an hour round-trip to run an errand for my wife, I listened to a message on the presence of God that truly refreshed my soul. I intend to hear it again and share it with my wife as well. The brother made an observation that struck me, which is in nearly all the great confessions of faith, the very first thing they affirm is that Scripture alone is the standard of truth. It’s something I had never quite noticed. How revealing, and how ironic, that those who most strongly insist upon Scripture’s supremacy often begin by pointing to a document other than Scripture to say so. Hearing that made me realize how easily spiritual complacency can set in. When our theology is handed to us in neat, well-defined categories, we can mistake clarity for reality, thinking that because something is neatly stated, it must be spiritually understood. But the mind can grasp what the heart has never actually seen. Truth must be tasted, not merely transferred, and light must be revealed by the Spirit, not merely recited from a document.

Out of curiosity, I just pulled up the London 1646 Confession of Faith. When read in its proper setting, it becomes evident that it was not intended to impose a standard on all believers or to demand universal conformity. Rather, it was written as a statement of orthodoxy, a measured defense against the many false charges being hurled at them. These brethren were being misrepresented, slandered, and accused of teaching doctrines they never held. The confession was their attempt to say, in effect, “here is what we actually believe,” not “here is what all Christians must believe.” The confession stood as a “statement of orthodoxy,” intended to clarify, not to condemn. It was never crafted to strike at others, but to safeguard those whose teachings were being misrepresented.

Incidentally, I just took the time to carefully reread the first twenty sub-sections of that confession, the paragraphs dealing with the doctrine of God, the Trinity, and the Deity of Christ, and I can say without hesitation that these things reflect exactly what I have been brought to believe. I was struck again by the simplicity and clarity with which those early brethren expressed such weighty truths. There is nothing forced or speculative, just a sober, Scripture-framed confession of who God is and of the glory of His Son. There is something reassuring about hearing the same truth spoken with such simplicity and reverence. The clarity of those early statements blessed me; they made no attempt to exhaust the mystery of God, but faithfully echoed what Scripture plainly affirms.

Yet for all their simplicity and precision, these statements remain summaries, not sources, and their usefulness must not blind us to the reality that confessions, however accurate, cannot impart the life and light that only Christ, through His Word, can give. Confessions can summarize sound doctrine, but they cannot make it real to the soul. If we approach Scripture only through the lenses handed to us, we may lose sight of the ONE the Scriptures were given to reveal, and instead of encountering Christ in the Scriptures, we end up meeting our own theology, the shadow of our own assumptions reflected back to us. The Scriptures then function as a reference book or a support for our system rather than a living testimony of the Redeemer. Instead of Scripture shaping the confession, the confession begins shaping Scripture, and the direction of authority quietly reverses. And in such a framework, it is entirely possible for one’s intellect to expand while the heart almost imperceptibly grows cold.

It’s a subtle danger that believers have come to rely more on the safety of inherited systems than on the uncomfortable honesty of searching the Scriptures. Instead of coming to the Word as needy sinners, we often come as defenders of theological constructs, measuring truth not by Christ, but by the standards we have adopted. We read the Bible not to be taught, but to confirm what our system already assumes. This is a quiet but devastating inversion. Christ calls us to follow Him, not to guard the walls others have built around His truth.

When I notice my views aligning in perfect harmony and without any friction to every line of a confession or every conclusion held by men I deeply respect in the “faith” of Christ, it may be time to take a moment and stop and examine myself. True authority belongs to Christ alone. It urges me to ask whether Christ, through His Word, is truly shaping my convictions, or whether I am merely reflecting the theology of men I admire. It is a searching question, and a necessary one. If the Scripture is truly supreme, then we must sit under it with open Bibles, not merely with open confessional statements. MPJ

Christ & the Scriptures: There is no higher subject than Christ, and no surer testimony of Christ than the Scriptures. If we desire to know the mind of God, the will of God, the truth of God, or the salvation of God, we must stand where Christ Himself stood, upon the written Word of God. When we ask the question, “what is the Bible,” the safest answer is found in another question, “what did Christ say about the scriptures?” His view of the Bible stands alone; every other view will, in the end, either bow before it or be crushed beneath it. Matthew 21:24.

From the wilderness temptation to the Emmaus road, from disputing with Pharisees to comforting His disciples, Christ never once detached Himself from the Scriptures, never once contradicted the Scriptures, and never once corrected the Scriptures. Instead, He submitted to them, appealed to them, fulfilled them, and declared them unbreakable. In a world wandering aimlessly through spiritual night, indifferent to truth, steeped in religious deception, and captivated by pagan myths, Christ directs His people to the one sure lamp that cannot be extinguished; to the one sure and unchanging foundation: “It is written.” By His example, Christ establishes the Scriptures as the one infallible authority for all who seek to follow Him.

This is why the question: “What is your view of the Bible,” can never be answered independently from the question: “What is Christ’s view of the Bible?” To follow Christ is to follow Him in His own reverence for the Scriptures. To honor Christ is to honor the Word He honored. To love Christ is to love the book that testifies of Him. And to believe Christ is to believe every line of that book as divine truth. The ground beneath our feet is firm only because the Scriptures are firm; and the Scriptures are firm only because Christ declared them so. Isaiah 40:8.

The first and clearest testimony Christ gives concerning Scripture is that it is divinely inspired. He never treats the Bible as the word of man, but always as the very breath of God. Again and again, He attributes the words of Scripture directly to the Father or to the Spirit, grounding every argument and every doctrine in the certainty of its divine origin. Christ declares that David spoke “in the Spirit,” Matthew 22:43, anchoring the Psalms in the Spirit’s own testimony of Himself. He attributes the words spoken to Moses in Exodus as the very voice of God, “but as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God.” Matthew 22:31. In Matthew 15:4, and numerous other places Christ equates the written text with God’s own utterance, “for God commanded saying…,” showing that the voice of Scripture is the voice of the Almighty. And in John 10:35, Christ utters the ultimate affirmation of Scripture’s authority, “the Scripture cannot be broken.”

Nor is this all. Christ repeatedly interprets prophecy as God’s infallible speech fulfilled in Himself, declaring in Luke 4:21, “this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” He teaches that the Spirit who inspired the prophets also testified beforehand of His sufferings and His glory. Luke 24:25-27. He quotes Jonah, Daniel, Isaiah, and the Psalms as the unerring words of God. Whether appealing to creation, Mark 10:6, the commandments, Matthew 19:17-19, or the prophets, Matthew 24:15, Christ leaves no room for doubt. When Scripture speaks, God Himself is speaking. This is the foundation stone beneath every doctrine of Scripture, the absolute certainty that the entire Bible, down to its very words, bears the breath of God. Christ believed it, taught it, lived it, fulfilled it, and sealed it with His own divine authority.

When we turn to the gospel accounts, we find something striking, Christ uses the phrase, “it is written” about a dozen times. This was His constant appeal. Whether teaching in the temple, silencing the Pharisees, or withstanding the tempter in the wilderness, He continually brought everything back to the written Word of God. This continual appeal to “it is written” reveals something far deeper than reverence for Scripture, it reveals the identity of Scripture itself. The voice citing the Scriptures is the same divine voice that originally breathed them forth. Yet astonishingly, He does not set His own authority beside the Word or apart from it; He binds Himself to it in perfect unity. The living Word and the written Word speak with one voice, one truth, one authority. Reject the Scriptures, and you reject the Christ who authored them. Turn from one, and you turn from both.

One of the most compelling demonstrations of Christ’s view of Scripture is the sheer breadth of Old Testament history He openly affirmed. There is no guesswork here; the Gospels record this testimony plainly. Christ believed in the creation of Adam and Eve as recorded in Mark 10. He affirmed the murder of Abel in Luke 11. He bore witness to the corruption and judgment of Noah’s day, and not only the wickedness, but the flood itself, as true history. Luke 17. He acknowledged the fire that consumed Sodom, the peril of Lot’s wife, and the depravity of those cities. To Christ, these events were neither parables nor allegories; they were the actual judgments of God upon real sinners in real time.

But His affirmations stretch even further. He acknowledged the faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the burning bush in Moses’ day, Mark 12:26; the heavenly manna, John 6:31-32; and the brazen serpent lifted in the wilderness. John 3:14. He affirmed David eating the shewbread, Matthew 12:3-4, Solomon in all his glory, Matthew 6:29, and the Queen of Sheba’s visit in Matthew 12:42. He referenced Elijah and the widow of Zarephath, Luke 4:25-26, Elisha and Naaman, Luke 4:27, the murder of Zechariah, Matthew 23:35, and Daniel with the abomination of desolation. Matthew 24:15. He spoke of Jonah swallowed by the great fish and of Nineveh’s repentance. Matthew 12:39-41. On the night of His betrayal, He quoted from Psalm 35; and on the cross, He prayed from Psalm 22 and Psalm 31. After His resurrection, walking with the two disciples to Emmaus, He opened the Scriptures and “beginning at Moses and all the prophets,” showed them how everything written was ultimately about Himself. Luke 24:27. In other words, Christ placed His divine seal upon the full history, prophecy, poetry, and narrative of the Old Testament, name by name, event by event, chapter by chapter.

And beyond this, Christ is not merely the great interpreter of Scripture, He is the great subject of Scripture. The Old Testament saints saw Him in types and shadows: the Seed of the woman, the Lamb of God, the Prophet like unto Moses, the Shiloh of Judah, the Redeemer of Job, the Shepherd-King of David, the Immanuel of Isaiah, the Lord our Righteousness of Jeremiah, the Son of Man of Daniel, the Ruler from Bethlehem of Micah, the Desire of all nations of Haggai, the pierced King of Zechariah, the Sun of Righteousness of Malachi. Every page declares HIS glory!

(I have to pause here for a moment, to catch my breath. After tracing through those passages, checking and re-checking them, and realizing how much more could be added, I all of a sudden feel overwhelmed. My heart wants to cry out with Peter, “we have not followed cunningly devised fables.” This Word is so certain! This Book is absolutely true! And if any of it were unreliable, our Lord would have told us so. John 14:2. And then it hits me afresh, this is all we have. Think of that, brethren. Without the Scriptures we would have no revelation of God’s mind, no certain knowledge of Christ, no light for our path. In essence no hope whatsoever! Everything hinges on this! Take away the Scriptures, and every beam of hope is extinguished, and we are left in total darkness. No hope of salvation, no assurance of grace, no knowledge of a Redeemer, no promise of eternal life. Remove the Scriptures, and you remove the Christ of Scripture, and the whole world becomes a complete wasteland, and life essentially becomes meaningless. “Having no hope, and without God in the world.” Ephesians 2:12. And without Christ, there is no hope at all. I Timothy 1:1. It’s such an astonishing reality when you pause long enough to take it in. Without this Book all is darkness and we are lost. But God has given us His Word, and His Word reveals His Son, and all our hope is bound up with the Christ they reveal. The Scriptures bring us to Christ, and Christ brings us to the scriptures, again and again and again in a blessed, never-ending circle of grace. John 5:39. This is glory of the highest order, a glory that only Christ can reveal! Nothing less than the glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ! II Corinthians 4:6. The Scriptures unveil Christ, and Christ illuminates the Scriptures; and together they form one single and unbroken chain of divine revelation. I don't know about you brethren, but I'm left “speechless.”)

Christ also taught Scripture as the only rule of faith and practice. Never once did He cast suspicion upon the sacred text, never once did He speak as though the Scriptures were uncertain, corrupt, or unreliable. And here is another profound truth, the Scriptures Christ used were not the original autographs, but copies, and in many cases, translations, yet He referred to them as the very words of God. We see this so vividly in the synagogue at Nazareth. “And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down; and the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” Luke 4:20-21. What was he reading? Scrolls copied by human scribes, preserved through centuries of transmission, and He quoted them as the unquestionable voice of God. Whatever form of Scripture Christ held, He treated it as fully authoritative, divinely preserved, and utterly trustworthy.

Christ built His arguments upon Scripture, grounded His doctrine upon Scripture, and sifted all matters through Scripture. Concerning marriage, resurrection, the sabbath, worship, faith, or righteousness, &c., the answer was always the same: What saith the Scripture? Have ye not read? It is written. He yielded wholeheartedly to every command, trusted every prophecy, and honored every line as divine authority. No voice of tradition, no authority of priest or elder, no cherished human opinion had any standing beside the Word. For Christ, the Word of God alone was the final court of appeal in every matter: pure, perfect, and utterly beyond dispute.

Let the world mock the Bible, cast doubt upon it, or dismiss it as myth; Christ has spoken, and His voice is final. For myself, this settles everything. I want no other foundation, no other authority, no other voice than the voice of Christ in the Scriptures. Here I rest; here I stand; here I live; and by His grace, here I will die. For in this Book I find Christ, and in Christ I find all. Colossians 2:9. MPJ

Everlasting Punishment: Few theological issues are more clouded by inherited ideas and unexamined presuppositions than the subject of the final end of the ungodly. For many, the doctrine is already settled in their thoughts, not because they have studied it, but because they have inherited a formula repeated so often that it feels like Scripture itself. Most professing Christians have heard some version of the familiar line: “You will spend eternity in either heaven or hell.” It is repeated with such confidence that it seems one of the great pillars of Christianity, something every believer simply knows to be true. From Rome’s refined version, complete with purgatory, to the Protestant version that discards purgatory but retains eternal torment, the message remains unchanged. Everyone lives forever.

It has become such a universal assumption, spoken with unwavering confidence and sincerity, that few ever dare to examine it. One simply accepts what has been handed down. In fact, to even question it is, in the minds of many, nothing short of theological suicide. To step outside this inherited framework, or to attempt to challenge this teaching, is to risk being branded a heretic and placed outside the camp entirely. In their eyes, you are not merely disputing a point of doctrine; you are attacking the very fabric of their faith and threatening what they regard as a vital pillar of the entire Christian system. The moment you challenge it, you become a marked man, someone to keep at arm’s length, someone whose influence must be contained. To them, you are not wrestling with Scripture but dismantling Christianity itself. The fear is not merely that you differ, but that you undermine what they believe to be essential to Christianity.

This fear-driven attachment to tradition shows why we must anchor our understanding of judgment in the gospel, not in inherited systems. The gospel reveals that judgment is real, final, and terrible, but also that life is found only in Christ. “For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.” John 5:26. If the traditional doctrine of eternal conscious torment is correct, then the wicked never actually die; sin is never truly ended; rebellion is never extinguished; and evil is granted an everlasting existence parallel to God Himself. Worse still, God is portrayed as sustaining the damned forever for the express purpose of their torment. Such a view does not exalt divine justice, it distorts it. The Bible’s witness is far clearer and far more holy. Only Christ has immortality; eternal life is a gift, not a universal trait; death is the wages of sin, not endless existence in agony; and destruction means what God says it means. To confess these things is not to dilute judgment but to affirm it in its full biblical severity, while refusing to make evil immortal. This is the unavoidable conclusion, and acknowledging these truths does not diminish the terror of divine judgment; it reestablishes its finality. It roots justice in God’s character, not in human theories, and it refuses to immortalize wickedness. The biblical doctrine of judgment is not an everlasting preservation of sin but its ultimate destruction.

When God describes the end of the wicked, He does not speak in riddles or confusing language, but with plain, decisive terms that mean exactly what they say. The Lord tells us the wicked will die, perish, be destroyed, consumed, cut off, burned up as chaff, and reduced to ashes under the soles of the righteous. And lest anyone miss the point, the New Testament gives us a stark historical example. Sodom and Gomorrah were “turned into ashes” as a pattern of what awaits the ungodly. II Peter 2:6. Their destruction was total, final, and unmistakable, an example of the finality of God’s judgment upon the ungodly.

Yet the doctrine of eternal conscious torment demands that none of these words mean what God says they mean. Death must not mean death but endless life; perish must not mean perish but everlasting existence; destruction must not mean destruction but perpetual preservation; consumed must not mean consumed but eternally unconsumed. It requires a theological alchemy that reverses every biblical term. No system that forces Scripture to say the opposite of its own vocabulary can be called biblical. And no doctrine that demands the redefinition of death into life, destruction into continuation, and perishing into everlasting survival can claim the authority of the Word of God. Scripture leaves no uncertainty on this matter. Death means the end of life. Destruction is complete. The wicked are not sustained forever; they are terminated.

One of the loudest objections comes from those who unyieldingly cling to eternal conscious torment, insisting with absolute certainty that God’s holiness demands such a sentence, and that voicing any contrary view is nothing less than a theological crime. According to this argument, the very purity of God requires an eternity of torment, and any lesser punishment is viewed as an assault on His character. The irony is that this objection assumes the very thing it sets out to prove. It begins with a preconceived notion of what “holiness” must entail and then forces Scripture to conform to that notion. Yet Scripture never ties God’s holiness to the endless survival of wickedness, nor does it suggest that justice is upheld by granting defiance an eternal existence. On the contrary, holiness in the Bible is consistently expressed in the ending of evil, not its preservation. God’s righteousness is displayed in the final removal of sin, not in granting the ungodly an immortal existence.

To argue that God “must” torment forever in order to remain holy (an assertion I have heard many times from professional preachers) is to impose upon God a moral necessity He Himself never declares. That tiny word “must” carries an arrogance few seem to recognize. It suggests that God is bound by a moral obligation outside Himself, that His holiness is somehow insufficient unless He inflicts eternal torture upon His creatures. It implies that God has no choice, that He is compelled by a necessity higher than His own revealed character. But God declares no such necessity. Scripture never once presents eternal torment as the thing that upholds His holiness, His justice, or His glory. The “must” in this claim does not arise from the mouth of God but from the systems of men. Far from defending God’s holiness, such thinking undermines it, enthroning human tradition above Scripture and arrogating to men the right to declare what God “must” do to remain God.

Before we can speak of the fate of the ungodly, we must first fix our attention on the fact that Scripture presents Christ as the One who alone possesses life in Himself. If life is in Christ alone, then any doctrine of “eternal punishment” must begin with this truth, not with beliefs absorbed from centuries of religious tradition, but with God’s own self-revelation concerning the source of immortality. First Timothy tells us explicitly that Christ “only” hath immortality: “Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see, to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.” I Timothy 6:15-16.

Everything hinges on this. Scripture does not begin with the destiny of man but with the exclusivity of Christ’s life. Who truly possesses immortality? Christ alone. And once this truth is fixed, the idea of an inherently immortal humanity collapses, reshaping the entire doctrine of judgment. If Christ alone has immortality, then no man possesses it apart from Him. And if no man possesses immortality apart from Christ, the popular picture of sinners living forever in a state of endless conscious torment cannot possibly be true. Life is in Christ. Death is the absence of life. These are not complicated ideas. They only become complicated when theology tries to force the Bible to say what it never says.

The Bible never teaches that all men are naturally immortal. It never says the wicked will live forever. It never claims that the human soul cannot die. Immortality belongs to Christ alone. It is not a universal human possession; it is an exclusive divine attribute. He alone possesses immortality as an inherent property of His eternal being. All others receive life derivatively, by grace, and only by union with Him. “God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” I John 5:11. This means that any doctrine of “eternal punishment” must begin here, with the exclusivity of Christ’s immortality and the dependent nature of all creaturely life. If we begin anywhere else, we will inevitably smuggle in assumptions the Bible never endorses. And when those assumptions are brought to Scripture, especially the assumption that sinners must live forever in conscious torment, we end up redefining the simplest words. Death becomes life, perish becomes exist forever, and destruction becomes endless survival in conscious misery.

John states it plainly, “in him was life.” John 1:4. Life is not an innate quality of the human soul, nor a natural possession belonging to mankind. Scripture does not present man as inherently immortal; it presents him as dependent on Christ for life itself. Life is Christ’s exclusive possession, and He alone dispenses it. Outside of Him there is no life, no immortality, no conscious endurance, no ongoing existence. To be apart from Christ is not to live in a different state; it is to be dead. Again, life is in Christ alone, and outside of Him there is nothing but death in all its finality. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3:36. If some of this sounds redundant, it is only because Scripture itself is unashamedly consistent on this point. When God uses the same words, perish, destroy, die, &c., I am content to let the weight of those words fall again and again until the meaning cannot be evaded.

Before moving any further, it is worth noting that the idea of an inherently immortal soul did not arise from Scripture but from philosophy. The early church inherited this notion not from Moses, the prophets, or the apostles, but from Greek thinkers, especially Plato, who taught that the soul could not cease to exist. Over time, this philosophical assumption was absorbed into Christian tradition, and once it took root, the notion of eternal conscious torment followed naturally and was treated as though it were biblical truth. But it never came from the Word of God. Once the borrowed assumption is removed, the whole structure collapses.

I may be overthinking things, as I generally do, but haven’t you ever wondered why the Bible calls eternal life a gift if it is something everyone supposedly already possesses? Scripture does not speak that way. Paul says plainly, “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23. A gift is something you do not have until it is given. If every human being were already immortal by nature, then eternal life could not be a gift at all, it would simply be a universal condition that no one could escape. But Scripture never presents immortality as a built-in human trait; it presents it as something granted only in Christ.

A common objection is that “annihilation” must be wrong because certain cultic or borderline cultic groups teach something similar. What does that have to do with anything? So what if they happen to get something right? Must we now reshape Scripture to avoid accidental agreement with those we deem heretical? If God says the wicked perish, it does not become untrue because JW’s or Adventists also know how to read when they acknowledge that “perish” means perish and “destroy” means destroy, &c. What it perhaps exposes is how far tradition has pushed mainstream Christianity from the plain meaning of Scripture. Truth is not rendered false by the mistakes of others, nor is the truth of God’s Word tarnished by the company it keeps.

Some may point to verses used to defend eternal torment, but it is usually the assumption of an immortal soul, not the passages themselves, nthat forces certain passages into the mold of eternal torment. When read in their own context, none of them teach everlasting consciousness for the wicked. For instance, Matthew 25:46 distinguishes eternal life from eternal punishment; in Scripture, punishment can be “eternal” because its consequences are permanent, not because its experience is unending. Likewise, Revelation 14:11 describes the smoke of judgment ascending forever, just as Isaiah 34 does regarding the destruction of Edom, a sign of irreversible ruin, not perpetual conscious existence. And the story in Luke 16, the rich man and Lazarus, placed squarely among parables, mysteriously transforms into literal history the moment it is recruited to uphold eternal conscious torment, ripped from its context simply to defend that notion. It is a parable, not a doctrinal blueprint, meant to expose the hardness of the Pharisees rather than map the geography of hell. In each case, these texts, and others regularly summoned as backup, are pushed to say far more than Scripture ever intended. At best they affirm the certainty and finality of judgment, not the immortality of the wicked. None of them overturn the vast testimony of Scripture that the wicked perish, are destroyed, consumed, and cut off.

In the end, the doctrine of destruction is not an evasion of judgment, it is the vindication of it. Scripture portrays a God who does not toy with evil nor preserve it in some everlasting state, but who brings it to its appointed end. Nothing in Scripture presents the universe as forever hosting a population in ceaseless defiance; everything in Scripture moves toward the triumph of righteousness, the purging of wickedness, and the renewal of all things in Christ. II Peter 3:13. The biblical doctrine of judgment magnifies a God whose holiness is vindicated not by eternal torture but by the final overthrow of evil. “For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” Malachi 4:1. The terrible weight of judgment is not that the wicked suffer endlessly, but that they lose all that pertains to life, all that belongs to existence, the whole substance of what it means to live. This is the finality Scripture speaks of. And in contrast, the gift of everlasting life stands out all the more glorious, reserved for those whom God has quickened in His Son. Ephesians 2:5-6. Only in Christ is life. Outside of Christ there is only death.

I was prepared to end these reflections here, but one final word may be helpful, especially since I know these thoughts will bring heavy criticism. Some will assume that by rejecting inherited views of punishment, I am somehow undermining the gospel. I would simply ask them to show me how this position denies or diminishes the gospel. How does this view set aside the cross, lessen the glory of Christ, or turn men from grace? It does none of those things. The doctrine of Christ stands untouched. We may differ in our understanding of the fate of the wicked, but our hope, our righteousness, our salvation, and our life are all in Him alone. And if we must part company over a matter such as this, it reveals more about our own pettiness than it does about our valuation of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. MPJ

POSTSCRIT: 11/27/25: Reply to a kind reaction to this post: Thank you for your thoughtful reply, I appreciate the sincere spirit in which you shared it. I certainly don’t claim to understand much of these things either. I’m simply trying to stay within the bounds of Scripture and look to Christ for whatever clarity He is pleased to give. The only light we have is the Scriptures, and the only key is Christ. If the Scriptures do not speak clearly, I’m slow to speak confidently. My shifting views over the years have shown me how unreliable my own understanding can be, and how dependent I am upon the Lord for any light at all. The fact that Christ has carried me through every change makes me cautious about drawing bold conclusions where the Bible itself is not explicit. Better to confess uncertainty than to speak beyond what is written. If my own words seem bold, please know that I don’t mean them in that spirit. I’m very aware of my own weakness, and I’m simply trying to express things as clearly as I can, leaning on the Lord for help. Additionally, I’m not writing a confession of faith here, and no one is obligated to agree with anything I’ve said. I’m only trying to express what I believe I see in Scripture, though I could easily be mistaken.

If we are honest, none of us thinks we’ve even begun to comprehend the incomprehensible ONE or unravel the mystery of His ways. “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” Romans 11:33. At best, we stand at the edge of what He allows us to see. So we call upon His name and rest our souls on the Christ whom the Scriptures set before us, trusting His promise that He Himself will teach us and guide us into the truth as it pleases him to do so. I John 2:27. Our understanding rises or falls with what Christ is pleased to open to our hearts, and whatever clarity we have comes only from what the Lord is pleased to unveil of Christ through His Word. I know how dimly I see at times, and just like the rest of us, we all look through a glass darkly, and whatever light we have is purely the Lord’s mercy.

In reference to Isaiah 66 and Mark 9, I simply read them the way Scripture itself uses that language. In the Bible, a fire that is “not quenched” is a fire that no one can stop until it has finished its work. It doesn’t mean the object burns forever; it means the fire is unstoppable until nothing remains, one that cannot be put out until its work is done. Jeremiah 17:27; Ezekiel 20:47. And the “worm” in Isaiah seems to function as an emblem of shame after judgment, an image of defeat following destruction, not an immortal creature. So for me, these passages point to the certainty of judgment and to final destruction, not eternal life in torment or the immortality of the “wicked.” I believe that if we want to understand “unquenchable fire,” Scripture itself gives us an example, the fire of Sodom and Gomorrah. It was unquenchable because no one could stop it; it burned until everything was consumed. But it is not burning now. Its work was finished. Scripture uses that judgment as a pattern of what awaits the ungodly, complete and irreversible destruction, not an everlasting flame kept alive forever.

Paul teaches plainly that “the wages of sin is death.” Yet if the traditional interpretation is right, it almost sounds as though Paul should have written, “the wages of sin is everlasting life in torment.” I don’t say that to be witty or dismissive, this just struck me earlier today, and I’m sharing it as one of those thoughts that makes you pause. I shared this with someone the other day, “let me also say, brother, that I fully recognize that not everyone is going to see what we see, and we don't necessarily see what they see. If we find ourselves in perfect agreement with every point that has ever been carved into a confession, or with every conclusion held by brethren we dearly love, something may be a bit off? It suggests we may be following a map drawn by others instead of following Christ Himself. Unity is precious, but Christ alone is Lord of the conscience. I’m no theologian, but just like all of us, I love the Scriptures, because that’s where Christ is found, and He alone is our salvation. In the end our comfort is the same: Christ is our refuge, and the Lord will do right in all things.

Light & Truth: “O send out Thy light and Thy truth, let them lead me; let them bring me unto Thy holy hill, and to Thy tabernacles.” Psalm 43:3. If there is any prayer I have prayed most earnestly, most frequently, and with the deepest sense of my own insufficiency, it is this one. And it remains my prayer today. I cannot trust my own understanding; I have misread, misunderstood, and misapplied Scripture enough times to know how blind I am apart from the Lord’s light. I have been humbled, exposed, and proven wrong too many times to place any confidence in my own interpretations. If the Lord does not lead me, I will certainly wander, even while holding a Bible in my hands.

In this psalm, and throughout the Psalms, we behold David, a true believer in the promised Christ, Acts 2:30-31, a worshiper of Christ in spirit calling Him LORD. Matthew 22:43-44. Yet though already bathed in mercy and tasting the sweetness of the Lord, he never outgrew his need for more mercy, more light, more understanding. Grace only intensified this hunger. The more the Lord revealed, the more David longed for greater revelation, crying, “open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law.” Psalm 119:18. Such is the life of grace, progressive not in merit, but in desire, and the more the Spirit unveils Christ to the heart, the more earnestly the child of God prays, “cause me to hear Thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in Thee do I trust. Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto Thee.” Psalm 143:8.

David’s valuation of Scripture, and the direction of his thoughts, especially as expressed in the 119th Psalm, are the spiritual instincts of every believer. “I will run the way of Thy commandments, when Thou shalt enlarge my heart. Teach me, O LORD, the way of Thy statutes… give me understanding… make me to go in the path of Thy commandments… incline my heart unto Thy testimonies…” Psalm 119:32-36. David never assumed he had reached the summit of spiritual understanding. He never imagined that yesterday’s visitations would suffice for tomorrow. He sought daily mercies from a daily Christ. This is the very pulse of grace. The Lord Jesus describes such souls in Matthew 5:6: “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”

What God wrought in David, He produces in all His people, a constant yearning for deeper discernment, a pleading for divine light, a desire to be overtaken by the knowledge of Christ. “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect; but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:12. But this hunger, this thirst, this inward cry, cannot be manufactured, conjured up, or forced by religious effort. It is the Lord who awakens such holy desire. It is the Spirit who stirs the thought toward Christ, who inclines the heart toward the Scriptures, who grants the cry, “Lord, teach me… Lord, lead me… Lord, incline my heart.”

The life of grace is not marked by having arrived, but by always being drawn, always being taught, always being led, always being brought again to the true Temple, the Lord Jesus Christ, “in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” Colossians 2:9. The only light we have on anything is the gospel, which lightens everything with the light of Christ. MPJ

Christian Sabbath: Few topics generate so much controversy among those who name the name of Christ as the Sabbath. Some cling to it as the great badge of obedience; others discard it with little thought; and many sincere believers are unsure where to stand. Sabbatarians fear that any loosening of the fourth commandment dishonors God. Others fear that any return to Sabbatarianism dishonors Christ. One side believes they are honoring God by “holding fast” to a particular day, while the other is convinced that such observance drifts into legalism.

Yet beneath these different persuasions lies a deeper question, where does the Lord call his people to rest? The Scripture answers that question with unshakable clarity, our rest is Christ Himself. The only safe place to begin is not with days or debates, but with Christ Himself. He is our rest. He is our righteousness. He is our Sabbath. If we start anywhere else, we will inevitably drift into shadows rather than substance, into arguments about calendars rather than the Person in whom all God’s promises find their “yea and amen.” II Corinthians 1:20. My aim in this post is simple, to bring the discussion back to Christ. Not to diminish obedience, but to exalt the obedience of the One who fulfilled the law; not to diminish holiness, but to anchor it in the Holy One; not to minimize rest, but attempt to point to the ONE in whom all our rest is to be found.

Though at first glance the Sabbath question may appear to be a secondary matter, something belonging to the fringes of doctrine, it is in fact far more deeply connected to the gospel than many realize. That is why this subject matters. The question before us is not merely, “which day is the Sabbath” but, “where is my confidence? Where is my righteousness? Where is my rest?” If our rest is in anything other than the finished work of Christ, then even the most religious observance becomes a subtle denial of grace. The real controversy is not ultimately about a day, but about where the sinner finds rest, righteousness, and assurance before God. That is why Paul reacted so sharply when believers began turning back to days and seasons, for behind the calendar stood a theology, and behind the theology stood a heart caught between shadow and substance, attempting to hold onto signs that had already served their purpose in pointing to Christ. “But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.” Galatians 4:9-11. A heart that clings to a day is often a heart that struggles to cling to Christ, and this is why this subject cannot be dismissed as secondary. Whenever anything, no matter how sincerely well-intentioned, begins to share the ground that belongs to Christ, the gospel is being displaced, and the soul is being robbed.

All of this presses the issue closer than many are comfortable with, because once the question becomes one of rest, we are no longer discussing a day on the calendar but the posture of the heart itself, and the very thing meant to point us to Christ can, in the flesh, become something we trust instead of Christ. And this is precisely where the danger becomes more than theoretical, for what begins as a sign easily becomes a substitute. A weekly sabbath can become for some the last stronghold of self-righteousness, a familiar observance that offers a feeling of faithfulness that can create a sense of piety while bypassing the real rest found exclusively in Christ.

What makes the question even more striking is not merely what the New Testament says, but what it does not say. If the Sabbath were intended to remain a binding command upon the church, the apostles would have made that unmistakably clear. Paul, Peter, James, and John wrote to congregations filled with Gentile believers, men and women with no sabbath heritage, no seventh-day tradition, no jewish framework to fall back upon. They reiterated every command that reflects God’s unchanging holiness. They labored to instruct them in righteousness amid idolatry, sexual immorality, corruption, and doctrinal upheaval. They warn about adultery, idolatry, covetousness, lying, murder, blasphemy; they reaffirm the sanctity of marriage, the evil of sexual sin, the necessity of honoring father and mother, the wickedness of theft, murder, and lying. They apply these moral standards with clarity and urgency, but there is a divine silence concerning any “Christian Sabbath.” And that silence is deliberate. It reflects the truth that what the Sabbath foreshadowed is now fully realized in Christ.

This silence becomes even more conspicuous when we remember that the early believers, from what we read, met constantly, daily in some cases, for prayer, fellowship, and breaking of bread. Acts 2:46. And when the apostles address the daily life of Christ’s people, teaching them how to live, how to gather, how to worship, there are no instructions whatsoever regarding binding the conscience to any calendar-based observance. The emphasis falls entirely on Christ, not on assigning spiritual weight to one day above another. It reflects the reality that the “veil is rent,” Luke 23:45, and the signs have completed their purpose in pointing us to Christ Himself.

And when Scripture finally speaks of the Sabbath in relation to the finished work of Christ, it does so not to resurrect it, but to bury it. “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holiday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” Colossians 2:16-17. The very place where a “Christian Sabbath” might be assumed, the Spirit of God explicitly denies it. Thus the New Testament does not leave the question open. It is not silent because the matter is unimportant. It is silent because Christ has come. And when Christ has come, shadows give way, signs are fulfilled, and types must fade, having accomplished their God-given purpose of directing us to the ONE in whom all rest is found.

If the gospel did not speak further on this matter, the argument would already be decisive. But the New Testament does more than remain silent about a “Christian Sabbath,” it issues direct warnings about returning to days and seasons as a measure of spirituality. “Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.” Galatians 4:10-11. “One man esteemeth one day above another, another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.” Romans 14:5. These warnings are consistent, urgent, and unambiguous. Paul is not correcting a minor misunderstanding about external observances, he is defending the very heart of Christian liberty. The danger is not that we might simply misread a command; the danger is that we might subtly shift our confidence from Christ to something else, something smaller or safer, something we can measure. Together they form a unified apostolic witness, that believers are not under days, but under Christ.

Nothing dismantles modern or reformed Sabbatarianism more quickly than simply watching Christ move through the Gospels. Sabbath after Sabbath, He overturned their entire structure, and demolished the very framework men now try to rebuild. He healed on the Sabbath repeatedly, deliberately, and publicly, and always in direct defiance of Pharisaic prohibitions. “And they watched Him, whether He would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse Him.” Mark 3:1-5. The pattern repeats itself again and again: “And the Scribes and Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the sabbath day; that they might find an accusation against him.” Luke 6:7. “And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, there are six days in which men ought to work; in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day.” Luke 13:14. “And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes...therefore said some of the Pharisees, this man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day.” John 9:14-16. And John summarizes the Pharisees’ rage with sobering clarity: “Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.” John 5:18.

These repeated confrontations were not random acts of mercy; they were deliberate blows against a false understanding of God’s rest. If their objections had not yet exposed the heart of the matter, the next confrontation certainly does. And it is here the narrative turns, from sabbath controversy to sabbath authority. And Matthew shows this most clearly as hungry disciples move through a field of corn under the gaze of Pharisees eager to accuse, bringing the whole dispute into its clearest focus. “But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.” Matthew 12:2. Christ meets their accusation head-on. He feeds His disciples when they forbid eating. He confronts their traditions on the very day they claim to honor most. What begins as a simple act, hunger met by plucking grain, becomes the moment in which Christ Himself interprets the Sabbath. Then He lifts the veil entirely: “One greater than the temple is here.” Matthew 12:6. At that point the conclusion is unavoidable. If Christ is greater than the temple, then He is greater than all temple legislation, including the Sabbath, and with that declaration He establishes not only His superiority over the temple but over the entire legal system attached to it.

And then He speaks the words that collapse every Sabbatarian framework: “The Son of Man is Lord even of the sabbath day.” Matthew 12:8. In that moment He does not merely reinterpret the Sabbath; He claims sovereign authority over it. The Sabbath points to Him. True rest is found in Him. By calling Himself “Lord of the Sabbath,” Christ was not adjusting their tradition; He was revealing His deity. The Lord of the Sabbath is the Creator Himself. The Jews understood His claim immediately, so clearly, in fact, that they sought His death. “Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.” Matthew 12:14.

If Christ is Lord of the Sabbath, the next question must be asked, what has He done with it? He did not adjust the day but replaced the shadow with Himself, the One to whom the day always pointed. The Sabbath was never meant to be the final rest, it was a shadow, a weekly picture pointing forward to the true Rest that God would provide in His Son. And when the Lord of the Sabbath came, the shadow met its Substance. The sign reached its fulfillment. The rest that could never be found in a day was now freely given in the Person of Christ. Scripture’s testimony is unmistakable, the Sabbath was preparatory, provisional, prophetic, but Christ is the Rest. He is the One in whom weary sinners cease from their own works. He is the destination to which every Sabbath sign pointed. And unless we see Him as its fulfillment, we will cling to the shadow and miss the substance.

If the Gospels show us Christ as Lord of the Sabbath, Hebrews shows us what He has done with it. In Hebrews 3-4 we find the only extended New Testament exposition of the word Sabbath, and remarkably, the writer again does not direct us to a day, but to a Person. The Spirit of God defines the true Sabbath rest as entering into Christ by faith. Israel fell short because of unbelief, not because they mismanaged a particular day. The promise of rest “remaineth” not as a weekly observance but as a present, spiritual reality found only in the Son. “We which have believed do enter into rest.” Hebrews 4:3. The argument of Hebrews 4 could not be clearer, the Sabbath was never the final resting place, Christ is. Not one day a week, but every hour in Christ. The weekly day was only a shadow; the true Rest promised from the foundation of the world is Christ Himself, and until the conscience is settled in Him, the heart will chase after days, patterns, and outward observances to find what only He can give.

There is yet another truth that helps settle this matter. The Sabbath, and the Sabbath alone, is explicitly called a sign. Not a moral law written on the conscience, not a universal standard, but a covenant sign given to Israel and Israel alone. And signs exist for one purpose, to direct attention to something greater. As Paul writes, “but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.” I Corinthians 13:10. The Sabbath was such a sign. Signs are temporary by design; they vanish when the reality appears. Thus, when Christ came as the true Rest, the sign had reached its appointed conclusion.

The Old Testament underscores this repeatedly. In Exodus 31 the Lord declares the Sabbath to be “a sign between me and you throughout your generations.” Exodus 31:13. Ezekiel echoes the same, “moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them.” Ezekiel 20:12. The Sabbath was God’s covenantal signature upon that nation under that dispensation. “I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.” Ezekiel 20:19-20. The Sabbath was not written on Gentile consciences. It was a visible boundary identifying Israel as a people redeemed out of Egypt. No Gentile nation was ever commanded to keep it. The point is underscored further by Paul’s letters to Gentile believers, in which he never once binds them to Sabbath observance. And just as circumcision gave way to a new heart, and Passover gave way to the Lamb of God, so the temple gave way to the true dwelling place of God in Christ. In the same way, the Sabbath yields to Him who is the true Rest promised from the beginning.

Human tradition and man-made religion has a remarkable way of neutralizing the very commandments it claims to uphold. The result is neither true Judaism nor true Christianity, but a confused hybrid formed by blending what God never joined. When the professing church appeals to the Fourth Commandment to defend Sabbath-keeping, it unwittingly proves the point, the law it quotes is the very law it does not keep. Scripture says without hesitation, “thou shalt not do any work,” and anyone who chooses the Jewish ground is bound to that unbending standard. The law does not bend, soften, or adjust to modern convenience. If we choose the law, we choose all of it, along with its solemn verdict, “cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them.” Deuteronomy 27:26; Galatians 3:10.

Nowhere does Scripture authorize a modified or softened version of the Sabbath command. And yet when I watch modern Sabbath-keepers, I am stunned by the ease with which they imagine themselves to be “keeping the day holy.” The disconnect is astonishing! Their selective abstentions bear no resemblance to the unbending standard of the Old Covenant, where a man gathering sticks was executed without hesitation. Numbers 15:32-36. To keep the Sabbath as law is to keep it as given, with its severity intact. Anything less is not obedience; it is a man-made substitute dressed in biblical language. Such alterations are exactly what our Lord condemned, traditions that make the “word of God of none effect.” Mark 7:13.

I have often wondered how a believer can imagine himself more holy on one day than on another. What changes? Does sin become less sinful on Monday and more sinful on Sunday? Are earthly tasks defiling on one day and harmless on the next? How can we suppose that our behavior becomes more pleasing to Christ simply because it is performed within a certain twenty-four-hour period? The idea that we can arrange our activities into “clean” and “unclean” categories based merely on the turning of the week seems, to me, a kind of mystery. Are we not to glorify Him in all things, every hour? If our actions are sinful on Saturday, they remain sinful on Sunday. What makes us imagine that we honor Christ more by declaring certain activities off-limits for a single day, as if sin were somehow less sinful on the other six? We work, we labor, we tend to our households, but in all these things, is Christ ever absent from the believer’s walk? Does He not sanctify our entire life, not merely one day? The notion that our spiritual condition rises or falls with the day of the week is difficult to reconcile with life in Christ.

Additionally, if one wishes to bind the conscience with a “Christian Sabbath,” a simple question must be answered, where and when did God ever change the day? Search the New Testament from Matthew to Revelation, and you will not find a single command, not even a hint, that the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh day to the first. Yes, the resurrection took place on the first day. Yes, the disciples met on the first day. But the Bible nowhere declares that the first day was set apart as a day to be kept in place of the seventh. The attempt to shift the Sabbath to Sunday exposes the weakness of the entire Sabbatarian claim. If the fourth commandment is morally binding in the same form given at Sinai, then the seventh day remains the seventh day. Let’s not be dishonest with Scripture or with ourselves, nor overlook the obvious, that every Sabbatarian argument collapses at this very point. If the seventh day can be replaced without divine command, then the supposed “moral law” has already been modified, proving it is not the immutable standard they claim. “Remember the seventh day” is not open to interpretation or subject to revision. The law does not permit substitutions. If the Sabbath law still stands, then the seventh day stands with it. If we insist on a Sabbath law, we must take it as given, “the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God.” Exodus 20:10.

Strip away all of the layers, and only one reality remains, the Sabbath command cannot be revived without reviving the entire covenant to which it belonged. The moment we insist upon the day, we bind ourselves to the whole. The moment we claim the law, we claim its curse. There is no going back. The law served its purpose; the Lord of the Sabbath reigns. And in His reign our rest is secure, our righteousness complete, and our salvation finished. MPJ

Antinomianism: I’ve only been accused once, to my recollection, of holding an antinomian view of the Gospel, a charge that didn’t come as much of a surprise. It came up during a conversation in which I had spoken favorably of Tobias Crisp, whose writings have often been misunderstood. When the word antinomian was raised, I replied, “I can accept that description, so long as I may explain what it truly signifies.”

For if by antinomian you mean one who is “dead to the law by the body of Christ,” Romans 7:4, who is “not under the law, but under grace,” Romans 6:14, who knows that “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth,” Romans 10:4, then I cheerfully plead guilty. For Scripture declares that “we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.” Romans 7:6. To such a one, the law has no more dominion; its claims have been satisfied, its penalty borne, its demands fulfilled. In Christ’s death, the believer died; and in His resurrection, he now lives, not lawless, but liberated, walking not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Romans 8:1-2.

(In truth, I’m fairly certain I didn’t say any of those things. I don’t even recall exactly how I responded, as confrontation tends to leave me uneasy and slow of speech. I often walk away wondering if I said the right thing, or if I even know what I'm talking about; or look back and wish I had spoken with greater clarity or courage. I think we've all had those feelings, those moments when you replay a conversation in your mind and think, I wish I’d said this or that. Yet in hindsight, we realize that the Lord governed our words, and what was spoken was precisely what He intended for that moment, Luke 12:11-12, and what we may think was clumsy or incomplete is often those God most perfectly uses to accomplish His purpose.)

The accusation of antinomianism arises whenever one dares to proclaim that the believer is no longer under law, but under grace. The law we speak of is that divine standard which demands perfect obedience and pronounces death upon the least transgressor; from this law the believer is set free through Christ, who was made under it, fulfilled all its righteousness, bore its sentence, and silenced its every claim against His people.

Such a message appears unsettling to those who have never understood that Christ Himself is both the believer’s righteousness and rule, to minds that cannot imagine devotion apart from prescribed regulations, or obedience apart from the fear of breaking them. To them, the thought of being freed from the law feels like being freed from God, not knowing that it is in Christ alone that holiness finds both its root and its fruit. Grace teaches what the law could never command, its liberty produces love, and its power transforms the heart; for the Spirit who delivers from the law’s condemnation also implants a love for its holiness. Romans 8:5-6.

The heart of the misunderstanding lies here; men cannot bear the thought of a salvation that leaves them with nothing to contribute. Grace, to the natural mind, seems reckless and unsafe. It strips away every ground of boasting, leaving man with no role but that of a beggar receiving mercy. To such minds, the gospel of Christ’s finished work appears dangerous, too free, too final and too secure. They imagine that without the law’s restraint, sin will abound, forgetting that it is grace, not law, that teaches us to deny ungodliness. Titus 2:11-12.

And so the charge of antinomianism becomes the ready weapon of those who would rather bind grace with law than trust a righteousness wholly outside themselves. The irony is that the righteousness they labor to extract from the law dwells only in Christ, and in grasping for it elsewhere, they may lose sight of Christ altogether or see Him only through the distorting haze of their own self-righteousness. But true gospel liberty is never lawlessness, for those who are born of God know that freedom in Christ is not freedom to do wrong, but freedom to love what is right. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” Galatians 5:22-24.

Such obedience cannot be legislated; it is the fruit of life, not law. The believer’s life is not governed by an external code, but by an inward power that produces what the law could never compel. Romans 8:3-4. Grace frees us from sin, not to sin. He that loves Christ hates sin. Hence he “lives unto the Lord,” Romans 14:8, not as a slave trembling under threat of punishment, or dread of disapproval, but as one whose heart has been made free, John 8:36, obeying not to obtain divine approval, but because he possesses it through Christ. “For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.” Ephesians 2:18. Love becomes the new commandment, not written on stone, but engraved upon the heart. Jeremiah 31:33. Yet it is precisely this liberty, this Christ-wrought obedience, that so often provokes misunderstanding.

The term antinomian is usually spoken with a certain scorn, and more often than not, it’s joined to another word, hyper-Calvinist, as though one insult alone weren’t enough. Together, they form the sharpest rebuke that many self-described calvinists can muster, meant to silence and sideline those whose message of grace doesn’t fit within their well-defined boundaries. What they see as a crushing verdict is, in truth, a confession of how far their theology has drifted from the freedom that is in Christ.

The label antinomian has rarely been used with care; its history is cast more as a weapon than a definition. From the apostolic era, when Paul’s gospel was slandered as, “let us do evil, that good may come,” Romans 3:8, down through the tumultuous years of the Reformation and the Puritan controversies, the charge has been the reflexive outcry of those unsettled by the doctrines of free and sovereign grace. Luther, Crisp, Huntington, and many others were all tarred with the same brush for proclaiming a salvation that leaves no room for human boasting. Ephesians 2:9. What bound these men together was not a lax view of holiness, but a fierce loyalty to Christ’s finished work, a refusal to dilute grace with human effort. And because that message dismantled the scaffolding of works-religion, opponents resorted to whatever slander might silence it.

In truth, the gospel has always borne this ancient slander, for wherever grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life, legal minds will calculate that holiness must be maintained by law, unaware that the same grace that pardons also purifies. In essence, they imagine that Christ is sufficient to justify but not sufficient to sanctify, dividing what God has joined together. “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” I Corinthians 1:30.

Ultimately, this accusation frequently uncovers the innate hostility of the unrenewed mind toward sovereign grace. The natural man cannot endure a gospel that strips him of boasting and enthrones Christ as the sole Author of righteousness. Man instinctively resists any gospel that leaves him powerless, penniless, and dependent upon Christ for everything. Yet hostility is not the only cause of confusion; even true saints may struggle beneath old shadows. Surely there are also many of the Lord’s own dear people who harbor no resistance to grace, they long for righteousness, they crave a life ‘pleasing’ to God, they thirst, as do all saints, for purity of heart. What they have yet to see clearly is that the righteousness they desire is not found in their striving but in Christ alone, who is sufficient not only to pardon but to shape and sustain every step of their walk. Their affections are toward Him, yet their thoughts still echo remnants of the former rule, producing a sincere yet confused mixture of law and grace in their daily walk.

They love grace, though they see it only through the haze of a framework they never thought to question, and the only teaching they have ever known. Their difficulty is not doubting Christ but unlearning the mixture of law and gospel that has surrounded them all their days. For many, the idea of departing from the tradition that shaped them, perhaps for decades, feels like abandoning the faith itself, like disinheriting the spiritual culture that formed them from childhood. Their entire sense of what “Christian” means has been tied to that system. And who cannot sympathize? When a believer has spent a lifetime walking a certain road, it becomes altogether familiar, and all the more difficult to veer from, especially if a church, tradition or some confession is waiting at the end of it. It seems unthinkable to turn aside! This is not the resistance of an unrenewed mind, but the slow untying of knots formed over years of mingling law with gospel.

Additionally, those most eager to denounce antinomianism are generally those who believe the law was intended as a map for moral living, a divine handbook for respectable conduct to help men live uprightly. We do not deny that the law is holy, just, and good, nor do we imagine that anything within it is contrary to righteousness. Yet its holiness serves a higher end than mere behavior. The Scriptures reveal that the law was given to show man what he is not, to define sin, to measure guilt, to prove inability. It commands righteousness but imparts no power to perform it. The design of the law was never to sanctify the flesh, but rather to expose it. The law defines sin with surgical precision, condemns every deviation, and shuts every mouth beneath its verdict. Romans 3:19. It reveals man’s ruin, not his remedy; it declares God’s standard but imparts no strength to reach it. Its work is to strip man of boasting, that grace alone might be magnified in Christ.

Into that helpless condition the gospel enters, not to mend the law, but to manifest the righteousness of God apart from it. What the law could never do, grace has done through the obedience and death of Christ. The very sentence that once demanded our condemnation now finds its satisfaction in Him; and in that triumph the apostle exults, “there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Romans 8:1. (Many have read this as a conditional promise, as if the believer’s peace with God depended on the consistency of his walk, but that is to invert the gospel. This is no admonition to walk in the Spirit, but rather an affirmation that all who are in Christ Jesus do walk after the Spirit. Paul is not setting forth a requirement to be met, but a reality already established.) The believer’s freedom from judgment rests wholly upon the finished work of Christ, and the Spirit’s indwelling presence stands as the sure evidence of that redemption. The cause is Christ; the conduct is its fruit.

If there is such a thing as true antinomianism, it is not found in those who rest wholly upon Christ for righteousness, but in those who diminish the law’s perfection so that man might seem able to keep it. The genuine antinomian is not the one who exalts grace, but the one who lowers the law, making it content with human sincerity, effort, or moral reform, for to relax its demands is to destroy its glory. The law knows nothing of partial obedience; it requires all or condemns all. Only in Christ is the law honored and fulfilled, every precept kept, every curse endured. Thus, the gospel does not make the law void; it establishes it. Romans 3:31. In magnifying Christ’s obedience, we magnify the law’s holiness; in confessing our utter inability, we uphold its unbending standard. The believer, therefore, is not without law to God, but under the law to Christ, I Corinthians 9:21, a new and living law of faith and love, written by the Spirit, and fulfilled not by fear, but by the power of divine life within. “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” Romans 8:3.

In conclusion, every part of our salvation, from its first stirring in eternity to its final glory, rests entirely in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ above us, Christ for us, Christ in us, Christ through us, and Christ before us at every step. Thus, the gospel stands firm. Grace is invincible because Christ is unchangeable. Men may accuse it or misread it, but its power abides, for Christ Himself is its substance. MPJ

Redemption Accomplished: “Now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” Hebrews 9:26. In this single verse the whole system of types, shadows, altars, lambs, priests, and ceremonies finds its appointed end. Nothing in the Old Testament ever accomplished the putting away of sin; every sacrifice pointed toward it, but none achieved it. Hebrews 9:26 proclaims a salvation wholly grounded in the final and effectual sacrifice of Christ, who came not to offer potential forgiveness but to secure actual forgiveness, removing sin as a judicial charge against those He represented. This divine declaration dismantles every notion that seeks to mingle human effort with divine redemption, for if Christ has put away sin, nothing remains to be added by repentance, faith, ritual, or obedience. The word “once” announces the perfection and finality of this work, a single sacrifice, never to be repeated, never to be supplemented, never to be amended by human obedience or religious effort. The Lamb has been slain, the offering is complete, sin has been removed, and the believer’s peace rests not in some “conversion” experience, but in the finished work of Christ accomplished once for all in that sacred appointed hour.

With this truth before us, that Christ has appeared once to put away sin, we now arrive at the moment in which that finished work is carried out, the eternally decreed hour, fixed in the purpose of God, toward which He moved with unwavering resolve, and which He Himself declares to be the very reason for His coming. “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour, but for this cause came I unto this hour.” John 12:27. If the divine hour was decreed, then the timing of that hour could not be left to the whims of men. The Lamb of God could not die at any random moment, under any random arrangement of events, but precisely at the time appointed in the law and foretold in the prophets. The entire sacrificial system operated on a divinely fixed schedule, and Christ, the substance of every shadow, fulfills not only the meaning of those sacrifices but the timing of them as well.

Scripture next unfolds the astonishing exactness of this hour, its divinely appointed day, its measured timing, and its prophetic conformity to all that was written beforehand. For just as the meaning of every sacrifice pointed to Christ, so the timing of every sacrifice was divinely set to anticipate the cross. The Passover lamb was not slain at any random moment but at a specific hour, “between the evenings,” Exodus 12:6, understood to be the ninth hour, about 3 p.m., being the precise moment when the blood of deliverance was shed for Israel, the appointed hour in which their safety, redemption, and passage out of bondage were secured. The daily lambs were likewise offered on a fixed schedule, one in the morning and one in the evening, framing every day of Israel’s worship upon the altar of atonement. And it is at these very hours, not before nor after, that Christ is lifted up. Let this sink in for a moment, for it is a truth beyond all human crafting, and the wonderment of it all is indeed staggering. Christ is crucified at the third hour and dies at the ninth, precisely the hours God had fixed in the law from ancient days. It's the very hours appointed in the old covenant sacrificial order. Such perfect precision cannot be overstated; it is the eternal counsel of God aligning perfectly with the sacrifice of His Son. The hour fixed by God is the hour Christ steps into, and in that precise moment the Passover reaches its fulfillment, the continual sacrifices find their interpretation, and every pattern and symbol of the law is gathered up in the person of the crucified Christ.

And if the timing was divinely orchestrated, then so also was the entire meaning of the old covenant itself. Nothing in the Mosaic system stood on its own; its priesthood, sacrifices, laws, and ordinances were deliberately constructed to prefigure the reality that would be revealed in Christ. Its priesthood existed to foreshadow the true High Priest, Hebrews 7:26, its sacrifices to mirror the one effective offering, Hebrews 10:14, its altars to imitate the real place of atonement, Hebrews 10:19-20, and its festivals sang of a deliverance that had not yet arrived. Galatians 4:4. And because every part of the old covenant pointed beyond itself, Scripture now opens the curtain to show the heavenly reality to which these shadows belonged. “It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” Hebrews 9:23-24. The covenant unfolded as an expansive framework of anticipation, Hebrews 11:13, setting forth substitution, magnifying divine holiness, exposing the depth of human guilt, and directing all expectation toward the One in whom these realities would be perfectly fulfilled. The entire system functioned as a God-designed roadmap, directing every step of Israel’s worship toward one final destination: Christ crucified. Galatians 3:24.

This was the appointed hour toward which all redemptive history pointed, the moment in which every type, promise, and prophecy found its fulfillment. In that single sacrifice Christ rendered complete satisfaction for sin, brought forth an everlasting righteousness, and secured the redemption of His elect by the shedding of His blood. In this one momentous act the whole basis of salvation was set in place and the glory of God displayed in its purest light. There, the entire witness of Scripture found its center and its meaning.

It’s a staggering thought! As if all of history rushes toward this point and all eternity flows out of it, the cross standing as the center of God’s unfolding purpose. “That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:” Ephesians 1:10. What heart can truly grasp the magnitude of this? Who can gaze upon this and remain unmoved? At the very point of His offering, the entire weight of sin was borne, the whole demand of the law was met, and the full measure of God’s wrath was spent upon the Substitute. There is no second sacrifice, no additional offering, no supplementary work to be performed; salvation stands complete because Christ’s work stands perfect.

For the believer this is the day of salvation, and this is the place to which the Spirit continually leads us, back to the cross, back to the hour where sin was put away. It is here that our hearts are flooded with the love of God in Christ Jesus, who loved us and gave Himself for us. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13. No wonder the Spirit leads us here again and again, for there is no brighter display of divine love in all the universe. In that hour love itself is defined. Nothing in heaven or earth can measure it, and nothing in time can diminish it. The cross is the supreme revelation of God's glory, the place where the believer sees love in its purest form. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” I John 4:10.

To those of us who rejoice in the eternal, all-encompassing purpose of God, I believe that there is sometimes a danger, subtle, unintended, but real, of misdirecting our gaze away from the place where redemption was actually accomplished. It is a precious truth that God’s love toward His people is eternal, that Christ was the Lamb set apart before creation, and that grace was already ours in Christ before time itself existed. Yet none of these eternal realities substitute for, nor overshadow, the one moment in history where the ransom price was paid, the hour, the appointed hour, when Christ laid down His life upon the altar of His own sacrifice. “Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.” Ephesians 5:2.

In embracing the eternal dimension of God’s purpose, we must guard against drifting into a theological abstraction that inadvertently relocates redemption outside of the cross. In other words, no matter how high our view of God’s eternal purpose, we must never lift redemption out of the hour in which it was accomplished. To blend decree, accomplishment, and application into a single “eternal act” is to flatten the gospel and to obscure the sacred hour in which sin was put away by the sacrifice of Himself. Once these truths overlap in our thinking, the majesty of the cross can be dulled, its centrality weakened and glory diminished as our minds wander from the moment Christ secured our salvation, the hour in which sin was actually put away. If redemption is anywhere but at the cross, it is nowhere at all. But because redemption was accomplished there, in that hour, by that Christ, it stands unshakable, unalterable, and forever secure. May the Lord keep our thoughts, our hope, and our confidence fixed upon Christ, who offered Himself without spot to God and perfected forever them that are sanctified.

I'm not too familiar with many hymns, but fragments of this one keep returning to mind, and I can think of no better way to bring these thoughts to a close: “Sweet the moments, rich in blessing, which before the cross I spend; life and health and peace possessing, from the sinner’s dying Friend — Here I’ll sit, forever viewing, mercy’s streams in streams of blood; precious drops, my soul bedewing, plead and claim my peace with God — Here it is I find my heaven, while upon the Lamb I gaze; love I much, I’ve much forgiven, I’m a miracle of grace — Lord, in ceaseless contemplation, fix my heart and eyes on Thee; till I taste Thy full salvation, and Thine unveiled glory see.” MPJ

Postscript: God’s love and purpose toward His people are eternal and stand outside of time, but Scripture never places redemption outside the cross. Eternal union is the womb from which salvation proceeds, yet the ransom price was paid in the hour appointed, and the glory is that both are perfectly united in Christ. Eternal union tells us why Christ came; His sacrifice in time reveals how redemption was accomplished. Scripture never allows us to lose sight of either. MPJ

Is the Nation of Israel Cursed: “My question is - is the nation of Israel cursed? I remember reading that in the Old Testament years ago and it stuck in my mind, but now I have no idea where I read it. Our pastor also said that God cursed them and that the curse remains unto this today.” Reply: There are indeed many places in the Old Testament where God pronounced curses upon Israel for unbelief and disobedience. Chief among them are Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28-32, where the LORD warned Israel that if they broke His covenant, curses would come upon them, famine, captivity, desolation, and dispersion among the nations. “And it shall come to pass, that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone.” Deuteronomy 28:63-64.

As we move into the New Testament revelation, Paul speaks with unmistakable clarity about what became of the curse, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.” Galatians 3:13. Here the gospel turns judgment inside out, the very sentence that condemned us becomes the ground of deliverance, for the curse was not dismissed, but absorbed in Christ. What justice required, mercy fulfilled. Psalm 85:10. The penalty was not evaded but paid in full, and through that divine exchange the law’s condemnation gave way to the believer’s justification. Here lies the heart of redemption. Christ did not merely remove the curse; He bore it. He stood where sinners stood, endured what they deserved, and in doing so broke the power of the law to condemn. Grace reigns where judgment once ruled, and life springs forth from the very place death held dominion. “But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 5:20-21. In other words, the curse pronounced upon Israel, the inevitable penalty of law-breaking, was borne entirely by Christ, the true Israel of God. “Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified… I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.” Isaiah 49:3-6. Standing in the place of His elect, both Jew and Gentile, He satisfied every demand of divine justice.

Though the nation of Israel as a visible kingdom, met its appointed end in A.D. 70 with the destruction of Jerusalem, just as Christ solemnly foretold in Matthew chapter 23 & 24; yet the deeper curse was lifted forever in Him who became a curse for us. Paul draws the distinction sharply in Romans 9. “Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel, neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children; but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” Romans 9:6-8. True Israel is spiritual, not natural; it is the believing remnant, preserved by God’s electing grace. “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.” Romans 11:5.

Paul does indeed affirm that unbelieving Israel continues under judicial blindness, a hardness of heart wrought by their rejection of Christ, Romans 11:7-10, but this is not some curse newly pronounced, but the ongoing manifestation of divine judgment, the lasting effect of judgment upon those who turn from Christ, even as the Lord Himself declared, “behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” Matthew 23:38. This desolation is profoundly spiritual, not political, national or geographical, a solemn reminder that when Christ is rejected, the light departs and the soul becomes its own barren wilderness. Isaiah 59:9-10.

The New Testament consistently redefines “Israel” around Christ Himself: “If ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Galatians 3:29. “Peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.” Galatians 6:16. The “Israel of God” is not a new race rising from the ruins of the old, but the unfolding of God’s ancient design, to unite in one body all His elect, Acts 2:39, chosen from every nation and language, forming a “household of faith” bound together in Christ. The old covenant shadows have passed; in Christ, all distinctions fade, and natural Israel’s hope is the same as ours, redemption through the blood of the Lamb.

In that light, natural Israel shares the same horizon as all peoples and stands with every nation beneath one gospel banner; her hope, her calling, and her future are found only in the grace of God through Jesus Christ. Romans 10:12-13. Her salvation has no basis in what she once was, nor in the privileges she once possessed, but in whom she must now believe, Christ, the hope of all the earth. “For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him.” Romans 10:12.

In Christ, the promised Seed through whom all nations are blessed, the promises are fulfilled, the curses lifted, and the nations gathered under one redeeming name. Galatians 3:16. Thus, natural Israel’s future is not unique among nations, but her people, like all others, are called into the same gospel hope. Acts 15:9-11. So, in short, yes, Israel as a nation was judged for rejecting Christ, but that judgment was fulfilled and carried out long ago. The only curse that remains today is the same one resting on all who are outside of Christ. There is no special national curse beyond what all unbelievers share in, condemnation apart from Christ. The ground is utterly level at the cross, and the future of natural Israel is no different than that of any other nation.

Romans 11, often appealed to for a national restoration, must be read in its full context, Paul speaks not of political revival, but of individual Jews being grafted in again through “faith.” The “all Israel” that shall be saved, Romans 11:26, is the totality of the redeemed, Jews and Gentiles alike who believe in Christ. The only “restoration” is the ongoing ingathering of believers into the one body of Christ until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in.

In conclusion then, yes, Israel as a nation was cursed under the Mosaic covenant for unbelief and rejection of Christ. Yes, that curse manifested historically in their destruction and scattering. No, it is not an eternal racial curse. It was fulfilled judicially in A.D. 70 and spiritually in Christ’s redemptive work. The only curse that remains is the universal one upon all who reject Christ, Jew or Gentile alike. John 3:36. To put it simply, Israel’s distinction was covenantal, not biological; it was temporal, not eternal; and it was fulfilled, not perpetuated. In Christ, there is one holy nation, a “chosen generation, a royal priesthood,” I Peter 2:9, composed of all who believe. So, if we take Scripture as our guide rather than modern systems of prophecy, the future of natural Israel is no different than that of any other nation, and there is no prophetic program in which the nation of Israel re-enters history as a distinct object of divine favor or wrath. MPJ

Mariology: Wow, I thought that was fake news! I just looked it up, and it's legit. “The Vatican, under Pope Leo XIV, has released a document clarifying the role of Mary in the Catholic Church. The document, titled “Mater Populi Fidelis - Mother of the Faithful People of God,” emphasizes that Mary is not a co-redeemer with Jesus Christ. Instead, she is the mother of Jesus and a model of faith and devotion.”

After centuries of open idolatry and blasphemous worship, are we now to applaud this as a humble confession? No, it is not repentance, it is repositioning. Rome never retracts; she only rebrands. The timing is far too convenient, coinciding with the assassination of Charlie Kirk and the sudden surge of “christian unity” and “christian solidarity” talk from “conservative” media. The papist system is once again presenting itself as the religion of Christ, drawing protestants, evangelicals, and all who name the name of Christ beneath her canopy of spiritual adultery. It is the same old harlot, freshly painted and repackaged for a modern age. No longer draped in imperial robes but clothed in the language of faith, enthroning herself once more in the minds of the deceived. Her goal is still what it has always been, to use the name of Christ as a cloak for her blasphemy.

Note how the language of “model of faith and devotion” is carefully chosen to appear biblical, even evangelical. It’s a tone meant to soothe, not to shock; to unite, not to expose idolatry. It creates the illusion of common ground, where truth and error might clasp hands beneath the banner of religion. And the world applauds, not seeing that the same hand which held the cup of abominations now holds out a chalice of unity. Revelation 17:4-5. But the poison has not changed. The Word of God still thunders: “Come out of her, My people.” Revelation 18:4. MPJ

Eternal Generation: I often find myself thinking ahead to what subject I might next attempt to write on, and, somewhat unexpectedly, the ideas frequently arise from sermon audio messages I listen to during my drive to work. While scrolling through the main page last week, a familiar name caught my eye, a name I immediately associated with William Huntington, as it often appears on the cover of the little magazine The Sinner Saved, published by the Huntingtonian Press in England. I have a fair stack of those issues tucked away in my office and have frequently been encouraged by their pages. The message was entitled “The Seed,” delivered by Henry Sant, Pastor of Salem Strict Baptist Church: a Strict and Particular Baptist congregation in Portsmouth, England, with a history dating back to 1813, and identifying with the Gospel Standard Strict Baptists.

Yes, J.C. Philpot, William Gadsby, John Kershaw, John Warburton, the names are familiar to us all; and to many, their writings have been a source of deep comfort and spiritual edification, rich with that experimental flavor so characteristic of their ministry. Personally, I have drawn much profit over the years from their writings, those rich and deeply experimental insights into the life of faith and the gracious fruits of the gospel. Although I only listened to about 10 minutes total of the message, my ears perked at this statement in reference to a teaching known as the eternal generation of the Son of God. “Mr. Sant: Here he is, Isaiah 9:6, I assert at the beginning of this verse tonight he that goeth forth He that goeth forth, he goeth forth in the sense of his eternal generation in the Godhead, and he goeth forth, he cometh forth in the fullness of the time.” He went on to use that term “eternal generation” three additional times throughout the message.

I make no claim to superior light on such high matters, nor do I write with any desire to find fault. Yet as I heard those words spoken and spoken rather confidently by this esteemed brother in Christ, I was reminded how easily sacred truth may become entangled in speculative thought. Few subjects call for greater reverence than the mystery of Christ’s Person. Who He is in Himself, and how He is revealed to us in the scriptures: His eternal Godhead, self-existent and underived, and His manifestation to us in the flesh. The phrase “eternal generation” touches the very borders of that mystery, and if spoken of carelessly, it may obscure rather than exalt His glory. My hope, therefore, is simply to briefly weigh the expression in the light of Scripture, and to do so without respect of persons, if such a thing is possible, especially when speaking of those (Gospel Standard Baptists) whom we love in the truth and with whom we share the fellowship of Christ.

I find it interesting, and please, someone correct me if I’m wrong, that their Articles of Faith are silent on “eternal generation” as a defined doctrine. The articles nowhere employ that terminology. They set forth Christ’s eternal Deity and His true manhood with precision & clarity, &c., yet they do so without adopting the scholastic language that has been debated for centuries in trinitarian theology. Additionally, the GS Articles of Faith were not framed until 1878, after Gadsby, Philpot, Warburton, Kershaw, Tiptaft, and M’Kenzie, (the leading voices of the early movement,) had all entered their rest, which to my mind suggests that they left their articles free from such speculative terminology, expressions later generations would adopt with far less caution. Yet even so, much of the earlier devotional writing carried a tone of reverence when approaching the mystery of Christ’s Person.

It is striking that Philpot, while at points adopting this speculative trinitarian framework, still conceded that the very nature of Christ’s Sonship lay beyond human definition. Near the end of his life he confessed, “we cannot enter into the mystery of the Sonship of Christ. It is beyond all human reasoning. It is revealed, and therefore we believe it; but we must not attempt to explain it. It stands among the deepest mysteries of our most holy faith, to be received, but not to be pried into.” Letters & Sermons, 1869. Such an admission, made at the close of his pilgrimage, stands in stark contrast to the certainty with which the doctrine is often asserted today.

Before going any further, it may be helpful to briefly state what is meant by this phrase, for it is one that sounds venerable and pious, yet its meaning is not often understood. The doctrine of the eternal generation of the Son arose in the early centuries of the church, when men sought to define how the Son could be eternally distinct from, yet equal with, the Father. It teaches that the Son derives His personal subsistence from the Father by an eternal act of begetting within the Godhead, not in time, but from everlasting. However, even in its most careful expression, the language tends to imply derivation, and it is here that many, including most of the older Baptists, hesitated to follow.

If we are to speak of such things at all, we must let Scripture itself define our limits. Nowhere in the Word of God do we read of “eternal generation.” We read of the eternal Godhead, of the only-begotten Son, of the Word who was with God and was God, and of the Son sent forth in the fullness of time; but nowhere is generation spoken of as an eternal act within the divine essence. To introduce such language is to go beyond revelation, in an attempt to explain what Scripture has not revealed.

Scripture speaks with divine simplicity concerning the Person of Christ. It tells us who He is: “the Word was God,” John 1:1, “the Son of the Highest,” Luke 1:32, “God manifest in the flesh,” I Timothy 3:16, “the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person,” Hebrews 1:3, “the image of the invisible God,” Colossians 1:15, “the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending, the first and the last,” Revelation 1:8,17, “Immanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us,” Matthew 1:23, “the true God, and eternal life,” I John 5:20, “upholding all things by the word of His power,” Hebrews 1:3, and “by whom all things consist,” Colossians 1:17, &c. Such declarations leave no room for speculation. They reveal His glory but never attempt to explain His being. Scripture sets CHRIST before us to be worshiped, not analyzed. John 20:28-29. The eternal God made manifest, the Word made flesh. When we have said all that Scripture allows us to say, there still remains a depth unfathomable. It is enough to rest with the apostles, who saw His glory and believed. John 1:14. Such simplicity is the beauty of revelation, yet through the ages men have found it too narrow for their curiosity and too humbling for their pride.

Through the centuries, men have not been content to rest where Scripture leaves them. Rather than worshiping where the apostles adored, they have sought to define what God has not defined, to trace order, relation, and origin within the eternal and self-existent. Thus emerged the doctrine of “eternal generation,” not as the voice of Scripture, but as the offspring of theological philosophy. Yet in all this, nothing is lost by leaving mystery to God. The glory of Christ suffers no lack because we refuse to speculate on the mode of His Sonship. Scripture leaves Him before us as the eternal, self-existent Word, coequal with the Father and the Spirit, the uncreated Creator, the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of His Person. To know Him thus is enough. Faith worships where reason fails, and love adores where language ends.

The supposition that the Son, in His divine essence, owes His existence to the Father does not defend His Godhead; it destroys it. It implies a time before the Son was, and a cause by which He became, a thought wholly inconsistent with self-existent Deity. Such language makes His Godhead dependent, His eternity conditional, and His equality impossible. The thought that God has begotten His own divine counterpart belongs to imagination, not to revelation, and to imply that Christ’s divine nature is derived from the Father is not to magnify His glory but to deny it. Christ is eternal, independent, and underived, “the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Hebrews 13:8. Beyond that, we have neither need nor warrant to go. Revelation leaves us where it found us, at the feet of Christ. Luke 10:39. MPJ

Postscript: The Son is of the same eternal and self-existent essence with the Father, not generated, not derived, but the Word who was with God and was God. To divide their nature or to ascribe superiority to one above the other is to mar the unity of Deity itself; for though the Father be not the Son, nor the Son the Father, yet each alike is God over all, blessed forever.

Reformed Law Keeping: While it's true that many within the reformed and calvinistic schools are not consciously seeking to keep the law for justification, rightly confessing that salvation is by grace, that the righteousness of Christ alone is the ground of acceptance before God, &c., and though having seen the law’s condemnation removed, they somehow still feel compelled to re-erect it as a rule of life, not as a means to merit favor, but as a supposed expression of gratitude and duty. They fear that to walk without the law is to walk lawlessly, that to rest entirely in Christ is somehow to drift into carelessness. In their minds, obedience to the mosaic moral code becomes synonymous with honoring Christ and walking in obedience to the scriptures.

But the subtle tragedy is that by doing so, they unintentionally diminish both the law and gospel. The law, when transformed from a covenant of death into a guide for so-called sanctification, must first be brought down to their level, and its impossible demands somehow made manageable. It must be lowered from a perfect reflection of divine holiness to a moral chart of human behavior. And once thus reduced, it ceases to do what God designed it to do, to expose the sinner’s inability, to shut every mouth, and to magnify Christ as the end of the law for righteousness. Romans 10:4.

What begins as a sincere desire to obey scripture often ends as an unconscious diminishing of it. For the law, when rightly seen, admits of no partial keeping and allows for no human attainment. James 2:10. To bring it into the believer’s walk as a rule of life, one must first strip it of its curse and then pretend that its precepts can be kept apart from its penalty. But such a law is no longer the law God gave, it has been diminished, adjusted and domesticated. Galatians 3:10.

The law was not established to instruct man in the art of obtaining or maintaining life, but to declare that life is beyond him, not to teach man how to live, but to prove that he can't live! Romans 8:3. It was given to condemn, to disable, and to slay; to make sin appear exceedingly sinful, and to convince man that he is both helpless and hopeless beneath its condemnation, that through the death it pronounces he might discover the life it points to in Christ. Romans 3:19-20.

The Scriptures could scarcely be plainer, yet those who boast of fidelity to every jot and tittle seem blind to it. The law was not given to direct the living, but to condemn the dead. How strange, then, that so many who profess to love grace insist on reviving that which was given only to expose their death. “The law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient.” I Timothy 1:9. What part of that is obscure? It must be a kind of reformed blindness. An unwillingness to bend to truth for fear of disturbing a system forged five centuries ago. Colossians 2:8.

And I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating, how audacious to dissect the single, undivided law of God into three man-made fragments - moral, judicial, and ceremonial - merely to keep what suits us and discard the rest! The Lord never authorized such a surgery. What God has joined together, who are we to divide? Matthew 19:6. The law came as one through Moses; and so we are either under it in its entirety or not under it at all. John 1:17. To claim otherwise is to contradict the very nature of the law itself. Either we stand condemned beneath its entirety, or we stand redeemed outside of it in Christ!

Additionally, there is a great difference between law and right, though men often confound the two. One does not need a written code to know right from wrong. Right existed before law was ever given. The patriarchs, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, &c., walked before God without a written statute. They were taught of Christ inwardly. I Corinthians 10:4. The law they knew was not engraved in stone but in the heart, the same “law of faith” Paul declares in Romans 3:27, and the same inward testimony described in Romans 2:15. It was by this divine impression that they discerned good and evil, and by faith they obeyed, not by legal compulsion but by spiritual revelation. Faith, not law, has ever been the true spring of obedience. The same Spirit who wrought faith in Abraham now directs every believer’s gaze to Christ. It looks to Him who fulfilled all righteousness, satisfied every demand of the law, and stands as the living ground of our acceptance before God. Romans 8:3-4.

To most within the reformed camp, this is safe and familiar ground, it's the teaching they were raised under or later persuaded into by the stream of calvinistic literature that has shaped their world. And indeed, it stands enshrined within every major confession, those venerable monuments of protestant thought and scholarship, written with the conviction that they captured the very essence of biblical truth, so revered for their accuracy that questioning them now feels almost like questioning scripture itself. Surely, they think if such ‘holy’ men of protestant renown believed it, we dare not differ. Such men could not have erred in matters so central. To question them seems almost blasphemous, as if truth itself were bound to their memory, and to examine their conclusions would be akin to challenging the very foundations of the ‘faith’ they supposedly reclaimed. But herein lies a subtle danger, the pattern of the Reformation can harden into a prison of tradition. Men cling to a system about Christ rather than to Christ Himself, mistaking inherited orthodoxy for living faith. Faith in Christ can become faith in a system about Christ, and the authority of Scripture is quietly subordinated to the authority of men who once upheld it. This is what they were taught, what they inherited, and what they sincerely believe honors God. And who can blame them? One can hardly fault them for defending what they believe to be a high regard for God’s law. After all, it seems safer to stand with those who exalt the law of God than with those who appear indifferent to it. But the safety they seek in the law can only be found in Christ, who both established and fulfilled it.

The peril of reformed law-keeping lies not in its intention, but in its trajectory, in seeking to uphold what Christ has already fulfilled. The gospel becomes rule, and grace becomes burden. But those who have died with Christ are freed from the law’s dominion, for death has cancelled every debt. “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.” Romans 7:4-6. The law is neither abrogated nor altered, neither canceled nor compromised, but perfectly fulfilled; its every shadow finds substance, its every demand satisfaction, and its entire righteousness consummated in Christ, who is both its end and its glory. Matthew 5:17, Romans 8:3-4, Romans 10:4, Galatians 3:13, Hebrews 10:9-10. Thus, the law, having met its end in Christ, holds no further claim upon those who belong to him. Romans 7:6.

To be freed from the law, then, is not to despise it, but to see it fulfilled. The believer’s liberty does not rest upon its removal, but upon the perfection of its every demand in Christ. Freed from its dominion, he/she walks not by fear but by faith, not by law but by love. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:2. Christ is the believer’s law, life, and liberty, the Alpha and the Omega of all righteousness before God. To seek it anywhere else is spiritual suicide, and to attempt to supplement what Christ has perfected is high treason against the glory of God. Hebrews 10:14. MPJ

Feminism: What a wondrous moment in history, women at last have a voice, and the world is eager to celebrate it. Lest they be accused of standing in the way of progress, every political pulpit and every cultural platform bends to amplify her cause. She will no longer be silenced! Ironically enough, the real tragedy of modern feminism is not that women have been silenced, but that they have been persuaded to speak against themselves, against the uniqueness and beauty of their design, the sanctity of their role, and the peace that comes from divine order.

In the name of progress, the pattern God wove into creation has been torn and re-tailored to fit our modern society, and the God-ordained beauty of marriage, that sacred picture of Christ and His Church, Ephesians 5:31-33, has been dismantled and rebranded as a partnership of equals, emptied of the divine hierarchy that gave it meaning. Marriage, once the sanctuary of divine structure, now mirrors the chaos of the culture. Even the ‘sacred’ vow once joined by the words “to love, honor, and obey” are now scrubbed from ceremonies as offensive to modern ears, or edited to omit obedience altogether, and replaced with empty promises of equality that mask mutual distrust.

And the modern church, terrified of being thought intolerant, and so anxious to fit in with the times has bartered away its prophetic voice for a seat at the world’s table. Its leaders now bless what God has cursed and defend what He has condemned, afraid that truth might cost them their followers. In craving the world’s acceptance the ‘church’ has made peace with its enemy and forgotten that friendship with the world is enmity with God. James 4:4. When truth is no longer preached, lies rush in to take its place.

From that silence, every distortion flows. Threads of truth that once held society together, (gender, marriage, morality, &c.,) are now unraveling, because the word that defined them has been rejected. Having abandoned God’s authority, it should be no surprise that even the most basic truths of creation are now up for debate. Yet equality between men and women was not invented by feminism; it was established by God. Scripture, not social reform, declared their shared worth from the beginning. Genesis 2:21-25. The question has never been whether men and women are equal, but whether difference means inferiority. It does not!

Feminism erases the beauty of distinction and twists equality into imitation, teaching that sameness is the only measure of value. The problem is not that men and women are unequal, it’s that the world now equates difference with discrimination. True freedom lies not in reshaping what God has made, but in recognition of the Creator’s right to define what He has designed, where every part of His design radiates the beauty of perfect wisdom and love. Through this order, the kingdom of Christ restores what society has attempted to destroy, exalting motherhood, ennobling fatherhood, and sanctifying marriage as a living parable of redeeming love. It is the liberty of knowing one’s place in God's divine order, not as inferior or forgotten, but as cherished and purposeful.

In a world that mocks scripture as outdated and oppressive, women are told to follow their dreams, though the dreams themselves are scripted by those who despise the God of Scripture. They can be anything, the world insists, as long as it’s not submissive, modest, or joyfully devoted to their family. Freedom, they are told, is found in overthrowing God’s order. Such is the irony of our cultural awakening, the one role despised is the one ordained by God. Biblical values have been discarded, and what was once honored is now treated as oppressive and mocked as outdated.

Ask the modern woman what liberation means, and I wonder what she will answer? A freedom to chart her own course in life and to control her own body. Freedom from the so-called tyranny of men and historical gender bondage? Freedom from motherhood, from marriage vows, and from the old order of things. Free at last! Free to chase careers that consume their lives, to “love” without commitment, and to live without any true purpose. “Freed” to labor for corporations instead of their children, “freed” to replace “faith” with therapy and family with self-fulfillment.

This so-called “free” woman lives in the cruelest captivity of all, slavery to self and crushed beneath the unbearable weight of playing god. The pharmaceutical companies know it. The counselors know it. Somewhere, deep within, she knows it too. We see broken homes, absent mothers, and a culture of bitterness. But they refuse to see it. They truly believe this is freedom, the right to use their bodies as they please, to trade marriage for convenience and commitment for pleasure, to define success by income and fulfillment by independence.

Yet this illusion of freedom carries a dreadful cost, lives ended in the womb, and if kept, then quickly handed over to the state to be shaped as loyal citizens of a godless world. The classroom becomes the nursery of unbelief, where truth is silenced, sin normalized, and innocence stolen. It sounds like “choice” but every line comes from the same script, written by a culture that hates God’s order. This is not freedom but the illusion of it, sin celebrated as self-expression, and the bill for it will need to be paid by the next generation.

What then has feminism achieved? It has dismantled the framework of the family, replacing divine order with human confusion. The husband’s authority is ridiculed, the wife’s calling despised, and the children, seeing no authority worth respecting, grow up as their own masters, rude, restless, and with a huge sense of entitlement. This is the modern household, and that’s in homes where a husband still exists. And this disorder, broadcast daily through social media and sitcoms, is sold to the world as normal. Few even notice that the very structure of life has been reversed and has become a perfect reflection of a world that has rejected God’s pattern.

This is not meant to demean women in any sense whatsoever, but to remind us all of God’s perfect order. Thus far, the LORD has given us five adorable young granddaughters, and my heart aches as I perceive a world devoid of biblical principles attempting to reshape them in their own image. An age where virtue is mocked, purity is dismissed, and womanhood is redefined by rebellion, I pray that God will guard their hearts from the lies of this age, that they may find their worth not in the approval of culture but in the unchanging love of Christ the One in whose image they were truly made. A wise woman once wrote, “the fact that I am a woman does not make me a different kind of Christian, but the fact that I am a Christian does make me a different kind of woman.” MPJ

Custodians of the Truth: Every group claims, (I speak only in reference to those who actually believe the scriptures to be the word of God,) in one way or another to represent the true christian faith most faithfully. Each insists that its teachings, practices, or whatever it emphasizes the most is that which closely mirrors the pattern of scripture. They all point to their own harmony with scripture, their manner of worship, their form of church government, and their interpretation of doctrine as proof of that faithfulness, but all share the same subtle confidence that they alone have seen what others have missed, as each regards itself as the most faithful custodian of the gospel, the truest expression of what Christianity ought to be. The distinctives become distinctions, and distinctions become divisions.

Of course, why would anyone keep attending otherwise, but this sense of belonging among those who share the same convictions? Few would continue sitting under teaching they believed to be partly false. Most continue because they truly believe their assembly reflects the faith most accurately. To admit otherwise would feel like betraying conscience or tradition. We also must face the reality that many of us stay where we are, not because we have been persuaded by truth, but because we have grown comfortable with that which is familiar. This is the world we have always known, and it feels safe. I don’t mean that harshly, it’s simply an honest look at human nature and how easily we adapt to our surroundings. Familiarity often dulls discernment. It’s easier to remain where we belong socially than to ask whether our hearts are bound to Christ, or only to the “fellowship” that is gathered in his name. Matthew 18:20.

One danger might be that fellowship becomes the substitute for faithfulness, and unity in a name replaces unity in Christ, and how easily that sense of correctness becomes a mark of superiority, as if Christ Himself could be confined within the borders of our ecclesiastical definitions. When our identity rests in being a little more “biblical” or “sound” than others, we may be nearer to defending our opinions than exalting Christ. It will always be a certain emphasis, tone, or interpretation that sets us just one notch above the rest. And, of course, that little notch becomes the dividing line, so that everyone else needs to “come over” and see it our way, as proof that they’ve found what others have missed. How easily that spirit creeps into all of us, as we measure ourselves against others and declare our “house” to be the standard, and the blueprint by which everyone else must build! The true standard is the infinite Christ.

The Spirit doesn’t call us to join camps, form denominations, sign membership rolls, or gather around personalities. We do that just fine on our own. He calls us to follow Christ, John 10:27, to lift His name, John 3:30, not build or embellish our little empires of orthodoxy. It's not about making us prominent but making Christ preeminent. Ever since Nimrod first attempted to gather men under one banner, to make a name for himself, Genesis 10:8, humanity has never ceased building towers. Every creed has its walls, every sect its measure of superiority, and few seem to remember that the LORD alone is the standard. Philippians 3:15-16. I can’t help but think the “church” was never meant to be a patchwork of little groups and tribes, each one polishing its distinctives while peering suspiciously over the fence at the next.

But that’s where we are, the “church” in all her spots and wrinkles. Everything man touches, man corrupts; and yet, nothing man corrupts escapes the overruling hand of God. The Lord orchestrates every mixture not by oversight, but by design. Every broken piece, every divided part, somehow fits into His purpose. One day, all the fragments will be gathered up, and the church, not as man built it, but as Christ loved it, will stand whole before Him. Ephesians 5:27. What seems scattered to us is gathered in His wisdom, for Christ will be exalted in all. Colossians 1:18.

That reflection isn’t meant to discourage anyone, much less to “unchurch” them. It’s simply a reality check for us all. There’s something in human nature that assumes faithfulness for itself while doubting it in others, that imagines our particular emphases, our “gospel distinctives,” make us more faithful to Christ. Under the banner of “standing for truth,” we sometimes slip into a mindset of theological superiority, comforted by the thought that we’ve kept closer to the scriptures than others. Those who know a little doctrine, or can trace a line or two of history, are often the most insistent that “they” alone follow Scripture exactly, the ones most certain they’ve arrived at the purest understanding of Scripture and have nailed down every corner of doctrine.

We wrap it up in words like “contending for the faith” or “defending the gospel,” yet beneath it often lurks a subtle pride in being the ones who got it right. But the measure of truth is not found in the fervor of our devotion, nor in how loudly we declare our orthodoxy, but in the sure mercy of the ONE who holds us fast when our understanding falters. Such mercy reminds us that truth is not a trophy to be owned but a light by which we are kept. Psalm 43:3. When we clutch the truth as though it were our possession, we step out of its light and into our own shadow, as we forget that truth is not ours to master but Christ’s to reveal. “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” II Corinthians 4:6. If we have seen any light at all, it is because He has opened our eyes to behold it; and if we are kept in that light, it is because His mercy has not only held us there but has so captivated our hearts that we cannot look away. John 6:68.

And so, even amid the confusion of divided voices and contending claims, the same life flows through every branch that abides in Christ. We rest in this unchanging truth, that Christ Himself is the faithful custodian of the gospel. He keeps His word alive in the hearts of His people, not by the precision of their doctrine, but by grace alone. I John 2:27. Not because we are so faithful to defend or define it, but because Christ is faithful, even when we are not. So, whether in isolation or in fellowship, in agreement or in division, the truth remains safe, not because we have kept it, but because Christ has kept us. The ‘church’ may indeed fracture, and voices rise and fall, but Christ remains the same, faithful, sufficient, and unchanging, and when all else fails, that is enough. John 8:12. MPJ

Common Fall of Mankind: The notion of a common “fall” of all mankind is emphatically stated or subtly introduced in almost all the major confessions. This idea has shaped the language of theology for centuries, making Adam’s act the hinge upon which all history turns. But Scripture does not begin there. It begins with God: His decree, His purpose, His Christ. To start with Adam is to read the story backward, interpreting eternity through the lens of time. No decree of God ever depended upon man’s fidelity or rebellion. Election and reprobation stand apart from any supposed “fall” of man.

I recently heard a prominent “divinity” doctor of the calvinistic persuasion say that it was “unfortunate” that Adam fell. I could hardly believe what I was hearing. After years of study, after poring over the scriptures and mastering the fine art of theological hair-splitting; after collecting degrees, footnotes, and commendations from men, this doctor of “divinity” still imagines that the Almighty’s eternal counsel can be overturned by a piece of fruit? I suppose that’s what tuition buys these days, a degree in divine disappointment. One might almost pity such learning, for it has taught him everything about religion except God. To call Adam’s sin “unfortunate” is to imply that redemption itself was a contingency, and to lament the “fall” as tragic is to deny that God “worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.” How could the very event that magnified the mercy of God and revealed the glory of the Redeemer be deemed unfortunate? Such language betrays a gospel built on reaction, not revelation. If that were true, then the gospel itself would be a divine afterthought, a rescue plan hastily conceived, not the eternal purpose of divine love revealed in time. Yet Scripture teaches the opposite: Adam existed because of Christ, that in Him grace might reign through righteousness unto eternal life. To pity the fall is to pity the very platform upon which grace was ordained to shine, and to call it unfortunate is to misunderstand both sin and salvation.

Scripture roots both sin and salvation in the eternal counsel of God, not in historical accident or human rebellion. Before Adam ever transgressed, the purpose of God stood firm, to save some and condemn others. In that light, the term fall is misleading. The Word simply says that Adam and Eve sinned. Their descent was not a fall from divine control into uncertainty, but the measured outworking of the eternal decree of Him who “doeth according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.” Daniel 4:35.

When the earth was cursed for man’s sake, it was not simply an act of vengeance, but a revelation of divine wisdom and benevolence. The curse served man’s ultimate good, forcing his eyes heavenward and preparing the way for the righteousness of Another. Without guilt there could be no grace; without the sentence of death, no resurrection life. Sin’s entrance and death’s dominion opened the channel through which the love of God would flow in Christ, and the curse the stage upon which divine justice and mercy would meet, the condemnation of sinners manifesting the justice of God, and the salvation of sinners unveiling the grace of God in Christ Jesus. “Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 5:20-21. The eternal purpose of God, fixed before the foundation of the world, accounted for every transgression and every mercy that would follow. To imagine a common fall is to imagine a frustrated God, whose purpose depends on man’s faithfulness.

But Scripture reveals a God whose purpose stands before sin, before time, before Adam himself. The entrance of sin into the world was no interruption of His plan, but the appointed stage upon which grace would shine. Thus, Adam and Eve did not fall so much as they fulfilled the divine decree in which sin and redemption were both foreordained. What man calls a fall was, in truth, the unfolding of a mystery older than creation itself, the eternal design revealed in Christ, the foreordained Lamb of God.

The very use of the word “fall” betrays a theology that exalts man and diminishes God. It implies that sin derailed divine intention, that God was reacting to man’s failure rather than executing His decree. It presumes that Adam stood in moral perfection and somehow slipped into depravity, as though paradise was accidentally lost. But Scripture never grants Adam that kind of perfection; he was created of the dust, an earthy man, formed innocent but not incorruptible, natural, not spiritual; temporal, not eternal. The so-called “fall” was not a slip from perfection but the foreordained unveiling of man’s need for the Second Adam, the Lord from heaven. What theology calls tragedy, Scripture reveals as the appointed path to redemption.

In conclusion, Adam and Eve were never left to the self-determination of their wills, as if their wills were independent of God’s active control. Their actions were never suspended in moral neutrality, nor were they under a mere possibility of transgressing, dangling between obedience and disobedience as possibilities, but walking within the ordained plan of Him who “declares the end from the beginning.” The transgression was as certain as the cross that would redeem it, for both were bound up in one eternal purpose, to glorify God in His Son. “For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things,” Romans 11:36, and that divine purpose includes the first offence as surely as the final deliverance. MPJ

Federal Headship: The Westminster Confession of Faith appears to represent the prevailing view of both Protestant and Catholic theology regarding original sin, which, in essence, declares that: “All humanity sinned in Adam. His guilt is imputed to every descendant, and his corrupted nature is inherited by all. Consequently, every person is born guilty, spiritually dead, inclined toward evil, and under divine wrath until redeemed by Christ.” If that understanding is mistaken, I stand open to correction; yet it seems to me an honest summary of both Westminster’s view and the common doctrine of nearly all Christendom. Adam fell, and we fell with him, his sin our guilt, his fall our ruin.

Though I had no religious upbringing and did not open a bible until my late teens, this persuasion had long since taken root in my thoughts, echoing through the general language of religion and culture alike. When I first encountered it in words, I recognized it as something already assumed, an idea that required no introduction, as though universally known and seldom questioned, woven into the general language of the world, so commonly repeated among those even faintly familiar with scripture that to even question it seemed almost irreverent, as though one were challenging not merely a doctrine, but the very foundations of faith itself. As I began studying church history and theology, I soon realized this doctrine transcends nearly every denominational boundary, standing as one of the unquestioned pillars of what is called Christianity. Nearly every creed and classroom begins there, with Adam’s fall, his guilt, and our shared condemnation. From the staunch five-point calvinist to the most broad-minded evangelical, it’s the universal tenet of all who bear the christian name.

Although it is rarely framed this way, and surely not by those who emphasize grace, yet the narrative most christians inherit begins with failure, not with purpose; in disaster, not design, with Adam’s transgression rather than Christ’s triumph. What God decreed in Christ before the world began has been muted beneath the cry of Adam’s transgression. Yet to start with Adam is to start with ruin; to start with Christ is to start with grace. It has never been about Adam’s fall or our attempts to rise, it has always been about Christ, who is the Alpha and the Omega, the center of all meaning, history, and redemption.

Interestingly enough, a featured sermon, (clear and faithful to scripture,) on the sermon audio site, which I tapped into on my way to work yesterday morning, touched upon this subject in a sort of an “incidental” way, in which this statement was made, “that one act of Adam's disobedience had a devastating effect upon all his posterity, upon all of his seed.” That statement is, of course, undeniably true in its natural sense, and none can deny the far-reaching consequence of that single act. Before any consideration of standing or falling in Adam, before Adam drew his first breath, they were already secured in Christ; chosen in HIM before the foundation of the world, their true head and righteousness. “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love; having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.” Ephesians 1:4-5.

Their standing / identity before God was never founded upon the rise or fall of the first Adam, whether in his obedience or his disobedience, but on the righteousness of the second, a righteousness eternal in purpose and revealed in the unfolding of redemption. This truth shifts the ground entirely, from the temporal and corruptible to the eternal and divine. The believer looks beyond Adam, beyond dust and ruin, beyond every trace of human success or failure, beyond the reach of human striving or the shadows of inherited corruption, to Christ, whose purpose was established before creation itself began. In that eternal counsel, before sin ever entered the story, Christ was the chosen Head and Redeemer of His people, the “image” after which man was formed, Romans 8:29, and the goal toward which all history moves. “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible… all things were created by him, and for him, and he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” Colossians 1:15-17.

Nothing that has unfolded in time has altered what was decreed in Him. The garden, the cross, and the resurrection are not disconnected events but chapters in one divine narrative that began in Christ and shall end in His glory. To look to Christ, therefore, is to behold the meaning of all things. Creation finds its origin in Him, redemption its center, and consummation its crown. “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.” Romans 11:36.

The statement, “that one act of Adam’s disobedience had a devastating effect upon all his posterity, upon all of his seed,” is true only within its natural scope. Adam’s seed is all mankind, and his disobedience indeed brought corruption and death to every soul born of his race. Yet Scripture also reveals another lineage, another headship, another seed altogether. Isaiah 53:10. In Christ, a spiritual seed was chosen before Adam’s transgression ever occurred, a people not merely of flesh, but of promise, whose life was hidden with Christ in God, Colossians 3:3, and though they inherit Adam’s nature in the flesh, their standing was never grounded in Adam at all, but in Christ, their eternal surety. Romans 9:8. What Adam lost could never cancel what God had already secured in Christ. For as death spreads through the natural seed of Adam, so life flows eternally through the redeemed seed of Christ. Romans 5:17-19. When Adam hid among the trees, ashamed and afraid, he showed what every one of us would do apart from grace. But when God clothed him in a covering not his own, He showed what He had already purposed in Christ, a righteousness freely given to those He loves. So yes, Adam exposes what we are; but Christ declares who we are in Him. Adam reveals our ruin; Christ reveals our righteousness. “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” II Corinthians 5:21.

What a mystery beyond all telling, that in the eternal counsel of God, the elect were seen, loved, and chosen in Christ before corruption entered or creation existed. We look upon such truth in wonder, scarcely able to speak them, truths that are, without question, too wonderful for us, belonging to that hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory. I Corinthians 2:7. All we can do is bow in adoration, confessing that salvation is of the Lord, and that grace was reigning long before sin had a voice.

It is important to be clear, the Scriptures do indeed set forth a parallel between Adam and Christ, but this does not necessarily mean that Adam’s personal guilt is judicially imputed to every individual as though all were legally condemned before ever sinning. Rather, in Adam all die because all share in his nature and follow his disobedience. Adam’s transgression opened the floodgate of corruption and death to all his offspring; through him sin entered, and through sin, death passed upon all, for that all have sinned. Romans 5:12. The ruin is real, not merely forensic; it is the fountainhead of corruption that touches every life. Yet ultimate guilt and condemnation are always tied to our own sin, not to an inherited legal sentence apart from participation. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son, the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.” Ezekiel 18:20. Thus, while we acknowledge the contrast between the two Adams, we find difficulty in making Adam’s guilt the foundation of our condemnation.

Some almost seem to suggest that Adam lost divine life or righteousness as something inherent; he simply manifested his creaturely dependence and exposed that life is found only in Christ. No one is reclaiming something that was forfeited, for man never possessed in himself the life that belongs to God alone. No man is recovering what was forfeited, for nothing divine was ever native to the creature. Redemption, therefore, is not restitution but revelation, the unveiling of Christ as the eternal Source and Head of life, and that true life exists only in him. “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.” I John 5:11.

It is not Adam’s failure but our own sin that condemns us, and not our works but Christ’s righteousness that justifies us. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive; who stands as the eternal Head of the redeemed, the second Man from heaven, whose righteousness, secured from eternity and revealed in time, is freely imputed to all whom the Father gave Him to redeem. “As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.” John 17:12. In this divine contrast the whole counsel of God is unveiled. Adam introduces sin and death; Christ introduces righteousness and life. Romans 5:18-19.

The divine narrative of redemption traces neither its first breath nor its final glory to Adam, but to Christ. In Him creation was framed, in Him redemption accomplished, and in Him all things shall reach their perfect consummation. Ephesians 1:9-10. For this reason, redemption cannot be viewed as God’s reaction to Adam, but as His revelation of Christ. What many call the “fall” was foreknown and foreordained; it neither altered God’s counsel nor gave rise to grace, for the covenant stood firm in Christ before the foundation of the world. Acts 15:18.

Let it be remembered that Adam’s transgression did not disrupt God’s design; it revealed it. The entrance of sin was not an interruption in the divine plan, but a stage upon which grace would be revealed in its highest glory, and the glory of Christ would be made known. From eternity, God decreed that through Adam’s transgression, grace should reign; and that from the ruin of the first creation, redemption’s glory should arise. Nothing has ever fallen outside His decree or slipped through His hands; every event in time fulfills what His wisdom decreed before time began. “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.” Ephesians 1:11. Adam’s disobedience served the purpose of showing forth the obedience of the Son, in whom mercy and truth meet and righteousness and peace kiss each other. Romans 5:19.

This view does not deny total depravity; it simply redefines its root. In this light, Adam’s sin was not the origin of evil but the revelation of a preordained condition, the dark canvas on which the righteousness of Christ would be displayed. Man is born sinful, not because Adam’s sin is charged to his account, but because God, in His inscrutable wisdom, creates man in a state of moral dependency and corruption, that His grace in Christ might be magnified. Adam’s sin did not cause humanity’s corruption, it exposed it.

Thus, from the first breath of creation to the final resurrection, all things, (creation, corruption, and consummation,) move according to His counsel, and all things lead us to Christ, who is both the beginning and the end, the key to all mystery, the fulfillment of every promise, and the end toward which every decree of God has moved from everlasting. “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.” Isaiah 46:10. When all is said and done, it is Christ alone who stands at the center of every purpose and every promise. II Corinthians 1:10. To see this is to see the heart of Scripture, not man’s failure, but God’s faithfulness; not ruin, but redemption; not Adam, but Christ. The believer’s story, from first to last, is written in the name of Jesus Christ. Colossians 3:3-4. It is, and has always been, all about Christ.

Before closing, I should say without any hesitation that I recognize that both views can find some support in Scripture. My purpose has simply been to trace the line that seems most consistent with the grace revealed in Christ. I assert no finality of understanding, but simply a willingness to follow the measure of light granted through Scripture, a view that may yet be refined or redirected by clearer understanding. At the moment, my mind inclines this way, though past experience reminds me how often my course has needed correction or led me down roads less traveled. Additionally, I’ve taken enough wrong turns in the past to know that I’m still learning the way. When the dust of our inquiry has settled and every system has spent its force; whether one holds to the confessional framework of federal headship, the high grace emphasis of eternal union, or even a more “balanced” persuasion, which acknowledges Adam’s headship while interpreting it through the eternal union of the elect in Christ, every line of grace leads to Christ, who is both the beginning and the end of all sound doctrine, and the center of all divine revelation. Revelation 19:10. MPJ

Judgment Seat of Christ: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” II Corinthians 5:10. We’ve all heard people say that when they stand before God, they hope their good works will outweigh their bad, but if we have even the slightest understanding of grace, it will cause us to tremble for them, immediately recognizing their perilous condition outside of Christ. Scripture leaves no room for such a thought. There are no good works apart from Christ; to imagine otherwise is “to imagine a vain thing.” Psalm 2:1. Count them all, and they testify only to guilt and unbelief. Man has nothing to offer but sin, and God accepts nothing but the righteousness of His Son, so unless a man is found in Christ, he is already judged, for outside of Him there is nothing but guilt, condemnation and death. The last tragic sentence my mother said to me prior to seeing her for the last time was, “I'll hope to see you in heaven if my works are good enough.” My immediate reply was, “Mom, no one's works are good enough, only Christ is good enough.” It solemnly echoes this hopeless delusion.

Yes, we say, that is the speech of unbelief, of those who still trust in their own merit, who echo the lie that man can stand before God in anything of himself. But have we never spoken the same language under a more refined accent? We claim to know grace, to rest in Christ alone, yet when the judgment seat of Christ is mentioned many still imagine a review of personal conduct, a weighing of deeds to determine reward or standing in glory, where your entire life is scrutinized; not to decide salvation, but to calculate reward, as though the LORD of glory must appraise His own handiwork, to see how much of His own work in us deserved to be repaid. In such thoughts, Christ Himself is displaced, the ONE whose death is our satisfaction before divine justice, whose resurrection is our standing in righteousness, and whose finished work has already secured every crown His redeemed shall wear.

Both notions, though clothed in a different language, spring from the same degenerate root, the presumption that something in man can supplement the perfection of Christ. Whether it be the unbeliever’s hope of acceptance or the believer’s hope of reward, both make grace a debtor and the cross incomplete. The one trusts in works for salvation, the other in works for distinction. The form changes, but the heart of it remains unbelief. Thus, in the end, the difference is only outward. The unbeliever dreams of earning acceptance, the “believer” of earning recompense, yet both alike forget that every debt has been paid, every crown purchased, and every glory secured in Christ alone. The very thought of “more” is an insult to grace.

To imagine a future reward for religious service, for sacrifices made “for the cause of Christ,” is to repeat the ancient folly of thinking that God in some inconceivable manner is obligated to acknowledge man's greatness in all that he has done for others in the “name” of Christ. This is complete foolishness at best, and at worst a blasphemous denial of grace itself, a subtle attempt to make the ALMIGHTY a paymaster to His creatures. “Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself? Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous, or is it gain to Him, that thou makest thy ways perfect?” Job 22:2-3.

Who made “us” to differ, and what have we that we have not received? I Corinthians 4:7. “Are we better than they,” Romans 3:9, as we attempt to measure or evaluate some “fruit” that now all of a sudden has sprung up in the very 'garden' of God as though everything we have ever brought forth in our life that was or could be considered “good” was not originally planted, cultivated and brought forth by the very hand that formed us? Measuring it by what? A scale that “broke” in Eden?

The only fruit is the fruit of the Spirit, Ephesians 5:9, which has nothing to do with whatever refinements we might adorn our lives with, or with the embellishments we attempt to add to the lives of others, but everything to do with setting forth the praises and virtues of “Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.” I Peter 2:9. It’s not about us now, and it will not be about us then, for in that day all fruit will be traced to the Vine, and every crown will be cast at the Redeemer’s feet. “The four and twenty elders fall down before Him that sat on the throne, and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power, for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.” Revelation 4:10-11.

Besides, the “garden” of the Lord grows no fruit of man’s planting. To count the harvest as ours is to rob the Husbandman of His glory. “So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.” I Corinthians 3:7. If there is any holy inclination, any love toward His name, any hatred of sin or longing for righteousness, it is wholly the result of grace. We are but clay in the Potter’s hand. Romans 9:21. Do we really grasp that? We are dust shaped by mercy. Are we forgetting that even the ability to believe is a gift, that every aspect of salvation is of the Lord from first to last, from the first awakening of faith to its final perfection in glory, all the “workmanship” of Christ’s own hands, Ephesians 2:10, the Spirit working in us “both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13.

In the light of these considerations, this verse, “for we must all appear (be manifested) before the judgment seat of Christ,” like every line of Scripture, finds its meaning in Christ. To wrench them from the gospel and employ them in the service of human merit and conditional theology is to distort both the text and the throne it describes. In that “great and notable day of the Lord” both the “righteous” and the “wicked” shall stand before the same throne, but under different representatives, one clothed in the righteousness of Christ, the other in the guilt of Adam. The saints appear, not to be tried, but to be vindicated in their Head; the wicked, not to reason, but to receive their just condemnation. John 5:24. The same presence of Christ that glorifies the saints destroys the wicked. II Thessalonians 2:8.

This judgment seat is the meeting place of all divine perfections, where righteousness and peace are seen united in Christ, the ONE in whom mercy is magnified through justice, and justice glorified through mercy. For the believer, it will be the open manifestation of his union with Christ, who has already borne his judgment; for the unbeliever, the fearful unveiling of a rejection long harbored in the heart and confirmed by unbelief. John 3:18. To the saints, that light will be joy; to Christ’s enemies, it will be absolute terror, “but those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me,” Luke 19:27, but to all, it will proclaim the glory of the Lamb.

As far as the “receiving of the things done in the body,” it is not a divine audit but a divine unveiling. The believer receives nothing apart from what Christ has already received for him; he simply enters into the open display of that inheritance. Matthew 25:34. He stands not before the bar of recompense, but before the throne of revelation. The righteousness that will appear there is the same that was imputed here, the righteousness of Christ alone; the deeds done in the body will be revealed for what they are, the fruit of grace, the manifestation of that life which has been wrought in the believer by the Spirit. What we “receive” will be the public acknowledgment that every holy thought, every faithful act, every enduring grace, was His workmanship from beginning to end. Isaiah 26:12.

The believer regards the judgment seat from a wholly new position. The question of guilt has been forever settled at the cross of Christ, and the sentence of death reversed in His resurrection. Romans 4:25. He does not stand in Adam to be weighed, but in Christ to be revealed, not awaiting a verdict, but manifesting a victory, Christ’s own triumph over sin and death, no longer on the ground of guilt or re-examination, but on the ground of glory, clothed in the righteousness of Him who died and rose again.

In conclusion, if the judgment seat of Christ were a tribunal to weigh a believer’s life, then the gospel would be no gospel at all. If this concept of a future evaluation of believers is true, what saint could even look forward to such a day with any sense of joyful anticipation? Who then could rejoice at the Lord’s coming? Only those deceived by the pride of their own supposed faithfulness, who revere the echo of their own devotion and name it the voice of Christ within, as they find within themselves some ground of confidence in what they call their faithful christian life. But the one who has seen something of the plague of his own heart, who knows the corruption that clings to every thought and deed, would crumble at just the thought of a fresh reckoning and reevaluation of everything he had ever done in the “name” of Christ, and all his works exposed for what they really are! Isaiah 64:6. Each trembling conscience would be left to measure itself by its own obedience, and every saint would stand in the shadow of condemnation. But Scripture teaches no such uncertainty. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1. MPJ

“God is light.” I John 1:5: While working on a different, though related topic, several cross-reference Scriptures led me to I Timothy 6:16, where Paul says that God “dwelleth in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see.” What a thought, that GOD hides Himself, not in shadow, nor in distance, &c., but in light; not by silence, but by a voice so distinct that only faith can discern it. “For with thee is the fountain of life, in thy light shall we see light.” Psalm 36:9. Not veiled by night, but clothed “with light as with a garment.” Psalm 104:2. God is not absent, but present everywhere, not hiding Himself behind creation, but within it, within its life, its order, its light, so that “the whole earth is full of His glory.” Isaiah 6:3. His immeasurable glory so saturates the world, and yet the world does not perceive it. John 3:19. The same glory that seems hidden from sight is the very glory that upholds all things; the light that veils His face is the same that fills the world. “And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east, and his voice was like a noise of many waters and the earth shined with his glory.” Ezekiel 43:2. Hidden, yet all around us, Acts 17:28, unseen, yet “upholding all things by the word of His power.” Hebrews 1:3. The LORD fills all things, (“behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee,” I Kings 8:27,) yet remains above all things; veiled not by darkness, but by a glory too infinite, and light too unapproachable. Hidden not because He has withdrawn into some far corner of the universe, but because His glory is too pure, too bright, too infinite for mortal eyes. Hebrews 12:29.

The thought itself overwhelms the understanding. If light itself, the purest thing we know, which dazzles the eye and floods creation is but His covering, a mere mantle to conceal the brightness of essential glory, then how inconceivable must be the majesty of Him who dwells within it! “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.” Psalm 145:3. God hides Himself so that He might be sought; He reveals Himself so that He might be known. ”Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.” Isaiah 45:15.

Yet Scripture does not leave us staring into unapproachable brightness. The light that conceals the Father’s glory is the same light revealed in the Son. In Christ, what was veiled from sight is made visible, and what was hidden in majesty is made known in mercy. “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” II Corinthians 4:6. The unseeable God is made visible in Christ, “no man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” John 1:18. The glory that creation could not contain is revealed in the face of Christ, “the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person.” Hebrews 1:3. MPJ

Death & Dying: “What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave?” Psalms 89:48. The psalmist’s question is not merely rhetorical; it is universal and absolute. “What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death?” NONE. Death levels everything and strips every illusion bare. The driving principle that rules this perishing world, “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,” I John 2:16, is exposed at last to be the desperate pursuit of man to grasp life in a realm ruled by death. Death is the great equalizer, the moment when all illusions dissolve. It strips away the robes of power and the garments of pride, until king and beggar, scholar and fool, lie side by side in the same dust. The wisdom of one who once commanded nations, and the power of such as held the world in fear, are now forever silenced beside the fool who could not even rule his own spirit. The learned and the ignorant, the powerful and the poor, meet together in the same silence. All titles fade, all distinctions perish, and man is seen for what he is - dust before his Maker. Genesis 18:27.

Death exposes the lie of human autonomy. Every philosophy, religion, and culture built on that same assumption, that man can live, think, or reason independently from the LORD stands upon the same delusion, and death is God’s unanswerable rebuttal to that lie. It is the divine reminder written into the fabric of existence that man is nothing. “Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee, verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity.” Psalm 39:5. No matter how high his knowledge climbs, how vast his empire grows, or how loudly his philosophies claim self-sufficiency, death brings him to silence. It ends every argument of human pride and autonomy in the dust from which man was taken. For the unbeliever, death unmasks the futility of his system; he cannot reason himself out of the grave, nor redeem his soul from corruption. All is silenced, every theory ends, religion crumbles, and philosophy yields to the one reality it cannot explain - GOD. The grave is the great refutation of autonomy, the final contradiction to every thought not captive to Christ. For the believer, death has been reinterpreted through Christ, its curse transformed into blessing, its darkness dispelled by resurrection light. In that final moment, all philosophy yields to this truth, life is found in Christ alone. II Timothy 1:10.

We are so dull when it comes to eternal realities! We can talk endlessly about the Bible, dutifully attend to all that the Lord has orchestrated for us, and “live” Christ, Colossians 3:4, according to the Scriptures, and yet when the thought of dying draws near, our composure falters and our ‘faith’ seems to lose its voice. The truths we profess with confidence in life often seem to crumble when faced with death. Faith gives way to feeling, and the eternal we once spoke of with some hopeful assurance suddenly seems distant and unreal. The voice that once proclaimed, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory,” I Corinthians 15:55, now grows strangely quiet, and the heart that rejoiced in Christ’s risen life trembles as it nears that final moment. We confess that to depart and be with Christ is far better, Philippians 1:23, yet the approach of death clouds the certainty of glory. Our reluctance reveals how easily we mistake familiarity for safety, how the known, though fading, seems dearer to us than the unseen glories of Christ.

We say that we desire Christ above all, yet tremble at the door that opens to Him. Our nature shrinks from that threshold, for it is the one doorway that cannot be crossed without leaving everything else behind. In an almost desperate attempt we build our lives around keeping it closed, clinging to that which we naturally understand, even when what awaits us is infinitely better. We are so busy fortifying our tents in the wilderness that we forget our real home is a city whose builder and maker is God. Hebrews 11:10. We repair, improve, and adorn our temporary dwellings as though they were eternal, forgetting that they will soon be taken down and replaced with “a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” II Corinthians 5:1. Christ has gone before us to prepare a place, and every loosened stake and fraying cord only reminds us that the city is near.

We know this is the Lord's will for each and every one of us, and yet, for some reason, we want no part of it, at least not at this moment, nor anytime in the near future. It is a blessing certainly not prayed for, and in a unique sense, the only blessing that ushers us immediately into the presence of Christ, and that will at last bring every promise of God to its consummation.

When believers consider death apart from Christ, they either shrink from it in fear or grow callous in indifference. Yet even such weakness cannot undo “the hope set before us.” Hebrews 6:18. Faith, though trembling, still clings to the anchor of Christ’s finished work, and the very frailty that makes us fear death drives us nearer to the One who has conquered it. I Peter 1:5. When death is viewed through Christ, conquered, destroyed, and abolished, it stands transformed, II Corinthians 4:14, as the Spirit teaches the saints to look away from death as surely as from sin, fixing their eyes wholly upon Christ, who has abolished it. Yet within, I sense the lingering reality of unbelief, painfully knowledgeable of the fact that in myself I am too weak to face what only Christ has conquered, and only grace can subdue. I can only entrust myself to the mercy of Him who began the work, that He may finish it even in the shadow of death. I Thessalonians 5:24. In that hour, I shall need what He alone can give, grace to look away from death, and to see only Christ.

I want to conclude with something a faithful brother from Florida once said, words that bring our hope into sharp and living focus: Brother Curtis just turned 95. He still gets around pretty good, but he's limited in some ways, of course. But his mind is still sharp and his heart is fixed on Christ. Curtis knows that his time here on the earth is growing very short. But he said, “if you hear that I have died, don't believe it, because he said, I'll will be more alive then than I am now.” What a blessed hope for the children of God! “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life, he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” John 11:25-26. MPJ

Saving Faith: Am I the only one to notice that much of the faith-centered language common in evangelical and even calvinistic circles tends (often unconsciously) to shift the center of gravity from Christ Himself to our believing about Christ. It seems a subtle, but serious displacement. The term “saving faith” may, in a certain sense, be affirmed from Scripture, for the Word does indeed speak of believing “unto salvation.” When faith is understood rightly, if by it we mean that faith which beholds Christ as salvation itself, and receives the testimony that God has already justified His people in His Son. In that light, it may be called saving, not as a cause, but as a witness to Christ’s finished work, that inward persuasion to the truth that Christ alone is our salvation. Saving, not for what it is in itself, but for what it apprehends, and I think that's how the term is being used by those acclimated to a “grace” vocabulary; yet even so, I find the expression somewhat unwise, for it unwittingly mirrors the language of conditionalists who view faith as the hinge upon which salvation turns. Nehemiah 13:24. However unintended, it lends itself to the idea that man’s believing contributes to his justification, or that salvation waits to be made effectual by the act of faith. Scripture never speaks in such a way. It declares that salvation is of the Lord, finished, perfect, and given freely. Faith does not activate redemption; it perceives it. The danger lies not in the word itself, but in the subtle suggestion that God’s grace is suspended until man believes.

A little deviation in speech may work a great alteration in thought. If the gospel’s sound is not kept simple, the soul soon rests upon the act of believing rather than upon Him who is believed. Language, once meant to magnify Christ, turns to magnify the believer’s faith; and that which was to exalt grace ends by setting up experience or a confession in its stead. In this manner, faith is made to share the credit of salvation, not by deliberate design, but by careless habit, and thus the center of glory has been drawn little by little from Christ to man.

Many speak much of faith and little of Christ, as though believing were the condition upon which salvation depends. Faith saves no one! We are not justified by our believing, but believe because we are justified in Christ, who was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. This righteousness stood perfect before faith ever stirred in the heart; but that righteousness, complete and entire in Christ, is made manifest to the conscience only when faith, wrought by the Spirit, awakens to behold what grace has already secured. Faith does not summon it into being but awakens to see it finished. And when the church exalts the act of believing above the Savior believed upon, she dims the glory of grace and places the shadow where the light should shine. II Timothy 1:9. MPJ

Atheism: Although much has been said about there being no such thing as an atheist, yet I think an argument can be made from the fact that man by nature is an atheist. Romans 1:19-21. He may indeed sense a mystery beyond himself; he may frame philosophies or deities to fill that void, but the God who truly is, the holy, sovereign, self-existent God, is hidden from him until revealed by the Spirit. Still, his ignorance does not erase the witness of God. The testimony of the Creator is written both in the world without and in the conscience within, leaving man without excuse. The heavens declare God's glory without, and the conscience confirms God’s witness within. Romans 2:14-15. Every pulse of life affirms what revelation declares and what man would deny: GOD is!

The voice of creation surrounds us, and the voice of conscience echoes it within us. Yet man, loving darkness rather than light, suppresses both, closing his eyes to the heavens that declare God’s glory, and silencing the inward voice that convicts him of sin. Man’s estrangement from God springs not from ignorance but from enmity, not from blindness but from defiance. And only when grace gives sight does the heart finally confess what all creation has long proclaimed, “the LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.” I Kings 18:39.

Atheism is not an error of thought but a corruption of affection. God’s Word calls the atheist a fool, not for his ignorance, but for his alienation: “The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God.” It's not the absence of knowledge, but the presence of hostility; a war of the heart against the God who formed it. “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” John 3:19-20.

Though man’s reasoning may clothe itself in eloquence and boast of enlightenment, the heart behind it beats with the same rebellion that began in Eden, the ambition to be as God. Genesis 3:5. It is the ancient sin of self-deification, now all repackaged. The first fig leaves have long withered, but man keeps stitching new ones, philosophy, science, culture, and religion, all to hide from the God he cannot escape. He no longer shelters among the trees but behind his own ideas, fashioning coverings out of intellect and progress, the worship of reason enthroned above revelation. It is no longer fig leaves sewn in haste to cover shame, but modern garments woven of humanism, pride, secularism, and religious self-worship. Yet nothing can silence the “voice” that still walks in the cool of the day, calling to man as from the beginning: “Where art thou?” Psalm 139:7-8. The lie never changes; it only changes its dialect. But grace alone unmasks it, for when Christ is revealed, man sees at last that the glory he sought to claim was never his to begin with, it belongs to the LORD alone.

There is, too, this staggering thought, that the ‘atheist’ draws life from the very God he declares nonexistent. Each inhale is borrowed mercy, each exhale a testimony to divine forbearance. He gives him the breath to blaspheme and the heartbeat to persist in unbelief. Can anything more clearly display the greatness of God’s longsuffering? Truly, God’s “ways are past finding out.” Romans 11:33. The blasphemer uses his borrowed life to resist the Giver, and to give utterance to his denial of Christ. Such patience discloses the immeasurable gulf between divine holiness and human sinfulness. Every moment of delay, every sunrise upon the unbelieving world, every heartbeat in the chest of one who despises Christ, is a testimony that God is longsuffering toward “vessels of wrath.” Romans 9:22-23. The sun still rises on the blasphemer’s field; the rain still falls upon the atheist’s roof. Each day of unbelief tolerated is another day of ‘grace’ displayed. And then, in the light of that, consider this even more staggering thought, that the Lord gives breath not only to those who hate Him, but to us, who, even after receiving mercy, have so often lived as though we had none. The same God who sustains the unbeliever’s rebellion sustains our ingratitude, our coldness, and our own forgetfulness. The grace that saved us through Christ still shelters us in Christ, for His love exceeds every failure and overcomes every sin. Romans 5:20.

Consider also, that no man, deep within, is entirely ignorant of the existence of God. Yet what Scripture shows us is that man suppresses this truth in unrighteousness. Romans 1:18. He may not be an atheist by confession, but he is one by condition. His lips may say “God exists,” yet his heart lives as though He did not. In this sense, atheism is not limited to those who deny God outright; it is the native posture of every unbelieving heart. It is not that man does not know God exists, it is that he does not want Him to exist. The carnal mind is enmity against God, and this enmity expresses itself not only in rebellion, but in indifference, in neglect, and in the proud attempt to live and reason apart from his declarative truth! It is here that the root of atheism and unbelief is fully exposed. Ephesians 4:18. God hath spoken, and man has replied with unbelief. To despise the authority of Scripture is to despise the authority of God, for His Word is not merely a record of truth, it is truth itself, breathed by the Spirit of the living God. When man sets his reason above revelation, he rejects the mind of Christ in favor of his own intellect. He will accept a god he can define, but not the God who defines him. Thus the Scriptures are ridiculed, revised, or ignored, not because they are unclear, but because they are unwelcomed. Man can tolerate religion, but not revelation; morality, but not submission. He will talk much about what he calls “faith,” but not absolute authority; and that rejection of divine rule is nothing less than atheism in its most deceptive form.

Atheism, then, is not merely the denial of God’s existence; it is the blindness of a soul cut off from divine revelation. I Corinthians 2:14. Even the idolater, who bows before wood and stone, is as much an atheist as the infidel philosopher, for both worship what their minds have conceived, not the living God whom the heart, left in darkness, cannot know. Only when Christ, the true Light, shines into the heart does man cease to be an atheist, when God Himself commands the light to shine out of darkness, and the mind beholds “the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” I Corinthians 4:6. MPJ

John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” A friend recently asked for my thoughts on John 3:16, and although at first I thought there was little I could add to what faithful men have already written, yet each time I revisit this verse (beyond a casual reading of the text) its simplicity seems to grow in strength; and every return to it seems to unveil something new of the glory of God’s love in Christ.

It’s a verse that needs no embellishment and scarcely any commentary, for it stands on its own as one of the great beacons of divine revelation. Yet as I revisited it, looking back over some of my old notes and the writings of others who have loved this text, I was struck again by how easily its glory has been dimmed through careless interpretation.

It seems that nearly everything written about this passage begins with this same thought, “that there is perhaps no verse in all of scripture so often quoted and yet so widely misunderstood as John 3:16.” And yet, its very familiarity has become the cause of its distortion, for few pause to ask what these words truly mean. So often, what is most repeated is least examined, and nowhere is that truer than with these words. Its words are simple enough for a child to repeat, yet they contain mysteries that the wisest theologian cannot exhaust. That is the wonder of divine truth, for what is clear to faith remains unfathomable to reason. Its simplicity is its strength, and its meaning is unlocked only in the light of the finished work of Christ.

It goes without saying that I claim no special insight that could correct every misreading of this verse and the confusion surrounding it, but there are a few simple, scriptural considerations that may help us see this text in the light of the gospel revelation of Christ, not as the world repeats it, but as God has revealed it in the “face” of Jesus Christ. “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” II Corinthians 4:6.

This verse has been so often misused to teach a sentimental or universal love of God detached from His purpose in Christ, and yet every line of it leads us to Him, the love that sent Him, the gift that gave Him, the faith that beholds Him, and the life found only in Him. Its simplicity conceals an ocean of meaning that can be seen only in the full scope of what Christ has accomplished. Once severed from that foundation, it is reduced to the most disastrous interpretation, where salvation rests upon man’s decision rather than upon Christ’s finished work. It is here that the heart of the error lies, the shift from what God has accomplished in Christ to what man must contribute for it to take effect.

Such reasoning, first uttered by Pelagius and systematized by Arminius, now reverberates through the modern church, turning the triumphant gospel of grace into a plea for human cooperation. The modern pulpit, infected with Arminian thought, presents a “god” who loves universally but ineffectually, a “christ” who dies for all but secures the salvation of none, and a “spirit” who strives endlessly but cannot quicken the dead without their consent. Such teaching does not magnify grace; it mocks it. It leaves man sovereign and God a beggar at the door of his own creation.

From age to age this text has been pressed into service of a notion foreign to the gospel, that God loves all men alike and that His love lies dormant until man awakens it by faith. But such a view strips divine love of its strength and contradicts every testimony of Scripture, which speaks of a love sovereign in its origin and certain in its effect. No passage of Scripture portrays the love of God as contingent upon man’s acceptance. Scripture begins with God, not man; with divine love as the cause, not faith as the condition of salvation. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” I John 4:10. Men commonly read this as though the text declared God’s indiscriminate affection for every individual of Adam’s race, as though His love were a general sentiment, waiting upon human acceptance to become effective. But such an interpretation contradicts both the nature of divine love and the witness of Scripture. Scripture nowhere speaks of divine love poured equally upon those He saves and those He condemns. God’s love is one, eternal, unchanging, and effectual, resting upon those whom He loved in Christ before time began.

The giving of the Son did not begin divine love; it displayed it. It was the time-born revelation of an eternal purpose, the revelation in time of that which was fixed in eternity. The same love that chose and redeemed now calls every heir of grace. “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.” II Timothy 1:9. Christ was not sent as an experiment of mercy, but as the surety of a finished redemption, the act of an effectual love that saves to the uttermost all whom it embraces. Romans 8:29-32. The phrase “so loved” does not describe the measure of God’s love but the manner of it, how God loved, “He gave His only begotten Son.” In that wondrous descent, love became visible, purpose was perfected, and grace accomplished what it had eternally designed.

The certainty of redemption leads us naturally to consider its reach, for whom was the Son given? Scripture itself provides the answer in its varied use of the word “world.” Sometimes it denotes the created order, Acts 17:24, sometimes the whole race of mankind, Acts 17:26, sometimes the world of unbelief and rebellion, John 15:18-19, or the sphere of carnal pride and desire. I John 2:15-17. But here it signifies the redeemed family drawn out of every nation, the believing world united in Christ.

“The world” is not every man without exception, but men without distinction, Jew and Gentile, bond and free, rich and poor, all who, through sovereign grace, are gathered into Christ. It is the believing world, purchased by Christ and quickened by His Spirit, a body scattered through all nations yet perfectly joined in one Head, who is Christ. John 11:52. To “love the world,” then, is to love the entire body of the redeemed, Jew and Gentile alike, without distinction of nation, race, or estate. Nicodemus, to whom these words were first spoken, had believed that the mercies of God were confined to Israel. Christ corrected that narrow thought by declaring that divine mercy reached beyond the borders of Palestine to the Gentile nations, that God’s saving purpose was never limited to the Jews alone; it extended to Gentiles, to the farthest ends of the earth, that a people might be gathered out of every tribe and tongue. “I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.” Isaiah 49:6. A love not of every individual man, but of every elect soul in every nation under heaven. It is “the world of the redeemed,” not the world of the reprobate. It is the believing world, that company of souls given to Christ by the Father, for whom He exclusively prayed, John 17:9, and for whom He exclusively died. “As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.” John 10:15.

The words “that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish” are not an open invitation for all to qualify themselves by believing, nor is faith the cause of salvation but the manifestation of it, the living evidence of an eternal purpose accomplished in time. Acts 13:48. They describe rather the certain fruit of God’s purpose, that those whom He loved and for whom Christ was given shall be brought to faith by the Spirit’s power. Believing does not place one into God’s love; it reveals one who has been loved from eternity. “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.” II Thessalonians 2:13. The same love that gave the Son ensures the faith of all for whom He was given. Nor does the verse make believing a condition of life. “Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish” is not a statement of human qualification, but of divine identification. Those who believe do so because they already have life; their faith is the evidence of it. “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” I John 5:1.

The promise “but have everlasting life” crowns the verse with absolute certainty. Eternal life is not the distant prize of those who succeed in believing, but the present possession of all who are in Christ. “He that hath the Son hath life.” I John 5:12. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.” John 3:36. The grammar of grace is present tense. Eternal life is not postponed until death or resurrection, it is the immediate inheritance of all who are in Christ. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” John 5:24. The believer lives because Christ lives, and that union can never be dissolved. “Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me; because I live, ye shall live also.” John 14:19. Believers, therefore, may rest assured that the love declared in this passage is not a general appeal, but the everlasting foundation of their salvation.

John Owen, in his book, “The Death of Death in the Death of Christ,” 1647, dismantles the notion of universal redemption by asking what saving reality or substance could remain in divine love if it embraces all men alike. In this work, he lays down four searching principles that have often been repeated, and rightly so, for they expose the futility of every doctrine that makes redemption possible rather than actual. Someone once paraphrased those questions in simple yet piercing language, and if memory serves, they went something like this. 1. If God loves all men alike, both those who are saved and those who perish, what does the love of God have to do with anyone's salvation? 2. If God's will is that all should be saved, and some are lost, what if anything, does the will of God have to do with the salvation of anyone? 3. If Christ died for all men without exception, what does the death of Christ have to do with the salvation of anyone? 4. And if the Spirit’s influence extends indiscriminately to both believer and unbeliever, what saving efficacy can be ascribed to His operation? Such questions expose the emptiness of a love that saves none, a will that accomplishes nothing, a cross without effect, and a spirit without power. Every believer recoils instinctively from such blasphemous notions, for a gospel that makes salvation uncertain makes Christ small. It empties the cross of its glory, strips grace of its power, and turns redemption into a mere possibility, trampling underfoot the blood of the everlasting covenant. Hebrews 10:29.

William Gadsby, once expressed what every heart taught of grace must feel: “Why did Christ die? According to some people, Christ died to give all a chance of being saved! I do not know that I hate anything more in my soul than to hear that. It makes Jesus Christ so little, that He should do so much, and after all only to get us a chance of being saved.” Amen! The very thought is intolerable to faith. Such a gospel is no gospel at all, for it offers a Christ who redeems no one in particular and secures nothing certain. The Scriptures know of no such Redeemer. The gospel proclamation is one of certainty, Christ crucified, Christ victorious, Christ saving to the uttermost. Hebrews 7:25. John 3:16 stands not as the charter of free will, but as the banner of sovereign grace. It reveals a love uncaused, unchanging, and unconquerable, “the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:39. MPJ

Life of Joseph: Our paths no doubt differ in countless ways, in upbringing, in opportunity, in strength and weakness, in the very details that shape who we are, yet the reality of sin and its effects binds us all in one common condition. Romans 5:12. For myself, I think of how mercifully the LORD has led me through so many turns of life. Born in Germany, no father, no mother, &c., raised in Queens and Brooklyn, somehow finding my way to Arizona, and now, for these past 38 years, settled in Michigan, and celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary this weekend. It's so overwhelming to reflect back, and to really see how little direction or wisdom I truly had, and how easily I might have shipwrecked my life many times over. Yet grace has overruled folly. The Lord has been merciful beyond measure, guiding, correcting, and preserving me where my own choices surely would have led to ruin. When I look back, I can only marvel that I am here at all, and left to myself, I would have drifted and perished a hundred times over. But, no matter how diverse our circumstances, each of us moves through a world marred by the same corruption, tempted by the same unbelief, and in need of the same mercy. Every life, however distinct, must reckon with this truth.

The story of Joseph reminds us that even the darkest turns of providence are governed by divine wisdom, not accident. Fatalism teaches that whatever will be will be, that all events unfold by blind necessity, leaving man no option but to simply endure them. That’s just how it is! The believer, on the other hand, sees something infinitely higher, that whatever God wills will be! We recognize in every circumstance the hand of divine providence, not blind fate. For the believer, nothing is arbitrary or accidental. Every path, every trial, every unseen turn is mercifully governed and meticulously orchestrated by divine wisdom that sees the end from the beginning. Isaiah 46:10. Joseph’s life gives voice to this truth, that beneath every injustice and disappointment lay the steady purpose of a sovereign Lord bringing about His redemptive design. The wisdom that governed Joseph’s life governs ours still, and His Word remains the sure guide for every step we take. Psalm 119:105.

The Word of God is sufficient to teach us how to act in every circumstance that enters our path. It forms in us both resignation and resolve, a heart that bows before God’s will yet seeks the glory of Christ in all things. Faith says, “this too is from God; how then shall I respond?” When the mind is shaped by the truth of divine sovereignty, our reactions are no longer driven by shifting emotion but guided by the steady light of revelation and the grace of Christ that governs the heart. We learn, often through much weakness, to interpret every event through revelation rather than emotion, through grace rather than impulse. Proverbs 3:5-6.

We live in an age of excuses. People defend their failures and sins with endless reasoning. It seems almost instinctive: “Do you know why I am the way I am? Do you know what happened to me? You don’t know about my past, about what my parents did to me, how I didn’t have the same opportunities, how people mistreated me,” &c. And the world joins the chorus, every day through its media, its psychological babel, its endless chatter, constantly reinforcing the lie that man is a victim and never responsible. “Life just isn’t fair! If my life had been different, I’d be different. My marriage is failing, my job is miserable, and my health is poor. The people I’ve trusted have disappointed me, and I’ve been hurt too many times to believe things could ever be different now.” Here the world whispers its creed. You are not to blame; life has wronged you. It is the oldest lie retold, that sin lies elsewhere, that guilt belongs to another, and that man is merely the victim of his own circumstances. Genesis 3:13. But God declares otherwise, and the word of God exposes it for what it is, unbelief cloaked in self-pity. Yet the gospel redirects the heart, from blaming circumstance to beholding sovereignty. Nothing has entered our life by accident. Each detail has been ordained to fulfill His purpose, to sanctify, and to glorify His name. Ephesians 1:11-12.

And with that long introduction, we return to Joseph, the man whose life so vividly mirrors the sovereignty and grace we’ve been considering. He stood where we stand, in a world of sin, surrounded by envy, betrayal, temptation, and injustice. He knew exactly what it was to be hated, to be falsely accused, to lose all that seemed secure. Joseph’s example of “godliness” stands among the most remarkable in all of Scripture, especially when considered against the trials he endured. He was an extraordinary man, not because of any natural strength, but because the Lord kept his heart fixed on a reality beyond the moment, the certainty that despite the chaos of circumstances God reigns. That truth became the anchor of his soul, keeping him calm in the dungeon and humble in the throne room, for he saw God’s hand alike in both. Psalm 46:10.

At seventeen, betrayed by his own family and sold into slavery, he could have allowed bitterness to define him the rest of his life. Instead, he believed that even this great wrong had come through the wise and righteous hand of God. Even before that dreadful day of betrayal, the storm had long been gathering beneath the surface of family life. The tension among Joseph’s brothers did not begin the day they sold him; it was something he must have long been accustomed to growing up in their midst. Scripture says they “could not speak peaceably unto him,” revealing not a momentary quarrel but a long history of unkindness. The expression suggests more than sharp words, it means they could not even bring themselves to offer the ordinary greeting of peace, the word of goodwill that defined daily life in Israel. Their hearts had grown too hard for kindness, this was no fleeting anger, but a bitterness long matured. With that in mind, we can begin to picture something of Joseph’s life within his own family circle, and it was anything but ideal. What a sorrow for one so young to dwell among those who could not even greet him with peace. Few sorrows pierce the heart so deeply as the pain of rejection by those nearest to us, a grief Joseph knew all too well.

Yet even in that bitter soil, God was planting the seeds of future fruitfulness. The school of suffering had opened its doors, and grace began to teach him what no comfort ever could, to rest in the LORD when every human support was withdrawn. “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.” Psalm 119:71. (This reads like the verse Joseph himself might have lived before it was written.) We speak of God’s sovereignty as truth; Joseph lived it as reality. At seventeen, when every promise seemed broken, he trusted still. His circumstances did not define him, God’s purpose did. The Lord kept him when all else was stripped away. “And the LORD was with Joseph.” Genesis 39:2. It was enough! The Lord’s nearness was his refuge, not from suffering, but within it; and in that strength, Joseph learned what it meant to be kept by the LORD. Proverbs 2:8.

The attitudes of Joseph’s brothers were beyond his power to correct, but his own spirit was not. The circumstance had not come by chance, and he knew it. Every event in his life was ordered by divine wisdom, and his mandate was simple yet searching, not to manage the sins of others, but to guard his own heart. Grace does not remove us from trying circumstances; it sanctifies us within them. Their sin was theirs; Joseph’s response belonged to the Lord, and grace taught him to walk humbly, forgive freely, and rest in the righteousness of ONE greater than himself. The sin of another does not release us from walking in the spirit of Christ, for the gospel leaves no place for retaliation or resentment. In every season and under every wrong, the Lord teaches us to overcome evil with good. Romans 12:21.

I noticed something deeply interesting in Joseph’s response to his father Jacob when he was sent to find his brethren. Jacob said, “Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send thee unto them.” And Joseph replied, “Here am I.” Genesis 37:13. That expression: “Here am I,” literally means “behold me” and expresses a heart of readiness and surrender, or the equivalent of “here I am, at your disposal,” and so it is repeatedly used in the scriptures. It is the language of obedience before the command is even known. Scripture records this exact same response in the lives of Abraham, Genesis 22:1, Moses, Exodus 3:4, and Samuel. I Samuel 3:4. In each of these moments, the LORD Himself had prepared their hearts to listen, to trust, and to obey. Interestingly enough, the phrase was even repeated by Joseph’s father, Jacob, many years later when the LORD spoke to him in the visions of the night, saying, “Jacob, Jacob,” and he answered, “Here am I.” Genesis 46:2. The same expression that once marked Joseph’s readiness to go to his brethren now reappears in his father’s surrender to God’s will, the fruit of grace working across generations, bending the heart to say, “Behold me, Lord; I am yours.”

So when his father said, “Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren,” Joseph’s reply came without hesitation, “Here am I.” He was ready, and went out simply to do his father’s bidding, unaware that this simple act of obedience would become the doorway through which God would unfold His greater plan of mercy. As he journeyed to find his brothers, they saw him approaching and conspired together, saying, “behold, this dreamer cometh.” Genesis 37:19. Their greeting was cold, if they greeted him at all. They tore the robe from his shoulders, the token of his father’s love, and hurled him into a pit. What a moment of desolation that must have been for Joseph, to look up from the darkness of that pit and see the faces of his own brethren hardened against him. Psalm 69:8. Who can tell what passed through Joseph’s mind at that moment, the confusion, the disbelief, the shock of betrayal by his own brothers?

Then, without warning, the rope descended into the darkness of the pit. Hope must have stirred in his heart. Perhaps it was all over, perhaps they had relented. But as Joseph was lifted out, relief turned to confusion. Before him stood strangers, and beside them his brothers, exchanging silver for his freedom. What began as envy now culminated in treachery. Bound and helpless, Joseph was carried away toward Egypt. Scripture says he pleaded with them, but no mercy answered. Genesis 42:21. It is one of the darkest moments in Genesis, the “righteous” man sold, the “innocent” delivered into the hands of sinners, and yet, through it all, the unseen hand of God was at work. Isaiah 53:7.

How can words capture the terror of that moment, the disbelief, the shock, the crushing realization that the ones you trusted most have turned against you? Every concept of love, loyalty, and family lay shattered. The order of his life was overturned, every certainty gave way to confusion, and all that once defined his world lay in pieces at his feet. It was only by divine mercy that Joseph’s heart was kept from breaking. The grace that governed his steps also governed his spirit, teaching him to depend on the Lord not merely for life itself, but particularly for the preservation of his heart after what had happened to him.

The next time we see Joseph, he stands in a place we could never have imagined, overseeing the estate of one of Egypt’s wealthiest men. The chapters that follow, Genesis 37 through 39, record a remarkable progression, the faithfulness of a servant, the falsehood of an accuser, the forgotten years of imprisonment, and the eventual rise to power. Read them and behold the unbroken thread of grace weaving through every rise and fall, shaping the man who would one day rule Egypt and preserve his people. Yet Joseph’s story was never meant to end with Joseph. The beloved son, rejected by his brethren, humbled to the lowest place, and then exalted to save many alive, all find their fulfillment in Christ. The grace that preserved Joseph prefigures the greater grace that saves us in Christ.

It is impossible to close without pausing at Joseph’s most profound statement, spoken as his guilty brothers bowed before him in dread, as Joseph, now second only to Pharaoh, responds with astonishing humility: “Fear not, for am I in the place of God?” Joseph is not denying that he holds earthly authority; he’s denying the right to divine judgment. When Joseph says, “am I in the place of God,” he is saying, in essence: “I am not your judge, the LORD is. My task is not vengeance, but faithfulness. My suffering was not meaningless, but part of God’s ‘good’ design.” Romans 8:28. It’s the language of self-abasement. Joseph’s insight is extraordinary, he is not only forgiving his brothers, he is recognizing that the entire painful chain of events was God’s design, not theirs. This quiet submission to the Lord’s hand in his life opened the way for true forgiveness. He follows his question with this statement, which explains everything, “but as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.” Genesis 50:20.

“You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.” There’s no bitterness here. This is God’s purpose. We’re in God’s kingdom, and we are following Christ. What you did was sinful. What you did was wrong. But God’s grace is our strength, His power our preservation, and His faithfulness our confidence. May the LORD keep us steadfast in Christ, trusting His unseen hand and rejoicing in His purpose, until all things reveal His glory. “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.” Romans 11:36. MPJ

Unchallenged Presuppositions: “And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it, and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil.” Numbers 11:8. This may seem an odd place to launch some thoughts on false presuppositions, yet this passage offers a striking picture of what uninspired and untaught men often do with the Scriptures of truth. The children of Israel took the manna, heaven-sent, perfect in its form and flavor, and felt compelled to improve it. They ground it, beat it, and baked it until it suited their taste. In much the same way, fallen minds gather fragments of revelation, process them through human reasoning, and reshape them into something more palatable. The truth that came down from heaven uncorrupted is thus refashioned into a system that flatters human pride and accommodates the natural mind.

Peter warned of this same spiritual tampering when he spoke of those who twisted Paul’s writings, “in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, unto their own destruction.” II Peter 3:16. In that one statement Peter both affirms Paul’s epistles as inspired Scripture and exposes the peril of those who force the text to agree with their own doctrine. The word “wrest” carries the sense of twisting something out of its natural form and forcing it into alignment with one’s private system of thought. So, it is with us who read the Scriptures, not to behold Christ, the sum and substance of all truth, but to circle endlessly around the systems we have erected in His name, fortifying what we have already determined must be true. We compel the Scriptures to say what we already believe, filtering every verse through a theology inherited from others or shaped by our own imagination. The result is not submission to truth, but the reshaping of truth to serve a system.

The word translated “unlearned” refers not merely to a lack of intellect, but primarily to a lack of grace, men untrained in the school of the Christ, Ephesians 4:20-21, blind and incompetent interpreters, advancing error with the confidence of truth, who mistake familiarity with Scripture for the knowledge of Christ that it was given to reveal. II Peter 1:2. This inward blindness soon becomes outward devotion. What they cannot discern by revelation they attempt to construct by repetition. The result is faith without light, and a “christianity” without Christ.

Religion divorced from revelation is the most deceptive form of blindness, for it sanctifies man’s opinion with the language of faith. Thus, we surround ourselves with teachers who confirm what we already believe. It becomes revelation by repetition, a counterfeit illumination in which men mistake the sound of their own voices for the voice of God. Like the Pharisee who prayed with himself, he hears his own voice and calls it divine. Luke 18:11. And so, religion becomes a monologue dressed as worship; what men call “devotion” becomes a closed circuit of self-affirmation, man addressing man under the pretense of addressing God. Only the revelation of Christ can shatter this blindness. Galatians 1:15-16. Only when it pleases God to reveal His Son, does repetition end and revelation begin.

Additionally, these false teachers were not atheists or skeptics; they were deeply religious men, filled with conviction about God and His ways, passionately certain about what they believe, propelling themselves forward with an air of “unquestionable” certainty seldom matched even among those who confess Christ. Besides, it was not ignorance that deceived them most, but the illusion of knowing. Thinking themselves guides to others, they became blind to the truth themselves. Men who could handle sacred words but not discern their meaning. Yet conviction without revelation is a dangerous thing; and, as Peter warns, such error leads not merely to confusion, but to destruction, for when the gospel is misrepresented, the soul that teaches it perishes by the same distortion it spreads. Matthew 15:14.

And such distortions do not die with their teachers; they become the traditions of men, which nullify the Word of God. Matthew 15:6-9. One of the greatest hindrances to truth is tradition. Tradition can so easily overpower the mind that it becomes impossible to see what is plainly written. The heart settles into what is familiar, and truth becomes something to defend rather than something to believe. In that moment, tradition ceases to preserve truth and begins to replace it. It teaches us to read without seeing and to hear without listening. In a very real sense tradition becomes our teacher, and truth becomes its prisoner. We grow blind to our own blindness. Matthew 6:23.

Beneath tradition lies an even deeper tyranny, the standard of unchallenged presuppositions. These hidden assumptions and inner conclusions are the invisible interpreters of our theology; they guide our reading and govern our response. They tell us which passages to embrace and which to explain away; they shape the questions we ask, the verses we underline, and the doctrines we defend. And when we attempt to test them, we do so with bias in hand, forcing the text to support what our hearts already “know” to be true, utilizing proof texts as scaffolding for our opinions. They dictate what we emphasize and what we overlook, filtering revelation through the lens of what feels consistent with our inherited systems.

For instance, the Arminian begins with an untested presupposition, that man, by his own natural sense of justice, can determine what is fair, and that assumption becomes the lens through which every text is read. Whenever Scripture declares a sovereignty that offends that sense of fairness, it is trimmed to size, reinterpreted, softened, or explained away. In this way, reason becomes the judge of revelation, and God is summoned to conform to man’s moral categories rather than man to God’s truth.

This is what happens when fairness becomes the standard of faith. Think about this, a man may read A. W. Pink’s Sovereignty of God, a book steeped in Scripture from Genesis to Revelation, line upon line, precept upon precept, and yet that standard of fairness instantly diffuses the force of it all. Every text that magnifies God’s absolute dominion is softened, reinterpreted, or neutralized. Verse after verse is dismissed, reinterpreted, or neatly arranged to oppose the very truth it proclaims. The truth is not denied outright; it is explained away, its edge dulled, its authority domesticated, until divine sovereignty is reduced to a system that man can approve. Psalm 50:21.

“That can’t be saying that,” he insists, “because it offends what I have already decided in my mind as to what is fair, besides it's completely contrary to everything that I've ever been taught.” His whole framework of belief depends upon that assumption; it is the pillar of his theology and the source of his authority. It's all he's ever known! To question it now would be unthinkable, it would dismantle his entire world, ruin his confidence, and expose the fragility of the foundation he has mistaken for truth. Matthew 6:23. If he is a teacher of others, a guide of the blind, he has too much invested to reconsider his ways. To renounce his error would be, in his eyes, nothing less than theological suicide, an admission that all his wisdom was folly and all his reasoning darkness; and to turn and bow before the sovereignty of God would require the death of everything he has built in his own name. And that, he cannot bear. II Samuel 17:23. Unable to surrender his own wisdom, he begins to shape the Scriptures around it, and what was given to reveal Christ becomes a tool to defend himself.

Of course, in such a scheme, there need be no continuity in the Scriptures. A verse from here, a phrase from there, and a system of belief can be cobbled together that bears little resemblance to the living word it claims to defend. Yet God has not spoken in scattered riddles or isolated truths, but in one coherent revelation, centered in His Son. Hebrews 1:1-2. Our safety lies not in selecting verses that suit us, but in believing the divine continuity of revelation, the unity of all Scripture in the person and work of Christ, from Genesis to Revelation, where every line finds its meaning in the doctrine of Christ. “For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy,” Revelation 19:10, and “all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen.” II Corinthians 1:20. The doctrine of Christ is not one doctrine among many; it is the axis upon which all others turn.

And wherever that axis is displaced, both tradition and presupposition rush in to fill the void, adding to the “revelation” of Christ without any actual revelation. Jeremiah 2:13. To form conclusions where God has not spoken and build doctrines without the “light” of Christ to guide us is dangerous business, Matthew 6:23, for deprived of revelation, reason manufactures its own light, and mistakes it for truth. Revelation does not turn knowledge into faith, but gives life to knowledge, transforming truth from something known about Christ into something known in Christ. II Corinthians 4:6. It presses upon us the fact that true doctrine is not discovered by intellect but disclosed by illumination, the Spirit revealing the Son through the written Word. John 6:45. Only the Spirit of truth can cast down those imaginations and make us free by the revelation of Christ. II Corinthians 10:4-5. Our liberty, our joy, and our protection are found in receiving that revelation as one unbroken testimony to the grace and glory of Christ. After all is said, and the dust of our reasoning has settled, we stand where all men must stand, wholly dependent upon the mercy of God to give light where there is none. Like Bunyan’s pilgrim who said, “I think I see it,” we walk by faith, not by sight, trusting that the faintest gleam of gospel light will lead us home to Christ. All boasting is excluded. We are in the hands of a merciful God. Titus 3:5. May it please the LORD to direct us in the way of Christ, in the way of truth, and in the way of life. MPJ

Neglect of Truth = Neglect of Christ: “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.” John 18:37. Early yesterday morning, while texting with a friend, he made a passing remark that lingered in my mind throughout the day. “We live in a time when most people simply repeat what they’ve been told to believe.” Our topic was eschatology, but his observation goes beyond any one subject, it speaks to all that touches truth, eternity, and the word of God, to the very things that reveal what we believe and manifest where we stand, exposing the spirit of a generation content to repeat what it has heard, rather than to open the Scriptures and see whether these things be so. This is no light matter, for these things concern life and death. Truth is nothing to dabble with. The Scriptures speak with utmost clarity about those who depart from it, and with equal severity toward those who treat it lightly. It is not only the false teacher who perishes, but the one who is content to drift along without concern for what is true. Christ Himself spoke of this dreadful indifference, “let them alone, they be blind leaders of the blind, and if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” Matthew 15:14. Let that word “both” sink in. It is not only the deceiver, but the deceived; not only the one who speaks the lie, but the one who is content to follow it, who perishes. This is no side issue. To be careless with truth is to be careless with Christ, and to neglect Christ is to neglect salvation itself. “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation.” Hebrews 2:3.

We have grown strangely indifferent to truth, and by truth, I mean not mere facts or opinions, but the Scriptures themselves, the gospel of grace, the revelation and unfolding of Christ throughout all the Word of God? But indifference to truth is never harmless; it ripens into delusion. What begins as neglect soon becomes corruption of mind, and the heart that will not love the light will, in time, lose the perception to see it. When truth is persistently refused, delusion becomes both judgment and reward, judgment for rejecting light, reward for loving darkness. Paul describes the fearful outcome in solemn words, “and for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” II Thessalonians 2:11-12. And before we excuse ourselves as having no “pleasure in unrighteousness,” thinking this warning could never apply to us, because after all, we live decent lives, perhaps better than most, let’s look again. This pleasure in unrighteousness is obviously not a description of outward lifestyle, but of inward disposition. Paul is exposing a moral delight in falsehood itself, an unrighteous believing, not merely an unrighteous behaving. It has little to do with immoral living and everything to do with immoral believing, a heart content to rest in error while imagining itself safe. That same deception still walks among us. It hides behind morality and religion, content with appearance but void of truth. And in such a state, distraction becomes our comfort, activity our refuge from honest examination. Zechariah 7:11-13.

Why have we become so busy, so preoccupied with life, that we no longer stop to examine what we claim to believe? Perhaps we are too comfortable in our routines to be disturbed by truth, or too faithful in our church attendance to ever question whether or not what we believe has any basis in the scriptures? When truth is forgotten, the standard of judgment disappears with it. The difference between right and wrong becomes blurred, and our decisions are guided more by sentiment than by Scripture. Slowly the heart stops seeking what is real and begins to chase what is fashionable, what is praised by the crowd and passes for truth in the eyes of men. And so, we just drift through life, unseeing, untroubled, unaware; blind to the fact that we are drifting at all. Ephesians 4:14. It seems easier not to notice, for ignorance feels like safety, at least until the tide of “life” turns against us, and we awaken to find how far we’ve just “drifted” away. And as we attempt to look through the haze of our own indifference, we may find ourselves holding an empty bag, or worse, a bag filled with hollow sentiment, a bag with holes through which every substance of truth has slipped away. We’ve blended in so well that we scarcely appear different from the world, content to live as others live, think as others think, and hope vaguely for the best. A life full of motion yet void of meaning; a “faith” observed in form, but lifeless within. “He that earneth wages, earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.” Haggai 1:6.

Then, when nothing matters but truth, when all that counts is Christ Himself, we will discover too late that we have drifted with the tide and lost our way. May we be reminded of the fact that the current of this world moves quietly, seldom disturbing those who are content to drift with it. Indifference to truth may seem harmless, but it ends in the same ruin as deception. To neglect truth is to die the same death as those who openly deny it. And this is the heart of the matter, when truth is neglected, Christ is neglected with it, for He alone is its source, its center, and its life. John 8:31-32. Truth matters because Christ is the Truth. Our treatment of truth is nothing less than our treatment of Christ. “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6. Such words should cause every heart to tremble, for truth is no matter of opinion, it is a matter of life and death. May the Lord be merciful, and direct our steps to Christ, to truth, and to the only thing that truly matters. MPJ

The Temple: One of my friends asked me about some thoughts regarding the “temple” mentioned in Ezekiel 40, &c., and I asked if I could have permission to post my reply, which is as following: “So I was talking with a buddy of mine not too long ago about the Bible and theology. Mainly about eschatology and end times stuff. Now he is very premillennial and dispensational. Even though he would not be able to explain the system of dispensationalism. He’s just been taught pre-millennial doctrine his whole life so that he just blindly believes it. Well I was explaining to him my views on these things, &c., and he was just shocked that I could believe some of these things. Like he was just blown away that I don’t believe that there is going to be a 3rd temple built in Jerusalem. And I explained that we or the church are the 3rd temple. A spiritual temple. And I quoted to him Ephesians 2:21. And he asked what did I make of Ezekiel 40-48? He explained to me that those chapters are showing the 3rd temple to Ezekiel, and it’s giving blueprints. And I said well it’s probably a symbolic representation of the gospel church. And he emphatically was like, “no! The dimensions are way too specific for it to be all symbolic.” So I read Ezekiel 40:48, and was just wondering. Are you familiar with that passage? Do you have any idea what to make of it?

Reply: No, I’m not familiar with that particular passage, though I am somewhat acquainted with dispensational theology and the shaky scaffolding that holds it together. Scripture was never meant to be trimmed to fit our systems, it was given to reveal the glory of Christ, and every faithful reading of it must lead us there. One does not need a doctorate in eschatology to discern the emptiness of this notion that God still intends to dwell in a house made with hands. The entire witness of Scripture leads us to Christ, and that strange obsession with another temple misses the whole point of the gospel. Christ is the temple, its foundation, its sacrifice, its glory. To look for another structure on earth is to look backward, not forward. The notion of another earthly temple overlooks the finished work of Christ, in whom every shadow has found its substance. The veil has been torn, the sacrifices fulfilled, and God now meets His people not in a structure, but in a Savior. When the Jews asked Christ for a sign, He said, “destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” John 2:19-21. John explains, “he spake of the temple of His body.” That’s the interpretive key. The temple was never an end in itself; it was a shadow pointing forward to the substance, which is fulfilled perfectly in Christ. A shadow takes its shape from something real, and that reality is Christ. When the substance appeared, the shadow’s purpose was fulfilled. Colossians 2:16-17.

So, whether Ezekiel is giving measurements, sacrifices, or priestly orders, all of it ultimately prefigures Christ and His finished work. Hebrews says plainly that the old temple, priesthood, and sacrifices were “a shadow of heavenly things.” Hebrews 8:5; 10:1. Those patterns were never meant to stand alone; they were the language of promise, pointing beyond the altar and the veil to the cross, where mercy triumphed without compromising justice, and grace fulfilled what law could only foreshadow. Romans 3:25-26. Additionally, as you brought out, the apostle Paul uses “temple” language for the church repeatedly. “In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord. Ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” Ephesians. 2:21-22. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” I Corinthians 3:16. Peter also says believers are “living stones” built into a spiritual house. I Peter 2:5. That means Ezekiel’s vision finds its truest fulfillment not in bricks and mortar but in the living people of God united to Christ. The promise finds its truest expression in Christ Himself, and then in those that belong to Christ, who through grace are made one with Him. John 17:21-23.

Your friend’s objection, that “the dimensions are too specific to be symbolic” is probably common. But Scripture uses precise numbers symbolically all the time. In Revelation 21:16, John measures the New Jerusalem, its length, breadth, and height all equal, yet no one imagines he is providing blueprints for a literal cube descending from the heavens. The city’s perfect symmetry mirrors the harmony of redemption, where nothing is lacking and all is holy. The image is symbolic, portraying the beauty of divine perfection, the completeness of God’s people in Christ. It often speaks this way, using visible imagery to unveil invisible glory, the Lamb upon the throne, the Bride adorned for her Husband, the temple made not with hands, &c., it's the language of revelation, designed to lift our thoughts from earth to heaven, from form to fulfillment, from temple to Christ.

Does your friend realize that this temple depiction from Ezekiel portrays a temple that is gargantuan in size? Look it up once: Ezekiel’s temple, if measured literally, would be twelve times the size of Solomon’s and far larger than all Jerusalem. It seriously would take a geographical miracle to build this thing literally, but that's beside the point, as the difficulty lies not in the logistics but in the theology. For as we know, things impossible with men are possible with God, Luke 18:27; yet the issue here is deeper than mere feasibility. The problem isn’t with God’s ability but with man’s unbelief. To expect another temple of stone and blood is to deny the sufficiency of the one sacrifice already offered, and to forget that all temple imagery finds its meaning in Christ alone.

When it comes to the precision involved with the measurements, I think perhaps they are meant to emphasize holiness, order, and perfection in God’s dwelling place, not to serve as a construction manual. Every dimension speaks of divine exactness and purity, the completeness of God’s work, not the curiosity of man’s design. Ezekiel was being shown that in God’s house, nothing is random, nothing left to chance; all is proportioned according to the wisdom and purpose that finds its fulfillment in Christ. Ephesians 1:10.

So yeah, brother, let's not make any plans to chart every inch of Ezekiel's temple any time soon, for we already know what the gospel tells us about Christ as the true temple, and about us as living stones in Him. Whatever Ezekiel saw, it finds its “Yea and Amen” in Him. II Corinthians 1:20. I hope that’s a little helpful. Like I said, I’m certainly no prophecy major or scholar in “end-time” theories, but I do trust the Lord has granted enough light to see that all revelation, whether prophecy or promise, culminates in the glory of our Redeemer’s work. Revelation 19:10.

It’s striking that your friend was so taken aback simply because you didn’t share the assumptions he’s always lived under. I suppose it would be like trying to convince someone that the map they’ve trusted all their life leads to the wrong destination. And of course, you’ve gone and questioned his bible knowledge, now that’s not very nice! I could be wrong, but I think that kind of dispensational thinking still rules the day. It’s what most people have been taught from childhood, so it goes largely unquestioned. But when the Lord begins to unfold His truth, the traditions of men start to lose their hold, and we find ourselves increasingly out of step with the religion of the crowd. Isaiah 8:11-13.

Before I close this out, I should mention that any thoughts of a rebuilt temple are nothing to play around with. This is no minor difference of opinion, it’s a serious departure from the gospel, and a direct affront to the sufficiency of Christ. To suppose that God would once again dwell in a house made with hands is to deny the glory of what has already been accomplished in His Son. It implies that His atoning work was incomplete, that another sacrifice, another altar, another priesthood might still be needed. But the gospel proclaims the opposite, “by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” Hebrews 10:14. Christ fulfilled every type and shadow, tore the veil, and sat down at the right hand of God, not because there was nothing left to offer, but because everything needed for our redemption had been accomplished. To look beyond that finished work is to abandon the ground of grace itself. Have a good night brother, and write anytime. MPJ

Baptists: When I first started sharing some posts that I had written, I was approached by a “Old School” Baptist friend, who has constructed an entire empire around the Old School Baptists. He wanted me to join their club, and consider writing articles for them. I thankfully declined, and one of my reasons was the fact that I never once in my life considered myself a Baptist even though I hold to the practice of believer’s baptism. I remember how shocked he was, when he wrote back, and sort of demanded that I tell him what I was if I wasn't a Baptist?

It has always struck me as ironic that the Baptists, while protesting against Rome’s claim to apostolic succession, have built a similar mythology for themselves. What Rome claimed by succession, the Baptists have claimed by reinvention. Any movement can dig through history and find kindred spirits to justify its existence, but that is not apostolic continuity, it's more like denominational archaeology. Their so-called “trail of blood” is supposed to trace an unbroken lineage of true churches from the apostles to the present day, yet the trail often ends where it begins, with themselves; it’s more like a genealogy of self-validation. Every “sect” can construct a pedigree if it starts by defining the true church as those who think like it does. But such circular reasoning proves nothing; it only reveals how far the human heart will go to secure a sense of exclusivity. How easily men mistake the history of their particular denomination for the history of the church! The true lineage of the church is not traced through outward succession, but through the living faith of those who are joined to Christ, whether found in caves, cathedrals, or small gospel meetings.

Paul said, “If ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed.” That is the only lineage that matters. Still, I understand why people cling to a name or a tradition; let’s face it, it just feels good to belong somewhere, to have a history, to find our identity in a denomination, a heritage, or a confession. There’s a sense of safety in saying, “I am one of them.” It feels reassuring to trace our faith through a recognizable stream of history, or to wear a label that tells the world where we stand. There’s nothing inherently wrong in that, so long as we don’t mistake it for the ground of our standing before God. But when those things begin to define us, (the Baptist Standard Bearer folks would be a perfect example,) more than “the gospel of the grace of God” we risk losing sight of Christ. Whatever does not lead us nearer to Christ, we should have no wish to defend, and whatever seeks to draw lines where God has not, should perhaps be left behind? At the end of the day, it’s not the name over the door that unites us, but the “name” written upon our hearts. Revelation 3:12. MPJ

Jewish Fables: It may come as a surprise to some that the Westminster Confession of Faith, a document so often revered for its precision and orthodoxy, teaches in its Larger Catechism that believers, in praying “thy kingdom come,” are to pray specifically for the “conversion of the Jews.” This statement, found in Question 191, presumes a future, national restoration of Israel as a distinct entity in God’s redemptive plan. Yet such a doctrine, though enshrined in confession, is found nowhere in Scripture. Those bound by the Westminster standards are thus committed to believe what the apostles never taught, and what the New Testament explicitly denies, that there yet remains a covenantal people outside of Christ who await a future national salvation. The gospel knows of no such people, for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. Galatians 6:15. This idea of a separate, national restoration of Israel belongs not to the gospel of grace, but to what Paul warned Timothy against, Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth, Titus 1:14, and to insist on a future national restoration is to rebuild what God Himself has forever torn down.

If we wish to understand the true identity of God’s chosen people, Deuteronomy 7:6, we need look no further than the apostle Peter’s words. In I Peter 2:9 we read, “but ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.” Here the apostle gathers together a rich cluster of titles long associated with Israel, “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession,” and applies them, without hesitation, to believers in Christ. Every phrase echoes the Old Testament, yet every term now finds its fulfillment in the New. What once described a nation in the flesh now defines a people in the spirit. The line of promise has not continued through Abraham’s blood, but through Abraham’s seed, for it is in Christ alone that the covenant takes its substance and permanence. Peter’s purpose is unmistakable, to show that the privileges once confined to Israel according to the flesh have been gathered up and re-centered in Christ, who is the true Seed, the true Priest, the true Nation, and the true Temple.

Every phrase the apostle uses to describe believers in Christ comes from the Old Testament and is recast in New Testament light. The designations that once belonged to a single nation after the flesh now describe the redeemed people of every nation who are in Christ. Peter calls them, “a chosen generation,” which designation reaches back to Deuteronomy 7:6, where the LORD said to Israel, “the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto Himself.” That same grace reaches its fullness in Christ, the true Elect One, Isaiah 42:1, and all who are found in Him as chosen in Him before the world began. Ephesians 1:4. Election, once shadowed in type, is now revealed in the body of Christ, a “chosen generation” not defined by physical descent, but by spiritual birth, “born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:13.

The next title he uses for them is “a royal priesthood.” This phrase recalls Exodus 19:6, “ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.” In the Old Testament, Israel stood as the visible witness of God’s rule and worship among the nations, but their priesthood was bound to symbols and sacrifices which could never truly cleanse the conscience. Hebrews 9:24-28. Their approach to God was mediated in figure through men as frail and defiled as those for whom they ministered, men who first needed atonement for themselves. But in Christ, every shadow finds its substance. He is Himself the everlasting King and Priest, after the order of Melchizedek, Psalm 110:4, Hebrews 7:24-25, and all who belong to Him are made partakers of this royal priesthood. Revelation 1:5-6. By His single, perfect sacrifice, Hebrews 10:12, Christ has sanctified His people as priests before God, granting them access into the holiest through His own blood. Hebrews 10:19. In so doing, He has brought forth a new order of worshippers, not a nation of priests after the flesh, but a kingdom of priests in the spirit, not outward or ceremonial, but inward and spiritual; not hereditary, but heavenly. I Peter 2:5.

Next we have, “an holy nation.” But what do men imagine when they hear those words? For many, their thoughts turn at once to that strip of land in Palestine which the world still dares to call “the holy land,” as though holiness could be measured in miles or inherited through bloodlines. The true holy nation is not one restored by politics or preserved by lineage, but one created by grace, gathered from every tribe and tongue into the kingdom of Christ. The holy nation is not a revived Israel after the flesh, but the redeemed Israel after the spirit, a people sanctified in truth, delivered from the world, and upheld by the grace that reigns through righteousness in Christ Jesus. “Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth.” Revelation 5:9-10. The holiness of this nation is not ceremonial but spiritual, not external but internal. Its citizens are those who have been cleansed by the blood of the covenant and set apart for the praise of the glory of his grace. “Be ye holy; for I am holy.” Leviticus 11:44; I Peter 1:16. The holiness of the people flows from the holiness of their Head. Colossians 1:21-22. As we reflect upon these titles, we behold the grace of God in every one of them, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation; each speaks of what the believer is in Christ, and all together they lead us to this culminating truth, that we are “a peculiar people,” chosen and called to declare the praises of Him who brought us out of darkness into His marvellous light.

This final title, “a peculiar people,” completes the picture. The phrase first appears in Exodus 19:5, where the LORD said to Israel, “ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people, for all the earth is mine.” The word “peculiar” here does not suggest oddity or strangeness, but possession, that which belongs exclusively to another. In Deuteronomy 14:2 the Lord repeats, “the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.” By covenant, Israel after the flesh was distinguished among the nations as the Lord’s peculiar possession; yet within that outward body lay a hidden seed, the true Israel, a spiritual remnant known to God and comprehended in Christ. Romans 11:5. The promise belonged to the seed, which is Christ, and to those found in Him; and this spiritual Israel now stands revealed in the church of Jesus Christ. “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ” - “and if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Galatians 3:16,29.

As Paul writes in Titus 2:14, “who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” The same language reappears, but now with Christ as the center. No longer a people purchased by blood of lambs, but by the blood of the Lamb. “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” I Peter 1:18-19. To be a peculiar people, then, is to belong wholly to Christ, set apart for His worship, and ruled by the truth of His word. I Peter 2:9. The world sees no beauty here, and in fact scorns those who dare to call themselves chosen, holy, or peculiar, as if they boasted of themselves. Christ alone is worthy, and all our distinction flows from His grace. The glory of the new covenant people lies not in their identity, but in their Redeemer. Everything revolves around CHRIST, the living Stone rejected of men but chosen of God and precious. I Peter 2:4.

Thus we behold the wonder that every designation finds its center and consummation in Christ. The chosen generation, the royal priesthood, the holy nation, each title drawn from ancient promise, each fulfilled in the redeemed, all converging in this one grand design, that the people of God might proclaim the excellencies of Christ. Once they were not a people, but now they are the people of God; once without mercy, but now living monuments of mercy received. The Old Testament nation was but a shadow; the “church” is the substance. What once stood in type and symbol is now realized in a spiritual kingdom not of this world.

And so we return to where we began. What the Westminster “divines” - as they were pleased to call themselves, longed for in the restoration of an earthly people, a national restoration that scripture nowhere promises, has been consummated in Christ. II Corinthians 1:20. The kingdom has come, in Christ, the true Israel, the true Temple, the true Priest, and the true King. The prayer, “thy kingdom come,” is not a cry for ethnic revival, but for the increase of that spiritual dominion already begun in the hearts of the redeemed. To seek another kingdom is to look backward toward shadow; to rest in Christ is to stand in the substance. “Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” Colossians 2:17. MPJ

Divine Authority: One of my relatives, who shall remain unnamed, has managed to gather together as much intellectual rubbish and outright moral insanity as one can possibly fit onto a single platform, ideas that defy not only Scripture, but the simplest laws of reason and life itself. She champions causes that defy God’s created order, abortion as a right, the denial of gender, truth as emotion, and the celebration of confusion and perversity. And yet, astonishingly, her public platform, followed by multitudes, is subtitled simply TRUTH.

Ask my wife how hard I laughed the first time I saw her platform was titled “truth,” and then ask her again how my laughter turned to astonishment when I saw how many followed her. An army of the deceived, driven by feelings, intoxicated with pride, and 100% confident that they alone have it all figured out. “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil.” Isaiah 5:20. People, in my thoughts, glued to their screens, trading opinions like truth and peddling emotion as insight, who have no thought of God and no time to seek the Lord. He is literally in none of their thoughts, and when they do call upon His name, they call upon an idol of their own imagination, a god who accepts them as they are, because, after all, that’s just the “nice” thing to do. And though some may still profess a certain respect for the Scriptures, it reaches no deeper than convenience; they choose the verses that soothe them, the parts that comfort, just in case everything doesn’t work out in the end.

Pilate’s question still echoes through every generation, “what is truth?” John 18:38. It is the same question the world still asks as it gropes along in its own darkness, not really to find the answer, but to avoid it. “For this people’s heart is waxed gross…” Matthew 13:15. Truth was not hidden that day; it stood before Pilate in Christ, and still that same voice speaks from the pages of Scripture, yet man prefers his illusions, proving that apart from divine grace, he will always choose darkness rather than light. John 3:19. What man praises as free thought, Scripture condemns as pride. Yet the God who owed us nothing has spoken! And what He has spoken is enough, light, truth, and glory in His Son, Jesus Christ. Hebrews 1:1-2.

There, divine authority stands unshaken, unaltered by time or opinion. In that light alone, we must seek the truth. Here alone is light for those who walk in darkness, truth for those who would otherwise perish in their own thoughts. Outside of this blessed book, man gropes in darkness. All his brilliance, all his progress, all his philosophy cannot kindle a single beam of true light. The world’s amusements, its games, its glitter, its endless distractions, all will prove empty and bitter disappointments in the end. This is the cruel irony of our age, even as the lights grow brighter, the hearts grow emptier. These endless diversions cannot teach, cannot save, cannot satisfy. “One thing needful.” Luke 10:42.

In the end, truth belongs to revelation, not to human discovery. Hidden from the wise and revealed to the broken, that no flesh should glory in His presence. I Corinthians 1:29. And I truly believe that once revealed, it ceases to be an object of speculation and becomes the atmosphere of thought itself. Colossians 3:16. There is no truth elsewhere, there is no other standard, there is no other authority! Once truth is revealed, it is not simply received, it consumes and transforms. The proud mind yields to truth, the rebellious heart bows low, and we, by grace, believe “the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.” John 2:22. We have no tribunal above scripture, no court of appeal against it. Through all our days, the one great inquiry remains the same, “what saith the LORD?” All else must be silent before that voice. MPJ

Dogs: “Beware of dogs.” Philippians 3:2. In speaking of those who trouble the gospel, our concern is not with the careless world but with the confessing church, those who profess to know grace, yet by subtle turns of doctrine undermine it. Chief among these are many who call themselves “reformed” or “calvinist,” adorning their system with the polished phrase “the doctrines of grace,” as though the truth of God could be divided into compartments or Christ Himself reduced to a series of points. And, I'm not singling out the calvinist or the reformed because of some petty grievance or sectarian spite. That is not the case at all! It is because their teaching comes so perilously close to the truth, that error proves all the more dangerous. Isn’t there an old proverb that says, “the nearer a falsehood approaches the truth, the more dangerous it becomes?” That is exactly the case here.

What makes certain aspects of their theology so perilous is not a rejection of scripture, but its misuse. It's not that they stand aloof from holy scripture, but that they press close to its borders while presenting Christ through a lens clouded by law. Their words are full of Christ, but it is a Christ partly concealed, where grace is mingled with law, and his preeminent glory dimmed by conditions. Another reason I single out the reformed and the calvinist is because I truly believe that within their gatherings exist many who love Christ and delight in His salvation. But here is the heartache, for all their sincerity, even these are too often swept along by the subtle misguidance of a gospel mixed with works. And since what I write is always aimed toward the household of faith, and toward those who are inquiring in the ways of Christ, it is to them that Paul’s solemn voice still resounds, “beware of dogs.” Philippians 3:1-3.

That sounds exceptionally harsh and unloving, but there is nothing unloving in defending the gospel of Christ. Paul uses strong language because eternal things were in view. Those who deviate from the simplicity of Christ, however sincere, disorient the soul, even though they speak with Scripture’s authority, in pleading for holiness and good works. Wonderful, we need more “holiness” and “good” works amongst those that confess Christ, and the Scriptures are clear, those who name the name of Christ, depart from iniquity. II Timothy 2:19. But when obedience is made the condition rather than the consequence of grace, the gospel’s peace is lost, and Christ’s glory is diminished, and what may appear outwardly to promote a holy life often works in practice to obscure the very source of holiness, Christ Himself, until He is nearly eclipsed from view.

Once grace and works are confused, the sinner’s eyes are turned from Christ to his own efforts, to a mutilated gospel, one that is dressed in all the right clothes, but conceals the dagger of self-righteousness beneath its robe. II Samuel 3:27. And how does this confusion spread? It spreads through pulpits, through teachers who drape their words in the language of holiness, but who subtly shift the ground of justification onto obedience and a transformation of life. Faith, they subtly imply, must prove itself in works before God will declare a man righteous. The claim has an air of reverence, draped in words about repentance, obedience, and godly living. Who could resist such words? And yet this is the snare, what sounds biblical in tone actually redirects trust away from Christ, and so undermines the very gospel it claims to defend.

For if a changed life is made part of our justification, then the question must be faced, how much change is enough? How holy must I become before God will declare me righteous? Must we forever put ourselves on the scales, testing and retesting whether our lives display enough change? If so, who among us can stand? One day will condemn the other, and joy and sorrow will fluctuate, leaving the soul chained to uncertainty. Such a religion breeds doubt, not faith; despair, not joy. It binds the conscience to itself, instead of freeing it to Christ. If it depends on us, wouldn't any sense of true scriptural assurance be forever out of reach? To sum it all up, how changed must my life be before God can declare me just? What measure must I reach to obtain that verdict? Tell me then, on this scale of “biblical” conformity, when am I permitted to breathe easy, confident God has actually justified me?

Speak plainly to those who peddle this law/gospel mixture, and, “in no wise,” they will reply, “do our works earn God’s verdict, and do not contribute anything to salvation,” yet with equal force they add, “but without them you cannot be justified.” They are said to be worthless, yet indispensable. What strange contradiction is this? A riddle that only unbelief could invent, and is it any wonder that so many live their days under the shadow of uncertainty, bound by invisible chains that none but Christ can break. You can almost see it written on their faces, weary traces of a lifelong servitude to law. They dare not deny the grace of Christ, for they have been taught from childhood that salvation is by grace; yet a dread of presumption holds them back from resting in that grace. It masquerades as humility, but it is unbelief in disguise. They tremble to claim what they feel no warrant for, and so they hover between hope and fear, between law and grace, never entering into the joy of the Lord. Such may indeed hear their entire lives that “it is finished,” but still their conscience insists that it cannot be that simple. What could be more tragic? They live beneath the sound of the gospel, yet never taste its joy. This is the fruit of a gospel half-law, half-grace, confusion, not Christ. For once conditions and works are added to justification, the message of grace is corrupted, and it ceases to be the gospel at all. Yet as we seek to expose such error, we do so as those whom Christ continually delivers from error ourselves, daily delivering us from our own distortions of truth. God’s preserving grace is our only safeguard, Jude 1:1, for who among us sees all things clearly? We are but dust, upheld only by the same grace we seek to defend, so when we raise our voice against that which distorts the gospel, we do so as one who knows his own weakness, dust upheld by grace, pleading with others to look where we ourselves have found mercy, in Christ alone. Romans 9:3-4.

It is a grief, for many imagine they are strengthening or safeguarding the gospel or serving Christ, yet by tampering with its liberty and shifting the eye from Christ to what lies within, they bind themselves with a burden too heavy to bear. It is the very bondage the apostles warned against, “a yoke which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear.” And tragically, in seeking righteousness by something short of Christ, they obscure the righteousness freely given in Christ. It is like asking the prisoner to forge his own chains, or the dying man to heal himself. Such a burden crushes, because it is built on the delusion that man can add to what Christ has already accomplished, but the gospel stands in its plain glory. Christ is the gospel’s simplicity, and Christ is its glory. To add is to subtract, for all additions blur the clear light of distinguishing grace that radiates from Him alone. Hebrews 1:3.

Additionally, the truth of justification is not locked behind doors for the scholar or moralist to unlock; it is a straight path, so clear that even a child can follow. May we not be unsettled by those who dress it up with clever formulations, for the gospel needs no ornament but Christ. Paul himself warns us not to be led away “from the simplicity that is in Christ.” Christ died, Christ rose, Christ reigns! In Christ alone the sinner is justified, apart from works, apart from merit, apart from any “other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:12. MPJ

Offence of the Cross: The great offence of the gospel, the scandal that the natural heart cannot endure, is this, that everything a man does is defiled. Every thought, every motive, every deed bears the stain of sin. It tells man the truth about himself, that his heart is unclean, his motives corrupt, and his deeds polluted. It leaves him with nothing to offer and nowhere to stand, save in the mercy of God. And because of that, nothing he does can ever make him acceptable before God. That is the offence. It was the same in Paul’s day as it is now. The heart struggles to accept that all its goodness amounts to nothing, and ever seeks to insert some condition, some effort, some trace of self that might help complete what Christ has already finished. Man absolutely refuses to believe that his righteousness has no value before God.

But this is the very thing the cross forbids. The cross proclaims that man has nothing to offer. It leaves no room for self-importance, no space for merit, no contribution for human pride. The natural heart recoils from that. It wants to believe that at least in part, perhaps in obedience, or in repentance, or in faith itself, there is something to commend me before God. “Surely,” the sinner insists, “my sincerity, my moral effort, my devotion must count for something.” Yet the “cross” answers back, no, all that matters is Christ!

From the root of his being, man’s righteousness is defiled. Even his finest virtues, when set beside the holiness of God, emit the stench of corruption. The cross exposes this illusion and proclaims that acceptance with God cannot be earned, supplemented, or maintained by human effort. It rests wholly, immovably, and eternally in the finished work of Christ alone.

This is why the gospel message provokes such hostility. Tell a man that apart from Christ he is lost, and you will touch the nerve of his pride. He is not offended because he loves truth, but because he loves himself. He cannot endure the thought that his goodness counts for nothing. Immediately he protests, “I am not deserving of hell!” or “surely you don’t mean that good, kind, selfless people, my grandmother, my neighbor, are condemned without Christ?” Yet that is exactly what the gospel declares. Without Christ, the goodness of the best stands on the same ground as the wickedness of the worst, both spring from a heart estranged from God. Without Christ, there is no life, no righteousness, no hope. That is the glory and the offence of the cross, that man is nothing, and Christ is all. “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” Galatians 6:14. MPJ

Accursed: “For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.” Romans 9:3. Coming across this difficult verse, and hearing yet another poor exegesis of it, my mind wandered back to something I read about forty years ago, if I recall, in Jonathan Edwards, (though I no longer have his writings to confirm,) but yet, I distinctly remember in one place where he speaks of a believer’s absolute submission to God’s sovereignty, even if it should mean his own destruction. At the time, I remember thinking, “what? I’ve never heard of anything like this before, if this is what real piety looks like, then I’m finished!” Presumably it was just a way of saying that God’s glory should be prized above all else, even self-preservation. This certainly sounds like the very height of godliness, as if nothing could be more spiritual. Call it what you will, but it feels like the spiritual equivalent of volunteering for the gallows, just to make sure everyone knows how devoted and humble you are, and unless spoken in figurative or hypothetical sense it's not real!

Whilst I truly enjoy reading the so-called puritans, and a few men like Edwards who attempted to follow in their wake, I think their spirituality, at least as they described it, isn’t above scrutiny. Ultimately, all such claims, and I'm thinking especially of the tendency to project a height of piety unobtainable by the ‘ordinary’ believer, must be weighed by the truth of Scripture and the test of lived reality, as life has a way of reminding us that we are but “dust and ashes.” Genesis 18:27. Mere words can make us appear very spiritual, but reality unmasks us as we truly are, sinful, weak, and utterly dependent upon Christ for everything. John 15:5.

Back then to the matter at hand, and to that staggering phrase in Romans 9:3, Paul’s declaration of being “accursed from Christ for his brethren’s sake.” What does such a statement mean, and how are we to understand it? I just read John Gill on that verse, as he has a large section in his commentary devoted to its exposition. After reading that, I'm more confused than ever! What in the world did he even just say? Gill's long windedness drives me crazy! As best I can piece it together, he suggests that Paul’s words about being “accursed from Christ” are either hyperbolic or refer to something short of damnation, perhaps being cut off from the visible church, or even offering his life for Israel’s temporal good. In short, according to Gill, Paul is expressing deep love for his kinsmen according to the flesh, but not a literal desire to be eternally cut off from Christ. Okay, no wonder everybody's so confused, we're all too busy reading Gill, or more like trying to find our way out of his long paragraphs.

We know Paul’s words are no exaggeration when he says he bore “great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.” Romans 9:2. But who was the object of this grief? For whom, then, was Paul in such anguish of spirit? His words suggest a narrower focus than simply “every Israelite.” Whilst the apostle does indeed speak of his “kinsmen according to the flesh,” but the language he chooses indicates that his grief centers on a particular people within that larger body, and I would suggest, in the light of other scripture, that he is referring to the elect who had not yet been brought into the “fellowship” of the gospel. I John 1:3.

His sorrow was not a vague nationalistic sentiment, nor a romantic attachment to his heritage, but the deep anguish of one who understood that many of God’s elect were, for the present, still veiled in blindness, awaiting the hour when Christ Himself would open their eyes and bring them into His marvelous light. At first glance, it might appear too narrow to limit this to the elect, but consider the following. First, how he addresses them, “my brethren.” On the surface this might appear nothing more than a racial reference, Paul the Jew speaking of his Jewish brethren. But when Paul uses this word everywhere else, Romans 12:1, I Corinthians 15:1, Philippians 4:1, &c., the pattern is remarkably consistent. “Brethren” is his word for those who are in Christ, fellow believers, those joined to him in the fellowship of the gospel. To interpret this one occurrence differently, as though he were suddenly shifting its meaning to a merely racial category, stretches his language in a way that does not harmonize with the rest of scripture. It is far more consistent to see him speaking of the brethren who were elect, though not yet gathered in, rather than of the nation in a blanket sense.

Next, Paul uses the word “Israelites.” This term can apply broadly, both to the elect and to the reprobate. As he will clarify in verse 6, “not all Israel are of Israel.” So I believe there is some warrant to understand that when Paul calls them “Israelites,” he is not simply applying the name to all who descended from Jacob. Rather, his eye is fixed on those within that body who belong to the true Israel by promise, the elect, his kinsmen according to the flesh, yet distinguished by God’s eternal choice. In using this name, he is not speaking of the nation indiscriminately, but pointing to Israel as defined by God’s promise, the chosen remnant hidden among his brethren. These are the ones for whom his heart was most burdened, those elect according to promise, his true brethren in the spirit, for whom he travailed with unceasing grief until Christ should be formed in them.

Paul then goes further and calls them “the adoption.” Here his anguish is directed toward those who were marked out for sonship, those included in God’s plan of adoption. It is striking that this word is found nowhere else in Scripture except on Paul’s pen. He uses it only four times in the New Testament, and every instance ties it unmistakably to God’s electing grace. In Galatians 4:5 he writes that Christ came “to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” In Ephesians 1:5, he declares that God “predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.” And in Romans 8:15, he reminds believers, “ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” In each case, adoption belongs to the chosen family of God, never to the reprobate or unbelieving.

It would be unthinkable, then, for Paul to turn suddenly in Romans 9 and wrench this incredibly important word into an entirely different meaning, as though it now applied broadly to all Israel after the flesh. That would not only cut across the flow of Paul’s thought from chapter 8, where adoption is bound to God’s electing grace and the Spirit’s witness, but it would drain the word of the gospel weight Paul has carefully laid upon it. Nor does the Old Testament ever use this term. Adoption is Paul’s distinctive word, always tied to the elect’s new standing as sons through Christ, it's a believer’s sonship, a privilege flowing out of God’s election and Christ’s redeeming work. To stretch it here to include the unbelieving mass of Israel would be to make Paul contradict himself, and to empty the word of its gospel weight.

For those reasons, I suggest Paul’s anguish cannot be understood as a vague, national grief. His burden is not for “Israel” indiscriminately, but for those elect sons yet unborn of the Spirit, the children of promise not yet brought into the light of Christ. And yet, even as Paul fixes his eye on the elect within Israel, he cannot overlook the privileges that had been lavished upon the nation as a whole. This, I think, is why Paul does not stop at their election yet unseen; instead he presses further, setting before them the staggering advantages entrusted to Israel, advantages that render their unbelief all the more tragic. Romans 9:4-5. He lists the astonishing privileges they had been given, the law, the promises, the fathers, and supremely, Christ Himself according to the flesh. And yet, in the hour of their great visitation, they hardened themselves and rejected the very Messiah who had come through their own line. I think that this is the anguish that crushed Paul’s heart. Does not Paul’s lament here remind us of Christ Himself, who wept over Jerusalem and cried, “behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” Matthew 23:37-38. Paul’s lament is but an echo of Christ’s own grief, the sorrow of watching those most richly blessed turn away from the only fountain of life. Paul knew that within that blinded nation were elect souls, chosen of God, not yet brought into the light. For them he travailed, longing for the day when Christ would be formed in them. His grief was not empty, but bound to the certainty that God’s promises never fail. Galatians 4:19.

Verse 5 ties everything back to Christ. Of whom are the fathers, and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, “who is over all, God blessed for ever.” Every promise, every glory, every father pointed to Christ, and outside of Him there is no life, only death. To be without Christ is to be nothing, and to have nothing; no life, no hope, no future, only the emptiness of one cut off from its only source of life, light and hope itself. John 14:6. This is the grief that weighed on Paul’s heart, and with the solemnity of it, he can only end with a seal of certainty, Amen, so it is, and so it must be. Acts 4:12. MPJ

Calvin & Servetus: Brother, my heart goes out to you in hearing of your afflictions. If you mentioned them earlier, forgive me for failing to hold them in mind. But from now on they will not be forgotten. May the Lord remind me often to pray for you. I also appreciate you bringing up the Servetus question. (The Servetus incident was the 1553 execution of Michael Servetus in Geneva for heresy, carried out by the magistrates with Calvin’s approval.) Honestly, it wasn’t something I’d have thought to take up again, but since others have asked about it before, I went back through some earlier thoughts, and along with some notes, there was this quote by John Calvin, which is spot on, so I'm going to begin by sharing that.

“We ought to read the Scriptures with the express design of finding Christ in them. Whoever shall turn aside from this object, though he may weary himself throughout his whole life in learning, will never attain the knowledge of the truth; for what wisdom can we have without the wisdom of God?” Commentary on John 5:39. 1553. What a Christ-exalting truth. Calvin reminds us that Christ is not merely in the Scriptures, but is their very center and end. Luke 24:27.

When I think of Calvin, I’m struck by how short his life was, and how much of it was marked by excruciating pain. He endured migraines, asthma, tuberculosis, and even painful kidney stones that left him writhing, yet he pressed on with his labors to the end. Though he died at just fifty-four, and though his days were filled with sickness and trial, he persevered, sealing his short life with a testimony of unshaken confidence in Christ. In a letter written near the end of his life, to William Farel, April 2, 1564, he writes, “as for me, I am fast going down-hill, and draw nigh to death; nor is it to be wondered at if I feel weary and faint after such weakness. But it is enough for me that I live and die in Christ, who is gain to all his people, both in life and in death.” From his will, written just weeks before his death, he says, “I give thanks to God that He has had mercy upon me, whom He has made partaker of His gospel, and has given me grace to serve Him by means of my work.” I can scarcely read these words without feeling ashamed of my own unthankfulness. Calvin, wasting away in weakness, gives thanks simply for the fact that the LORD had brought him into the fellowship of the gospel.

I’m also reminded of the Puritan John Owen, who endured sorrows almost beyond belief. He buried eleven children in succession, lost his wife, suffered under ongoing weakness of body, bore the shame of political disgrace, and felt the pressures of persecution, and yet through it all, the Lord kept him thankful, fixated on the glory of Christ. And like Calvin, his testimony was not of resentment but of Christ. At the end his words were still full of Christ. From his final letter to a friend, dated August 23, 1683, one day before his death, Owen writes, “I am going to Him whom my soul hath loved, or rather, who hath loved me with an everlasting love, which is the whole ground of all my consolation. The passage is very irksome and wearisome, through strong pains of various sorts which are all issued in an intermittent fever. All the things of the other world are grown exceedingly small. Oh, how vain is everything in respect of Christ, and the salvation of the gospel!” What astonishes me most is that Christ so filled his thoughts, that even at the very door of death he could see all else as nothing, and Christ alone as his everlasting treasure.

I’d better stop myself before I start rambling on about ‘reformation’ history or parliamentarian history, two of my favored side topics, so back to Servetus. It goes without saying that what follows is largely my own conjecture, perhaps better called perspective, offered from more of a historical lens than a strictly scriptural one. But whatever the path, our desire is to bring every thread back to the Scriptures and to Christ. It is worth noticing that those who most eagerly bring up the Servetus affair are usually not sincere seekers of truth, but opponents of the gospel itself. Arminians, skeptics, and enemies of sovereign grace often seize upon this single episode as a weapon to discredit the doctrines Calvin taught. They are less concerned with Servetus’ fate than with using his death to obscure the glory of Christ’s finished work, and to tarnish the memory of a man whose chief offense was exalting God’s sovereignty and exposing the emptiness of human merit.

This incident has long stood as the darkest blot on John Calvin’s legacy, yet I believe that much distortion surrounds the event. The picture of Geneva as a blood-stained tyranny under Calvin is greatly exaggerated. In fact, history records only two (compared with the tens of thousands slain by the Roman Inquisition) capital punishments during his lifetime, the beheading of Jacques Gruet, who had openly conspired to murder Calvin and overthrow Geneva’s government, and the burning of Michael Servetus, who had long been condemned throughout Europe as a heretic. It's worth mentioning that Servetus wasn’t an innocent victim of Calvin’s personal vendetta; he was a long-standing agitator, a denier of the Trinity, and condemned by both Roman Catholics and Protestants alike. His case exposes more the mindset of sixteenth-century Europe, where heresy was treated as a civil crime threatening the fabric of society, than Calvin’s personal cruelty. Additionally, Calvin though he approved of Servetus’ execution as just, himself had no civil authority to arrest or execute; these were decisions carried out by Geneva’s magistrates. Still, his theological approval of Servetus’ execution as a blasphemer and “murderer of souls” reveals the limitations of his thinking, and the blind spot of the reformers who still tied church and state together, still entangled in medieval assumptions that the church must enforce orthodoxy. The lesson is clear, the gospel is defended not by the magistrate’s sword but by Christ’s Word. Calvin was a gifted servant of God, yet like all men, he was fallible and in need of the same grace he preached.

Thus, while we may honor Calvin as a profound teacher and instrument in God’s hand, we must also recognize that his approval of Servetus’ death was a serious departure from the spirit of Christ. It reminds us that history, though infallibly ordered and maintained, is full of flawed vessels, men who advanced the cause of truth, yet remained in need of the very grace they proclaimed. MPJ

Females: In the warmer months, much of my writing begins from the back deck, where a large oak and walnut tree sort of frame the view. After I got home from work last week some time, I sat down to begin some reading and was interrupted by two squirrels that were chattering loudly at each other, and chasing each other from limb to limb. They kept racing around in circles, darting along the same branches again and again. Whether a male pursuing a female or the other way around, the scene made me pause in admiration of God’s handiwork and stirred a memory of something that is sort of obvious, but nevertheless most extraordinary. “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained.” Psalm 8:3.

Let me preface this by saying that I’m no “scientist” in the world’s eyes. Besides, a genuine scientist, (literally, “one who knows,”) is not the man who boasts in his research while denying his Maker, but the one who bows before Christ, “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Colossians 2:3. Scripture reminds us that the foundation of all true science is the acknowledgment of the Creator Himself. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.” Proverbs 1:7. But it doesn’t require advanced degrees or a laboratory to see what is plain before our eyes, life itself is a testimony to the wisdom and handiwork of God. At the very heart of His design lies this unshakable truth, “so God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” Genesis 1:27.

Every creature that walks, flies, or swims bears witness to a simple but profound truth, life continues only where male and female exist together. From the smallest insect to the largest whale, reproduction requires the complementary design of male and female. No species sustains itself by male alone. Without the female, the line perishes. One generation and gone forever. Yet we find in every corner of creation, from the smallest insect to the mighty elephant, both male and female, fitly framed to continue life. Again, I'm not a scientist, but doesn't this undeniable reality pose a serious dilemma for atheistic evolution? If creatures arose by blind chance across “millions of years,” how did a corresponding female appear at the precise moment needed for life to continue? Did countless species all just happen to evolve a female companion simultaneously? Did the fish wait for millions of years for a mate while he withered alone in the sea, the deer graze without a doe, or the bee swarm without a queen? Examples could be multiplied, but no, such fables collapse under their own weight. “The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God.” Psalm 14:1.

The atheist faces an unanswerable riddle here? If life “evolved” by blind accident, how did the female arise in every species, with perfect timing and complementary design, capable of conception, gestation, and birth? Such coincidences defy reason. Scripture says plainly, “male and female created He them.” Genesis 1:27. Such words remind us that God’s design, the pairing of male and female, seen in every corner of life, was never partial or uncertain, but perfect, complete, and overflowing with fruitfulness from the first moment of creation. “But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee; Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee, and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this?” Job 12:7-9. The order, beauty, and harmony of this design proclaim the wisdom and power of the Creator, and this creation witness cannot be silenced, but ever proclaims its unmistakable glory. “Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.” Psalm 19:2. From sunrise to sunset, creation never ceases to proclaim what man in his pride would deny, that the wisdom and power of God are written into every corner of life. “O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all, the earth is full of thy riches.” Psalm 104:24. MPJ

Antichrist: Of course, everyone perks up at this subject. This is the theme that really fascinates us. Who really wants to wrestle with the gospel, or to weigh carefully the difference between truth and error? Those things are dull and tedious. It’s only the gospel of salvation. Ephesians 1:13. Who has time these days to trace the glory of Christ through the Scriptures, or to test every doctrine by the Word of truth? We barely trouble ourselves with the gospel, scarcely pause to adore the beauty of Christ, and remain content with a shallow grasp of His Word. After all, what is it really? Only truth or error, only life or death. Nothing worth losing sleep over. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3:36. But when it comes to antichrist, then we're all ears, then we're talking about something that really matters. A shadowy villain, a world-shaking spectacle, a headline apocalypse to tickle our imaginations. I'm tingling all over just thinking about it! Forget the risen Lord; give us the Man of Sin!

I had once determined not to wade too far into eschatological thoughts, beyond a few ‘necessary’ remarks on dispensationalism and the fevered “end-times” industry that surrounds it, as I was content to leave these matters aside. But I have changed my mind. Why? Because what passes today as common knowledge about “the antichrist” is not only built upon shaky foundations, but, in my judgment, represents a subtle assault upon the very person of Christ. The assumption runs so deep, so unquestioned, that to even challenge it feels dangerous, even heretical, to many. Across the spectrum, whether one claims pre-millennial, post-millennial, amillennial, or some hybrid historic stance, the idea of a looming, singular antichrist figure at the end of the world is simply taken for granted. The imagination of the church has been captivated by it. In this sense, “all the world wondered after the beast,” Revelation 13:3, not only in popular prophecy charts and pulp-fiction novels, but even in the supposedly more careful systems of respected theologians. But what if the whole construction is wrong? What if God’s Word directs us away from an imagined end-time tyrant, and instead exposes the antichrist spirit already at work among us? What if the true danger of antichrist has never been a shadowy political or religious leader waiting in the wings, but a present and spiritual denial of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself?

Few assumptions in the modern church run deeper, or stand less examined, than the idea of a final antichrist figure who will dominate the world stage at the end of time; yet, I am somewhat persuaded that this is not what scripture teaches, and it is precisely this assumption that must be brought to light, if we are to have a correct understanding of the present reign of Christ. To enthrone an antichrist, whether in the beginning, middle or end of some so-called “falling away” at the “end” of the age, (II Thessalonians 2:3, a verse used to build an entire escalogical system of fear around,) is exegetically unwarranted and theologically destructive, as it ignores the straightforward witness of Scripture and effectively displaces the triumphant reign of Christ with the shadow of a mythical usurper.

Those who build their eschatology around a final antichrist enthroned at the end of the age are not standing on the plain testimony of Scripture. For the Word of God consistently directs our eyes, not to some phantom usurper, but to the reigning Christ. “The LORD said unto my Lord, sit at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” Psalm 110:1. This is the most quoted Old Testament verse in the New Testament, depicting not a deferred rule, but the present reign of Jesus Christ, enthroned until the final enemy, death itself, is destroyed. Christ now reigns from the right hand of the Father, exercising unchallengeable dominion until every foe is subdued before Him. As Paul declares, “for He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet.” I Corinthians 15:25. This is no partial rule, nor a reign deferred to the end of time, but present and active sovereignty. God has already set Christ “at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church.” Ephesians 1:20-22. The universal sway of His kingdom is therefore certain, and the absolute authority behind it is divine. Christ’s people live and labor under no rival throne, for the risen Lord who purchased them with His blood now governs all things for their sake. The picture is not of Christ waiting helplessly for history to unravel until antichrist arrives, but of a present enthronement, actively advancing until the last foe is defeated.

The antichrist assumption robs these texts of their plain meaning. It shifts the center of redemptive history away from Christ and onto a caricature, and enthrones a phantom ruler where Scripture enthrones the risen KING. That is the very spirit of antichrist. Christ reigns now, and He will appear at the end not to begin His reign, but to consummate the victory already secured by His cross and resurrection. “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” Daniel 7:13-14.

Antichrist rules the day, and that with a witness, as all the three major eschatological positions stand together and support each other at that point, though they differ in the arrangement of times and seasons, and in the charts and schemes they devise. They all unite on this, that a singular antichrist figure or spirit must emerge at history’s either tragic or triumphant end, and in so doing they turn the eyes of believers from the present reign of Christ to a caricature who lives only in their schemes. And once that premise is swallowed, the rest follows easily, believers are ushered along into a world where prophecy is no longer read but packaged, and where systems, not scripture, set the agenda. Essentially, it's a packaged commodity, and it's no surprise that we eagerly line up for what is being handed freely out. I know the feeling well; I stood in that same checkout line for years, and still find myself sorting through the residue of what I once took home. I dabbled here and there, borrowing fragments from different systems, reshaping their claims and sanding down their rough edges, until I had patched together a scheme of my own. But the more I built, the less it held together, until in the end it felt like I was simply forcing myself to believe, if that’s even possible. In truth, I was never convinced by any of them. My disillusionment with the whole field of eschatology ran so deep that for nearly twenty years I refused to touch it. Though my reading in those years was wide and voluminous, whenever a book veered toward prophecy or end-times, I closed it and moved on. Even now I usually leave the subject untouched and often act as if I know even less than I pretend to know, and speak of it as little as possible. Yet in reflecting on this antichrist assumption, I feel pressed to put something in writing, and I only hope that what I say accords with Scripture. I Thessalonians 5:21.

Of course, once you start asking questions of Scripture, you soon discover that the shelves are already well-stocked with answers, boxed, labeled, and ready to save you the trouble of thinking for yourself. I’m no stranger to that marketplace, I once bought the charts, unfolded them like treasure maps, and tried to pretend the pieces lined up; but as I already said, they never did, and I think perhaps most of us have either been or are being propelled onward because this “marketplace” of end-time theories sells nothing but prebuilt kits and cleverly designed ready-made systems, each pandering to one’s chosen bias, and many of these come complete with a denominational label and a “historic” seal of authenticity.

All of which only shows how deeply the assumptions run. And so, back to the point, simply mention antichrist, and the imagination immediately runs to a dark figure or a corrupt system expected to appear at the close of history. That’s the standard assumption, and most believers nod with confidence, “of course, I know all about him.” Yet their certainty is built, not on the testimony of Scripture, but on a scaffolding of tradition, speculation, and a molding of the scriptures to suit their eschatological imagination. The text is no longer the master but the clay, pressed into shape to prop up what they are already convinced is true. With that assumption taken as unquestionable fact, believers then comb through the Bible, piecing together verses to reinforce their conclusion. But the glaring mistake is this, instead of beginning with Scripture itself and letting it define antichrist, they start with a presumption and then force the text to fit. Had they allowed Scripture to speak first, they would have discovered something entirely different.

If we consider the term antichrist, and we limit ourselves to what the scripture declares, we will soon discover that the only inspired author who uses the word “antichrist” does not cast him as a future tyrant, but as a present reality, already at work in the world. The word “antichrist” is mentioned four times in the Bible, and all by the same inspired author. Three times in First John, and once in Second John. That’s it, only four times. 1. “Little children, it is the last time, and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.” John does not push antichrist to the distant future; he locates it in his own day, pointing to many, not one. I John 2:18. 2. “Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.” I John 2:22. This is not speculation but definition. To deny Jesus as the Christ is to deny the Father, and such denial is what John calls antichrist. 3. “And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God, and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.” I John 4:3. The antichrist is not waiting in the wings of history; his spirit was already active in the first century, embodied in false teachers who denied the gospel. 4. “For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.” II John 7. Again, antichrist is not one figure looming at the end of history, but many already at work; not a political tyrant, but the spiritual reality of every voice that denies Christ is come in the flesh.

This is remarkably straightforward. John makes it simple, antichrist is whoever denies Christ. I don’t see the suspense, unless, of course, we are tempted to sell prophecy books or peddle some end-times circus act. Here is the complete doctrine of antichrist in scripture, four short verses. No global dictator, no apocalyptic mastermind at the end of time, and no prophetic puzzle to decode. Instead, John says antichrist is already here, wherever the truth of Christ is denied. The sad irony is that the “church” has taken John’s plain words and refashioned them into something altogether different, whole systems of fear built around a phantom menace the bible somehow forgot to mention. Meanwhile, the true antichrist, often seated comfortably in their own assemblies, strolls past in broad daylight with a bible tucked under his arm.

John’s teaching on antichrist is the exact reverse of what most people assume. He shifts the idea from a future monster to a present reality, from one solitary figure to many, and from a single person to a heresy and doctrinal denial of Christ. What John actually does is dismantle the modern caricature of antichrist. He takes it out of the future and sets it in the present, takes it out of one man’s hands and puts it in the mouths of many, takes it out of politics and roots it in false doctrine. Again, the apostle insists on this, antichrist was no distant threat but a present reality. He says it outright in I John 2:18 and 4:3, many antichrists had already appeared; and in I John 2:22 and II John 7, he identifies them by their denial of Jesus Christ. Antichrist is not just a figure but a worldview, a distortion of Christ’s person and His finished salvation, defined not by political power but by theological denial. At its core, antichrist is anything that strips Christ of His identity or diminishes the sufficiency of His sacrifice. For antichrist is not merely a figure but a philosophy, it is a rival gospel, a twisted narrative that seeks to replace the LORD of glory with a fraud; a counterfeit gospel that always trades Christ for something smaller, something less. That denial is the heartbeat of antichrist. Colossians 2:8.

Although Scripture itself uses the word only in John’s epistles, two other places are often pressed into service to build an “image of the beast.” The first is Daniel, but that I'll just set aside for the moment, since I hold firmly that Daniel has nothing to do with what people now label “the last days,” and still less with the doomsday puzzles that collapse every decade, only to be repackaged for the next audience. Another supposed home for antichrist is the Book of Revelation, where prophecy decoders have dressed him up as the beast. But since scripture itself never makes that identification, I’ll set that aside for now as well, and attempt to bring this to a conclusion by looking at Paul's Second Letter to the Thessalonians.

Here Paul addresses believers who were unsettled by false reports about the coming of Christ, and it is here that many claim to find their strongest case for a future antichrist. “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.” II Thessalonians 2:1-2. This is the passage most often enlisted to prove the rise of a future antichrist; yet Paul’s concern is not to outline some distant figure at the end of history, but to calm believers who had been shaken by false reports, fearing that the “day of Christ” had already arrived. When Paul speaks of the coming of Christ and our being gathered to Him, Paul anchors their hearts in Christ, assuring believers need not be troubled or deceived, for nothing has overturned the reign of Christ. The tragic irony is that what Paul gave to steady anxious saints has been turned into a launchpad for elaborate antichrist systems. Where Paul anchors the church in Christ, interpreters have shifted the spotlight to a phantom ruler the scriptures never name.

Scripture continues, “let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?” I Thessalonians 2:3-5. What was meant to calm trembling hearts has become fuel for centuries of prophetic frenzy. These verses, designed to anchor the church in Christ, have been twisted into the unveiling of a rival savior. Thus the gaze shifts, not to the risen Christ, but to the “man of sin,” paraded as if he were the true centerpiece of redemptive history. Paul’s warning is straightforward, do not be deceived. The “falling away” and the revealing of the “man of sin” were not given as puzzle pieces for a prophetic chart, but as immediate encouragement to the Thessalonians. They feared the day of Christ had already arrived, but Paul assures them it had not. These signs were not far-off curiosities but realities tied to their own time, preparing them for persecution and pointing them back to the sufficiency of Christ’s reign.

We must remember the context. The Thessalonians were suffering under real opposition, and Paul’s words were meant to steady them in that storm. “The man of sin” is described in terms that fit the arrogance of earthly powers, opposing God, exalting self, sitting in the temple of God as if divine. Rome itself, with its emperors demanding worship, fits this description far more naturally than a yet-to-appear super villain thousands of years later. Paul is equipping them to see through blasphemous claims of power in their own day, not scripting a drama for ours. His concern is to keep the church from being shaken, to remind them that Christ reigns, and that no pretender, whether emperor, priest, or false prophet, can rival His throne. Christ’s kingdom is unshakable, and His victory already secured.

The imagery of one “sitting in the temple of God” would have struck Paul’s hearers with immediate relevance. For them it was not a puzzle piece for the distant end, but a vivid reminder that earthly rulers will always attempt to usurp divine honor. The emperors did so openly; religious leaders did so more subtly, yet both alike were doomed pretenders, for Christ alone sits enthroned. Paul’s description of the “man of sin” was never meant to make believers quake, but to sharpen their discernment. In a world, (much like our own,) where emperors crowned themselves divine and priests corrupted the worship of God, the temptation was to believe that such arrogance might overthrow the kingdom of Christ. But Paul exposes it for what it is, a counterfeit throne, a borrowed power, a fleeting boast. The church needed reminding that while men parade as gods, only ONE has been exalted to the right hand of the Father. “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:9-11. And so Paul’s words, far from feeding speculation, call believers to rest in the unshakable triumph of Christ. The “man of sin” rises and falls in every generation, as do all those that usurp the gospel of Christ, but the gospel remains, the kingdom advances, and every tongue will one day “confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:11.

In conclusion, the oversized, future antichrist that dominates modern prophecy is not biblical. The Bible identifies antichrist as the beast, the man of sin, and the many who deny Christ, already present, already active. So let every scheme be tested and every assumption silenced before the word of God. Our only stability is Scripture, and Scripture enthrones the risen Christ. Christ has triumphed, Christ now reigns, and His dominion is everlasting. “Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.” Isaiah 9:7. Antichrist is a mindset, a false gospel in disguise, a perversion of truth that obscures Christ and scorns His finished salvation. Let us hold fast to the Word, bending our thoughts beneath its authority until all glory rests on Christ alone. “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” John 17:17. MPJ

Gospel Fruit: Some follow-up thoughts to my previous post. Speaking to the disciples, Christ warned of those who outwardly appear pious but inwardly are enemies of the truth, concluding with the words, “wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” Matthew 7:20. Too often this verse is twisted into measuring a man by outward appearance or moral performance. But Christ Himself explains what the “fruit” is, it is doctrine. In this context nothing more and nothing less. The dividing line is the gospel itself, good fruit is the doctrine of Christ; bad fruit is the doctrine that denies Him. “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.” II John 9. This is why He warned His disciples, “take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.” Matthew 16:6. Their minds at first ran to loaves and provisions, yet Christ’s point became clear, “then understood they how that He bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.” Matthew 16:12. Their fruit was their doctrine, and it was poison. To depart from the doctrine of Christ is to depart from Christ Himself. As it is written, “whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.” II John 9. The line of fidelity to Christ is drawn in the truth of His gospel, and nowhere else. To abide in the doctrine of Christ is to have both the Father and the Son; to depart from it, no matter how devout the exterior, is to be without God. John 8:31. MPJ

Truth Matters: The other day, shortly after Charlie Kirk was assassinated, I had some personal correspondence with a friend. In passing, I remarked that, whatever the reason, the LORD had removed him, for his work was done. This simple observation was somehow taken to mean that I was declaring Charlie Kirk a true believer in Christ. For this I was reprimanded, though in truth I had never even heard of Kirk until the day he was cut down by an assassin. My words carried no judgment of his eternal state, but rather a sober recognition that life and death are determined by God alone. “So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD… therefore he slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse.” I Chronicles 10:13-14. The testimony of Saul’s end reminds us that men do not perish by chance, nor do they outlive the purpose of God. Saul's work was done; his death came at the very moment decreed, for reasons the Lord Himself had appointed. Whether in mercy or in judgment, God numbers our days, fixes the bounds of our habitation, and removes us in His time. To acknowledge this is not to make pronouncements about a man’s ultimate destiny, but to confess the absolute sovereignty of God over life and death. Every life begins and ends at the Lord’s appointment, and no one departs this world a moment sooner or later than God has decreed! Job 14:5. Kings, rulers, and common men alike rise and fall by His decree. Saying a man’s course is complete is not to canonize him, nor to romanize him after the fashion of papal sainthood, but to simply acknowledge the sovereignty of God in these matters of life and death. “The LORD killeth, and maketh alive, he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.” I Samuel 2:6.

Additionally, and in harmony with these thoughts, I would add that our place in this world is not to enthrone ourselves as judges of who is saved and who is lost. That tribunal belongs to Christ alone, Romans 14:4, before whom every knee shall bow and every tongue confess. Our calling is of a different order, to discern truth from error by the light of God’s Word, to confess the name of Christ without wavering, and to hold fast the gospel entrusted to us. I Timothy 1:11. When all is said and done, the only distinction between those that “are of God,” and those that are “of the world,” I John 4:5-6, is mercy and grace alone. Not wisdom, not resolve, not conviction, but simply “the grace of God, and the gift by grace,” which is by Jesus Christ. Romans 5:15. “By the grace of God I am what I am.” I Corinthians 15:10.

As I have been affirming, we are not the arbiters of men’s eternal condition. That prerogative belongs to the Lord alone, who searches the reins and the heart, Jeremiah 17:10; yet at the same time, Scripture commands us to contend earnestly for the faith, Jude 3, to test the spirits whether they are of God, I John 4:1, and to separate light from darkness. This is not optional; it belongs to our allegiance to Christ, Matthew 12:30, and is nothing that we can treat lightly. To love Christ is to love His truth, and to love His truth is to stand unflinchingly for it. John 8:31. So yes, please excuse us, if we seem a little too intense or overly passionate about that which is more precious to us than life itself, Matthew 10:39, the truth of Christ’s person and work. If these words fail, then our whole hope collapses. I Corinthians 15:19. Likewise, please forgive us if we cannot treat the blood of Christ with contempt, whether by denying its power, or by shrugging at it as though it were just some bible concept, and what we believe or understand about it, doesn't really matter. Hebrews 10:29. Additionally, pardon us if we cannot speak of the gospel as though it were one option among many, like choosing a brand of coffee or a political platform, as if eternal truth were a matter of preference. Do not be surprised if we appear a little narrow-minded when it comes to Christ, or a bit unyielding when it comes to His glory. “For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.” John 17:8.

This presses upon us a sobering consideration, can we truly divide a man from his teaching? The answer is no, it’s impossible. A man’s words reveal his heart, just as fruit reveals the tree, for out of “the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh,” Matthew 12:33-34, and the fruit cannot be split from the tree that bears it. “Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.” Matthew 7:17-18. For this reason the apostles not only warned against false ideas but also identified those who spread them. Paul cautioned the church to mark those who cause divisions contrary to the doctrine they had learned, Romans 16:17; John wrote plainly, “if there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed.” II John 10. Such warnings show us that the man and his message stand together. To fellowship with one is to lend credibility to the other. And although we are not apostles, nor pretend to be, yet loyalty to Christ demands faithfulness to his words.

The apostles never shied away from naming those who denied the faith. Paul spoke of Hymenaeus and Alexander who had made shipwreck, I Timothy 1:19-20, and of Hymenaeus and Philetus whose false teaching was eating like a canker, II Timothy 2:16-18. John exposed Diotrephes for his pride and malicious words. III John 9-10. Faithfulness to Christ demands that we expose false apostles and deceitful workers, warning the flock of ravening wolves, whatever the cost, Romans 16:17; for when the gospel is corrupted or distorted, silence is betrayal, and to embrace those who deny Christ is to partake of this “evil deed,” II John 10-11, yet the Lord Himself will render the final verdict, for all authority is His alone. Our part is not to seize His throne, but to remain faithful to His truth, confessing His name without compromise, whatever the cost. MPJ

Postscript: I couldn’t help but notice that his portrait has been sitting on the front page of SermonAudio ever since his assassination. That, to me, is a tragic irony. Here’s a platform that claims to uphold “historic Christianity,” yet it highlights a man whose public voice showed little to no grasp of the gospel of Christ. With so many Calvinists backing that site, you’d think there would be greater discernment. But perhaps this only shows how easily even those who pride themselves on doctrinal precision can drift from the heart of the gospel when Christ Himself is not the measure. The world treats truth as negotiable, but the gospel is life or death. Truth does matter, it is life and death, heaven and hell, Christ or nothing. We do not consign men to hell, but neither can we separate them from their words. Error must be named, truth confessed, and Christ exalted. To tolerate lies in the name of charity is not love but treason against Christ.

Greater Love: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.” John 15:13-14. Last night, while reading John 15 together with my wife, I came to verse 13, already knowing what was before me, and anticipating one of the most extraordinary sayings of our Lord, words that almost take your breath away. “Ye are my friends.” Can this truly be so? Especially when weighed against the reality of our own vileness and insignificance. I mean, I’ve got to be the worst friend ever! How often do I harden my heart, wander after foolish desires, indulge the flesh, fail to pray, break my promises, complain or murmur under difficult circumstances, &c. By any measure of loyalty or steadiness, I’d be the worst of friends, disloyal, distracted, doubting, questioning the Lord’s goodness and circling back to the very sins I promised to forsake. Honestly, when I start to list out the ways someone can be a poor friend, the examples just keep piling up, and, to my shame, I see myself in almost every one of them; and yet, this is precisely the wonder of it all.

Many of us know what it is to feel alone or friendless. Even in this age of endless connections, where social media boasts of “friends” beyond number, real life often reminds us that true companionship is rare, sometimes found only within our own household, and perhaps not necessarily there either. Matthew 10:36. And so when we hear of Christ speaking in terms of such infinite condescension, “ye are my friends.” What greater astonishment could there be? Such a thought leaves the soul speechless. That Christ, who lacks nothing and overflows with infinite blessedness, who knows all that I am and all that I am not, would call me His friend? “Not that we loved Him, but that He loved us,” comes to mind. I John 4:10. That Christ would ever say this of me, the worst friend imaginable, is staggering. To common sense it seems absurd; and apart from faith impossible to even begin to embrace as applying to ourselves. How could ONE so pure, so faithful, so infinitely blessed, ever call us His friend? Our constant failures rise up as witnesses against us, and honesty and reason tells us to cast such thoughts immediately aside. But we can't! We are captivated and mesmerized by “the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:39.

We want this more than anything! Such love leaves us in awe, and we treasure it as life’s greatest pearl. Matthew 13:46. Yet the more we prize it, the more keenly we feel our weakness, realizing how poor a friend we have been to Christ. The LORD alone can give grace to look beyond our unfaithfulness and to cling to the staggering truth that Christ’s word is more certain than all our trembling apprehensions about our failures as His friends. “If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself.” II Timothy 2:13.

Then comes a word from Christ that can leave one staggering, as though His friendship were secured only by perfect obedience, when he continues, “if ye do whatsoever I command you.” That little word “if” almost seems to spoil everything. For how can such a thing be? We know our bent to sin, our weakness in obedience. How can the Lord, who knows our inability, require a life of perfect conformity? In one sense, the promise of being Christ’s friend seems dashed to pieces under the weight of such an impossible condition. Who can claim such perfect obedience? As above, the more we look within, the more we see failure upon failure, commands neglected, affections misplaced, duties half-heartedly performed, sins repeated again and again. The very verse that should confirm Christ's friendship instead seems to expose our unworthiness all the more, as our peace slips away, common sense argues, and a voice whispers, “could Christ truly mean me when He speaks these words?”

The “if” in Christ’s words is not the language of condition, nor a hurdle we must clear to earn His love; but I believe one of evidence, even ownership; for when the Lord says, “ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you,” we can be assured from the analogy of scripture that Christ is not laying down a bargain, as though obedience were the price we pay to purchase His friendship. The whole testimony of Scripture assures us that His love is not bartered but freely given. Isaiah 55:1. Rather, I think, these words echo the evidence of friendship already established by grace, depicting the life of those that are in Christ, as being identified with the words of Christ. In the light of Christ crucified, every act of following after Him becomes the echo of His love already set upon us, and the evidence that we abide in the One who first laid down His life for His friends. And yes, that fruit is imperfect, often mingled with failure and sin; stumbling along the way, sometimes grievously, but, in mercy, the direction of their heart is Christward, for “the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus” their Lord, has fixated them there.

I think in one very real sense, Peter’s words to Christ are the anthem of every faltering friend. After his bitter fall and the grief of denying his friend, he never really ceased to love Christ, and from that broken place could only say, “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.” John 21:17. In these words we hear the voice of faltering friends whose hearts are Christward, not for the constancy of their love, but for the constancy of His love that turned them to Himself. And so we circle back to those breathtaking words of Christ, “ye are my friends.” What began in wonder, ends in wonder still, not only in these words of infinite condescension, but in all of life. “Not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” I John 4:10. The Lord is ever mindful of his friends and surrounds himself with those that love him. Malachi 3:17. MPJ

Alongside the study of Scripture, I also enjoy researching history, especially British Parliamentarian and Reformation history, and have spent countless hours exploring those fields in particular. My interest also extends to early American history and the way our country was deeply influenced by scripture, dissenting faith, and the pursuit of liberty of conscience. Yet I have often noted that the Pilgrims did not come purely as champions of religious liberty in the modern sense. Many of them were driven not because they wished to extend freedom of conscience to all, but because they were losing the power to enforce their own religious authority in the old country. Ironically, in fleeing persecution, they sought a new land where they themselves could establish rigid boundaries, enforce conformity, and demand allegiance to their particular interpretation of Scripture.

In this way, the very impulse that led them across the sea was bound up with a sectarian rigidity that quickly turned to the persecution of those who differed, and none felt this more sharply than the Baptists. Though they too sought to live according to conscience and scripture, they became the targets of fines, banishment, and even imprisonment at the hands of those who themselves had fled persecution. The irony is striking, men who had once suffered under the heavy hand of religious conformity became, in the New World, enforcers of their own. This contradiction reminds us how easily the pursuit of liberty can be corrupted when men cling not to Christ, but to their own authority to rule in His name.

What brought this to mind were some words I recently came across from John Robinson, 1576-1625, the pastor of the English Separatists who later became known as the Pilgrims. Robinson’s congregation had settled in Leiden, Holland, in 1609, after fleeing persecution in England. By 1620, part of that congregation resolved to emigrate to the New World. Before their departure, Robinson preached his famous farewell sermon to those preparing to sail on the Speedwell (later transferring to the Mayflower) and eventually establish the Plymouth Colony. Robinson himself remained in Leiden with the larger portion of the congregation, intending to follow later, but he never did. Robinson’s farewell sermon to the Pilgrims contains a striking warning, one that feels as relevant now as then, a sober reminder to honor the past without idolizing it, and to look beyond men’s writings to the Scriptures themselves, where the light of Christ never grows dim. “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” II Corinthians 4:6.

These are Robinson’s words, “the Lutherans cannot be drawn beyond what Luther saw; the Calvinists, they stick where Calvin left them. This is a misery much to be lamented; for though they were shining lights in their times, yet God did not reveal His whole will unto them, and if they were alive today they would be as ready to and willing to embrace further light, as that they had received.” (John Robinson Farewell Sermon 1620.)

Robinson’s warning exposes a danger as real in our day as in his, the tendency to rest in the discoveries of our “fathers” rather than pressing on in the light of Christ. This danger is not confined to the followers of Luther or Calvin, but repeats itself in every age, men fastening themselves to teachers, hardening into systems, and neglecting the truth that only Christ is the Light. Just this past week, as I was driving home from work, I tuned in to a sermon audio feed from a local Protestant Reformed congregation. They were live-streaming what appeared to be an examination of a candidate for the ministry, essentially a public question-and-answer session. At first I had some difficulty following, not being familiar with their procedures, but it soon became clear that this young man, likely one of their theological students, was being carefully examined on matters of scripture and doctrine, and was expected to respond in harmony with their particular brand of Reformed Christianity. What struck me most was that, in sorting through their questions, he often leaned not on Scripture but on memorized lines from their confession and catechism, as though preparing for the pulpit required little more than passing a theological entrance exam.

These confessional forms, though originally intended as expressions of belief, have in practice become the framework upon which entire traditions prop up their doctrinal systems. It is not only the “reformed” who do this, but anybody that leans upon the writings of men, be it catechisms, councils, or creeds, as though they carried equal weight with Scripture itself. What was once a guide becomes the rule, and the Word of God is treated as commentary on man’s commentary. Here we see how easily reverence for tradition slips into reliance upon it. What begins as a safeguard for truth soon becomes a substitute for Scripture, and the very spirit Robinson lamented in his day takes root again, men halting where their fathers halted, instead of pressing on in the light of Christ, a light too often obscured beneath the shadow of human systems.

History shows how quickly movements harden into monuments of their founders. The Lutheran clings to Luther, the Calvinist to Calvin, the Puritan to Owen, the Baptist to Gill, the Methodist to Wesley, &c. In honoring men, their followers risk fossilizing partial glimpses of truth into rigid systems. But Christ’s riches cannot be confined to any one man. The Scriptures are ever-living, and the Spirit continues to unfold Christ to His people. John 16:14. God did not reveal the fullness of His counsel to Luther or Calvin, however brilliant their witness. Their strength was not in completing any given task, but in walking obediently in the light they were given. If they were alive today, Robinson hinted that they would be as quick to grasp fresh light as they were to embrace what was first revealed. It is a grave mistake when believers stop where their teachers stopped, as if the truth revealed to one man were the sum of all God’s counsel. The brightest lights of former days were only servants of Christ who walked faithfully in the measure of light given them. Their faithfulness was not in exhausting truth, but in following Christ as far as they were led. To turn their discoveries into a finished system is to betray the very example they set, and when their authority is appealed to in matters of faith and practice in place of Scripture, it can become a subtle contradiction of the very faith once delivered to the saints. May we be reminded that the Word of God is an inexhaustible treasury; and though we are grateful for the portion given to those before us, may the Lord lift our eyes to the greater light still shining in Scripture, where Christ is revealed in His inexhaustible glory. John 5:39.

In rereading the above, I should note that I am not speaking against confessions themselves, but only against giving them preeminence. Confessions of faith do serve a purpose. After all, anyone can claim, “the Bible is my creed,” but such a statement can mean almost anything. A confession at least attempts to summarize what a body of believers understands the Scriptures to teach, offering clarity and guardrails where vague appeals to Scripture often fail. At their best, they can help distinguish truth from error and remind us where the “church” has stood in the past; yet they must never be treated as equal to the Word of God, for their value lies only in how faithfully they reflect the Scriptures, not in standing beside them as a final authority. MPJ

An eye for an eye: In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ is teaching against a personal spirit of retaliation. The “eye for an eye” principle was a judicial standard meant for magistrates, not for personal vengeance, or for individuals to settle personal grudges. But people had twisted it into an excuse for personal revenge. His disciples are not to respond to personal insults, injuries, or injustices with the same spirit of retaliation. Instead, they are to reflect the meekness and patience of their Master. Turning the other cheek is not passivity in the face of lawlessness, but the refusal to repay evil with evil. Romans 12:17-21. To “turn the other cheek” does not mean to approve of sin or to ignore injustice; it means that the Christian refuses to repay evil with evil, leaving vengeance to God, and bearing wrongs in a way that displays the Spirit of Christ.

What brought these words of Christ to mind was Paul’s response in Acts 23, where he rebuked Ananias as a “whited wall.” At first hearing, it almost sounds like a contradiction of our Lord’s teaching on the mount, yet looking closer, Paul was not lashing out in violence or seeking personal revenge, he was exposing hypocrisy and unlawful conduct in the midst of a judicial setting. His words echo the prophets, Ezekiel 13:10-12, who likewise rebuked leaders who pretended holiness while corrupting the way of the Lord. Matthew 23:27. Paul is appealing to the very law that Ananias claimed to uphold, showing that the priest had acted unjustly by ordering him struck contrary to the law. Paul wasn’t defending personal pride or reputation, but calling out injustice in God’s name. When Christ Himself was smitten, John 18:22-23, He didn’t literally “turn the other cheek” in silence either, but firmly said, “if I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil, but if well, why smitest thou me?” That’s almost the exact stance Paul takes. Christ set the pattern of patient boldness, not silent acquiescence to injustice, showing us how to bear wrongs without revenge and to overcome evil not with retaliation but with truth and grace. The key is to discern the difference between lashing out in anger and bearing witness to the truth, between repaying evil with evil and exposing evil by the light of Scripture, while remaining steadfast in that truth.

Matthew 5 cannot be understood as canceling justice or diminishing the law of God, but as redirecting our gaze from personal retaliation to God’s justice fulfilled in Christ. The principle of “eye for an eye” was not repealed but eternally satisfied in His death. If that standard were set aside, the cross would be unnecessary, even meaningless. But because God’s justice cannot be brushed away, Christ bore its full weight. Thus Matthew 5 does not weaken the law or soften justice, it magnifies grace by showing that justice is satisfied only in Christ. At the cross He endured the exact measure of wrath that sin required, without reduction or escape, so that the law’s righteous standard might be met once for all. His death was not symbolic but substitutionary, the principle of “eye for eye, tooth for tooth” carried out in full, as Christ perfectly and finally satisfied the law’s demand for all whom He came to redeem. Outside of Him, the same justice falls on the sinner without mercy; in Him, it is already satisfied. Romans 8:1-4.

And what about the verses that follow? “And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.” Matthew 5:40-43. To most of us these words seem far too demanding, almost beyond reach, as if Christ were setting an impossible standard, especially as they strike against our natural instinct to protect ourselves, our rights, and our possessions. Yet that is exactly the point. In ourselves we recoil at such commands, for they expose the selfishness and pride that lies at the core of our corrupt nature. They strip away every excuse and fix our hope on Christ, who embodies this life in fullness and counts it as ours before God. These words feel impossible because they are. They reveal not our strength but our frailty and sin, so that the gospel may stand forth as our only hope in Christ.

Additionally, I believe that the commands about the cloak, the second mile, and the generous hand are not new burdens for the flesh to carry, but gospel realities that display how grace reorients our thinking and living, anchoring us in Christ, who is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. These words are not impossibilities for us to achieve, but glimpses of the life formed by the gospel, the life of those who have received mercy, and who now, by that mercy, walk in a way that testifies of the love of Christ. So these words are not a checklist of duties, but a revelation of how grace renovates our life in Christ. They strip away self-reliance, expose the futility of clinging to possessions or rights, and bear witness to a life preserved by the grace of Christ. Jude 1. MPJ

Public Education: Our children are the most important trust the LORD has placed in our hands, and it is vital that we honor that sacred responsibility in every area of their lives. Few decisions weigh more heavily than where they will receive instruction, for every day their hearts and minds are being shaped by what they are taught. To suppose that public schools are “neutral” is a deadly delusion, for within those walls the wisdom of man is enthroned, and the Word of God is cast aside. And if we even toy with the idea of surrendering our children to the state for their education, what does that reveal about our so-called “faith”? Do we actually believe the gospel we profess, or are we content to let Caesar disciple our sons and daughters in the creed of unbelief?

How can we say we are nurturing them in the fear of the Lord while deliberately placing them under instructors that hate Christ, and who have no regard for the Scriptures. Such who use their position to mock the gospel and normalize sin, as they seek to replace God’s Word with the wicked philosophies of men? Such a duplicity is contrary to the faith, and borders on hypocrisy, as its bitter fruit is seen in the countless children who grow up to despise the Christ their parents only honored with their lips.

When the children of Israel learned the ways of the Canaanites, they quickly bowed to their gods. Judges 3:5-7. The psalmist laments that they were “mingled among the heathen, and learned their works.” Psalm 106:35. The Lord had warned them, “for they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods, so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.” Deuteronomy 7:4. The lesson seems unmistakable, immerse children in the world’s system, and most will bow to its idols and embrace its values, trading the truth of God for the lies of the age. Why then should we expect a different outcome when our own sons and daughters are daily catechized in a system that exalts man and excludes Christ?

Again, let me emphasize this undeniable fact that public schools are not neutral ground. They are temples of secular humanism, catechizing the next generation in the religion of the state. When Christian parents place their children under such instruction, they are not merely “educating” them; they are delivering them to the very enemy of Christ. Is it then any wonder that multitudes grow up fluent in the world’s language, captivated by its spirit, and hardened against the truth of God? The daily lessons, pledges, and celebrations all reinforce the creed of secular humanism. Man is autonomous, truth is relative, morality is self-defined, and God is irrelevant.

Step into the modern classroom with eyes open, and it becomes unmistakably clear that education has been replaced with secular indoctrination. Children are no longer simply taught skills; they are trained to think, act, and believe according to the dictates of secular humanism. Parents are cast as threats, while children are treated as wards of the state, to be molded and shielded from the “harmful” influence of their parents’ convictions. The outcome is tragically predictable, young men and women shaped by the world’s philosophy, who see little need for Christ and willingly exchange the truth of God for the lies of the age.

One of the most common objections raised against homeschooling is the supposed need for children to be “socialized.” Socialized into what? Socialized to think, talk, and act like the rest of the world? To absorb its corrupt values, chase its idols, and normalize its sins? If success is measured by how well a child can blend into a culture that rejects Christ, then public schools stand second to none in turning out model citizens of unbelief. Children are trained to think as the world thinks, to prize what the world prizes, and to scoff at what God declares is good. To send children into the public school system in order that they might “fit in” is to desire for them the very thing Scripture warns against. Romans 12:2. What good is it to be “socialized” if in the process their souls are secularized?

Consider how directly opposed to Christ the world’s teachings are, yet these are fed daily to children in the classroom. They no longer teach you how to think, but what to think. At one time they were devoted to the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic, but now they have become centers of indoctrination, essentially catechizing children according to the spirit of the age. Transgender ideology is pushed with militant zeal, evolutionary myths are paraded about as unquestionable truth, and sex education, stripped of purity and holiness, normalizes fornication, redefines marriage, and celebrates what God condemns throughout the Scriptures. This is not unbiased or harmless learning but wholesale indoctrination in a worldview crafted in defiance of the living God. The result is the systematic training of children to despise Christ, to scoff at His Word, and to embrace the very lies that lead to destruction.

Even reading, writing, and arithmetic, though in their place important, in light of eternity fade into nothing. What matters is not whether Johnny can read, but whether his name is found in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Revelation 20:15. That sobering reality should outweigh every earthly concern. Believers are told to raise their children “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord,” Ephesians 6:4, and how can this be accomplished by sending them away to be tutored in unbelief? How can we fulfill God’s command while placing them daily under those who deny His Word and scorn His Son?

Hear the clarity of Scripture in Ezra’s rebuke, words that speak as powerfully to us today as they did then. “And now, O our God, what shall we say after this, for we have forsaken thy commandments which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, the land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness. Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth forever.”

In closing, I am not suggesting that every parent who sends their children to public schools does so out of a lack of love or care for them. Far from it, most do so with the very best of intentions. But what I am urging is that we weigh our choices in the light of God’s Word. Love must be governed by truth. The real question is whether our decisions as parents spring from Scripture or from mere convenience, from eternal priorities or temporal comforts. Surely, we all want the best for our children, but here is the searching issue, what do we count as ‘best’? Do our priorities mirror the fleeting concerns of the world, or do they spring from the eternal truth of God? The question is not whether we love our children, but whether we love them enough to lead them in the way of Christ, with Scripture as their guide. MPJ

“Maschil of David; A Prayer when he was in the cave. I cried unto the LORD with my voice; with my voice unto the LORD did I make my supplication.” Psalms 142:1. Consider this, that one of the psalms that comforts weary saints was first composed in the depths of a cave. David looked beyond the cave to the God of mercy, and with confidence declared that the Lord would yet “deal bountifully” with him, verse 7. What a testimony, when everything outwardly pressed him down, he still expected only goodness from the hand of God. Outwardly, David was a fugitive; inwardly, he was a worshiper. Psalm 34:1. In the company of many who were distressed like himself, David’s spirit still felt overwhelmed; yet in that place his confidence was that the Lord knew his path. Not only did the Lord know his way in general, but He knew David’s path in particular, every turn, every hiding place, every breath of fear. And more than this, the LORD sustained that path particularly, upholding His servant step by step until the day of deliverance.

The same God that David called out to whilst overcome with untold sorrows is the same Lord God whom we may now approach in Christ, our great High Priest; and through His unchanging priesthood, our access is secure. His priesthood does not waver with our weakness nor expire with time. Hebrews 7:24-25. Where David found refuge in shadows, we come by a new and living way, where grace and mercy are ever open to us in Christ Jesus, and through His unchanging priesthood, our access is secure, for the same High Priest who opened the way for His people as a body also remembers each one by name; even as the high priest of old wore the names of Israel upon his breastplate, so Christ remembers His own, one by one, in the presence of God. The hidden burdens we carry, the sighs too faint for others to notice, the silent fears, and the needs never spoken, &c., are all remembered by Christ in His intercession before the Father. “He calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.” John 10:3. His priesthood is not a blanket covering alone, but a personal intercession that regards every child with particular remembrance and unfailing love. “Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.” Isaiah 49:16. MPJ

“Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 5:20. In recent months, my wife and I have found ourselves noticing the strange absence of gratitude in daily life. More than once we have given something unexpected, even substantial by our modest means, only to find it entirely unacknowledged. Two of these were wedding gifts for ceremonies to which we were not even invited, gifts given freely, yet never so much as acknowledged. And as we spoke about this last night, we realized there were half a dozen other instances in just the past month where kindness seemed to vanish into silence. Even one of our daughters left us puzzled, as my wife had to reach out three different times just to confirm whether something we had mailed to her ever arrived, especially since we had already been billed for it. We were not looking for recognition or trying to display our kindness, yet it still amazed us to see how widespread unthankfulness has become. The smallest expression of gratitude, a word of thanks, is strangely missing in so many places?

And yet, when I pause, I am reminded that this same spirit of ingratitude is found in us all by nature. What we criticize in others is but a shadow of ourselves, for if their silence is painful, how much more does our own neglect of gratitude toward God reveal the unthankfulness of our own hearts, and how much more should that ingratitude lead us to marvel at the grace that covers even this sin. Micah 7:18. Our voices fail and our minds stray; we can't even begin to render to the Lord the glory due unto His name, nor give Him true thanks, except through Christ who stands in our place. “For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.” Ephesians 2:18. Here is the glory of the gospel, our unthankfulness has been met with Christ’s perfect gratitude. Where we have failed to honor the Giver, Christ honored Him in all things. Romans 5:19. Where we have received mercies without acknowledgment, Christ blessed His Father for daily bread, Matthew 15:36, for answered prayer, John 11:41, for the gracious unveiling of divine truth, Luke 10:21, even for the cup of suffering placed before Him. Matthew 26:27-28. Our silence is answered by His thanksgiving; our neglect is upheld by His faithful intercession. And if this is true even in our thanklessness, how much more in every aspect of our lives, where Christ’s mediatorial work stands as our only sufficiency. Hebrews 9:24. MPJ

Brook Cedron: When David fled Jerusalem because of Absalom’s rebellion, the text says, “and all the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over, the king also himself passed over the brook Kidron, and all the people passed over, toward the way of the wilderness.” II Samuel 15:23. It is there that he apparently wrote Psalm 3 and Psalm 41. Not only had his own son Absalom betrayed him, but so had his closest advisor Ahithophel, who like Judas Iscariot, hung himself when his conspiracy crumbled. II Samuel 17:23.

The brook Cedron, or Kidron, was a narrow channel of water running through a dark valley just outside Jerusalem, at the base of the Mount of Olives, east of the city. Its waters were blackened by the blood and refuse from the temple sacrifices, carried by a conduit down from the altar. What defiled the sanctuary was poured into this stream, so that its very name, Kidron, meaning black or murky, spoke of uncleanness. John Gill even mentioned that local farmers would purchase the soil and sediment of its waters to dung their fields. Gill went further than the mere historical detail, seeing in this brook a spiritual emblem. To him it pictured the world itself, its pollution, its darkness, its griefs and burdens, all lying between the believer and the heavenly Zion.

For David, the Lord’s anointed, to depart Jerusalem in tears and cross that brook was a striking picture of deep humiliation. It shows us the bitter fruit of sin, though forgiven, David’s past transgressions brought sorrow into his own house, and here he bears the weight of God’s chastening hand. Psalm 38:3-4. In the Book of I Kings, we learn how Asa, King of Judah, after taking away the sodomites out of the land, (either by driving them out of the land, or by putting them to death according to the law of God, Lev 20:13,) dethroned his own mother for her idolatry, and the idolatrous image she had set up he destroyed, reducing it to ashes by the Brook Kidron. I Kings 15:13. Thus, the brook itself becomes linked with sin and idolatry, its dark waters often receiving the ashes of false gods and the tokens of man’s rebellion against the Lord.

Approximately 900 years later another King crossed that same brook. On the night of His arrest, Jesus “went out with His disciples over the Brook Kidron, where there was a garden.” John 18:1. Through this brook the Lord Jesus passed on the night of His betrayal. And if this black torrent represented the defilement of sin, then how fitting that Christ, bearing the iniquities of His people, should tread its banks with such heaviness of soul. Psalm 110:7, speaks of Messiah drinking “of the brook in the way,” and here the shadow becomes substance. What David once knew in sorrow when he crossed the brook, fleeing from Absalom, Christ knew in fullness as the greater Son of David. Matthew 21:9. David passed over as an exile; Christ passed over as the willing Surety. David bore his shame; Christ bore our sin. MPJ

A hopeless endeavor: “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” Romans 10:3. From the beginning of the world, man has never ceased to labor with his own wisdom to span the impassable gulf that sin has fixed between himself and God. Luke 16:26. The philosopher imagines reason will do the trick; the moralist clings to his virtues; the religionist multiplies ceremonies and traditions. All alike engaged in the same hopeless task.

And although their methods differ, they share one ruinous feature that every human scheme to reach God has in common which is to deflate God's holiness and inflate man’s worth. The holiness of God must be softened, the corruption of man must be excused, until at last the two might appear capable of meeting somewhere in the middle. “Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself, but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.” Psalm 50:21. The gospel exposes this as both blasphemy and folly. God cannot be lowered, nor man exalted, without destroying truth itself. To diminish divine holiness is to deny God; to flatter human dignity is to deny sin. No bridge built on such lies will ever stand. Job 8:13-15.

The gospel moves in an altogether different direction. It does not call men to scale heaven by their own efforts, nor does it reduce the Almighty to a mere collaborator in man’s redemption. Such corruption reshapes “salvation” into a bargain struck between God and man, making the sinner appear as a partner rather than a condemned malefactor. This is to overturn the very nature of grace, for grace ceases to be grace the moment it is mingled with works. Romans 11:6. The sinner is not God’s associate in redemption, but a guilty wretch for whom the ransom was paid. The gospel declares that God Himself has come down in Christ, not to meet man in the middle, but to stoop to him in the very depths of his ruin. Anything less is not gospel but fraud, dressing human pride in the garments of religion. At the cross we behold holiness upheld, justice answered, mercy exalted, and salvation poured out as a free gift of grace. Where every human scheme collapses, the work of Christ triumphs. Here “reconciliation” is not manufactured but accomplished, by grace alone, in Christ alone. MPJ

Nimrod: “And Cush begat Nimrod, he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; wherefore it is said, even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.” Genesis 10:8-10. It is striking how suddenly Nimrod appears in the scriptures. Without warning, he bursts from the genealogy as the first prominent “mighty one in the earth” after the flood, as a figurehead of human strength and ambition, the embodiment of man’s attempt to carve out greatness apart from God. Scripture records that Nimrod “was a mighty hunter before the LORD,” indeed, the mighty one in the earth. His name itself means “rebel,” and the Hebrew text paints him as insolent and tyrannical. The phrase “before the LORD” I am told suggests bold defiance, as when sin filled the earth “before God” in the days of Noah, Genesis 6:11, or it may mean simply in the open sight of God. For “neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” Hebrews 4:13. 

What was birthed in Nimrod’s kingdom of Shinar has reverberated through the ages, it reappears wherever religion cloaks pride with piety, wherever man enthrones himself while invoking the name of God. It is the worship of man, dressed up as the worship of God. Rome did not invent it; she only perfected the art of cloaking paganism with christian language, enthroning priestcraft in the place of Christ. Jeremiah 51:7. Its mission is clear, the deification of man, the rejection of God, and the use of political and religious tyranny to enslave. Revelation 13:7-8.

The Reformation brought a great breaking forth of light, yet even there Babylon left its trace. Many were indeed delivered from Rome’s tyranny, yet in place of one great tower, they built many smaller ones, repeating Babel’s confusion under Protestant names. Creeds and confessions, useful as they may be, soon became walls and fortresses to divide. Denominations multiplied, each one claiming the higher ground, each one laying brick upon brick until Protestantism itself became a patchwork of towers, Babel rebuilt, not in stone but in systems of men. Matthew 15:9. Every “new boss” is the same as the old boss. What Nimrod sought by conquest, religion achieves by tradition, and enforces by creed. Thus, Nimrod becomes more than an ancient name. He is a type of every ruler, nation, or movement that exalts human might and unity against the throne of Christ. Men may join hands, build towers, and rally kingdoms, but the word of God is sure. “The LORD came down.” Genesis 11:5. Every Babel must fall. Every Nimrod will perish. The kingdoms of this world are doomed to crumble, that the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ might stand forever. Revelation 11:15. Nimrod reminds us that every rival power is temporary, but Christ’s dominion is everlasting. MPJ

Is the Gospel Clear? Referencing my last post, where mention is made of being resolute in the gospel declaration, a friend remarked with the following reply, (a thought that I suspect all of us wrestle with,) “it all depends upon how deep one is made to go down the rabbit hole. If one would be resolute, one can never to himself rule out the possibility of being deluded.” I began to think about this on the way home from work today, and will share some thoughts.

Believers are naturally wary in this matter, fearing the danger of presumption more than anything else. Experience has taught them that apart from Christ they are nothing, and that the human heart is unstable and prone to self-deception. Jeremiah 17:9. Such an awareness causes them to tread carefully, leaning not on their own understanding but on the Spirit of truth, who alone anchors them in Christ.

But what are we left with if this is true? If we are indeed deceived in that truth that we've embraced in reference to the gospel of Christ? Amongst other things, it would imply that the gospel is not clear, that it can be interpreted in countless ways and no one can ever know who is right. That conclusion is somewhat devastating because in my thoughts it strikes at the very core of the gospel itself. If the gospel is not clear, then the cross is shrouded in uncertainty, and the promises of God are left hanging in mid-air. It would mean that no one can ever know with confidence whether they are truly in Christ, for what is obscure cannot be believed with assurance. And if such were the case, then the distinction between truth and error would vanish altogether. Isaiah 5:20. The reason so few see it is not because the message is muddled, but because it must be revealed by the Spirit. II Corinthians 4:3. What remains hidden to the world is made plain in Christ, for the gospel does not blur the line between truth and error but sets it in sharp contrast. In Christ the dividing line is unmistakable, and by His grace the people of God are kept, not in confusion or speculation, but in the quiet confidence that His work is complete, Hebrews 10:14, and in that confidence they look to Him alone for all their salvation. Hebrews 12:2.

This is a marked line of distinction between those that are Christ's, and those that are not, a distinguishable “spot” of separation, Deuteronomy 32:5, which characterizes and formulates the believer's entire life in this sphere of God’s ultimate glory in Christ, or what we know as life. Romans 11:36. “The Lord knoweth them that are his,” II Timothy 2:19, and will not leave his elect to guesswork in the gospel of Christ. John 10:27. False gospels may mimic the language of truth, but they bear another mark. God’s children are known by their trust in Christ alone, their spot is the “spot” of God's children, Deuteronomy 32:5, resting in the finished work of the cross, where the line between truth and error is made plain, and salvation is seen in Christ alone. Galatians 6:14. If the gospel were uncertain, such distinctions would collapse, and every way would seem alike. But God has spoken plainly in the gospel of His Son, Hebrews 1:2, and in Christ the difference between light and darkness, faith and unbelief, is laid bare with unshakable certainty. “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world, he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” John 8:12. MPJ

A universalist friend has begun to oppose me sharply because I pointed out from Scripture what I believe to be a denial of the doctrine of Christ. He accuses me of thinking I know everything. I know that isn’t true, but it is bewildering and painful to be painted with that brush, as though certainty in Christ’s gospel were the same as arrogance. Painful for all believers because it always mingles such an accusation with a hint of plausibility, and the child of God, sensitive of conscience and desiring to be clothed in humility, feels the wound keenly even if the charge isn’t true. Though not a single one of us would claim infallibility, yet neither can we speak of God’s truth as if it were uncertain or negotiable. To be told that conviction is nothing more than conceit feels like a blow to the very root of faith, as though standing firm upon the gospel were itself a kind of pride. Surely there is a difference between claiming all knowledge and standing resolute in the truth Christ has revealed.

Such accusations echo the enemy’s voice, for this has been his method from the beginning. In Eden, the serpent’s subtlety was not a direct denial, but a whisper of suspicion, “hath God said,” Genesis 3:1, and when we attempt to stand firmly on the gospel, the adversary comes with the same insinuation, “hath God truly spoken; or is this only your private opinion, your own clever reading into scripture.” Thus he mingles accusations with doubt, hoping to shake our confidence. Yet the answer remains the same, our confidence is not in ourselves, nor in our interpretation, but in the Word of God revealed in Christ. His sheep know His voice, John 10:27, and that voice is clear and certain, however much the enemy mocks.

Such accusations echo the enemy’s voice, for this has been his method from the beginning. In Eden, the serpent’s subtlety was not a direct denial, but a whisper of suspicion, “hath God said,” Genesis 3:1, and when we attempt to stand firmly on the gospel, the adversary comes with the same insinuation, “hath God truly spoken; or is this only your private opinion, your own clever reading into scripture.” Thus he mingles accusations with doubt, hoping to shake our confidence. Yet the answer remains the same, our confidence is not in ourselves, nor in our interpretation, but in the Word of God revealed in Christ. His sheep know His voice, John 10:27, and that voice is clear and certain, however much the enemy mocks.

Such accusations echo the enemy’s voice, for this has been his method from the beginning. In Eden, the serpent’s subtlety was not a direct denial, but a whisper of suspicion, “hath God said,” Genesis 3:1, and when we attempt to stand firmly on the gospel, the adversary comes with the same insinuation, “hath God truly spoken; or is this only your private opinion, your own clever reading into scripture.” Thus he mingles accusations with doubt, hoping to shake our confidence. Yet the answer remains the same, our confidence is not in ourselves, nor in our interpretation, but in the Word of God revealed in Christ. His sheep know His voice, John 10:27, and that voice is clear and certain, however much the enemy mocks.

The gospel is not our speculation but God’s revelation; it does not rise from the shifting opinions of men, but descends from the unchanging Word of God, written, preserved, and fulfilled in Christ. Hebrews 1:1-2. Paul says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation.” Romans 1:16. To declare it timidly or doubtfully would undermine its divine authority and power. Paul warns against giving an “uncertain sound.” I Corinthians 14:8. If the message is blurred, souls are left unsure about the only way of salvation. We dare not imagine that error and compromise are harmless, for they strike at the honor of Christ Himself. II Peter 2:1-2. “He that is not with me is against me.” Matthew 12:30. Neutrality here is an illusion, Christ is either confessed in truth or denied in error; there is no middle ground.

If the gospel is certain, then to speak with certainty is no sin. Besides, it's impossible for those that belong to Christ to treat the gospel as though it were negotiable, or to speak of the clear message of Christ as if it were uncertain. Believers do not claim to know everything, nor should they give that impression. Yet when it comes to the gospel of Christ, it cannot be reduced to one opinion among many. If the saints sound strong at times, it is only because His truth is too precious to compromise. Jude 1:3. MPJ

What God Cannot Do: Think about this, the scripture says thou shalt not kill, yet God kills every day, (“I kill and I make alive,” Deuteronomy 32:39,) and not only one with whom he is at odds with so to speak, but with those who may be considered his friends. John 15:14. Is God under His own rule of right and wrong? Is there some higher, immutable standard to which He has bound Himself, some law that measures Him? To speak in such terms is folly. The law proceeds from His throne, not above it. To imagine that the Giver is bound by the same prohibition as the receiver is to blur the line between Creator and creature. “For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king.” Isaiah 33:22.

His commandments reflect His holiness as it relates to men, not as it constrains Himself. God cannot lie, Titus 1:2, not because He is bound by some external chain, but because His very nature is truth itself. He cannot deny Himself, II Timothy 2:13, not because He is limited, but because He is unchanging, faithful, and perfect. To suggest that God is bound to some external law is to dethrone Him and enthrone law as supreme. If there were such a law above God, then God would not be God.

It's good to often be reminded that God's ways are not our ways, Isaiah 55:8, neither can he be measured by man's rule. Job 11:7-9. To attempt to bring the Almighty under the categories of human fairness, reason, or proportion is to reverse the order of things. The Creator is not subject to the reckoning of His creatures. He is absolute, sovereign, infinite, and eternal. The only “cannot” that belongs to Him is the “cannot” of contradiction to His own Being. In other words, GOD cannot cease to be GOD. Here is the foundation of worship, that GOD is GOD, unchangeably so. Every thread of creation is woven by Him, sustained through Him, and drawn back unto Him, to whom all glory belongs. Romans 11:36.

From this truth flows the certainty of the gospel. The God who elected us in Christ before the foundation of the world, Ephesians 1:4, is the same God who redeemed us by the blood of His Son, and the same God who will glorify us at the last day. And this is the bedrock of our hope, for “the God that cannot lie, promised before the world began,” Titus 1:2, life eternal in Christ Jesus our Lord. MPJ

In my attempt to read the Bible from cover to cover for the first time in my life, I arrived at II Samuel chapter 11, this morning. This is the chapter which narrates how David remained in Jerusalem while his army went to war, saw Bathsheba bathing, committed adultery with her, and when she conceived, attempted to cover it by recalling her husband Uriah. When Uriah would not go to his wife, David arranged for him to be placed in the heat of battle and abandoned, leading to Uriah’s death. David then took Bathsheba as his wife, and she bore him a son. The chapter ends with the solemn statement, “but the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.” II Samuel 11:27.

David committed adultery and committed murder, and Scripture does not minimize that. Yet when we speak of his person or character, it is important to remember how God Himself describes him, “a man after mine own heart.” Acts 13:22. His fall was real, and the sins were grievous, but his identity was not bound up in being “an adulterer” or “a murderer” in the sense of a settled course of life. Those titles, in Scripture, usually denote people whose pattern is unrepentant continuance in such sins. I Corinthians 6:9-11. David's repentance, Psalm 51, shows the difference between a child of God who falls into sin and one who lives in it. He bore heavy consequences in this life, but God did not leave him under that identity. David was not “marked” as an adulterer or murderer forever; he was a forgiven sinner, restored by grace, though still scarred by sins consequences.

Interestingly enough, in I Kings 15:5, it says, “David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.” Notice how David’s life is summed up. The adultery and murder are not denied, but they are not what defines him. Though David sinned grievously, God still holds him forth as one who walked in His ways. This distinction is vital for the believer. Sin may stain us, but it does not define us if we are in Christ. God remembers His children in Christ’s righteousness, not in their shame. Just as David’s life is remembered as a walk in God’s ways, so the believer’s life, though marred by failure, is summed up in grace, “ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus.” I Corinthians 6:11. Such is the triumph of divine grace, that God does not define His people by their darkest day, but by His eternal purpose in Christ. David’s sins were real, but the record of heaven calls him “a man after God’s own heart.” What God declared of David, He declares of all who are in Christ, their story is no longer written in sin, but in righteousness. “This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.” Isaiah 54:17. The believer’s comfort is not that he has never fallen, but that Christ has never failed. His obedience stands where ours falters, and His blood speaks pardon where our conscience condemns. MPJ

An Arminian Transcript: “I hope the Lord will bless us as we come together in His name. Try to do the Lord's will. That's the main thing in this life, doing the Lord's will. And His will is that not any should perish, but that all should come unto repentance. Jesus paid the way for every man, boy, woman, and girl at the age of accountability to get to heaven. He shed His blood, the only way from earth to heaven. And we can come to Him, and all that do come to Him with a broken heart and a contrite spirit gets born again. When you give up yourself, you give up sin, you give up the world. You want the Lord above everything else in this world. I tell you, and you pray through, out of your own heart, talk to God, reason with God out of your own heart. You've got to have forgiveness of your past sins. And I tell you, the Lord will transform you and change you on the inside like He did me over 30 years ago. I tell you, it's a joy to be saved. I've already made my peace, my calling and election for sure. The Bible says if you do that and you rebel against the Word of God, then you'll be cut off and that without a remedy. But you just need to come to the Lord and while there's time, while the door is open, while He's extending His salvation to you, like we've always said and like the Bible says, that God always offers mercy before judgment. And thank God He’s got mercy upon me.”

The above is the first paragraph, without any alteration, of a sermon transcript that was featured on SermonAudio this week, broadcast by some Baptist “Church” in Georgia. As I began to listen, one thing became immediately crystallized in my mind, which is the undeniable fact that a “great gulf fixed,” Luke 16:26, separates the gospel of Christ from this message! This is no variation of the gospel, but its reversal. It replaces the promise of God with the possibility of failure. It tells the sinner that he is not helpless but whole, not guilty but capable, not ruined but repairable, so long as he tries hard enough. Such a message is not merely weak, it is anti-Christ. It is a “gospel” of self-redemption, man exalting himself in the place of Christ. II Thessalonians 2:4. It’s idolatry in religious dress, a golden calf built from the fragments of human will, and is as opposite to the gospel as light is to darkness, as life is to death. Isaiah 5:20.

Just as the Lord described the impassable chasm between heaven and hell, so too there is an unbridgeable gulf between the grace of God in Christ Jesus and the man-centered religion of Arminianism. One proclaims what Christ has done, finished, effectual, eternal. The other proclaims what man must do, conditional, uncertain, and dependent upon his own contribution. This “gulf” is not only doctrinal but personal, for it exposes the way a man regards himself before God. Matthew 12:34. It's the difference between a beggar who cries for mercy and a boaster who prescribes remedies. And so it is with all who trumpet such sermons, (blind guides leading the blind,) because they do not see themselves as ruined sinners, every word flows with blind confidence about what man must do, what man can offer, what man must decide. But this is the exact opposite of how the gospel addresses us. The gospel does not flatter the strong, but lifts the beggar from the dunghill. Psalm 113:7. Not only does it not come to the “whole,” it's not even addressed to them. Luke 8:10. Christ declared, “they that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Luke 5:31-32. Those who imagine the way to life is “trying harder,” “praying through,” or “making peace with God” have never been silenced before God. Job 42:6. They speak as if sinners were not ruined and undone, but as if they were moral agents, capable of negotiating peace terms with the Almighty. This ‘poisons’ the very well of salvation. A “gospel” for the “whole” is nothing but poison to the sick. “For their vine is of the vine of Sodom… their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.” Deuteronomy 32:32-33. MPJ

KJV Preservation: It’s no pleasure to differ so widely from many whom are esteemed in the way of Christ, and whose ability and general knowledge far exceeds our own; but to use the words of another, “the Word of God is the greatest, most necessary, and most important thing in Christendom,” and we might add in all of the world, as there is nothing more essential, the neglect of which is to forsake our “own mercy,” Jonah 2:8, and to shut our ears to the only voice that speaks from heaven. Hebrews 1:1-2. For believers, there is nothing more precious as it is the ‘looking’ glass to behold “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” II Corinthians 4:6. Every glimpse of divine glory, all comfort in affliction, every beam of hope that penetrates the thoughts and settles the mind in “that blessed hope,” Titus 2:13, comes to us through the word of the Lord. It is the sacred lantern by which we behold Christ, the bread by which we are nourished, and the rock upon which we stand. Ephesians 2:20. All truth emanates from its pages, as it governs our lives, formulates our thoughts, and determines the course for all our decisions. It is the only light in a world of darkness, without which man is blind to God’s truth, deaf to His voice, and lost in his own reason. All else will fail! Religion will crumble, nations shall fall, and we all will fade away as a leaf, Isaiah 64:6, “but the word of the Lord endureth for ever, and this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.” I Peter 1:25. There is nothing more needful, nothing more glorious, nothing more divine! 

Inspiration without preservation would leave us with no certainty, for what good is a Word once given if it cannot be found today? In every age, God’s people have clung to the Word as their most precious treasure, whether Israel receiving the law at Sinai, David delighting in the Psalms, or the apostles preaching Christ from the Scriptures. It is in this same spirit that we approach the Authorized Version, not as a mere artifact of history, but as a vessel by which the everlasting Word of God has been preserved, proclaimed, and cherished. Paul thanks “God without ceasing,” that when the Thessalonians received the word of God they “received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.” I Thessalonians 2:13. And if the Word is in truth from God, then it deserves the same reverence as the divine Source from which it flows.

The God who breathed out every word of Scripture has also kept every word intact. Our Lord declared, “it is written, that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.” Luke 4:4. He was quoting from Deuteronomy 8:3, where the same truth was first recorded. But this raises an unavoidable question, how can we live by every word unless every word has been preserved? If even one part has been lost, then the command becomes impossible. Christ did not say we live by most of God’s words, or by whatever fragments might survive the ages, but by every word.

Such a claim leaves no room for uncertainty; it demands assurance that every word remains intact, and it is here that the Spirit of truth, John 16:13, bears witness with divine authority, persuading believers to receive the Bible as Christ Himself received it in His earthly ministry. Our Lord never spoke as the skeptics of modern criticism. He affirmed Moses as the author of the Law, Mark 12:26, David as the sweet psalmist, Luke 20:42, and Daniel as the prophet Matthew 24:15; to Him, these writings were not fragments of uncertain origin, but together they formed one Divine Book, the Scriptures. Christ testified that they were given by the Holy Spirit, Mark 12:36, that not one word could be broken, John 10:35, not one jot or tittle could pass away, Matthew 5:18, and that every line carried God’s authority. Matthew 4:4,7,10. If this was the testimony of Christ concerning the Scriptures, can we believe any less? Christ’s view of Scripture must be ours. He affirmed Moses, David, and Daniel as true authors; He spoke of the writings collectively as the Scriptures; He declared them Spirit-given, unbreakable, and imperishable. To deny the preservation and authority of Scripture is not merely to disagree with men, but to set ourselves against the very testimony of Christ. And if Christ Himself bore witness to the Scriptures as inspired and enduring, then it follows that any view which separates inspiration from preservation leaves us with a hollow confession.

What profit is there in speaking of inspiration if preservation is denied? What comfort is it to say there once was an inspired Bible, if no such Bible exists today? Inspiration severed from preservation is like a candle without a flame, or a sword without an edge. The very purpose of God breathing out His Word is undone, unless He also supernaturally keeps that Word for every generation. If Scripture exists only in the originals, then Scripture no longer exists at all. Scripture, in the Bible’s own usage, is not confined to the originals but applies equally to copies and translations. When the Ethiopian eunuch sat in his chariot reading from the prophet Isaiah, Acts 8, he did not hold the original scroll penned by Isaiah’s hand, yet the Spirit calls what he read “Scripture.” The noble Bereans “searched the Scriptures daily,” Acts 17:11, but they did not possess autographs from Moses or the prophets, only copies, and yet these are honored with the name “Scripture.” Our Lord Himself, when He entered the synagogue at Nazareth, read aloud from the book of Isaiah, Luke 4:16-21; and it was no original autograph, but a synagogue copy, and yet Christ declared, “this day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.” Likewise Timothy, from his earliest childhood, was acquainted with the “holy scriptures,” II Timothy 3:15, not fragile originals locked away in some museum, but copies preserved and received as the Word of God.

This is consistent throughout the whole Bible. Never once is the term “Scripture” used to describe an original manuscript. It always speaks of the Word of God as preserved in the hands of God’s people, the custodians of the faith, to whom the oracles of God were committed, Romans 3:2, and in like manner, in every generation, among those who are members of the household of faith. The preservation of holy scripture was never left to scholars, nor shut up among the curiosities of men, but openly committed to the household of faith itself, the living witness which stands as “the pillar and ground of the truth.” I Timothy 3:15. To them, as Paul declares, “were committed the oracles of God,” Romans 3:2, and through them the scriptures have been preserved in every age, not by clever reasoning but by the absolute authority of God, ensuring that the household of faith might ever hold the lamp of truth in their hands, unbroken, unquenched, and shining through every generation until the end of time. “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand for ever.” Isaiah 40:8.

And it is here, among Christ’s sheep, that the scriptures remain, guarded and maintained not by clever reasoning but by the faithfulness of Almighty God, Matthew 24:35, that across the centuries the sheep of Christ’s pasture might be called and gathered by the voice of their Shepherd. John 10:16. In other words, the Bible was never meant to be a relic of the past, but a living Word preserved among Christ’s people in every age. Inspiration is not locked up in some long-lost autograph, but lives on in the preserved Scriptures God has given to His church. “My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.” Isaiah 59:21.

Some argue that the King James Bible has been faithfully preserved, yet somehow deny that it is inspired. But how could such a thing be possible? If what God originally gave was inspired, then to preserve it is to preserve that inspiration. Inspiration does not evaporate in transmission. To claim otherwise is theological double talk, an attempt to separate what God has joined together. Preservation without inspiration would reduce the Scriptures to a lifeless relic, a mere form without the Spirit, like a corpse embalmed but no longer living. But the Word of God is not dead; it is “quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword.” Hebrews 4:12. What good would it do us if the Lord merely secured the form of His words, yet withheld the divine breath that gives them life? Inspiration cannot be limited to a one-time event in the distant past, for the Bible itself testifies that, “all scripture is given by inspiration of God,” II Timothy 3:16, present tense, not was. If Timothy’s “holy scriptures” (copies) were inspired, then so are the preserved Scriptures in our hands today. Otherwise, the promise of God is void, and the people of God are left with a book that looks like Scripture but lacks the authority and power of Scripture. Such a notion not only undermines faith, it contradicts the very nature of God who has magnified His Word above all His name. Psalm 138:2.

Among the prevailing opinions of modern scholarship/criticism is their assumption that God’s direct involvement with His Word ceased once the original autographs were penned. Inspiration, they say, was confined to that first act of breathing out His words, and preservation is acknowledged only so far as it relates to the Greek and Hebrew manuscripts. Beyond this narrow scope, the transmission of Scripture is treated as little more than a human enterprise, fallible men making fallible copies, translators exercising only their own skill, but without the living hand of God. Yet this view strips preservation of its very power, reducing it to a natural process rather than the providential work of the Spirit. To suppose that the God who gave His Word with infallible care would then abandon it to the corruption of apostate men is nothing less than unbelief masquerading as biblical scholarship. Such a thought diminishes the supremacy of Christ over His own Word, and makes man the final authority. If the Lord has promised to keep His Word pure in every generation, Psalm 12:6-7, then translation itself must be under His guiding hand, lest His promise be made void.

And this is the inevitable result, to deny God’s active hand in preservation is to embrace what can only be called a deistic view of Scripture, as though God merely breathed them out at the beginning, wound them up like a clock, and then stepped aside to let the ravages of time take their toll for better or for worse. After all, it's only God's holy word, the voice by which He makes His truth known to His people.” John 10:27. Would God, having breathed out His Word, then entrust its safekeeping to the careless custody of Augustinian monks or to the rigid traditions of pharisaical scribes to safeguard His inspired text? Shall we imagine that through the long centuries of the reign of papal popes, who did everything in their power to conceal the Scriptures from the common people, God stood aloof, watching His Word bound in cloisters and chained to pulpits? Or that He left it to the skeptical ravings of “Bible” scholars gone mad, dissecting the living Word as though it were a dead specimen, or to so-called ministers who bow down before the shifting sands of Greek definitions as though the original tongues were gods in themselves?

This is not the God of the Bible. His Word is not a relic to be buried in the ruins of history, but a living, abiding seed, I Peter 1:23, incorruptible, eternal, preserved by the same hand that first gave it. The LORD does not merely observe history, but He minutely orders, directs, and orchestrates every single event in time in an all-comprehensive manner to the glory of His infinite majesty and power. “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” Revelation 4:11. Would the God who thundered from Sinai, who wrote with His own finger upon tablets of stone, now fall silent and surrender His testimony to the slow decay of parchment and the endless disputations of “biblical” scholars, men who, under the guise of wisdom, have done all within their power to undermine the Bible? How can that be? The same God who spoke with power then still speaks with power now. What Rome once attempted by locking away the Scriptures from the common people, the modern critics attempt by eroding confidence in their authority. One sought to chain the Bible; the other seeks to destroy its credibility. Yet in both cases the aim is the same, to keep the Word of God from being received as it is in truth, the living, abiding voice of the Almighty.

The same God who gave His Word has also kept it living in the tongues of His people. “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” Matthew 24:35. His words remain not only in ancient manuscripts, but in the tongues of His people, preserved by the same God who first gave them. What blind reasoning could ever persuade us that the Lord, having supernaturally inspired and preserved His Word, would then withdraw and abandon the work of translation to the pride and arrogance of human reason? Are we to believe that God, who governs the fall of a sparrow and numbers the hairs of our head, would leave the most precious treasure He has entrusted to His people, the very words of life, to stand or fall on the skill of scholars? To imagine that God left His Word at the mercy of scholars is to make man the keeper of Scripture instead of God. If He preserves His Word, He also governs its passage into the tongues of His people. Preservation that does not reach the common tongue is preservation in name only. If the word of the LORD is to be “very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it,” Deuteronomy 30:14; Romans 10:8, then it must be in the tongue His people understand. The Lord, in His mercy, has ever made His Word plain to His people, clothing eternal truth in the tongue of common men, ensuring that His Word is not a sealed artifact, but the living voice of the Shepherd to His sheep. “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” John 6:63.

The tragedy of modern versions is not simply their contradictions, but their consensus, that man sits as judge over the Word of God. In their arrogance, men have placed God’s Word on the dissection table and are handling it like a corpse to be examined, subjecting it to their scalpel, not realizing that it is they who will one day be judged by it. John 12:48. Such tampering has only one result, a Bible reshaped in the likeness of man rather than received as the voice of God. Men have reconstructed the Bible after their own image. Instead of bowing to the authority of God’s Word, they have refashioned it to reflect their own philosophies, their own doubts, their own culture, and their own sin. Where God has spoken plainly, they insert ambiguity; where He has exalted Christ, they diminish Him; where He has drawn clear lines, they blur them. This is not preservation but perversion, not translation but distortion. It is the old lie of the serpent clothed in modern scholarship, “yea, hath God said?” To reconstruct the Bible after man’s image is to dethrone God and enthrone human wisdom. Every time a verse is cut away, every time Christ’s deity is diminished, every time the objective “faith” of Christ is substituted for the subjected “faith” in Christ, (otherwise known as Luther’s sola fide,) or the propitiatory work of Christ is diminished, the hand of man reshapes Scripture into a reflection of himself. But in contrast to man’s tampering, we behold the hand of God guiding His Word with perfect care.

Here the contrast is plain, man corrupts, but God preserves, and it is in this very contrast that we behold the marvel of God’s providence in history. He raised up men, fitted them with rare ability, and ordered the times so that the translation of His Word into the English tongue was carried out with meticulous care. Yet our confidence is not in the brilliance of men, but in the faithfulness of Christ, who declared that His words shall never pass away.

Here is a challenge to those who dismiss this so-called “extreme” view: If not the Authorized Version, then what? Name the Bible to which you will bow without hesitation, the book whose every word you receive as the voice of God. If you cannot identify a present and preserved Scripture, then you have no absolute authority at all, only the shifting sands of human opinion and scholarship. But Christ’s sheep do not live by uncertainty; they live by “every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4. The question cannot be avoided, was the Spirit of God at work in the giving of the Authorized Version? If the answer is “no,” then we are left with nothing more than the work of men, subject to error and uncertainty, and the church has no sure Bible in her hands. But if the answer is “yes,” and we confess that it is, then the Scripture we hold is not merely the fruit of human scholarship, but the result of God Himself guiding and overruling, so that His Word might be faithfully transmitted to His people.

It is with some reluctance that I take this further step, for I have no desire to offend those who preach Christ, yet necessity compels me to say a few things plainly. Thinking about those who have preached, or who are presently engaged in declaring the gospel, one cannot help but notice how many of them use only the King James or Authorized Version. Perhaps it provides them with a feeling of standing in the “old paths,” or gives a certain air of orthodoxy, tradition, or calvinistic flavor. Yet one cannot help but wonder how many truly regard it as the very Word of God, inerrant and preserved. Many will say that it is the most faithful translation, drawn from the most trustworthy text, and that they stand emphatically upon all which the bible teaches, taking it as their final authority. (One cannot but wonder, if it’s their final authority, what is their other authority?) But when pressed, that “final” authority often turns out to be something else, some imagined reconstruction of “the originals,” or the turn of a lexicon or word study that will usually tilt in the direction of one’s preconceptions. In this way, the KJV becomes for them more a banner to wave than a foundation to rest upon. They climb aboard the King James bandwagon with great enthusiasm, but quickly disembark at the first stop, the so-called “original text,” (which, ironically, does not exist,) where human scholarship lures them from trusting God’s preserved Word. They all follow the breadcrumbs of one another, lest they fall out of fellowship with their fellow deniers of an inspired Bible. 

How often have we heard this expression? “This is the best translation!” Why does everybody talk like that, all following one another’s tail, as if mouthing the same safe phrase were proof of conviction? It sounds orthodox, it sounds traditional, but it is little more than a borrowed cloak of credibility. To call the Bible merely “the best” is to imply degrees of imperfection, as if God’s Word were a matter of preference rather than certainty. Saying “the best translation” is not conviction but compromise, and it dodges the real question. Do you believe it is the Word of God?

In this present dark age, when delusion runs unchecked and error parades itself as truth, it is all the more needful that those who name the name of Christ be rooted and grounded in the certainty of God’s preserved Word. “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Psalm 11:3. To be unsettled here is to leave ourselves open to every wind of doctrine, and to be swept along with the erroneous conclusions of the skeptics.

There is so much more that could be said, from ancient tamperings, to Origen’s Alexandrian corruptions, to Jerome’s Vulgate, and down through Westcott and Hort with their so-called “new” text, to which I might add, that these two men, along with those who embrace their skepticism, must rightly be named among the chief corruptors of the Word of God, who have done more to destroy the reputability of scripture than any that have gone before, by exalting a handful of corrupt manuscripts over the time-tested text of the church, they sowed seeds of doubt that have borne bitter fruit in nearly every modern version. The lingering effect of their work has not been greater confidence in the Bible, but a widespread suspicion that no Bible can be fully trusted, as though the voice of God must be filtered through the judgment of critics. Their legacy is confusion, not clarity; uncertainty, not assurance.

God is not the author of confusion, I Corinthians 14:33, yet confusion is exactly what arises when the authority of Scripture is questioned and parceled out among a multitude of competing versions, allowing scholars and publishers to set themselves as arbiters of truth, rather than falling down before the absolute authority of Scripture. Each new rendering, each alteration of words, echoes the ancient whisper of the serpent, “Yea, hath God said?” Instead of one sure voice, men are met with a babble of contradictions, and doubt spreads like leaven until confidence in Scripture itself is weakened, a slow erosion that strikes at the very heart of the gospel witness. What man unsettles with his revisions, God establishes with His unchanging Word. Isaiah 40:8.

With these thoughts in mind, I will go out on a limb to confess that I am “shipwrecked” in the persuasion, (which many may call extreme,) that the Authorized King James Bible is God’s inspired, preserved, and only authority; the sure and settled Word of God in our own tongue, and present and perfect testimony of His truth in English, and that God still speaks, and that his voice can be distinctly heard speaking in this word. Anything less than this inevitably reduces God’s promises to the myths of “lost originals,” depriving the sheep of Christ’s fold of the one sure voice of their Shepherd, and leaving them to wander amid the clamor of man’s opinions.

For me, the matter can end no other way. If God has preserved salvation in Christ, then He has likewise preserved His Word, the very instrument by which that salvation is made known. “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart, for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.” Jeremiah 15:16. MPJ

Additional Comments: Thanks, brother. That was a very long post, and I really appreciate you or anyone taking the time to read it. I actually started writing it a few months back and only stumbled across it again on Friday. After proofreading it three or four times, I noticed some repetition here and there, but honestly I was so weary of re-reading it that I just decided to post it as it stood. My desire is that it might prove helpful to those confused about this important matter of Bible preservation, and what people dismissively label “King James onlyism,” a term I don’t much care for. For me, it’s not about waving a banner for a translation or a party spirit, but about clinging to the certainty that God has not left His people without a sure and settled Word. I believe this is a matter of confidence in the faithfulness of Christ, not merely in the skill of translators or the traditions of men. If the sheep of Christ are to know the Shepherd’s voice, then that voice must be clear, preserved, and distinct. That is why I wrote what I did, not to stir debate, but to encourage trust in the living Word of God that still speaks with absolute authority today. With brotherly love in Christ, Marc

Hey brother, I appreciate the question. It's a good one. When I speak of the King James Bible as the inspired and preserved Word of God, I’m not narrowing that down to the first 1611 printing with its spelling quirks, marginal notes, or printer’s errors. What I’m speaking of is the text itself, the inspired words, not the incidental features like old spellings or typesetting of a particular edition. The same way we don’t say Timothy had to hold the very first parchment of Isaiah to have “the Scriptures,” II Timothy 3:15, we don’t need to hold the very first printed sheets from 1611 to have God’s Word today. The translators’ work, brought forth by God’s providence, gave us a settled English Bible. Later printings only corrected typographical slips and standardized spelling, but the substance, the inspired, preserved words, remained the same. So, no, the claim isn’t that only the first printing of 1611 was inspired, but that the Authorized Version, as God has preserved and carried it forward, is His pure Word in English. Hope that's sorta helpful. Marc

Divine Imputation: A friend asked me to share some thoughts on divine imputation. I'll preface it with this, that much of what I'm attempting to convey is going to sound like a ‘personal’ confession of faith, and in a sense it is, but not in the spirit of setting up an “article of faith,” but I really don't know how to word it any differently without losing precision, or blurring the truth or lessening its weight. This is simply where I stand at present, until the LORD is pleased to give clearer light. I Thessalonians 5:21.

Divine imputation is the legal act of God’s grace whereby He accounts Christ as bearing the guilt of His people, and His people as possessing the righteousness of Christ, on the basis of Christ’s suretyship. Negatively, God “will not impute sin” to His elect, Psalm 32:2; Romans 4:8, because their guilt has been transferred to Christ, who “bare” their “sins in his own body on the tree,” I Peter 2:24, as it is written, “and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:6. Positively, God imputes to believers the obedience and righteousness of Christ, so that they are “made the righteousness of God in him,” II Corinthians 5:21, justified “without works,” Romans 4:6, and accepted as “complete in him.” Colossians 2:10. This ‘act’ does not make Christ inherently sinful, nor believers inherently righteous; it is a judicial reckoning grounded in covenant headship and substitution. Romans 5:19. As Adam’s disobedience was imputed to his posterity unto condemnation, so Christ’s obedience is imputed to His seed unto justification and life. Romans 5:18-19. Imputation is not transfusion but reckoning. Our sins were counted to Christ, though He remained spotless; His righteousness is counted to us, though we remain sinful in ourselves. By this gracious exchange, “Christ was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification.” Romans 4:25.

Union is the fountainhead. Chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, Ephesians 1:4, crucified with Him, Galatians 2:20, buried with Him, Romans 6:4, raised and seated with Him in heavenly places. Ephesians 2:6. Complete in Him, Colossians 2:10, abiding in Him as branches in the Vine, John 15:4, and joined to Him as his body and bride. Romans 12:5, 7:4. All that God does for His people flows from this vital oneness with His Son, in whom we live, and move, and have our being. Acts 17:28. Imputation, therefore, is not a bare transaction carried on at a distance, but God’s reckoning of what is already true in Christ our Head.

Union explains imputation, for apart from being one with Christ, there could be no reckoning of His righteousness to us or our guilt to Him. Imputation explains substitution, for the only reason Christ could stand in the sinner’s place is because their sin was truly charged to His account and His obedience counted to theirs. And substitution explains why God is both just and the justifier, because at the cross justice is satisfied, and grace is magnified, so that He remains righteous while declaring righteous the one who believes in Jesus. Romans 3:26.

Next, the ‘conversation’ turned to the “reality” of imputation, something I have not thought about for years, and in attempting to trace back the dividing points of what has been said before, is all a giant cloud bank to me now. Yet even through the haze, one thing remains clear, Christ is not divided, nor is He parceled out into the finer points of theological systems. Union with Him is whole, and all that flows from Him is one. Sometimes our distinctions serve clarity, but they can also make us forget that all righteousness, all life, all salvation is bound up together in the Person of Christ Himself.

The “real imputation” vs. “not-real imputation” talk is a false dichotomy. Scripture never makes that division. When God imputes, His reckoning is true and effectual, because it flows from our union with Christ and His suretyship. Imputation is not make-believe and not infusion; it is God’s judicial accounting, Christ made sin for us, we made the righteousness of God in Him. Romans 4:6,11.

Sometimes the phrase “real imputation” is used as if others believe in a “fake” or “unreal” imputation. But no one who believes the gospel is saying that. What God imputes is real. His reckoning corresponds to truth. Christ’s righteousness is real, and when God imputes it, it is as unchanging as the word of God which declares it. To say otherwise is to diminish both His righteousness and His grace. Imputation isn’t about adding adjectives like “real” or “not real,” as these only distract from the unity and simplicity of the gospel. Scripture’s own language is clear enough without our embellishments. If God reckons us righteous in Christ, then that is fact, not fiction. Blessed be “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” Jeremiah 23:6. MPJ

PS: I just wrote a short post on imputation, not to really answer much of what you brought up, but just to sort of gather my own thoughts together. You mentioned the darkness during the crucifixion showing our inability to look into such mysteries, and that is so true! At the cross the heavens grew dark, and in that silence we can see our own limits. The gospel humbles us because it takes us where human reason cannot go, into the mystery of God forsaking His beloved Son that sinners might be received. As Paul says, “great is the mystery of godliness.” I Timothy 3:16. On the other hand, as the Lord grants us a clearer view of this gracious reckoning, it draws us into greater awe of His sufferings, even when so much remains beyond our understanding. Just a glimpse of Christ crucified is enough to humble us and fill us with gratitude. We may not understand every detail, but we do know this. Christ “was made sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” II Corinthians 5:21. I think you “touched” the heart of it, righteousness is not floating in the air, but bound up in union with the Righteous ONE. “Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us…righteousness.” I Corinthians 1:30. Todd is so very correct when he says, “these are not matters to argue about but to bow in total reverence.” Have a great night, Marc

“It is written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.” John 6:45. What a promise! There is nothing haphazard, nothing left up to man to figure out; not resting on our wit, our wisdom, nor our ability to somehow reason our way to God, but grounded wholly in Christ who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. John 14:6. No exceptions, no uncertainties, every one of the elect shall be taught by God. God alone is the Teacher, Christ alone is the Way, and every one taught of the Father shall come. Here is the immovable ground of our consolation, not man’s attempt to puzzle out the gospel, but the eternal promise of God’s distinguishing grace in Christ. II Timothy 1:9.

When Scripture says that God’s people are “taught of God,” John 6:45, it does not imply that every saint becomes a skilled theologian, able to frame every truth in precise words. Rather, it means that the Spirit has written the truth of Christ on their hearts, so that when the gospel is proclaimed, they know it to be the voice of their Shepherd. John 10:27. It is a knowledge of recognition in distinction from a knowledge of articulation. In other words, the Spirit-taught “yes” in the believer’s soul will always align with the truth of Christ, even if they may lack the vocabulary to express it. The Spirit’s teaching ensures recognition of the truth, beyond human vocabulary. John 16:13. Salvation is in Christ, not in the measure of our comprehension, and yet that true knowledge, however simple, always has Christ as its content and boundary. MPJ

“Woe unto you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites, for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.” Matthew 23:15. This passage speaks directly to the spirit of religious zeal divorced from the truth of the gospel. Christ condemns the pharisees not for their lack of energy, sincerity or effort, but for their corrupt message and system. Their labors multiplied deception rather than truth, producing converts bound more securely in delusion than they had been before. And this is not confined to the Pharisees of old.

Today’s institutionalized and contemporary “church” is much the same, cloaking itself in scattered and detached fragments of bible truth, offering a general confession that has no root in Christ. Zeal without truth, converts without Christ. The name of Christ or rather “Jesus” is employed only to lend credibility to their system which, though cloaked in ‘christian’ attire, is nothing more than man-centered idolatry. The end of this kind of religion is always the same, it loses sight of God and collapses into a baptized humanism, where everything is for the benefit of man. Its creed is human need, its gospel is human comfort, and its god is man enthroned beneath a bible veneer. Everything bends toward man. Christ is no longer proclaimed as “Lord, to the glory of God the Father,” Philippians 2:11, but diminished to a life coach, a problem-solver, or personal advisor - a divine therapist, a self-help guru, in essence nothing more than a resource at man’s disposal to secure his own happiness. “Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever.” Romans 1:25.

It is the “gospel” turned on its head, man becomes the center, and their caricature of Christ is pushed to the margins. Everything turns manward. The Scriptures may still be quoted, but they are stripped from their context and repurposed to build an idol of man’s own making. Such a system, however draped in the trappings of christianity, is nothing but idolatry draped in biblical language. When they “convert” you, you “become” twice the child of hell, before, you were a “lost” sinner, but now you are a deceived sinner. In that sense, its converts are not merely lost sinners in need of grace, but now deceived sinners imagining themselves safe because of a false gospel. MPJ

Have we ever attempted to convey some gospel truth to someone, especially in regards to sovereignty, election, particular redemption, &c., and along with the usual scowl, are reprimanded with these words or similar, “you must think you are really special, part of some chosen few, better than the rest of us,” &c., which reproach is heavy indeed, and cuts deeply, for it contradicts the very spirit of the gospel in the believer’s heart, which is not to magnify oneself, but to glorify God in Christ. “Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory.” Psalm 115:1. For the believer knows better than anyone that the exact opposite is true. Grace leaves no room for boasting, for how can one who has been brought low in the dust imagine himself higher than his neighbor? Isaiah 26:5. To have glimpsed even the hem of Christ’s garment is to be stripped of all pretensions, and to see oneself as vile and bankrupt before God, Isaiah 6:5, which makes it nearly impossible to think less of others. Such a sight leaves the soul with no pedestal upon which to stand, no superiority to claim, no comparison to make, for the believer has seen the truth of his own condition, that he is undone and without strength. The Christian’s confession is not, “I am better,” but rather, “I am nothing, and Christ is all.” One paradox of the gospel is that the more it lifts us in Christ, the more it breaks us in ourselves. The world supposes that election and particular redemption breed arrogance, but the opposite is true. These truths have a crushing effect on pride and cultivate nothingness. A believer who has tasted the grace of God in Christ Jesus knows himself as nothing more than a debtor to that grace. MPJ Additional Thought:The Lord’s people often find it impossible to think less of others, because they already think so little of themselves outside of Christ.

A trademark of the Papist religion, and most of its Protestant stepchildren, is that “ignorance is bliss,” yet ignorance breeds nothing but pride! For pride thrives only where the heart is veiled, and man remains ignorant that outside of Christ he possesses nothing but sin and death. John 3:19. Should a man be awakened to the truth that he drinks from a fountain that he cannot command or fathom, and walks in a light not his own, a light he cannot kindle nor quench, his pride collapses at once. This lays open the deep folly of pride, for pride can only grow where light has not yet entered, “having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.” Ephesians 4:18. To know the truth of our condition is to know we are but dust, and that whatever good, wisdom, strength, or grace we possess has been received, not produced. The proud man boasts of much, but in truth he possesses nothing but his sin. Jeremiah 9:23-24. Pride is therefore not merely ignorance in general, but ignorance of grace in particular. To see Christ rightly is to see self rightly, and in that sight pride withers. I Corinthians 4:7. For how can a man boast, when he lives by borrowed breath, walks in a borrowed light, and is upheld at every moment by a mercy whose depths he will never exhaust? Ignorance is not bliss, and ignorance of Christ is fatal! Hosea 4:6. MPJ

In Matthew 9:36, we read that when Christ “saw the multitudes,” that he “was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.” In reading this, it struck me how the Lord did not divide them into classes of worthiness, nor did He withhold His kindness from one group while extending it to another. In one sense, He acknowledged only their need, not whether they were Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, respectable or despised, moral or immoral, learned or unlearned. His compassion was not parceled out according to human distinctions, but flowed to all who were lost and wandering.

He ‘saw’ them all alike, lost, needy, perishing. There is surely a lesson here for us as we consider the people the Lord brings into our lives. People with so many different backgrounds, different beliefs, and different ways of life; all kinds of people, all so amazingly unique and wonderfully crafted; people of every ethnicity, people of every religion, and every background, &c., even those whose lives run ‘contrary’ to God’s design. And if Christ looked on such multitudes with compassion, should it not be the same with us? For apart from Christ, all men stand in the same condemnation, and all alike are in need of the same mercy. Whether neighbor or stranger, friend or foe, the religious or irreligious, all alike need the same gospel, the same Christ, the same salvation. To embrace them, (not in the “bonds” of Christ, for that is impossible outside the gospel,) in the bonds of humanity, and in the truth that apart from Christ we are all in the “same condemnation,” Luke 23:40, (“for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23,) and outside of Christ have no hope and are without God in the world. Ephesians 2:12.

In a sense, I would equate it to seeing ourselves in others, or “myself in everyone’s eyes.” Titus 3:2-3. In their weariness, we see our own weakness; in their wandering, our own straying; in their sin, our own corruption; and in their need, our own desperate need of Christ. This recognition keeps us from pride and makes compassion natural. For if we see ourselves in another’s misery, we cannot despise them without despising ourselves, and more than that, without forgetting the pit from which we were dug, and the mercy that first raised us up in Christ. “For who maketh thee to differ from another, and what hast thou that thou didst not receive?” I Corinthians 4:7. MPJ

My thoughts on Dobson. Christ matters more than what the world calls Christianity! James Dobson died today, and so, only with some hesitation I write this, yet I feel compelled to share a few thoughts. When my children were growing up, (and my wife and I are blessed with six of them,) on family road trips, we would often listen to Adventures in Odyssey, which probably was one of their (Focus on the Family) main programs. This program was geared to teens and younger children, and although I'm pretty bad at remembering, I know it featured some really likeable characters. Eugene & Connie come to mind, &c., who were always caught up in lessons about “doing the right thing.” Since we did not allow our children to listen to the radio, this was our entertainment on road trips. We had a full size conversion van, all tinted, and everybody just piled in the back. It was the ultimate family party bus, and I was the captain! It was the best of times.

Although our exposure to the entire Focus on the Family culture was limited to this, I knew that behind the children’s programs stood a much larger movement shaping what many people thought Christianity was. That influence reached far beyond family entertainment and self-help. For many, it defined the Christian life almost entirely in terms of family values, parenting techniques, and psychological counsel, and what most thought “Christianity” looked like in America. His voice reached millions, promoting a mixture of psychology, family values, and conservative morals. To the broader culture, he was almost the spokesperson for “Christian family values.” But therein lies the tragedy, what he offered was not the gospel of Christ’s grace, but morality clothed in Christian language, behavior reform mistaken for the faith of Christ, it was simply morality dressed up as Christianity.

From the little I’ve read, and from actually listening to him when I was in my early twenties, I know Dobson leaned heavily on humanistic psychology, blending it with various self-help techniques and behavioral therapies under the banner of “Christian counseling.” This self-help approach turned people inward, not only for relief from life’s struggles, but for salvation itself. It made salvation about you, your faith, your choices, your blessings, your life story, all centered on what you received rather than on Christ Himself, offering a remedy for life’s hardships and a counterfeit salvation.

God becomes little more than a servant to make life easier, while “Christianity” is reduced to self-help steps wrapped in a thin covering of Bible verses and churchgoing. On the surface it looks wholesome, but in reality it undermines the gospel, teaching families to rely on methods and morals instead of calling upon the name of the LORD who alone orders our steps, &c., and when their message turns to the “good news,” it became another gospel altogether, the gospel of free will, where salvation rests on man’s decision rather than Christ’s blood. This is no gospel at all, for it denies the sufficiency of Christ’s atonement and makes the sinner his own savior. Whoever does not see this has missed the very foundation of the Christian faith, which can be summed up in this: GOD is GOD. He alone saves, He alone redeems, He alone is sovereign over every soul. The entire system Dobson endorsed turns this on its head. It does not exalt God but man. It portrays man as the master of his own destiny, while reducing God to a servant, one who waits upon man’s will, who responds to man’s decision, who exists to save when called upon. What could be more wicked than such a thought? This is not the gospel of Christ, but a blasphemous distortion that robs God of His glory and leaves sinners with nothing but themselves. The true gospel proclaims a God who reigns, a Christ who saves to the uttermost, and a salvation that depends not on him that willeth, nor on him that runneth, but on God that showeth mercy. Romans 9:16. To embrace or endorse this sort of Christianity is to blaspheme the name of Christ by presenting a God who serves man, rather than the God who reigns over all. And here lies the danger, when we accept this counterfeit Christianity, we may still use all the right words, grace, faith, salvation, jesus, but we mean something utterly different. Words without truth deceive, and deception here is fatal. To deny the gospel of grace is not a small error; it is to deny Christ Himself. That is why this must be spoken openly and without compromise. The gospel of Christ is too precious to be distorted by the hands of men! To call error what it is, is not hatred but love, for only in Christ is there salvation, and to turn aside from Him is to embrace death. This is the religion the world has embraced as Christianity.

So, did Dobson leave behind a visible legacy? Absolutely! But not one of Christ-centered truth. His mark was to merge psychology with Christianity, to elevate moral reform above gospel grace, and to spread a false message of salvation, a distortion that in effect replaced the Christ of Scripture with one of his own making, and in so doing has left many utterly confused about what the true gospel is. MPJ

Aging & Christ: “Even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you, I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.” Isaiah 46:4. For many of us, aging is no longer just a passing thought that we can just set aside for the time being, but a truth that becomes clearer with every passing day. It's a blessed consideration in the light of the gospel, but in any other light, almost inconceivable to attempt to navigate! We wake to find ourselves older, weaker, more aware that this life, however precious, is brief. “For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” James 4:14. A truth that becomes clearer as the years go by. The mirror shows it, the calendar confirms it, and the aches of our bodies remind us that time marches on. II Corinthians 4:16. Scripture speaks plainly, “man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down; he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.” Job 14:1-2. What a sobering testimony of our fleeting existence, and striking reminder of our dust-like state before Almighty God. Genesis 18:27. We have no power to add a single day to our lives, and no strength to hold back the hand of time. Matthew 6:27. And yet, as the days pass and our strength wanes, we are reminded of how utterly dependent we really are. Aging has a way of humbling us, as it tends to strip away illusions of self-sufficiency, reminding us that our strength was never our own to begin with, pointing us beyond what is passing to Christ, the unchanging ONE, who upholds our life from the first breath to the last. “My times are in thy hand.” Psalm 31:15.

And if I’m honest, my greatest fear at the hour of death, or in the long or short seasons leading up to it, {though I'm sure I can come up with about a dozen more, being so fretful and unbelieving at times,} is not pain as such, nor even dying itself, but perhaps losing my mind and forgetting the gospel truths that have been my lifeline. Thoughts of Christ delight my soul, and keep me alive, as it were. I think, what is life apart from Christ? What is strength, or memory, or health, if the LORD seems absent? “Because thy lovingkindness is better than life.” Psalm 63:3.

Here’s also where my struggle deepens. I love this world; I love my family, my work, my 'brethren' in Christ, etc., and just the “ordinary” affairs of daily life. I can whittle away hours just soaking in the world around me, observing people, watching birds, strolling through a garden, watching the sun set, or simply sitting quietly with a cup of coffee, etc., I love it all, and I constantly stand amazed at the artistry of God’s hand in creation. To me everything is “the grace of life,” I Peter 3:7, and I’m so thankful for it all! “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” I Thessalonians 5:18. And perhaps because of this, I have never been one to look at life and call it “all a mess,” though I realize, more with each passing day, that here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come. Hebrews 13:14. Along those thoughts, I have often been bewildered, and unchristianized in my own mind, as I listened to brethren, some much younger than myself, longing to go home and be with Christ, and speak of the world as some dark and detestable place! That's not me! I'm not ready to go anywhere! Yet I know this also, the Lord has His own way of instructing us.

Another thing that I'm constantly learning is the fact that the Lord often doesn't give ‘grace’ until it is needed, and though now we may look upon, whatever it is, as almost unbearable, when the Lord's appointed time comes, we may find it made sweet in Christ; strength is not given until we are brought into weakness, or in other words, those things that we fear that the Lord may bring upon us as we are growing older and more feeble, (whether they transpire, or others take their place,) may just be the very things that drive us closer to Christ. And the grace we imagine we will lack, He withholds until the moment it is required, but when it comes, the bitter is turned to sweet in Christ. “And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” II Corinthians 12:9.

Perhaps the older we grow, the more we see that ‘our’ story is not about how well we have kept ourselves, but how faithfully the LORD has kept us. Genesis 24:1. Looking back, the pages are full of our sin, weakness, wandering, and unbelief, but woven through them all is the unbroken thread of Christ’s sufficiency. Romans 5:20-21. How fragile we are, but also how faithful Christ is. “My flesh and my heart faileth,” Psalms 73:26, and indeed it does, and we're not called to pretend otherwise. We know that we cannot sustain ourselves, “the journey is too great” for us, I Kings 19:7, but Christ giveth “power to the faint,” Isaiah 40:29, “for he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” Psalm 103:14. MPJ

Additional Thought: Thanks. We all struggle, maybe not in exactly the same ways, but there is a common thread that ties every believer together in Christ. That thread is His mercy, mercy that finds us in our frailty and never lets us slip away. “It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23. I think perhaps the older we grow, the more precious it is to be kept, as in one sense, when our “hands” can no longer hold tight to all that which once defined us, they are freed to cling more tenaciously, by His grace, to Christ alone. Have a wonderful day, Marc

Just today, August 24th, 2025, I read that a well-known celebrity paid nearly thirteen million dollars for a sports card, a small piece of cardboard with a picture on it! Notwithstanding whatever shrewdness may be involved in such a transaction, consider the irony of it all in light of the “one thing needful.” Luke 10:42. Only one thing, and no amount of wealth can buy it. The treasures of men vanish with time; they fade like grass, riches rot, and beauty decays. It’s good to be often reminded, as Abraham confessed, that “we are but dust and ashes.” Genesis 18:27. Our life is but a vapor, appearing for a little while and then vanishing away. James 4:14. And yet, knowing this, men will still bankrupt themselves for the things of this world, while showing no interest in salvation, no regard to truth, no time for Christ.

We may cling to anything and everything in this life, only to discover in the end that we have nothing. “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Mark 8:36. In fact, to cling to anything but Christ is to be left with nothing. Without Him we are hopelessly lost, whether we know it or not, boast of religion or despise it, whether we appear moral or plunge headlong into sin. At the end, all distinctions vanish, only Christ matters. “Thus saith the LORD, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me.” Jeremiah 9:23-24. MPJ

LIFE SURGE: My wife on her FB feed keeps getting these advertisements for some sort of inspirational event coming to our area next month sometime. It's called LIFE SURGE. Here is how they describe themselves. “WHAT IS LIFE SURGE? Life Surge is a one-day live event designed to inspire, train, and equip believers to advance God’s Kingdom. We believe in faithful stewardship, using wealth as a tool to expand God’s Kingdom, share the gospel, and leave an eternal legacy. Life Surge empowers Christians to integrate their faith into their work and wealth, maximizing their impact for Christ. Join thousands of believers who are ready to honor God with their resources and live with eternal purpose. Through powerful worship, world-class speakers, and biblical financial insights, you’ll walk away, with clarity on your divine calling, be grounded in biblical wisdom for your finances, equipped with practical tools to build a legacy, be reignited with purpose to impact your family, community, and the Kingdom. This is a Movement. Not a Concept. This is a Transformation. Not a trend. This is a Community. Not a CROWD.” That’s quite the statement!

As I’m trying to read their mission statement, there’s this annoying countdown timer at the bottom of the page telling you that you have only a few hours to buy tickets at a special reduced price. Here is that breakdown: “Right now if you click on the link you can purchase a $197 ticket for the special price of $49, but only while this deal lasts. Additionally, there is a $497 option, but that has already been sold out. That included: The Best Seats. Priority Entry. Life Surge Digital Program. Life Surge Keepsake Wristband. Life Surge Tour Lanyard. Fresh Boxed Lunch Included ($15 Value) BONUSES. Photo with Tim Tebow. Photo with Calvin Johnson. Photo with Willie Robertson. So, are You Ready to Surge Your Life God's Way?”

This completely boggles the mind! How does any of this have even the faintest resemblance to Christ, the Scriptures, or the Gospel itself? It’s nothing more than a religious sideshow, a shameless charade clothed in “christian” language, making a mockery of anything remotely related to God or the scriptures; and the saddest part is how desperate and undiscerning people must be to engage with such deception, mistaking it for some expression of christianity when it is nothing but a lie. There is not the faintest trace of true christianity in any of this, unless one mistakes christianity for little more than niceness, feigned humility, and outward kindness. Meanwhile the gospel is silenced, the truth is dragged through the mud, and multitudes are kept busy with religion and all its pageantry.

It's so obvious that they use what the world calls Christianity as a tool to propel themselves forward and to promote their own agenda. They dress it up in spiritual language and market it with slick slogans, but at the heart it is nothing but self-exaltation. They say it’s about “advancing God’s Kingdom,” but in reality it places man at the very center. Notice how every promise revolves around you, your wealth, your calling, your purpose, your legacy. Christ is mentioned, but only as a convenient accessory to serve man.

One of the most troubling aspects of this Life Surge message is their constant obsession with building a legacy. A legacy for who? For your name? For your fleeting, pathetic life which God gave you for one reason only, that Christ might be glorified, whether in your salvation or in your destruction. “The LORD hath made all things for himself; yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.” Proverbs 16:4. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the exact opposite of this man-centered sham. It is not about you! Scripture never once calls anyone to build a legacy! Philippians 3:7-8. On the contrary, it calls believers to lose their lives for Christ's sake, Luke 9:24, to set their “affection on things above, not on things on the earth,” Colossians 3:2, it declares that “all flesh is grass,” Isaiah 40:6, that the “world passeth away,” I John 2:17, and that “here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come.” Hebrews 13:14. The believer’s hope is not in being remembered for a legacy, but in being found in Christ and His righteousness alone. Philippians 3:9.

Listen to these words of David, spoken when he was hidden away in a cave, cut off from all the comforts of life, betrayed by his own men, and reduced to a man with nothing left but to cast himself wholly upon the Lord, “I cried unto thee, O LORD; I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living.” Psalm 142:5. What a confession. The weight of his words are staggering, he did not cry, “give me back my kingdom,” or, “let my name endure,” but rather, “thou art my portion in the land of the living.” What else is there to seek? What else endures? As Peter would later declare, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.” John 6:68. Now listen to David again, many years later, no longer in the cave but reigning as king, “the LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup, thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.” Psalm 16:5-6. From the darkness of a cave to the splendor of the crown, David’s confession was the same, the LORD was his portion. “Whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.” Psalm 73:25.

What a contrast to the spirit of the age, which treasures wealth, reputation, and legacy as the measure of all things, and then sprinkles it with a veneer of religion, not enough to interfere with anyone's life to any great extent, but perhaps just enough to soothe the conscience, christianize one's ambitions, and call a worldly life “Christian.” “Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits.” Isaiah 30:10. It is religion made safe, designed to give the illusion of heaven while clinging fast to the world. “No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Matthew 6:24. David’s confession silences all such pride. It shows us that true blessedness is not found in what we gather, leave behind, or secure for our name, but in having the Lord as our portion. This makes the spectacle before us all the more nauseating, as men exploit the name of Christ not to proclaim Him, but to enrich themselves.

After all, I hope we for a minute don’t think this has anything to do with money? My wife looked up how much Tim Tebow makes for a single speaking engagement, and the figure is somewhere between $75,000 and $100,000, and up to a million dollars for “special events.” That's hilarious, these guys figured out how to make some serious money! One night on stage and he makes more than many of us do in a year. I work 45 hours a week at a meat processing plant and have never once made $75,000 in a year, yet these “christian celebrities” can pocket that in an evening under the guise of ministry. Dang, that’s a lot! Well let’s just hope these guys are tithing off of all this, as giving God the leftovers, sounds like a perfect business model for overall success in life. Do we not see the truth of Christ’s words here? “For the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.” Luke 16:8. The people of this age know how to scheme, how to market, how to build platforms, how to draw crowds, how to amass fortunes, &c., and nowhere is this more evident than in religious spectacles of this nature, built on marketing and strategy rather than Christ. They discovered a clever way to package religion, turn “christ” into a brand, turn “worship” into an event, and the name of “jesus” into a money-making empire. Essentially, it’s the shallow world of christian celebrities and entertainers, where the name of “christ” is commercialized, religion is packaged, sold and consumed like cheap entertainment, and the world loves it, as it loves its own. John 15:19. That is why these spectacles are applauded, celebrated, and embraced, because they are born of the same spirit as the world itself. The world recognizes its own voice in the message, its own image in the methods, its own cravings in the promises, and so it loves what it sees. “They are of the world, therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.” I John 4:5.

At times one almost feels driven to disown any connection with what the world calls “christianity.” Not from a spirit of pride or self-righteousness, as though we ourselves were anything, but from a sense of profound astonishment that we've been given any measure of ‘gospel’ light to detest this sort of religious fraud that substitutes man for Christ. And if our Lord was zealous to cleanse His temple then, how much more should His people now be zealous to protest against these things, with hearts stirred that the worship of Christ should not be trampled under the feet of religious merchants. The child of God cannot stomach a religion that flatters the flesh, exalts man, and dares to profane the holy name of Jesus. As it is written, “the name of GOD is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you.” Romans 2:24. MPJ

“Jesus saith to him, he that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit, and ye are clean, but not all.” John 13:10. In reading through John 13, only the day after writing my “timing of justification” post, and not looking for anything in particular, but Christ, John 5:39, I couldn’t help but pause at the 10th verse, where the Lord speaks about being clean. “Ye are clean,” are his exact words, and as I thought about them, other scriptures came to mind, like I Corinthians 6:11 & Jude 24.

I was struck with how these words could perhaps relate to the matter of justification, especially the thought that God has never looked upon His people apart from Christ, but ever as comprehended in Christ their Surety, when they were chosen in Him before the world began. (“According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.” Ephesians 1:4.) Had they been viewed in themselves, apart from their Head, they must have perished with Adam in his transgression; but being comprehended in Christ their Representative, they were never separated from Him in the divine mind. “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” I Corinthians 15:22. (Highlights the two representative heads: Adam bringing death – Christ bringing life.) Hence their sins could be justly imputed to Him, and His righteousness as justly imputed to them. II Corinthians 5:21.

With those thoughts in mind, when Christ said to His disciples, “ye are clean,” we know that He was not pointing to some outward ceremony of washing, but to that inward purging which only His blood could accomplish. From the standpoint of the gospel, they stood clean even before the cross was lifted up, for in the eternal counsel of God they were already comprehended in Christ their Surety. The cleansing was not uncertain, nor depended upon the unfolding of time, but upon the finished certainty of Christ’s sacrifice, settled in the purpose of God, secured in the covenant of grace, and therefore as sure before it was offered as after it was shed.

This is why the Old Testament saints were no less clean than the apostles gathered in that upper room. Though the blood had not yet been shed in time, it was already accounted as shed in God’s decree and covenant. Their sins were not merely passed over in suspense but put away in Christ, whose death would in due time ratify the eternal counsel of God. Thus Abraham, Moses, David, and all the elect before Calvary were justified the same way as Peter, John, and all believers today, through the one offering of Christ, once for all. Hebrews 10:14.

Everything consummated at the cross, reconciliation, redemption, justification, was not the beginning of salvation but its public fulfillment in history. Christ, the eternal Surety, carried the guilt of His people before they ever believed, before they were ever born, before time itself. And for that very reason, Christ was able to say with authority to His own, “ye are clean.”

What a statement! “Ye are clean.” Whatever else may be said about this text, I absolutely love these definitive declarations of Christ that define the believer’s standing in Him. Such words are not left to our feelings, nor to our wavering experiences, but rest entirely upon His authority and His finished work. Additionally, in these words, “ye are clean” we see that even in our weakest moments, Christ does not re-apply His blood as though our standing depended on repeated cleansing. Rather, He reminds us that in Him we are already clean every whit, and then, in condescending grace, He stoops to wash the “dust” from our feet, not to make us His, but because we are His. “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.” Revelation 1:5. MPJ. Additional Thought: I do not say this to exclude other interpretations that may be faithfully drawn from the text, but to unfold the gospel truth that seemed to shine out here, that the disciples were already accounted clean in Christ, even before the cross, but never apart from the cross.

“And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, the LORD, the LORD GOD, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty.” Exodus 34:5-7. The moment Adam transgressed, the law declared its verdict, “the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Ezekiel 18:20. Yet Adam lived. Why was he not instantly destroyed? Indeed, how is it that mankind itself still exists? Was his sin somehow excused? Was it overlooked? Could justice be suspended in midair, or set aside, even for a moment? “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity.” Habakkuk 1:13. God never overlooks sin! Every transgression must either be borne by the guilty or answered in the appointed surety. Romans 3:25-26. This was no suspension of justice, but the very essence of the gospel. The sentence that should have consumed Adam was accounted to Christ. Isaiah 53:6. “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin.” II Corinthians 5:21. God hath made Christ to be sin for us, and Adam’s transgression was no exception.

God’s forbearance in delaying judgment was never leniency apart from justice, but was always grounded in Christ, looking to the work He would accomplish in His death and resurrection. Romans 3:25. The second half of that verse from II Corinthians 5:21 tells us, “that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” Adam was spared, not because God overlooked sin, but because righteousness already stood for him in Christ. In a gospel sense, Adam’s continued existence was grounded in this, the righteousness of Christ secured life for him, just as it does for every saint across all ages. Christ’s work reaches backward and forward. The cross looks both directions. Romans 3:25 makes this explicit, that God set forth Christ, “to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.” That includes Adam, Abel, Abraham, and all the saints before the cross. They were spared and accepted because Christ’s atonement, though accomplished in time, was reckoned from eternity. In other words, Adam lived because Christ was “made sin” for him, and Adam was accepted because Christ is “the righteousness of God” for him. Christ was no afterthought, but “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Revelation 13:8. Adam lived because Christ stood.

Justice was not delayed but always secured in Christ until revealed at the cross. “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” Romans 3:25-26. From what I can ‘see’ this passage shows why Adam and others were spared before the cross, not because justice was suspended, but because Christ was the appointed propitiation. II Timothy 1:9. There, delayed justice met its appointed hour, when all the sins of all God’s elect, from Adam onward, were executed upon Christ. Isaiah 53:11. God’s mind toward His people did not change at the cross; it was there revealed what had always been true, grace given in Christ Jesus before the world began. Titus 1:2. .

Alongside these considerations, let me add this thought, which is that the testimony of scripture consistently shows that those that belong to Christ, (“and ye are Christ’s,” I Cor. 3:23,) have never been considered apart from Christ, and that justice on their behalf has always rested in Him. Ephesians 5:32. In a gospel sense justice never regarded them outside of Christ’s righteousness. “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.” Ephesians 1:4. Thus, every sparing of Adam, Noah, Abraham, and all the saints before Christ’s death was not “justice on hold,” but justice already reckoned as satisfied in their representative surety. Hebrews 9:26. When Christ laid down His life, it was the representative death of all the elect in HIM. “I lay down my life for the sheep.” John 10:15. What was settled in eternity was unveiled at Calvary. II Samuel 23:5. In that moment, that “which was kept secret since the world began,” Romans 16:25, was now “made manifest.” Daniel 9:24. Besides, if the elect had ever been regarded apart from Christ, their end would have been Adam’s end, perishing under the curse. But they were never seen outside of Him. From eternity they were chosen “in Him,” Ephesians 1:4, and in time they are called, justified, and glorified in Him. Romans 8:30. His people have always been seen in Christ, never apart from Him. “I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” Malachi 3:6. No sin is ever excused or overlooked; every transgression is either laid on Christ, or the sinner perishes under its full weight apart from Him. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23. This shows both sides, that sin always receives its due wages, death; and that life is only found in Christ. Thus salvation is not a story of God setting aside justice for grace, but of justice and grace embracing in Christ. “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” Psalm 85:10. MPJ

Timing of Justification: Roughly two years ago, I was asked by a friend to share my view on the “timing” of justification, a subject that, at the time, seemed to be stirring no small controversy, and one which was being used as a battering ram to take out any with opposing views to their own. I declined! And then again, a different friend a few months ago asked the same question, and once again, I just answered with probably two sentences, as I attempted once again to avoid the topic. Not because I didn’t care or had nothing to say, but because I knew I wasn’t then, and I’m still not now, completely settled in my own mind. I’ve heard solid, scripture-based arguments from both sides of this question, and it’s made me want to tread cautiously.

For clarity, I will call the two positions under consideration eternal justification and justification exclusively at the cross. In short, eternal justification holds that before creation, God set His elect in Christ and, on that basis, reckoned them righteous, with the cross in time as the appointed moment when that eternal verdict was executed and revealed. Justification exclusively at the cross asserts that justification was accomplished at a definite moment in history, when Christ bore His people’s sins, satisfied divine justice, and was raised for their justification, making the cross the decisive point at which God declared them righteous.

Both views, when seen in the light of the gospel, leave no room for the third; namely “justification by faith” understood in the unscriptural sense that God’s act of justifying the sinner takes place when he or she believes. This makes faith not the God-given gift that bears witness to an already-secured righteousness, but the condition upon which God’s verdict depends, as though His acceptance were suspended until man performs the act of believing. Such thinking is simply arminian conditionalism dressed in theological double talk, making man’s response the decisive hinge instead of Christ’s finished work. It shifts the ground of justification from the cross to the sinner’s experience, thereby denying the once-for-all accomplishment of reconciliation when God, in Christ, reconciled His people to Himself through His obedience unto death, perfectly satisfying the law and securing righteousness on their behalf. Philippians 2:8. This is foreign to the gospel and must be refused outright. Ephesians 5:11.

Quite honestly, I’m not exactly sure what the “reformed” view even is in all its details, but as I understand it, they generally teach that a sinner is justified at the moment he believes, sola fide, with faith being the point at which righteousness is imputed to him. (Some gospel regenerationists in the “grace” camp also embrace a distorted form of this.) To my mind, this comes uncomfortably close to arminian thought, the only ‘calvinistic’ safeguard being that such faith they call “the gift of God.” In this way, grace remains in the vocabulary, yet the decisive hinge is still the sinner’s act of believing, rather than Christ’s completed work in time, which alone secured our righteousness before God. John 19:30.

In thinking about the “timing” of justification, we can say before anything else that our safety lies not in tracing that moment on a calendar, but in beholding the unchangeable CHRIST as “the LORD our righteousness.” Jeremiah 23:6. Whether one holds to an eternal decree or an exclusive cross-centered accomplishment in time, the heart of the matter for all who look to the LORD for salvation is that justification is in Christ alone, grounded in His work alone, and made known to us by the Spirit, who will never let us rest anywhere else. To lose sight of this is to lose sight of the gospel itself. I Corinthians 1:30-31.

With that foundation laid, the question naturally follows, if our justification rests entirely in Christ, when did God first regard His people as righteous in Him? This is where the distinction between eternal justification and justification at the cross comes into focus. Those who believe in eternal justification, rightly understood in the light of the gospel, also affirm justification at the cross. The issue is not the reality of justification at the cross, but the point, “according to God’s eternal purpose in Christ,” Romans 11:5, at which His people were first declared righteous in His sight. Eternal justification affirms that before the world began, God set His elect in Christ and beheld them clothed in His righteousness, Numbers 23:21, with that verdict grounded wholly on the certain accomplishment of His atoning death and resurrection in time. Revelation 13:8. “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.” Ephesians 1:11.

In the light of God’s immutability and absoluteness, it’s a bit difficult to see how one who has an understanding of the gospel can deny that justification has an eternal aspect? God is eternal and unchanging. Hebrews 13:8. His purpose in Christ unshaken, His counsel unalterable, His will unthwarted from everlasting to everlasting. “Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world.” Acts 15:18. Is it not the common confession of all believers that before the foundation of the world, God determined to glorify Himself through an elect seed given to His beloved Son, and in that eternal purpose secured for them all the blessings of grace? “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.” Ephesians 1:4. These blessings were first given to Christ as the Head and Representative of His elect, and thus to them in Him, so that their acceptance and righteousness were never apart from Him. Ephesians 1:3. Though they did not yet exist in time, they stood in Christ from everlasting, blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places, chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, and destined to be made manifest through His redeeming work in history. II Thessalonians 2:13. These are not speculative musings, but the plain testimony of Holy Scripture, which speaks with one accord on this glorious theme.

Before the beginning of time, God’s immutable decree placed His elect in Christ, clothing them in His righteousness, with the cross fixed as the appointed hour when that righteousness would be openly declared. Thus the “cross” is no mere token of an eternal decree; it is the place where salvation was accomplished, guilt was once-for-all removed, and righteousness was secured for all time. I Peter 2:24. That is where redemption was purchased, not only manifested but judicially secured, and where God’s eternal plan was carried out in history. “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.” I Corinthians 15:3. With this in the forefront of our thoughts in ascribing “greatness unto the Lord,” Deuteronomy 32:3, the witness of scripture makes it additionally plain that God has always viewed His people in Christ and never apart from the merits of His death on the cross, accomplished in time.

Grounded in the absoluteness of God’s purpose, Isaiah 46:10, this truth declares that Christ’s suretyship did not begin at the cross but from eternity, when He pledged Himself to fulfill all righteousness on the behalf of his people. “By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament,” Hebrews 7:22, which same chapter reminds us that Christ’s priesthood is “unchangeable,” 7:24, grounded in “the power of an endless life.” Hebrews 7:16. Such a priesthood admits no alteration, for the Surety who undertook the cause of His people from everlasting is the same, Hebrews 13:8, who in time secured their redemption, and who now ever lives to make intercession for them. Hebrews 7:25. “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.” II Timothy 1:9. From eternity, God’s elect were counted righteous in Christ, not apart from the cross but because of it, the eternal decree and the finished work in history forming one indivisible foundation, secured by the atoning work that Christ would unfailingly accomplish in time. “But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.” I Peter 1:19-20.

The timing of justification, seen in the light of God’s eternal purpose, sweeps from everlasting to everlasting. In God’s decree, it is eternal; at the cross, it was accomplished; by faith, it is received and enjoyed. From beginning to end, it is grounded not in man’s work or will, but in Christ alone. This is the gospel, “that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.” II Corinthians 5:19. To deny its eternal aspect is to confine God’s purpose to the unfolding of time; to confess it is to rejoice in the immutability of the grace of Christ, and in the unbreakable link between God’s everlasting decree and the perfect sacrifice that consummated our eternal redemption, Hebrews 9:12, “declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.” Isaiah 46:10. This unbroken harmony between God’s eternal counsel and Christ’s work in time naturally leads us to see that what some frame as two distinct doctrines are, in truth, one undivided reality in the gospel. “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” Mark 10:9.

Eternal justification and justification at the cross are not competing doctrines when understood in the light of the gospel; they are two sides of the same unbreakable truth. Those who hold to eternal justification in a Christ-centered way do not deny justification at the cross. One speaks of God’s eternal counsel in Christ; the other of His finished work in history. Our ‘eyes’ look back to that moment at the cross, (the legal ground of justification,) because there, in that appointed hour, God’s eternal decree was executed in history. This is when justice was satisfied, guilt was removed, and everlasting righteousness was brought in. “But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself,” Hebrews 9:26, “to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness.” Daniel 9:24.

Let me be so bold as to speak on behalf of all the Lord’s people, whatever differences may exist in how they describe the “timing” of justification, every one of God’s elect is united in this, we are justified at the cross. Isaiah 53:11. There, and there alone, Christ bore our sins, satisfied divine justice, took away our iniquity, and brought in everlasting righteousness for His people. Daniel 9:24. This is not a side doctrine nor a mere point for debate; it is the very heart of the gospel. Whether one delights in the eternal decree or speaks chiefly of the finished work in history, we are of one voice in declaring that our righteousness is Christ crucified and risen, and our standing before God rests on His blood and obedience alone. II Corinthians 5:21.

There is so much more that could be said on this, and perhaps in time I'll return to it, as a few more considerations still press on my mind. For now, I will simply close by saying that if in any way I have misrepresented the truth, misunderstood others, or clouded rather than clarified the gospel, I ask your forgiveness. May it please the LORD to mercifully correct and keep us all in the simplicity that is in Christ. “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.” Titus 1:2. MPJ

“Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.” Job 40:4. The hymn writer John Newton once wrote, “I have lived hitherto a poor sinner, and I believe I shall die one.” As we sink lower instead of rising higher, we may imagine God sees us as we see ourselves, failing, declining, unworthy. Especially when our gaze lingers on our own sinfulness, and we start to think that God looks at us with the same disappointment we feel toward ourselves, forgetting that He only sees us in His Son. Colossians 3:3.

We can become so aware of our remaining sin that we ask, almost in despair, “LORD, why do You still allow me to be so frail?” Such thoughts can lead to darkness of mind and bondage of spirit, drawing our eyes away from the unshakable truth that the Father never accepted us for what we are in ourselves, but for what Christ is on our behalf. In those moments, we forget that His mercy toward us is not measured by our strength, II Corinthians 12:9, and that His patience and purpose remain perfect and unchanging. Psalm 33:11. “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” Psalm 103:13-14.

We are “accepted in the BELOVED,” Ephesians 1:6, not in the ebb and flow of our condition; on our worst day as on our best, our righteousness is Christ alone, unchanging, perfect, forever enough. Philippians 3:9. “For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” Malachi 3:6. MPJ

LORDSHIP SALVATION: Last night in reply to a few messenger posts, a new friend from FB mentioned the term “lordship salvation.” This first paragraph is how I replied, and just left it at that. “I’ve heard the term “lordship salvation,” and I suppose I could google it, but I’m not entirely sure what it means, so I apologize. I don't keep up with all the latest theological trends or people, as I basically live in a cave, and only come out every once in a while, usually just long enough to refill my coffee and make sure the world hasn’t ended yet. Their life, like ours, is in the hand of the LORD. I'm so thankful that He is ‘patient’ with us all, and that He always teaches His people Christ. I should mention perhaps, that I do not follow social media on any platform, nor engage in FB apart from just posting my latest thoughts. If I'm allowed to live another 10 years, as I hope to semi-retire when I turn 70, I'll hopefully have a little more time for stuff like that? For now, I know my own tendency to get sidetracked too easily!”

So yeah, let me get sidetracked here for a few minutes, because I just googled the phrase, and this is the result, “Lordship salvation is a theological view that asserts saving faith in Jesus Christ necessarily involves a commitment to submit to His authority and Lordship in all areas of life, leading to a transformed life characterized by obedience and good works. It emphasizes that true saving faith is not merely intellectual assent to the truth about Jesus, but also a conscious decision to follow Him as Lord and Master.”

Well, that's a bad start before we even get out of the gate, since I completely deny this notion of “saving” faith. In fact I cringe when I hear gospel ministers toss that term around, like it’s some spiritual currency we hand to God in exchange for salvation, instead of the empty hand that simply receives what Christ has already accomplished. Isaiah 55:1. Faith doesn’t make salvation happen; it bears witness that salvation has already been accomplished in Christ. To call it “saving faith” risks confusing the evidence with the essence, as though the fruit of salvation were the root. Scripture never says we are saved because of our faith, it declares that Christ saved His people by His own blood, Hebrews 9:12, and faith is the God-given recognition of that finished work. “Saving faith” as a phrase can subtly reverse that order, making salvation feel contingent on an act in time, although for all that criticism, I do realize that the term can actually be used in a gospel sense.

From there, it’s only a short step to redefining the gospel as our commitment, surrender, and obedience, which seems to be exactly what “lordship salvation” does? It seems like the good news of what Christ has accomplished is replaced with a checklist of what you must now do. The promise of “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,” Acts 16:31, is gutted, and in its place is a demand to prove your faith by a life of submission and obedience. In other words, you aren’t saved by Christ, you’re saved by Christ plus your surrender, your commitment, your performance. This is not simply adding a few rules; it is splicing human effort into the very heart of salvation. And the moment you make salvation depend on anything you must produce, it ceases to be grace. Romans 11:6. In that moment, grace is displaced, Christ is diminished, and you are crowned as your own deliverer. This hardly seems like the good news of Christ, but the old news of man’s effort dressed in gospel words. Galatians 5:4.

The gospel is not a staged offer, receive Christ as “Savior” today and upgrade to “Lord” at some later date. Nor is it a preconditioned contract where you must sign away a lifetime of obedience before Christ will save you. That is salvation by terms and conditions, works in disguise. To divide Christ into “Savior now” and “Lord later” is to fracture the gospel. Salvation is not a cooperative project, it is the once-for-all work of Christ for His people. His obedience is complete, His blood is enough, His righteousness is perfect. Faith receives Him entirely, and even that has nothing to do with us. “Not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8. Whether you make obedience a prerequisite or a later upgrade, you have made salvation hinge on you, not Christ.

Yes, the redeemed will follow their Redeemer, but that following is the outworking of salvation, not its price tag. Scripture says we are God’s “workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” Ephesians 2:10. This is echoed in the sure foundation of God’s Word, “the Lord knoweth them that are his; and, let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” II Timothy 2:19. CHRIST knows His own sheep, plus He alone knows how to manage his flock, and the mark of His workmanship in them is clear, they follow Him, and by His grace they depart from iniquity. John 10:27-28. Lordship salvation confuses this order, making the proof of life into the source of life.

These thoughts are piecemeal, so I may revisit this topic at a future date, DV, especially if I read up on it a bit more, but one part of me is saying that this is hardly even worth the time, as it seems so obviously wrong! In fact it seems like it's got its own detonation device, and carries within itself the cause of its own destruction, as a house divided against itself cannot stand. Matthew 12:25. The few arguments I’ve read in its defense, when carried to their logical conclusion, collapse under their own weight. It’s not so much that you have to labor to refute it, it practically lights its own fuse. “Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein, and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.” Proverbs 26:27.

I mean, really, “you must receive Jesus as both Savior and Lord?” Christ is LORD whether you ‘receive’ Him, acknowledge Him, deny Him, or never even think about Him at all. Your opinion changes nothing. God has already declared Him to be “both Lord and Christ,” Acts 2:36, and His throne is not vacant, waiting for your consent. He reigns by the decree of God, a decree that does not await the consent of man, and is as unchanging as the ONE who gave it. Daniel 4:35.

In a twisted sort of way, this sort of thinking imagines a throne vacant until man consents to fill it. That's insane, the gospel is not an invitation to help Christ onto His throne; it is the proclamation that He already reigns, and that He has finished the work of salvation for His people at the cross. Faith does not make Him Lord, it simply receives the Lord who already is. Philippians 2:9-11. With those thoughts in mind, I’m willing to go out on a limb and say this isn’t merely bad theology, it’s dangerous. Galatians 5:9. In fact, I believe it falls squarely into the category Paul warned of in Galatians 1:6-9, “another gospel,” which is no gospel at all. This does not exalt Christ, it reduces Him to a helper in our self-salvation project. It shifts the pivot point of redemption from His finished work to our act of receiving, surrendering, or obeying, dethroning grace and enthroning human effort. II Corinthians 11:3-4. So no, this is not just a slightly different emphasis. It is another gospel, one that subtly dethrones Christ from the work He finished, and seats you beside Him as co-savior. And that is not salvation at all. Colossians 2:8. MPJ

There is a subtle counterfeit to the gospel that hides comfortably in calvinistic circles. It does not parade itself with altar calls or decision cards. It does not urge you to “invite Jesus into your heart” or “make your decision for Christ.” In fact, it often prides itself on rejecting such language as man-centered and unbiblical. And yet, at its core, it perhaps shares some of the same characteristics. I am speaking of the tendency to tie one’s conversion, and even one’s assurance before God, to the day or moment they came to embrace the doctrines of grace. In the ‘decisionist’ camp, salvation is linked to my decision, the day I chose to believe, repent, or commit. In the calvinistic ‘knowledge’ camp, salvation is linked to my realization, the day I grasped the truth of God’s sovereignty in salvation, &c. The packaging and vocabulary may change, but the root is the same, as the pivot point of salvation is shifted from the finished work of the cross to an event or experience in time, rather than to the death and resurrection of Christ, where salvation was actually accomplished. Many Calvinists would recoil at the comparison, but the logic is not far removed when a man’s assurance rests more on the clarity of his doctrinal framework than on the finished work of Christ.

The gospel does not begin with “when I believed” or “when I understood.” It begins with when GOD…when God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, Ephesians 1:4; when God promised eternal life before the world began, Titus 1:2; when God sent His Son to redeem us, Galatians 4:4-5; when God commended His love toward us, In that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, Romans 5:8; when God raised Him from the dead, securing our justification, Romans 4:25; when God reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, II Corinthians 5:18; when God commanded the light to shine out of darkness and shone in our hearts, II Corinthians 4:6; when God delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son, Colossians 1:13; when God made us alive together with Christ, even when we were dead in sins, Ephesians 2:4-5, and when God called us by His Spirit and granted us faith in Christ. Philippians 1:29. The list could go on, but surely even the dullest eye can see the pattern, from first to last, salvation is not when we…but when GOD. “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things, to whom be glory for ever. Amen.” Romans 11:36. And though doctrine guards the gospel, right doctrine is not the gospel. Christ is the gospel. I Corinthians 1:23-24. And the grace of that gospel is not when we understood Him, but when He was lifted up on the cross, bearing our sins in His own body, when God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, when God sent His Son in the fulness of time to redeem us, when God raised Him from the dead securing our justification, and when God called us by His Spirit and granted us faith in His Son. From first to last, salvation is not when we…but when GOD. We are not saved because we understand grace; we understand grace because the God of grace has saved us in Christ, and that changes how we see everything. Ephesians 1:18.

Somewhat related is this, that not long ago, I heard of a ‘pastor’ in Florida that sort of suddenly came to a knowledge of the calvinistic scheme. Who knows, perhaps he got a hold of a copy of Pink’s “Sovereignty of God” or something, it matters not, but what I thought was sort of unusual, (and perhaps I am wrong in this,) is that after proclaiming to his congregation that calvinism was now the main course, (and watching about half of them lose their appetite,) he carried on preaching, same chef, new recipe; same pulpit, new flavor; no doubt served up with his latest “understanding” of the Bible. I don’t mean to sound harsh, but what? Carrying on as ‘pastor’ as if really nothing has changed? Perhaps because it was all he knew, which situation reminds me of the steward in Luke 16:3, who, when faced with the loss of his position, said within himself, “what shall I do, for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship, I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed?” Stepping down would have meant facing his spiritual poverty; instead, he stayed in the role, not because the Lord had confirmed it, but probably because he could not imagine life without it?

Don’t misunderstand me, it is a great mercy when someone bound in the delusion of free will is granted even a glimmer of gospel light from the scriptures, but what I fail to understand is how, after such an upheaval of everything once believed, it’s back to business as if the truth of the gospel just required some minor adjustments? He kept the same pulpit, the same title, the same approach, only now with different theological seasoning. But Paul’s words come to mind, “ye have not so learned Christ.” Ephesians 4:20. The gospel does not renovate the old man; it puts him to death, makes all things new, and leads us to a knowledge of CHRIST. II Corinthians 5:17. Whilst I don’t dispute that some sort of mind reformation occurred, when a man is completely knocked off his horse, he doesn’t simply brush himself off, lick his wounds, and carry on as if nothing really happened; the course of his life is forever altered, his steps directed in the way of life, and his heart constrained by the love of Christ. A true encounter with the gospel should not merely adjust our vocabulary; it should humble us to the dust, strip away our self-assurance, and compel us to start afresh at the feet of Christ. When Christ lays hold of a man, the change reaches beyond his steps and speech; it also transforms the very object and nature of worship. Philippians 3:3.

“The light of the glorious gospel of Christ,” II Corinthians 4:4, and the “knowledge of the truth,” I Timothy 2:4, do not merely refine acceptable worship, they slay idolatry and raise up the only worship God receives, worship in Christ. Before the Lord opens our eyes, our worship is as the Athenians, “to the unknown God,” Acts 17:23, blind, misguided, and wholly unacceptable. Like the woman of Samaria, we knew not what we worshipped, John 4:22, for it was without the knowledge of Christ. Such worship, no matter how sincere, is nothing more than the vain offering of Cain, rejected because it is not offered through the Lamb God has provided. Hebrews 11:4. Only when Christ is revealed to the soul, II Corinthians 4:6, does worship become worship in truth, for only then is it anchored in His person, His finished work, and His perfect righteousness. And when that revelation comes, it leaves no room for boasting in ourselves, not in our decisions, not in our realizations, not even in our doctrinal precision. For “he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” I Corinthians 1:31. I’m so thankful that the LORD is ‘patient’ with us all, and that He always teaches His people Christ. John 6:45. MPJ

Getting Saved: A popular ‘evangelical’ confession, even among those who pride themselves on being “reformed” and “calvinistic,” is this oft-repeated phrase, “when I got saved” – “when did you get saved” – “I got saved…” Basically, different forms of the same unbiblical notion. On the surface it sounds harmless, but underneath it smuggles in an entire system of thought hostile to the gospel of Christ. From the outset, Scripture makes clear that salvation is not the product of man’s will, but God’s. Romans 9:16. Faith does not cause salvation; salvation causes faith. Acts 13:48. But these catchphrases of modern decisionism are in direct conflict with the language of Scripture. They shift the focus from Christ’s finished work to the sinner’s personal experience, recasting salvation as something conditioned on the day or the moment the sinner supposedly initiated it by believing, repenting, or “making a decision.” Such thinking does not merely distort the gospel, it replaces it with another. It subtly shifts the focus from Christ’s finished work to the sinner’s personal experience, making salvation hinge on the day or the moment the sinner supposedly initiated it by believing, repenting, or “making a decision.” It fabricates the unbiblical idea that salvation begins with the sinner’s will, rather than with God’s will. John 1:13.

Worse still, it is often used by those who in other contexts claim to deny “free will” because of man’s total depravity. Yet here they speak as if the decisive factor in salvation was not Christ crucified, but rather “when I believed, when I repented, when I accepted,” &c. When the gospel becomes “when I…” instead of “when GOD…,” it is no longer the gospel of free grace, but an experience-centered counterfeit. The gospel declares something altogether different. Scripture does not speak of salvation as something that springs into being when we act, but as God’s eternal purpose in Christ, secured at the cross, revealed in time by the Spirit, and faith itself rising in our hearts as the gift of His mercy. II Timothy 1:9. Titus 3:4-7.

Additionally, this sort of dialogue just reeks of Arminianism, and is entirely foreign to the language of Scripture. It shows that those who have joined ranks with the so-called evangelical movement speak “half in the speech of Ashdod,” borrowing the world’s man-centered vocabulary and mingling it with biblical truth, so that the pure language of the gospel is obscured. In Nehemiah’s day, this mixture meant the children of Israel “could not speak in the Jews’ language,” Nehemiah 13:24. In our day, it means many professing believers cannot speak in the language of Christ’s finished work. They default instead to the dialect of decisionism, “when I got saved,” “when I accepted Christ,” &c., phrases unknown to the apostles and alien to the New Testament witness, yet so entrenched in modern pulpits that many cannot imagine speaking of ‘salvation’ without them. Salvation is not an event man initiates, and Christ did not die merely to make salvation possible if and when we meet certain conditions. He died to save His people from their sins, Matthew 1:21, and by His one offering He secured that salvation forever. Hebrews 10:14. So to recast the cross as a mere “provision” that only becomes real when we add our repentance or faith is to preach another gospel. Galatians 1:6-9. Christ’s death did not make salvation a potential waiting to be unlocked; and the cross does not hang in suspense until we act. Furthermore, let’s not forget that faith and repentance are not currency we bring to God to purchase salvation; they are the fruits of the life God has already given us in Christ. Acts 5:31. Any gospel that begins with “when I…” instead of “when God…” is not the gospel of free grace. It is an Arminian-styled man-centered counterfeit that may sound pious but leaves the sinner looking to himself instead of to Christ. Hebrews 12:2. “He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” I Corinthians 1:31. MPJ

Covenant of Works: Looking back over many years of dabbling in reformed & calvinistic theology, I realize that while it taught me many helpful things, it also trained me to accept certain ideas without pausing to weigh them in the light of God’s Word. And in reading the writings of assorted theologians, even those ‘sound’ in the gospel, I suspect I’m not alone, especially when it comes to the notion of what is called the “covenant of works.” For those familiar with the world of reformed thought, the term sounds as if it has always belonged to the biblical landscape, until you go looking for it in the Bible. You won’t find it. Yet despite its absence from Scripture, it has been lodged in reformed thinking for centuries, not because the Bible teaches it, but because it is built into the confessional scaffolding they refuse to revise. After all, they have the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Belgic Confession, and the Heidelberg Catechism to back them up. Then there’s the prince of the Puritans himself, John Owen, who wove it deeply into his covenant theology, along with names like Thomas Boston and Herman Witsius, &c., even within the past 50 years, you’ll find well-known figures like A.W. Pink, John Murray, Joel Beeke, (for myself, a local and modern puritan scholar who fully embraces it,) R.C. Sproul, and John MacArthur, &c., all of whom have voiced their allegiance to this man-made framework, treating it as though it unlocks the mystery of redemption. Even lesser-known names, like Don Fortner, bought into this, and I only single him out because he outlined it plainly in his Bible Doctrine book, whereas others are perhaps far more covert or undetermined in their views. It just shows how deeply this idea is rooted in the systems of men, reinforced by respected confessions and the writings of good men who, for all their strengths, often pass along traditional interpretations in a way that makes them hard to question when measured by the plain truth of scripture.

This teaching has been so deeply woven into the fabric of reformed theology (it’s one of its load-bearing beams) that I suspect it remains as common today as it was 40 years ago when I first encountered it. As I noted, its grip remains firm not because of the witness of scripture but the cement of creeds and confessions, long regarded as beyond revision, and guarded like family heirlooms which are never to be altered. So, what exactly is this so-called “covenant of works”? According to the Westminster Confession of Faith, “God gave to Adam a law, as a covenant of works, by which he bound him and all his posterity to personal, entire, exact, and perpetual obedience, promised life upon the fulfilling, and threatened death upon the breach of it, and endued him with power and ability to keep it.” In short, the confession teaches that God entered into a covenant with Adam, binding him and all humanity to perfect, personal, and unending obedience, promising life if he obeyed and death if he disobeyed, supposedly giving him the ability to fulfill those terms. This wasn’t just an abstract theological idea or doctrinal formula, it was part of a whole framework that had been taking shape for some time. It grew out of what came to be known as federal theology, which viewed all of God’s dealings with mankind through two main covenants, one with Adam before the fall, and another with the elect after the fall. For all its tidy logic, it diverts the eye from the one covenant of redemption in Christ.

From the limited research I’ve done, the earliest appearances of the term seem to trace back to Zacharias Ursinus, (chief architect of the Heidelberg Catechism,) and William Perkins, (the “father” of English Puritanism,) and by the mid-17th century, it had been fully enshrined in the Westminster Confession of Faith. Interesting enough is the fact that Calvin himself never spoke of a covenant of works, though some later theologians tried to read it back into his thought. The term itself is a man-made invention, and the idea behind it, that eternal life could be earned by man’s works, is an insult to the gospel. Scripture is clear, “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.” I John 5:11. All of God’s dealings with man have always been in Christ, even before sin entered into the world. To think life could come any other way is not only untrue, but a rejection of the very heart of the gospel. Colossians 1:16-17. The covenant of works assumes that Adam stood in a probation period where life could be earned as a wage for obedience. But Scripture never frames God’s commands as a ladder to eternal life; rather, they reveal His will and, when broken, our need for His grace. Romans 3:20. There has never been an age when man’s standing before God rested on his own ability, nor a moment when Christ was not the ground of our life and righteousness.

So if you strip away the theological whitewash, doesn’t this “covenant of works” share the same root as Arminianism, each insisting, in one form or another, that life is within man’s reach if only he will exert himself enough to meet the conditions? Both systems begin by granting man a power he simply does not possess, as though divine wrath could be turned away by human effort rather than by the atoning sacrifice of the Lamb of God. Romans 5:9. One dresses it in the language of ‘pre-fall’ obedience, the other in ‘post-fall’ decision, but both leave man standing guilty before God, with nothing to cover his shame. Romans 3:19. In the end, neither system exalts God’s eternal purpose in Christ, because neither begins where God begins, with a salvation grounded in eternity past, consummated in history, and perfected in the person and work of Christ. II Timothy 1:9-10. And when that starting point is abandoned, the result is inevitable, man’s utter ruin in Adam is misrepresented, and the ground of our hope is subtly shifted from the finished work of Christ to the imagined potential of the sinner.

Whether polished in theological language or spoken in the simple terms of free-will religion, it remains the serpent’s old deception, Genesis 3:5, that man can attain to God by doing something. Romans 3:20. Though the details differ, both rest on the idea that man possesses, either before or after the ‘fall’ the natural ability to secure life for himself, whether by meeting the terms of a supposed works covenant or by exercising his will in the present. In either case, the premise is the same, life is within man’s grasp if only he will do what is required. Romans 9:16. But Scripture allows no such ground for boasting. From the beginning, life has never been in man’s power, but in the gracious gift of God, who has placed it entirely in His Son. I John 5:11. So any system that grants man the ability to secure eternal life apart from the sovereign grace of God in Christ is not merely flawed in its reasoning; it is fatally opposed to the gospel, for it shifts the glory from the ONE who saves to the sinner who supposedly can.

In summation, God’s purpose for mankind has always been bound up in His Son, “who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,” I Peter 1:20, and He has never granted life to man apart from Christ, not in Eden, not under the law, and not in the glory to come. John 14:6. Even in Eden, the garden was never a proving ground for man to secure life by his own works, but the stage upon which the eternal counsel of God in Christ would unfold. Ephesians 3:11. To seek life anywhere else is to miss it entirely, for “he that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” I John 5:12. Therefore, in light of the testimony of Scripture and the revelation of the gospel, II Corinthians 4:6, it’s difficult not to conclude that the claim that Adam could earn life apart from Christ is not merely unbiblical, it is anti-gospel. Acts 4:12. MPJ

Some brief thoughts regarding the life of Abraham. Abraham’s life was marked by significant trials, he left everything familiar behind without knowing where he was going, Genesis 12:1; he faced famine in the very land God had led him to, Genesis 12:10; he endured conflict within his own family, Genesis 13:8; he carried the sorrow of childlessness for many years, Genesis 15:3; and he faced the unthinkable test of offering up his “only son Isaac.” Genesis 22:2. Yet in Genesis 24:1, as an old man nearing the end of his days, it simply says, “the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.” What a striking portrayal of a life that, on the surface, seemed burdened with adversity, and yet, in many ways, was remarkably ordinary.

In fact, when we trace the narrative of his life, it appears anything but spectacular. No signs in the sky, no fire from heaven, no thunder echoing from Sinai, no real outward glory to behold. Abraham's life was pretty normal, and he was just an ordinary man, who raised livestock, managed a large household, negotiated for wells, interceded for others, settled family disputes, grieved for the death of his wife, and just seemingly wandered from place to place. Nothing glamorous! Just a pilgrim life lived in tents, marked by waiting, weakness, and the quiet obedience of faith. Abraham “looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God,” Hebrews 11:9-10, and though it seems like he lived most of his life in quiet obscurity, yet through it all, the LORD was ruling every detail of his life. His tent-dwelling faith, though unremarkable by earthly standards, bore witness to a gospel rooted in promise, sustained by grace, and fixed on Christ.

Abraham’s record was never one of perfect obedience, but of perfect grace accounting righteousness to an imperfect man. Abraham’s story is not a testament to his ability to persevere but to the ONE who called him, sustained him, and fulfilled every promise in spite of his fears, failures, and faltering steps. And in this, he foreshadows all who walk in “the faith of Abraham,” Romans 4:12, a faith now fulfilled in Christ, the true Seed of promise, who upholds them, carries them, not only in weakness, but through every step of the journey. “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ.” Galatians 3:16.

Every step, even the faltering ones, bore witness to a greater story, that God is faithful to His Word, even when we are not, and that His purposes are not hindered by our weakness but glorified through it. In Abraham, we see not a perfect man, but a faithful God who was ordering the steps of a man, not merely to receive blessings, but to become a blessing. Genesis 12:2. The God who called and kept Abraham is the same who keeps all who are found in the Seed of promise. And in the end, the words of Genesis 24:1 shine with eternal meaning, “the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things,” because He had given him Christ. “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and was glad.” MPJ

Gospel Sabbath? Nowhere is the confusion of law and gospel more subtly entrenched than in the reformed attempt to repackage the Jewish Sabbath into a “Christian Sabbath” on the first day of the week. Though well meaning, this tradition has no command, no apostolic institution, and no new testament example to justify it. The resurrection of Christ transformed the first day into a day of gathered worship and gospel joy, but never into a day of legal obligation. To speak of a “Christian Sabbath” is to blur the line between shadow and substance, law and liberty. Galatians 5:1. This hybrid construct neither honors the typology of the Sabbath nor the finality of Christ’s finished work. It trades the ceremony of the seventh day for a moralized version of the first, and in so doing, it declares, however unintentionally, that the rest Christ gives is not enough, and in so doing, it subtly shifts the believer’s rest from Christ’s finished work to man’s continued effort. Galatians 3:3. Paul warned against this very error when he wrote, “ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain.” Galatians 4:10-11. The Sabbath was a shadow, a sign pointing forward to the true rest found in Christ. Hebrews 4:9-10. What was once a day is now a Person. Matthew 11:28-30. In gospel terms, this rest is not found in observing a day but in ceasing from all efforts to justify ourselves before God. It’s not about laying aside our tool belt, but laying aside our self-righteousness. Christ is our Sabbath, our rest, our righteousness. Colossians 2:16-17. MPJ

Some of my thoughts on christian liberty last week received a bit of pushback, which I welcome, as I’ve found that even disagreement can be a gift when it leads us back to Christ. Still, I’ve tried to steer clear of getting too caught up in theological skirmishes or what I would refer to as debate-cloaked devotion, knowing we each see through a glass darkly. On the other hand, even the friction that arises from differing viewpoints can be a ‘blessing’ in disguise, prompting us to search the scriptures afresh, agitate our ‘gospel’ presuppositions, and travel down ‘byways’ that normally would be avoided. The only reason I'm referencing this is the fact that it made me think about human responsibility, and besides the opening paragraph which I’ve extracted from my replies, I just wanted to add a few additional thoughts, which I’m hoping may prove helpful to any who, like myself, have wrestled with how man’s inability intersects with God’s command, and who have come to see that what God requires, only Christ can give.

My ‘friend’ mentioned man’s “responsibility,” to believe the gospel, to repent, &c., and while scripture certainly affirms that man is accountable to God, I think it may be wise to axe that particular term when speaking in the context of salvation? It often smuggles in the idea that man has the moral or spiritual ability to do what God requires, which runs contrary to the witness of Scripture and the glory of grace. So when we speak of “responsibility” in salvation terms, as though man has the inherent power to do what God commands, we risk diminishing the sheer necessity and wonder of God’s grace in Christ. The issue is not that the natural man hasn’t been told to believe, but that he cannot. He’s dead in sin, Ephesians 2:1, blind to the light, II Corinthians 4:4, and unwilling to come to Christ. John 5:40. His condition is not ignorance, but inability. So to speak of “responsibility” as though man has the native ability to fulfill what God requires ends up obscuring the glory of grace.

Additionally, it risks suggesting that the failure to believe lies in the absence of human effort, rather than the absence of divine mercy. Romans 9: 13. It frames the gospel as an opportunity instead of a declaration; a potentiality instead of a finished work. The moment we treat “human responsibility” as man doing his part in his contribution to salvation rather than the evidence of his just condemnation and guilt before God, we veer into perilous territory, a man-centered gospel, where grace is conditional and Christ is diminished.

At the heart of the gospel is this truth, that salvation is of the LORD. II Timothy 1:9. It is not a shared effort, it does not spring from cooperation, nor is it sustained by human will, but wrought wholly by divine grace. And yet, the language of “human responsibility,” if left undefined or untethered from man’s inability, can easily become the doorway to synergism, the idea that man and God each play a part in salvation’s execution. Synergism is the notion that salvation is a cooperative effort between God and man. Grace is God’s provision; faith is man’s contribution. Synergism, even in calvinistic circles, often wears a clever disguise, when it says, “faith is man’s response, yes, but God gives the faith, so it’s all of grace.” This sounds pious, but underneath lies a quiet shift in emphasis. Faith becomes man’s contribution, and grace becomes God’s assistance. God may supply the gift, but it’s man who unwraps it, applies it, and activates salvation. Yet Scripture teaches not that man uses grace, but that grace uses man. Ephesians 2:10. The moment we say that man is saved because he believes, even if that faith is a gift, we subtly relocate the cause of salvation from Christ crucified to man believing.

If salvation is part grace and part faith, (as if grace makes it possible and faith makes it actual,) then we’ve turned the gospel into a partnership, and not a proclamation of Christ’s finished work. The gospel doesn’t call sinners to contribute to their salvation by believing and confessing, it announces what Christ has done for the ungodly and declares that all who believe have eternal life. Salvation isn’t by faith, it’s by Christ. And even that faith does not originate in man, but in God who shows mercy. Romans 9:16. In the end, no part of salvation rests on man, not his will, not his wisdom, not even his “response.” It is all of grace, all of Christ, from first to last.

Let me summarize by suggesting that any doctrine that mingles man’s effort with divine grace obscures the glory of Christ. Salvation is monergistic, the work of ONE. From eternity past to final glory, it is GOD who elects, the SON who redeems, and the SPIRIT who quickens, ensuring that every stage of salvation, from its decree to its consummation, is traced to grace alone. Romans 11:36. Grace does not make salvation possible, it makes it actual! MPJ

A trademark of the Papist religion, and most of its Protestant stepchildren, is that “ignorance is bliss,” yet ignorance breeds nothing but pride! For pride thrives only where the heart is veiled, and man remains ignorant that outside of Christ he possesses nothing but sin and death. John 3:19. Should a man be awakened to the truth that he drinks from a fountain that he cannot command or fathom, and walks in a light not his own, a light he cannot kindle nor quench, his pride collapses at once. This lays open the deep folly of pride, for pride can only grow where light has not yet entered, “having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.” Ephesians 4:18. To know the truth of our condition is to know we are but dust, and that whatever good, wisdom, strength, or grace we possess has been received, not produced. The proud man boasts of much, but in truth he possesses nothing but his sin. Jeremiah 9:23-24. Pride is therefore not merely ignorance in general, but ignorance of grace in particular. To see Christ rightly is to see self rightly, and in that sight pride withers. I Corinthians 4:7. For how can a man boast, when he lives by borrowed breath, walks in a borrowed light, and is upheld at every moment by a mercy whose depths he will never exhaust? Ignorance is not bliss, and ignorance of Christ is fatal! Hosea 4:6. MPJ

The way of Christ is not a ladder for the strong to climb, but a door for the helpless to enter. It is not for the morally elite, but for those who, like the thief on the cross, confess they have nothing to offer and everything to receive, the exclusive hope of the ungodly who have no plea but mercy, Romans 5:6, whose hope is not in trying harder, but in trusting entirely. John 6:68. In Christ, the striving ceases and grace reigns. Romans 5:21. This is true liberty, not the freedom to perform, but the freedom to rest in the ONE who has performed it all. Christian liberty is not a calculated effort to glorify Christ, but the supernatural expression of a soul at rest in His sufficiency, and the spontaneous outflow of a heart captivated by Him. It manifests not in religious performance, but in sincere love, unwrought joy, and effortless thanksgiving, evidence of a soul no longer striving, but resting in the righteousness of ANOTHER. Hebrews 4:10. I began to write that Christian liberty is not the freedom to please ourselves, but the glorious freedom to please Christ, but really, what am I even talking about? Are any of our lives perfectly aligned with that which only pleases God? We must be delusional if we think so. I would imagine that most of us are painfully ordinary, nothing inherently special about us at all, or anything that sets us apart, as being different from anyone else. Luke 23:40. But there is everything extraordinary about CHRIST. Colossians 2:9. MPJ

Both Arminians and Calvinists turn salvation into a transaction dependent on man’s response. Arminians credit man for believing; Calvinists credit God for enabling belief. Both make salvation depend on the sinner’s response, rather than Christ’s finished work. One thanks man for believing, the other thanks God for helping him believe. In both systems, the gospel is obscured, for salvation is not in anything the sinner does, but in what Christ has done. Salvation is not secured by the act of believing, but by the obedience and blood of Christ. In essence both the Arminian and the Calvinist misunderstand the very nature of the gospel. The Arminian imagines he pleased God by choosing Him; the Calvinist, with more polished theology, and cloaked in the language of grace, thinks God helped him meet a condition, faith, repentance, or some inward act, &c., by which he now stands accepted. In both cases, the sinner imagines the gospel as a transaction between himself and God. This is not the gospel! The gospel reveals a transaction not between God and the sinner, but between the Father and the Son. “He shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.” Isaiah 53:11. MPJ

We sometimes hear someone described as a “godly man,” especially at a funeral or when reflecting on a believer’s life. “He was such a godly man,” they say. But in truth, there is only one truly godly MAN who has ever walked this earth, the Lord Jesus Christ. Scripture shatters every illusion of human ‘godliness’ apart from Christ, declaring without exception, “there is none righteous, no, not one.” Romans 3:10. Godliness, in its truest and fullest sense, is not a moral achievement nor a benchmark of human character. True godliness begins not with imitation, but with imputation, the gift of Christ’s righteousness to sinners who have none of their own. I Corinthians 1:30. We read that “great is the mystery of godliness,” I Timothy 3:16, and that mystery is not found in our moral attainments or outward displays of Christ-likeness, but in the staggering reality that His righteousness is imputed to us by grace. Godliness is not a virtue we produce, but a righteousness reckoned to sinners through the finished work of Christ. It does not arise from our striving to reflect Christ, but from the wondrous fact that Christ, the only truly godly MAN, stood in our place and clothed us in His perfect obedience. Isaiah 61:10. What we often call “godliness” in others, be it devotion, reverence, piety, &c., may indeed be the fruit of grace, but it is never the root. The true root is always Christ. Hosea 14:8. And herein lies the mystery, that what God requires of man, He has fully provided in His Son, in whom alone we are complete. Any ‘godliness’ seen in the believer is not self-originated, but flows solely from union with Christ. His obedience is counted as ours. His righteousness is imputed to us. The life we now live in the flesh, we live by the faith of the Son of God. May the LORD keep us anchored in this mystery, and may all our thoughts of godliness begin and end in Him. MPJ

Dispensationalists boast of their so-called “literal interpretation” of Scripture, a method they exalt as the purest form of biblical faithfulness. But what they call literal frequently amounts to a naturalistic reading, one that glorifies ethnic Israel above the elect of God, revives temple ordinances long ago abolished in Christ, and dreams of a geopolitical Messiah, and a worldly kingdom seated in Jerusalem. In doing so, it trades the gospel’s substance for types, the kingdom of Christ for the politics of men, and the eternal for the temporal. We likewise believe in taking Scripture literally, but literally according to its nature. The Bible is a spiritual book, given by the Spirit, pointing to Christ, and addressed to a spiritual people gathered into his name. “Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God.” Luke 8:10. A faithful literal reading must, by its very nature, be spiritual, anchored in the Christ-centered fabric of Scripture, not tethered to current events or geopolitical maps, but fully consistent with the unified harmony that pervades the entire Word of God. To read Scripture literally is to read it spiritually, through the lens of Christ, not through the lens of current events or the politics of this present age. Such a reading must reflect the divine unity and seamless harmony of the Word, that binds all of Scripture together, and speaks with one voice from Genesis to Revelation, Luke 24:27, and rooted in the progressive unfolding of His glory throughout redemptive history. Only in Christ do the scattered pieces of Scripture find their center. Christ is the key who unlocks every parable, the fulfillment of every promise, and the substance of every shadow. Colossians 2:17.

To read the Bible “literally” is not to drag its mysteries down to the level of human curiosity, but to see its fulfilled meaning in Christ. Dispensationalism carves up the Word of God into artificial ages, silencing the voice of Christ and fragmenting the unity of the gospel. As I mentioned, we also believe in the literal interpretation of the scriptures, but there is a literal natural interpretation, and a literal spiritual interpretation, and since the Bible is first and foremost a spiritual book, with a spiritual message to a spiritual people, so our literal interpretation of necessity must be of a spiritual nature, in harmony with all of scripture testimony. At its core, dispensationalism is not merely a misunderstanding of Bible prophecy, it is a misapprehension of Christ. MPJ

The book of Revelation has been the source of much fascination, debate, and confusion, and I claim no special insight when it comes to untangling the countless eschatological theories attached to it. Truthfully, I’m not sure anyone else does either. To my shame, I’ve embraced, rejected, and reconsidered each of the four major millennial positions, premil, postmil, amil, and historicist, at some stage in my life, and at this juncture, I’m convinced that though some may contain fragments of truth, none of them tell the entire story. Apart from the light of the gospel, the book of Revelation remains largely veiled, a deliberate obscurity that exposes the irony of our confidence, reminding us that no system or scheme can decode what was never meant to be deciphered apart from Christ, and that no amount of theological scaffolding can reach what God has reserved to be revealed in His Son alone. Matthew 11:27. It’s a reminder to us all that the glory of Christ cannot be mapped, managed, or manipulated to fit within man’s theological schemes or serve his prophetic curiosities, and that the full scope of what God has revealed in the book of Revelation refuses to be caged by human timelines and theological blueprints. The core of Revelation is not chronological, but Christological, it is not a sequence of events, but the exaltation of Jesus Christ.

Like Daniel, who glimpsed fragments of gospel truth by divine revelation and was granted a view into redemptive history, Daniel 9, so too may a solitary, Spirit-taught believer perceive something of its meaning. But when natural men, with unrenewed hearts and unillumined minds, attempt to chart its mysteries, the result is confusion, error, and theological shipwreck. Christ becomes incidental to their system, a supporting character in their eschatological chart. History bears witness. Scripture gives warning. “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” Colossians 2:8.

Additionally, let us not suppose that the need for caution ends with “the deceived and the deceiver,” Job 12:16, as though ‘error’ were confined to those who merely traffic in the scriptures. For even among those who love Christ, who truly believe the gospel, and perhaps even faithfully preach it, there remains a subtle danger; namely, the temptation to press beyond what is written. In our zeal to explain every mystery and leave no stone unturned, we too may wander into speculative dogmatism, mistaking conjecture for revelation, and inadvertently marring the simplicity that is in Christ. II Corinthians 11:3. Here the issue is not the rejection of what God has said, but the reckless expansion of it, and the subtle embellishment of what God has revealed. (“Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God, for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth, therefore let thy words be few.” Ecclesiastes 5:2.) Such zeal, though well-intentioned, can turn reverent scriptural study into reckless speculation. What sometimes begins as a search for truth often hardens into expositional dogmatism, as almost every passage is made to conform to a predetermined path and every symbol is forced into a rigid framework, and the humble posture of a student of scripture is soon replaced by the presumption of an expert or scholar, or the posture of a doctrinal gatekeeper.

Over the years I’ve listened to countless messages from well meaning brethren claiming to have some heavenly insight into this book, flipped through stacks of commentaries, and trudged through more eschatological papers than I care to remember, and what strikes me most is the confidence with which men speak of matters God has not made plain. Perhaps it’s the subtle pride that arises in claiming to know what others do not, to be wise above what is written, or to possess a knowledge that sets us apart? I Corinthians 8:1. None of us are immune! And perhaps the greater danger is not in being wrong, but in being proud of being right, especially when God has chosen in His wisdom, to leave certain things veiled. Romans 12:3.

Then again, perhaps the reason I find such certainty so baffling is not because the Scriptures are unclear, but because I am? That I lack the spiritual discernment to grasp what others, by divine illumination, have seen clearly? Perhaps, in all my caution, I have missed what the Spirit has plainly made known to others? These thoughts come with weight. But even then, even when I suspect my own blindness, I once again cannot escape the conviction that the Lord has not chosen to make every detail plain, and that if the ‘truth’ extracted from these scriptures were so clear, why does every “clear” system contradict the next? Why does absolute certainty wear so many different masks? All in all, my thoughts are that the LORD has not called us to decipher mysteries, but to follow Christ. And I find peace in this, that the light we need most is not the key to prophecy, but the knowledge of the ONE who is Himself the fulfillment of all prophecy, Jesus Christ, the Alpha and the Omega. Revelation 1:8. The only true wisdom in these matters is to confess our blindness apart from Christ. It’s all about Christ glorified, enthroned, and unveiled. The symbols point to Him. The judgments proceed from Him, and the hope belongs to those who belong to Him. “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Revelation 19:10. MPJ

Hatred of the World: “The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.” John 7:7. The world never hates its own! Christ is not speaking merely of humanity in general, but the ‘spirit’ of this age, (whether cloaked in vice or veiled in piety,) it’s spiritual order, it’s system of pride, self-righteousness, and rebellion that governs fallen man. In contrast, the world welcomes those who parrot its voice, praise its righteousness, and veil its rejection of Christ with religious robes. It has no quarrel with a religion that feeds and flatters its pride, but only hates that which exposes it, and that which is alien to its own spirit, John 15:19, and CHRIST was its great Exposer! Luke 16:15.

Let’s not fool ourselves, this world is never neutral but stands militantly opposed to the truth of the gospel. It despised Christ not for condemning vice, but for exposing virtue falsely so called. And modern religion, far from opposing the world, has made peace with it, baptizing its pride, sanctifying its rebellion, and calling it faith. It serves up a “gospel” that offends no one, a Christ who affirms everyone, and a “salvation” made in man’s image, therapeutic, mechanical, and religiously retrofitted to fit the contours of his own ego and the framework of his own virtue.

Think about it, the world did not hate Christ because of His moral perfection, for healing the sick, feeding the hungry, or doing good, &c., but because He was divinely offensive! Christ didn’t simply reveal vice, but exposed the darkness men cloaked in virtue. He unveiled the corruption beneath religion, the pride beneath piety, and the death beneath man’s imagined goodness. And wherever the gospel is faithfully proclaimed, that same hatred resurfaces, not because it threatens man’s vices, but because it exposes his virtues as filthy rags. The offense of the cross lies not in what it takes from man, but in what it declares he never had to begin with, righteousness. “There is none righteous, no, not one.” Romans 3:10. That is what the world cannot endure!

Men can part with possessions, prestige, even liberty, and often do so with stoic resignation. They will forfeit comfort, endure suffering, relinquish wealth, and even lay down their lives for a cause. But strip him of his religion, his virtue, his moral achievements, his sense of being “good enough,” and you provoke the fiercest resistance. Nothing offends like the suggestion that man’s best is worthless, that his devout efforts count for nothing, and that salvation cannot be earned but must be received as one utterly bankrupt. That is the offense of the cross! That is why the religious man, not just the immoral one, hates the cross. For the cross does not merely condemn his sins, it nullifies his righteousness, and that is an unforgivable offense. MPJ

Every Idle Word: “But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.” Matthew 12:36. I can generally tolerate many things in a conversation, but the moment someone takes the Lord’s name in vain, (in person or on screen,) whether flippantly, mockingly, or profanely, everything else they say dies right there and then. This is the only name under heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved. Acts 4:12. To invoke it thoughtlessly, to trivialize it in casual speech, or to hurl it as a curse is nothing short of open blasphemy; not veiled or subtle, but public, casual, flippant, and unashamed. “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.” Exodus 20:7.

There is something distinctly repulsive about the irreverent use of the name of CHRIST. Whether it is hurled in defiance by the openly profane, or tossed about carelessly by professing believers who speak it without reverence, without understanding, and without fear. What the world mocks with cursing; the ‘church’ empties with vain repetition. One dishonors Christ in open hatred, the other in hollow familiarity, and yet both desecrate the NAME before which “every knee” shall bow, and every “tongue confess.” Philippians 2:11. To take the Lord’s name in vain is not merely to speak it irreverently, but to strip it of its weight, its worth, and its wonder. It is to name the name of Christ without regard for who He is, and to handle that name with such thoughtless familiarity is not a mark of devotion, but a sign of contempt.

What other name is so abused? The world does not hurl the names of its own prophets or gods as expletives. It is CHRIST alone whose name is dragged through the mud, mocked in comedy, cursed in anger, and trivialized in religion. Why? No one stubs their toe and shouts, “Muhammad” or “Buddha.” No one turns the name of Gandhi, Confucius, or Moses into a punchline or a profanity. It is dragged through the dirt by comedians, cursed in moments of rage, and cheapened by religious lips that speak it without fear or love. Why such singular contempt? Why such targeted mockery? Because that name does not belong to a mere man, a philosopher, or a religious leader, it belongs to the “LORD of glory,” I Corinthians 2:8. This is why the world cannot remain neutral. Christ forces a verdict. His name exposes the heart. It shatters man’s pride and confronts his rebellion. To confess that name truly is to renounce all other allegiances. Luke 14:26. And so men rage against it. They mock what they cannot control, and they blaspheme what they refuse to submit to, their hatred only confirming his glory.

Thus, to hear Christ’s name degraded is to feel the insult as personal, for the believer has been purchased by that name, redeemed by that blood, and sealed under that authority. It is the name by which he prays, the name in which he stands, and the name to which every knee shall bow. How then can he remain unmoved when the world mocks what God has magnified, or stay silent when men trample underfoot the very name which is dearer to us than life itself! MPJ

Still thinking about Noah, the preacher, the builder, the solitary voice of warning at a time of unrestrained corruption, moral collapse, and spiritual blindness. “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.” Genesis 6:11. “It was corrupt,” we read again in the next verse as “all flesh had corrupted” not only their own way, but first, and primarily the Lord’s “way upon the earth,” Genesis 6:12, in setting up so many idolatrous ways by which they corrupted the true worship of God. From the beginning, there has always been only one way, which is “the way of righteousness.” II Peter 2:21. Noah preached it, the prophets declared it, Christ fulfilled it, and the redeemed in every generation walk in it. Isaiah 35:8.

The apostle tells us that Noah was a “preacher of righteousness.” II Peter 2:5. While the ark was in preparation, Noah was preaching, in the spirit of Christ, I Peter 3:20, prefiguring the gospel, and declaring in prophetic witness that salvation could never be found in man, (but only in the righteousness of God’s provision,) that every form of man-made righteousness is a lie, and that outside of the righteousness which God provides in Christ, Philippians 3:9, all will perish. And here is the staggering irony, though Noah preached the only way of salvation, the world completely ignored him. Wasn’t there a vast population at this point? And only eight were ‘saved’? Noah must have seriously been the world’s worst evangelist! Yet, the measure of Noah’s ministry was not numerical success but faithful proclamation. Think about it, Noah’s preaching didn’t ‘regenerate’ a single soul, and ‘his’ little congregation never grew, but yet his message never changed. I Corinthians 9:16. Noah was not preaching social reform, tolerance for sin, cultural relevance, moralism, or behavioral improvement, and certainly not how to live your best life now. His message was not shaped by the preferences of the age, nor tailored to attract the multitudes. In essence, Noah preached the righteousness of GOD, and by extension, he preached CHRIST, the only refuge from judgment, the only “door” to salvation. John 10:9.

In light of this, today’s gimmick and results-driven pulpits, (which have turned the ‘gospel’ into a marketing scheme, and ‘salvation’ to a transaction,) are a tragic parody of truth, measuring success in decisions rather than in fidelity to Christ. Against such man-made theatrics, mechanized decisions and scripted ‘conversions’ where ‘salvation’ is reduced down to a formula, &c., we are reminded that it is GOD who quickens the dead, not man who coaxes them to life. Such distortions stand in sharp contrast to the gospel Noah preached. Believers are not called to ‘regenerate’ souls, fabricate faith, or multiply converts, but simply to proclaim the “way of righteousness,” the way of CHRIST, John 14:6, one SHEPHERD, one DOOR, one NAME under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Acts 4:12. The ark was but a figure, Colossians 2:17, CHRIST is the substance. Outside of Him, there is no salvation. In light of what remains, one could almost say that the flood obliterated every pretense of man-centered religion and in essence left one testimony afloat, once again, that “salvation is of the LORD.” MPJ

There is no truth more certain and unequivocally affirmed in all of Scripture than the second and final and glorious return of Jesus Christ. This momentous event will bring history to its divinely appointed conclusion and fulfill the last remaining thread of unfulfilled prophecy. Kingdoms will crumble, and generations pass, but ‘time’ advances unwaveringly toward this consummation of all things, the visible and final appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” Titus 2:13. History is not an arbitrary sequence of events, nor a random march through time; it is a divinely directed procession moving with exact precision and glorious certainty to that “day and hour,” when time shall give way to eternity, and “the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ.” Revelation 11:15.

As in the days of Noah, so it is now, a world absorbed in its affairs, as ordinary life continues, unaware that the long-suffering of the LORD has an appointed limit, and that beneath the hum and bustle of daily routine, the storm clouds of divine wrath were silently gathering, ready to break forth upon a world that had forgotten God. II Peter 3:9-10. “And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.” Luke 17:26-27. God destroyed them all!

What an incredible thought! I don’t think of it often, surely not enough, but as directed thereto, enough to make me tremble in my thoughts as I attempt to evaluate the carnage. The sheer scale of the devastation defies all reckoning. Their “cup of iniquity” had become full to the brim, and the appointed hour had struck. Jeremiah 25:15–16. Intoxicated with arrogance, and utterly unawares, “sudden destruction” came swiftly and unrelentingly, “as travail upon a woman with child,” and there was no escape! I Thessalonians 5:3. And who shall stand when He appeareth? Malachi 3:2.

I can’t seem to get away from the fact that only “eight souls” were saved from immediate destruction. I Peter 3:20. Only eight people survived. EIGHT! God destroyed them all! Based on lifespan estimates and genealogical reckoning, some suggest the pre-flood population could’ve reached into the hundreds of millions. Could it be that the phrase “as it was in the days of Noah” isn’t just an analogy, but a precise parallel, down to the very number of those alive? Just thinking out loud, and I’m not advocating this position, only just staggered by the sheer thought of it. It’s an overwhelming thought!

This present world teeters under the same weight of iniquity that once brought the flood. Its judgment lingers not for lack of provocation, but because of divine longsuffering. “If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.” Psalm 130:3-4. Were salvation not entirely of the Lord, from beginning to end, we would be doomed brethren. “It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.” Romans 9:16. The flood declares what all of Scripture testifies, that judgment is real, mercy is sovereign, and Christ alone is the refuge from the wrath to come! II Peter 2:7-9. MPJ

WHICH COMES FIRST: The Rapture or the Iranian-Russian Invasion of Israel in Ezekiel 38-39? Forget the gospel, forget the finished work of Christ, forget the kingdom that’s not of this world, we’ve got temple blueprints, antichrist speculations, and satellite images of the Euphrates drying up! Every war is a countdown to Armageddon, every earthquake fuels their apocalyptic fever, every global crisis a drumroll for the apocalypse, and every catastrophe a confirmation of the system they’ve so artfully constructed and just another reminder that people will believe anything, except the clear testimony of Christ. Matthew 24:36. Don’t you know that we are in the fourth stage of the sixth seal of the third trumpet of the post-pre-mid-tribulation semi-final phase? Who needs the gospel when we’ve got prophetic charts, Middle East battle maps, and suspicious-looking barcodes?

Coincidence? How could it be? And don’t forget the revival of the Roman Empire (which may or may not be the EU, the UN, or the PAPACY, &c.,) which are all surefire signs that the sky is falling, and that the rapture is just around the corner. After all, we don’t want to be “left behind,” stuck in the tribulation with a bunch of unread Tim LaHaye and Hal Lindsay books. Meanwhile, Scripture is optional, but current events are compulsory, as nothing says “true spirituality” like eschatological schemes cobbled together from national headlines, half-verses, and leftover temple blueprints. Few things so brazenly contradict the blessed gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, as this prophetic hysteria, self-appointed seers peddling confusion, and a rebuilt sacrificial system that flat-out denies the sufficiency of Christ.

Welcome to the spectacle of dispensationalism, where the gospel has never been central, and salvation is assumed like a backstage pass. It’s a place where Jewish nationalism takes center stage, where Christ is sidelined for a reinstituted temple, and the church is dismissed as a parenthesis in God’s supposed “real plan.” It’s a seven-year script that never ends, and a world of delusion where Christ has never been preached and eternal truth is bartered away for prophetic theories and newspaper eschatology.

A system baptized in fear, held together by end-times hysteria, where Arminianism exalts the illusion of free will, and Dispensationalism fuels the fire with its end-times hysteria. One part makes man’s decision the decisive cause in salvation; the other makes Israel’s prophetic timeline the determining factor in Christ’s return. Both displace Christ from the center of redemptive history and enthrone human constructs in His place, whilst together they form a man-centered gospel where Christ is but a passive participant in their scheme of waiting for man to act and history to align. Grace is reduced to an offer; the cross becomes a conditional footnote; and the church is dismissed as an interruption in God’s supposed real plan with ethnic Israel. This isn’t “the faith which was once delivered unto the saints,” but a carefully staged performance where man is central, and Christ is reduced to a footnote in His own story. In fact, it’s all a stage production, an elaborate fiction cloaked in the language of Scripture, complete with actors, plots, and subplots, where man writes the script, fear drives the plot, (packaged as ‘spiritual’ entertainment,) and where Christ is little more than a supporting actor in their masquerade of the Christian religion.

All true theology culminates in Christ, and eschatology is no exception. Its pulse is the testimony of Jesus Christ. It should evoke worship and be Christ centered like all aspects of theology. It’s not a cryptic timeline to decipher, nor a puzzle to solve, nor a road map to the end, but a falling prostrate before that ONE who already has come, is coming again, and reigns even now in resplendent majesty and glory. “Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Revelation 19:10. From Genesis to Revelation, every prophetic utterance in Scripture ultimately points to him, exalts him, and calls us to fall before him in whom all prophecy finds its consummation. “And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last.” Revelation 1:17. True eschatology does not climax in events, but in the person of Christ, where every divine purpose finds its end. “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things, to whom be glory for ever. Amen.” Romans 11:36. The end is not chaos, it is Christ! MPJ

“But thou art he that took me out of the womb, thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb, thou art my God from my mother’s belly.” Psalm 22:9-10. “By thee have I been holden up from the womb, thou art he that took me out of my mother’s bowels; my praise shall be continually of thee.” Psalm 71:6. It’s 3:30 a.m., as I generally attempt to wake about an hour before I go to work each morning, and this morning I opened my bible to this scripture, (actually I was listening to the scriptures being read – e-sword – as I was getting dressed, and ran over and stopped the reel when I heard the first passage being read,) and then cross referenced it with this other scripture regarding the intimate nature of God’s absoluteness, in being involved in those things which the world deems as ‘natural’ occurrences, but as the scriptures point out, all things are from the hand of the LORD, and this in particular strikes me as very intimate and glorious, how from the cradle to the grave, the Lord knoweth them that are his, and carries them all their days. The psalmist doesn’t see random biology or natural process, but divine intimacy, God Himself active in every breath, every motion, every moment of our lives. Jeremiah 23:23.

The Lord was the One who brought us forth. He gave us breath. What the world calls natural, the womb, the birth, the infant’s cry, the mother’s care, &c., (and the arena of God’s creation glory is vast & infinite,) we acknowledge as divine. Every stage of human existence, from conception to old age, declares God’s all together glorious design and reveals His purpose. He was God to us before we knew ourselves, the ONE who authored our first instincts of hope, who held us up before we could stand, who knew us and sanctified us from the womb, Jeremiah 1:5, and etched his name upon us in time, Galatians 1:15, and in due season, revealed His Son in us, Galatians 1:16.

To say that God is involved in all things is not merely to affirm His power, but to acknowledge His nearness. The LORD is not an indifferent observer, but the wise and loving Author of every page we live, even those that appear unremarkable or even painful. What we call “natural” is, in truth, the unfolding of His purpose. How intimate and glorious this is! This truth quiets my heart. Psalm 46:10. If the most ordinary events are from His hand, then nothing is wasted, nothing is meaningless, and nothing is outside the realm of His purpose for us in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:28. MPJ

Before man had existence, before he could sin, repent, or believe; before he could act, choose, or respond; before he could lift a finger in obedience or defiance, his place in the unchanging counsel of God’s will was already determined. II Timothy 1:9. Election and reprobation both flow from the same divine prerogative, rooted not in foreseen merit or demerit but in the unfathomable counsel of “Him who works all things after the counsel of His own will.” Ephesians 1:11. This is not a reactionary decree, but an eternal one, rooted in God’s unchanging nature and eternal purpose in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 3:11. This utterly refutes the idea that salvation originates with man’s will, deed, or even his ‘fall’ into sin. Every shred of self-reliance is shattered, and we are left exposed, helpless and wholly dependent upon the sovereign grace of God in Christ Jesus. “It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.” Romans 9:16. God alone saves, and He saves whom He will. MPJ

We hear much about the reformers, and their affirmation of sola scriptura, which I believe could be interpreted along these lines, that God’s Word is the absolute and final authority, the only standard by which everything must be measured. It is not one authority among many, but the sole voice of God to man, before which every human tradition, ecclesiastical decree, and personal conviction must bow. It stands supreme, self-authenticating, and wholly sufficient, because it is the very word of the living God. To deny this is to enthrone man in the place of God, and to subject divine truth to the shifting opinions of fallible men. Scripture alone rules the conscience, governs the assembly of the saints, and defines the Gospel. Anything that dares to rival it is to be rejected as error and idolatry. But the supremacy of Scripture does not stop at creeds and councils, it presses further, reaching into the very soul.

Our feelings, impressions, and experiences, no matter how vivid, heartfelt, or sincere, must bow to the authority of God's Word. They are not self-validating sources of truth. They do not rule us, they do not define truth, and they must never be allowed to usurp the voice of Scripture. Every emotion and inward stirring must be brought into subjection, examined, and judged by the infallible standard of divine revelation. For though our hearts may waver, God’s Word stands sure, and it alone has the right to govern what we believe and how we respond. Truth is not measured by what we feel, but by what the Lord hath spoken. “Feelings come and feelings go, And feelings are deceiving; My warrant is the Word of God, Naught else is worth believing.”

Whether or not these precise lines were penned by Luther or not, they do rightly assert the unshakable authority of Scripture over the unstable and deceptive realm of personal feelings and fluctuating experiences, an emphasis often overlooked by a generation enamored with emotionalism and subjective spirituality, where personal impressions are mistaken for the voice of God, and one’s subjective ‘experience’ is elevated over revealed truth. Whilst emotions are wonderfully woven into the fabric of our humanity, capable of reflecting both the beauty of joy and the anguish of sorrow, they are not reliable guides for truth. Our feelings, though deeply felt, are often misleading, shaped by circumstance, frailty, and always stained by sin. And although scripture never instructs us to suppress our feelings, it likewise never directs us to be governed by them.

Time and again, David wrestles with fear, grief, and a sorrow so deep it nearly overwhelms him, Psalm 6:6-7, Psalm 13:1-2, Psalm 22:1-2, Psalm 38:6-8, &c., all of which paint a vivid and sobering picture of David’s inner struggles with depression and unbelief. Despite David’s fluctuating mindset, Psalm 55:19, and tendency to wear his grief upon his collar, II Samuel 12:16-17, his constant cry was to the Lord. We see this pattern over and over again, “as for me, I will call upon God; and the Lord shall save me. Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud, and he shall hear my voice.” Psalm 55:16-17.

David gave voice to the whole range of human emotion as he unburdened himself before the LORD, but not as a man dominated or controlled by them, but likewise, not as a man in control of them either, or one able to manipulate them at leisure, but rather driven by them to God. Why art thou cast down, O my soul - hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him, &c. Psalm 42:11.

What often began in sorrow would end in praise, not because his circumstances changed, but because his gaze was shifted from himself to the LORD, and his mind realigned through truth. He cries out, not as one mustering resolve, but as one whose thoughts have been redirected. Psalm 119:130. His tears became prayers, his cries expressions of trust, and his sorrow a path by which he was being brought into a deeper understanding of grace, and a more intimate acquaintance with the God of all comfort. II Corinthians 1:3. I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy, for thou hast considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities. Psalm 31:7.

In a world marked by instability, where feelings dictate reality and all truth is personalized, the Word of God remains the unyielding standard by which all claims must be tested, all feelings brought into subjection, and all truth discerned. May it please the LORD to awaken us afresh to the unparalleled authority of Scripture. MPJ

Some thoughts on mental health and modern-day psychology. Before proceeding, let me just say that I’ve not written this to dismiss or belittle the reality of mental and emotional suffering. The pain is real. The anguish that some experience is profound. But this is precisely why the subject deserves serious examination, not through the lens of popular culture or secular thought, but through the unchanging light of God’s Word. Is it possible that in our well-meaning attempts to help, we have unmindfully adopted a system of thought that neither begins with God nor ends in Christ? Far from attacking those who suffer, but challenging the systems we have come to trust, we ask whether the modern mental health movement, often cloaked in compassion, is, in fact, leading people further from the only source of true healing. Can we afford to ignore the ways psychology has redefined the human condition, reshaped our vocabulary of sin and guilt, and subtly replaced the gospel with self-help?

Also, I’m not suggesting all forms of counseling are inherently wrong. There is certainly a place for offering wise, compassionate, and biblically grounded guidance to those who are struggling with some difficulties in life, &c., but the comfort we offer must be grounded in the truth, not in man’s attempts to understand the soul, but in God’s unchanging Word, which alone can bind up the brokenhearted. Isaiah 61:1. Likewise, mental health is undoubtedly a real struggle for many, if not most, at some point in life; but once again, true and lasting wholeness (“ye are complete in HIM,” Colossians 2:10) comes not by way of human reasoning, (which can only diagnose but never deliver,) but through the truth of God’s Word, and the life & light of Christ, in whom alone is found a balm sufficient for every sorrowing heart and mind distressed by sin. He alone is the true physician of souls, who speaks peace where none else can. “Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.” Matthew 9:2.

Without drifting too far from the main point, I can’t help but observe something I may have overlooked until now in these words of Christ, particularly as it speaks to the realm of mental health, for what could be greater in this life than the forgiveness of sins? What greater comfort could there be in this life than the assurance that one’s sins are forgiven? No wonder Christ says be of good cheer! Sounds to me like this forgiveness of sins might be worth inquiring after, (which is a bit difficult to imagine in this day when the forgiveness of sins & salvation are looked upon as ‘on-demand’ entitlements, and the mercy of the Lord in Christ is panhandled in such a flippant and irreverent fashion, as if pardon were indiscriminately handed out like tracts on a street corner,) instead of seeking our council from those who perhaps have never trembled under the authority of holy scripture, nor rejoice in the grace of Christ, &c., who know nothing about the true nature of their disease, Isaiah 1:5-6, and even less in reference to the only cure. Numbers 21:8-9 / John 3:14-15.

It seems like over the years, and It’s been a long and wondrous journey, Genesis 24:1, I would like to think that the LORD has brought me to the point in my life where it has become undeniably clear to me that Scripture alone, apart from tradition, addition, or the reasoning of man, is the final and sufficient authority in all matters, not only concerning salvation through Christ, but also all things in an absolute sense, things present and things to come. Scripture alone lays bare the true condition of our hearts, exposing the depths of our corruption, the blindness of our self-deception, and the hardness of our unbelief, whilst confronting us with the undeniable truth that we are utterly powerless to save ourselves. Ephesians 2:1.

That the Bible alone contains all we need for life, godliness, salvation, and spiritual truth, which is otherwise known as the sufficiency of scripture, is clearly taught in God’s word. Every competing authority, whether it arises from tradition, psychological insight, or philosophical reasoning, &c., must be tested by and subordinated to the Word of God, and subjected to its supreme authority in all things. In sum, to affirm the sufficiency of Scripture is to take God at His Word, that He has not spoken in vain, nor left His people without light, truth, or guidance. It is to rest wholly upon what is written and to reject all that would add to, detract from, or stand alongside that word as a rival authority. “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.” Deuteronomy 4:2.

The Bible is not a partial or supplemental guide; it is a complete and finished revelation concerning all that pertains to life and godliness. II Peter 1:3. This knowledge comes through Scripture alone. John 17:17. This has led me to decisively turn away from secular psychology, as well as the misguided attempt to fuse it with biblical truth under the label of ‘biblical counseling. Only God’s Word exposes the true condition of the human heart, Jeremiah 17:9, which is not merely dysfunctional but spiritually dead apart from Christ. Ephesians 2:1. Psychology often frames man’s problems in terms of trauma, low self-esteem, or unfulfilled needs. Scripture teaches that man’s core problem is sin. Self is not to be pampered, but put to death. Galatians 2:20. Again, and this cannot be stressed enough, man’s problem is sin; his need is redemption; and his cure is Christ. Christ is the answer to man’s deepest needs, and His Word is enough.

Any system that displaces or diminishes Christ as the sole physician of souls or seeks to intrude upon the domain that belongs to the Word of God alone must be looked upon or treated as a rival gospel. “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men…and not after Christ.” Colossians 2:8. Many psychological models suggest that man’s primary need is self-esteem, self-affirmation or personal peace, solutions which can be attained through human effort, reflection, or therapeutic technique, offering, in essence, a kind of self-salvation through mental or behavioral reform. In doing so, they trade the piercing truth of God’s Word for self-congratulatory introspection, and the redemptive power of Christ for the illusion of personal deliverance. Instead of sin, they diagnose trauma, imbalance, or low self-worth. This subtle exchange displaces Scripture from its rightful throne and places man at the center. II Thessalonians 2:4. Sin is explained away or redefined as a psychological malfunction rather than a moral offense against God, as nothing more than a mental health issue, some form of neurosis or psychosis; ss if rebellion against God were a disorder to be treated, rather than a sin to be repented of and forgiven through Christ. When sin is no longer acknowledged, everything must be reinterpreted without reference to guilt, repentance, or grace. As this ideology gains ground within our thoughts, the Word of God and the cross of Christ are inevitably displaced.

As I attempt to close these thoughts, I would be negligent not to briefly mention another spectrum of this subject, just as disturbing, which is the idea that a person’s behavior, thoughts, and emotions are primarily the result of their upbringing, social environment, or past traumas. In a broader sense, it’s part of what’s known as the victimhood mentality, which within a short period of time has essentially taken over the way people interpret human behavior, redefining sin as sickness, and dressing it up in psychological terminology. Repentance is replaced with therapy, and man is seen as wounded instead of wicked. It is a subtle yet sweeping denial of accountability before God! Whilst Scripture doesn’t deny the influence of one’s environment or upbringing, it never excuses sin on that basis. Instead, it calls all people, regardless of background, to repentance and faith, Acts 17:30, recognizing that the root issue is the heart. Jeremiah 17:9. Mark 7:21-23. Deny guilt, and you nullify grace! By denying one’s guilt, a person renders grace meaningless or unnecessary, because grace only applies to the guilty. If you’re not guilty, you don’t need grace, you don’t need Christ, and the gospel becomes a needless message. “When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, they that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Mark 2:17. I believe the implications here might be greater than we realize! Think about it, there is no greater peril to the soul than seeking relief from its miseries anywhere but in Christ. “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” Jeremiah 2:13. MPJ

Reading the book of Ruth with my wife last night, I couldn’t help but notice how openly and unreservedly Naomi attributes all her afflictions, and indeed every circumstance of her life, directly to the LORD Himself. She so vividly portrays the mindset of one who was resting in the unwavering belief that God governs everything with absolute precision. “Be still, and know that I am God, I will be exalted.” Psalm 46:10. Trusting, albeit at times falteringly, (through bitter tears and shattered hopes,) that His ‘hand’ (unseen, yet sure) governs all things in perfect wisdom and love; that behind every famine and funeral, &c., stood the LORD, working all things together for good, for His name’s sake and according to His eternal counsel. That no sorrow was without purpose, and that every step, whether forward or backward, is appointed by Him who sees the “end from the beginning.” Isaiah 46:10. What seemed like the unraveling of her hopes was, in fact, the unfolding of a divine plan, every step, even into famine and loss, was appointed by Him whose greatest blessings often arrive disguised in hardship.

Does this mean she was consciously comforted by God’s care in the midst of her trials? Of course not, but she was given grace to believe that each bitter turn had been measured and ordained for a purpose that reached far beyond her own story. She was persuaded that her afflictions were not random misfortunes, but divinely appointed mercies in disguise, designed to unfold His redemptive purpose not only in her life, but in the lineage of the Messiah to come. This still and settled confidence that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men and in the affairs of His saints, Daniel 4:17, is that which gladdens the heart, (“thou hast put gladness in my heart,” Psalm 4:7,) even when all seems chaotic and unpredictable, resting in the certainty that nothing comes by chance, but that He ordains all things for His glory and for the good of His people.

Naomi saw HIS ‘hand’ (“who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this,” Job 12:9,) behind every circumstance, whether joyful or grievous, and acknowledged Him not merely as permitting events, but as actively ordaining and governing all things for His own wise and glorious purposes. By God’s grace she saw God’s will in every circumstance and traced His hand in the smallest matters. Moved by the report of divine mercy, “the LORD had visited his people in giving them bread,” Ruth 1:6, she leaves Moab behind, returning to Bethlehem under great loss, and incapable of disguising her grief, or silencing her faith, she says, “the Almighty hath afflicted me.” Ruth 1:21. She bows before the Lord, once again acknowledging God’s hand in every detail of her life, whether joyful or sorrowful, and that everything which had befallen her was under His wise and watchful care. Our steps are not aimless! (“A man’s heart deviseth his way, but the LORD directeth his steps.” Proverbs 16:9.)

I particularly love her confession of faith from the first chapter. “And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty; why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me.” Ruth 1:20-21. Seldom is God’s control over affliction so plainly and humbly confessed. Naomi traces her emptiness not to fate or human failure, but to God Himself, not with bitterness against Him, but again, with a recognition that He is the one who governs all things. Naomi lived with a profoundly God-centered view of all things. Famine, death, harvest, kindness, all are attributed to the active hand of the Lord. Like Job, whose heart bowed beneath the weight of loss, Naomi echoed that same confession of faith, “the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job 1:21.

If we are Christ’s, then her journey is written into ours, and is indeed a reflection of our own in so many ways. Marked by both joy and sorrow, triumph and trial, fullness and want, is one we all walk in some form. Philippians 4:12-13. And in that shared path, we see the unchanging pattern of God’s dealings with His people, pressing them low that He might lift them up, stripping away what fades that they might cling to what endures. “And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.” Deuteronomy 8:2-3. We are companions in grace, fellow heirs in Christ, bound by the same hope and led by the same hand. Truly, “thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.” Ruth 1:16.

Thinking along these lines, I’m struck with a thought so wonderful it borders on the indescribable. Just as Ruth, though born a Moabite, was included in God’s eternal purpose and became an ancestor of Christ according to the flesh, so we too, once strangers and aliens, Ephesians 2:12, were openly brought into that which was eternally ours in Christ. “That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.” Ephesians 2:12. From Ruth came Christ in the flesh; from Christ come we in the spirit. “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.” Romans 8:17. A truth woven throughout the Scripture. “Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” Galatians 4:7. What a thought!

We are getting ready to read Ruth chapter 4, (the last chapter,) and I have a confession. I already peeked at the ending, which closes with this genealogy. Obed becomes the father of Jesse, who is the father of David, establishing the royal lineage that ultimately leads to Christ, for in the end, all things are divinely ordered to lead us to Christ, who is the Alpha and the Omega, the sum and center of all God’s purposes. “And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:11. MPJ

In The Glory of Christ Unveil’d or the Excellency of Christ Vindicated, Joseph Hussey presents a deeply Christ-centered, high-grace perspective of the Lord Jesus Christ, exalting His person and work in a manner that reflects both the majesty of His divine nature and the richness of His mediatorial office. At the heart of Hussey’s Christology is the eternal covenant of grace, where Christ is revealed as the divinely appointed Head of His people, predestined from eternity to act on their behalf as Surety, Representative, and Redeemer. He insists that Christ’s work was not a general provision for all, but a definite and effectual substitutionary satisfaction for the elect alone. Hussey emphasizes Christ’s eternal identity and uncreated majesty as the Son of God, and marvels at the condescending grace by which He assumed our nature – without sin – so as to fully represent His people in their nature. He strongly affirms the impeccability and active obedience of Christ, insisting that Christ’s perfect righteousness is imputed to the believer, and His sufferings were a real, substitutionary satisfaction to divine justice. Hussey rejects any notion of a universal or conditional redemption, seeing such a view as diminishing Christ’s glory and impugning the sufficiency and intention of His work. Instead, he emphasizes the sovereign design and infallible effect of Christ’s death, maintaining that the salvation of all for whom He died is certain. He speaks of Christ as the Alpha and Omega of salvation, appointed by the Father, anointed by the Spirit, and worshipped by the saints as their Redeemer and King. His tone throughout the work is one of reverent exaltation, urging the reader to see by faith the unveiled splendor of Christ in His offices as Prophet, Priest, and King. Christ’s intercession, His reign over all things for the church, and His certain return in glory are all handled with thoughtful spiritual insight. Above all, Hussey insists that to diminish Christ’s glory to any degree, whether by making salvation depend in part on man, or by softening the distinctions of election and reprobation, or by denying the particularity of Christ’s atonement, (making it a vague provision rather than a definite purchase for the elect,) &c., is to cast a veil over the glory of the Redeemer’s finished work, to undermine the very foundation of grace, and to ascribe to man what belongs to Christ alone as the sole Author and Finisher of salvation. Thus, Hussey’s doctrine of Christ is far more than theological formulation; it is deeply devotional and exalts Christ as the crucified and risen Lord in whom all the believer’s hope, holiness, and heaven are found.

In conclusion we will summarize by saying that Hussey’s Christology emphasizes: The eternal mediatorship of Christ. The union of the elect with Christ from eternity. A definite atonement that secures salvation. The declaration of redemption, not its offer, and a strong insistence of Christ’s person and work as the center of all theology. The whole purpose of creation, providence, redemption, and the Gospel is to exalt the glory of Christ. “The glory of Christ is not only the glory He receives, but the glory He reveals.” MPJ

“Who are they that will have to appear before the throne of judgment? All. The godly will not be exempted, for the apostle here is speaking to Christians. They covet the judgment, and will be able to stand there to receive a public acquittal from the mouth of the great Judge. - Note the word “appear.” No disguise will be possible. Ye cannot come there dressed in masquerade of profession; off will come your garments. Oh, what a day that will be when every man shall see himself and his fellow, and the eyes of angels, of devils, and of God upon the throne, shall see us through and through! - What will be the rule of judgment? Not our profession, our boastings, but our actions. This includes every omission as well as every commission. Matt 25:1-46. All our words, too, will be brought up, and all our thoughts, for these lie at the bottom of our actions and give the true color to them good or bad. Our motives, our heart sins, shall be published unreservedly. “Well,” saith one, “who then can be saved?” Ah! indeed, who? Those who have believed in Jesus. Rom. 8:1. “That every man may receive the things done in his body.” 1. The Lord will grant unto His people an abundant reward for all that they have done. Not that they deserve any reward, but that God first gave them grace to do good works, then took their good works as evidence of a renewed heart, and then gave them a reward for what they had done.” CH Spurgeon

Okay, a disclaimer! I’m not in the habit of reading or quoting Spurgeon, and I only came across this because I was looking for some thoughts on the teaching of rewards, and I suppose that I found them, in this, to me, an unlikely place? Who besides myself after reading the above paragraph about a future judgment for believers where all their thoughts are revealed and exposed to a gainsaying world, and rewards meted out on the basis of those works which the LORD worked through them is ready to crawl under a rock and die? Psalms 119:120.

What if Nathan the prophet after informing David, {penitent and broken before the LORD, as freshly awakened to the enormity of his transgressions, “I have sinned against the LORD, &c.,”} that “the LORD also hath put away thy sin,” II Samuel 12:13, that this putting away of sin was only a temporary transaction, but that at some future date all his sins would once again be brought to remembrance? David's sin, along with the sins of all the elect of God are put away! “For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.” Hebrews 10:14. They are not swept under the rug, not conditionally retained, not shelved for later reconsideration, nor set aside until some future tribunal when they all are resurrected under the scrutinizing ‘eye’ of HIM “with whom we have to do,” Hebrews 4:13, but fully, finally, and forever removed.

“As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:12. This verse is a declaration of the absolute and irreversible removal of sin from God’s people. The phrase “as far as the east is from the west” communicates infinite separation. Unlike north and south, which have fixed poles and endpoints, east and west never meet, which conveys not merely forgiveness in a limited or temporary sense, but a complete, eternal, and irreversible putting away of sin. Isaiah 53:6 declares, “the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” The result is not partial pardon or the possibility of future condemnation, but full satisfaction of God’s justice.

In John 5:24, Christ declares that the one who “heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” This speaks of a present possession of eternal life and a decisive transfer from judgment to life, already accomplished. It’s not just a future hope, but a present reality. He says such a one “shall not come into condemnation.” Not now, not ever! Why? Because the believer has already passed from death unto life. The judgment due for sin has been fully borne by Christ, and the transfer is complete. “But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” Hebrews 9:26. There remains no wrath, no curse, no unfinished business. The elect, for whom Christ died, will never face judgment for their sins, because those sins were judged at the cross. The believer’s justification is settled, eternal, and irreversible.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1. “No condemnation” means the legal verdict of ‘guilty’ no longer applies. If there is no condemnation now, there can be no condemnation later. Final judgment for sin has already been executed at the cross, on CHRIST, their Surety. Hebrews 7: 22. Justice was satisfied at the cross! This is a gospel declaration of forensic finality. The sins of the elect have been judicially removed, cast behind God’s back, plunged into the depths of the sea, and separated from them eternally by the infinite span of east from west. To speak of future judgment for such sins would be to impugn the sufficiency of Christ’s atonement and to deny the finality of His priestly work. Matthew 1:21.

From the cross, Christ proclaimed, “it is finished.” John 19:30. Nothing remains unfinished! Judgment was borne in its entirety, sin was put away, and righteousness was secured, for all on whose behalf Christ gave Himself. The work there was forever settled. “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.” Romans 8:33. Christ’s work, as foretold in Daniel 9:24, was to “make an end of sins.” Not merely to cover them temporarily, but to remove them entirely for those He redeemed. Colossians 1:14. He made reconciliation for iniquity by fully satisfying God’s justice, leaving no wrath remaining. And in doing so, He brought in everlasting righteousness, a righteousness that forever clothes His people. With sin dealt with, peace secured, and righteousness established, how can there remain any future judgment for those whose sins have been put away?

“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity.” Psalm 32:1-2. This is not a temporary covering, but an eternal acquittal, consummated at the cross and sealed in resurrection glory. What David saw in part, we now behold in fullness, the blessedness of the one whose sins are not imputed, for they were imputed to Christ. I Corinthians 1:30. So may we sing with David, “blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered,” Psalm 32:1, for in Christ, this blessing is ours in its fullest measure.

Talk about amazing grace! Our transgressions have not merely been overlooked, they have been fully judged in the person of our Substitute. Our sins are not merely hidden from view, they are put away forever by the blood of the Lamb. John 1: 29. Sin has been transferred, and expiated through blood. Expiation means sin is removed, its guilt blotted out, not hypothetically but in actual satisfaction of justice. At the cross, every sin was covered, every drop of wrath satisfied, and judgment fully executed. For those trusting in Christ, the verdict is already in. “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Matthew 25:34. MPJ

Some fragmentary thoughts regarding the nature of God. The divine nature of GOD eludes the grasp of our finite language and mental frameworks; GOD exists so far beyond our comprehension, surpasses all human expression and understanding. How can the mind even begin to comprehend the boundless nature and existence of ONE who has no beginning and no end? How can we explain the mystery of GOD becoming man? How can the eternal ONE who fills all things be confined to time and space, yet lose nothing of His infinite essence? God’s truth is boundless and infinite, perceived but dimly, and only as “it is given” in sacred flashes of divine revelation, “to know” - that which alone is worth knowing, Luke 8:10 - “that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.” I John 5:20.

That which is known in theology as traditional trinitarianism, (which I’ve not fully embraced in over 30 years,) though almost universally swallowed by nearly all of Protestantism and Romanism alike, as a system formulated under the guise of fidelity to Scripture and adherence to divine revelation, has perhaps done more to obscure “the record that God gave of his Son,” I John 5:10, than to define it within the parameters of that which has been revealed. “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.” Deuteronomy 29:29.

Before I make the few remarks that I hope to, let me preface this with these thoughts. There seems to be a real danger of interpreting scripture through the lens of creeds and confessions, or historical and ‘reformationial’ movements of the past, whereby we unwittingly bind ourselves to the theological conclusions of men (treating the doctrinal insights of fallible men as infallible truth) rather than to the living voice of God in His Word. This can result in a rigid mindset that automatically filters out anything that comes in conflict with our perception of truth, which if delved into in any measurable sense, might just devolve the fact that often it’s not “our” perception at all, but that of another, which may come in a way of a ‘gospel’ teacher, ‘church’ affiliation, historical persuasion, &c., and thus what we hold as ‘sacred’ may in fact be secondhand, borrowed convictions, II Kings 6:5, only explored in a copyist sort of way, as the mind becomes a vault of inherited opinions rather than an empty vessel desiring to be filled. “O send out thy light and thy truth, let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.” Psalm 43:3. We all tend to settle in and rest in the ‘safety’ and conclusions of others that we esteem are “over us” in the Lord, but this ‘bed’ may perhaps be a tad shorter than what we can stretch ourselves on? Isaiah 28:20. The inherited persuasion or doctrinal confidence that we may receive from a gospel teacher, no matter how highly regarded or seemingly sound they may be, may not be sufficient to warrant the idea that this person is correct on every ‘essential’ point of doctrine. Let’s not presume that simply because a messenger of the gospel is shod with gospel shoes, Ephesians 6:15, that he is therefore infallible in the scripture, nor should we suppose that our own grasp of truth is flawless as we ‘construct’ our confession of faith.

With that brief introduction, and another reminder that GOD exists so far beyond the limits of our debilitated comprehension, and the fact that attempting to comprehend the manner of His existence would be like trying to gaze into the light of the sun of ONE, Malachi 4:2, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see, to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.” I Timothy 6:16. In fact, I believe it’s a true thing that the more we attempt to gaze upon “the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,” II Corinthians 4:6, the more we’re instantly overcome by the infiniteness of that glory having only been given such small glimpses of that which sometimes overwhelms our thoughts as our eyes are opened to the scriptures, Luke 24:32, and “the Revelation of Jesus Christ,” Revelation 1:1, “who is the image of the invisible God.” Colossians 1:15. This makes every truth He has chosen to reveal about Himself in the Scriptures exceedingly precious as we are left with no alternative but to recognize that divine revelation sets the boundary for all true knowledge of God, and underscores the necessity of humbly abiding within the framework and bounds of that sacred revelation, lest we darken counsel by “words without knowledge.” Job 38:2.

Historically and according to their confessions, textbook trinitarians, those adhering to the classical formulations of Nicene and post-Nicene orthodoxy, affirm that the one true God exists eternally as three distinct persons. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All three are said to share fully and equally in the one undivided divine essence or substance, in a manner that each person is fully God, yet not three gods, but one God. The persons are distinguished not by essence or nature, but by eternal relations of origin. The Father is unbegotten, the Son is eternally begotten of the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father. I think that would be a fair and honest evaluation of their belief system, which I believe was mostly designed to safeguard both the unity of the Godhead and the full deity of each “person,” and additionally functions as a theological line of demarcation, marking the bounds of orthodoxy within the historic traditions of both Protestantism and Catholicism. For some, a failure to conform to this trinitarian formulation is tantamount to heresy of the worst sort. Those who dare to dissent are instantly branded as heretics, excommunicated, and consigned to the outer margins of what they deem as “the true church.”

According to both our present understanding and what we have thus far seen in the scriptures, this confession undermines the Bible’s clear affirmation to both the absolute oneness of God and the full, undiminished deity of Jesus Christ. The Bible clearly and unquestionably teaches the doctrine of the oneness of GOD and the absolute deity of Jesus Christ with decisive clarity and force. “I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.” Isaiah 44:6. “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” Revelation 22:13.

Nicene Trinitarianism by introducing eternal distinctions of “persons” within the Godhead, inevitably compromises the fundamental biblical truth that God is one, not merely in essence, but in undivided identity. “The Lord our God is one Lord.” Deuteronomy 6:4. This is not a unity of three persons, but a singular, indivisible Being. By asserting that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are co-eternal, co-equal persons with distinct centers of consciousness or will, Trinitarianism introduces a form of plurality into the divine nature that the scriptures nowhere supports. This division of persons risks implying a committee of divine beings rather than the one, solitary, and sovereign LORD revealed in Scripture. Moreover, this framework undermines the true deity of Jesus Christ. Instead of affirming that the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily in Christ, Colossians 2:9, Trinitarianism often presents the Son as a second person within the Godhead, subordinate in role, and, in practical emphasis, sometimes viewed as derivative or lesser in majesty. This depersonalizes and obscures the glory of the incarnation by suggesting the Father sent another divine person, but Scripture says God came Himself. “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest in the flesh.” I Timothy 3:16.

Christ is not merely a divine person among others; He is the express image of the invisible God, Hebrews 1:3, the Alpha and Omega, Revelation 1:8, and the full embodiment of the Godhead in bodily form, Colossians 2:9, in whom dwells all the fullness of Deity, making Him not a part of God but the very revelation of God Himself. Any doctrine that draws eternal lines between Father and Son as separate persons inherently clouds this glorious truth and risks relegating Christ to a partial or representative deity, rather than fully affirming Him as the one true God. “I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.” Isaiah 43:11. “I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me.” Isaiah 45:5. ”And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.” John 20:28.

Creedal Trinitarianism claims to uphold the full deity of Christ, yet it does so at the cost of distinction, placing Him as the “second person” of the Trinity, subordinate in role if not in essence. This introduces confusion, contradiction, and unnecessary complexity into the doctrine of God. Is Christ truly and fully God in Himself, or is He always dependent upon another divine person to define His deity? Christ does not merely represent God, He is God incarnate. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… and the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” John 1:1,14. To say that God is Three is simply to affirm what He has revealed of Himself. He is as truly Three as He is One. Attempts to systematize this mystery using unscriptural terms and philosophical distinctions only lead to confusion, pride, and division. God is not to be dissected by human logic, but worshiped in the light of what He has made known. Let us therefore hold fast to the testimony of Scripture, where God is revealed as eternally ONE, and yet distinctly as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These are not three gods, but the one true GOD revealing himself in a threefold manner.

Overall we cannot but believe that in some ways traditional trinitarianism divides the Godhead, weakens the fullness of Christ’s deity, and imports philosophical categories foreign to the Scriptures. It offers a mystery not grounded in biblical revelation, but in the post-apostolic attempts to explain God through human categories. The Bible reveals one indivisible God who has made Himself known as Father in creation, Son in redemption, and Holy Spirit in illumination, not three eternal distinctions, but one true God revealed fully in Jesus Christ, the express image of His person and the only Saviour.

Just in case anyone is wondering, yes, I wholeheartedly believe in the Holy Spirit, but not as regulated to a third independent person that somehow eternally proceeded from the Father, but as GOD Himself. This describes what God is, John 4:24, as it emphasizes God in action or God’s own divine essence in active expression. The Spirit is not a distinct person within a triadic committee, but the very breath of God, Genesis 2:7, the power of God, Luke 1:35, the mind of God, I Corinthians 2:11, and the presence of God in and among His people. John 14:17,23. To assign the Holy Spirit a separate “personhood” as defined by these confessions is to fragment the indivisible oneness of the only true God. The Spirit is the Lord Himself at work, and wherever He is, God is. “Now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” II Corinthians 3:17. This is not a third party; this is God. The Scriptures know nothing of a tritheistic hierarchy where the Spirit is cast as a coequal being beside the Father and the Son. He is the extension of God’s being, not a division within it. Just as our spirit is not another person apart from us, so the Holy Spirit is not a third divine individual, but the living, active self-expression of the one true God. To speak of the Spirit is to speak of God Himself, not another, but the same divine essence by which God accomplishes His will. “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” Colossians 2:8-9. MPJ

Although I concluded my last post about Satan with something along the lines of “I’m moving on” from this subject, here is something that caught my attention whilst looking up the various mentions of Satan in the Old Testament (whose name = “the accuser” or “the adversary,”) which seemed worth mentioning. I'll be brief.

In the Old Testament there are 15 verses referencing Satan, and outside the Book of Job, Satan is mentioned directly in only two other Old Testament passages, which are these: First Chronicles 21:1, where Satan incites King David to take a census of Israel, which results in Divine judgment, “and Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.” The other place is Zechariah 3:1-2, where in a prophetic vision, Satan stands accusing Joshua the high priest before the Angel of the Lord, “and he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan.”

All the other references to Satan are found in the book of Job, quite easily actually, as all of them are found in the first two chapters of that book. Job 1:6-12, where Satan presents himself before the LORD and challenges Job’s motives. Job 2:1-7, where Satan again appears and afflicts Job with painful sores. Just mentioning this in passing to say that without a doubt Job contains the clearest and most sustained narrative involving Satan in the Old Testament, where he appears not as an independent force or autonomous agent but as one functioning solely within the framework of Divine sovereignty.

In the narrative of Job Satan is expressly authorized and empowered by GOD to afflict Job. What I find most noteworthy about all this is the fact Job never once blames Satan for his afflictions. Instead, he consistently acknowledges that his suffering came from the hand of the LORD alone, as purified by the operation of grace, and sanctified unto a greater glory than his own, for he worshiped a living REDEEMER, and the Lord God Almighty was his name, (“for thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall he be called,” Isaiah 54:5,) and that this same GOD and not another, (“I and my Father are ONE,” John 10:30,) would so “stand at the latter day upon the earth,” Job 19:25, “to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness.” Daniel 9:24.

After losing his children and his possessions, he declares, “the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” Job 1:21. Job doesn’t attribute the loss to Satan, but directly to the LORD. When his wife urges him to curse God and die, he tells her, “shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” Job 2:10. Again, Job attributes his suffering to God’s hand, not to any malevolent being. After Job’s restoration when came unto “him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house, and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him.” Job 42:11. Scripture confirms that it was the LORD who brought these trials upon Job, and that Satan was merely a means to an end and that end being nothing less than the glory of God in Christ Jesus. “And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:11. In the theology of Job, Satan is no autonomous actor, but one utterly subject to the decree of GOD. MPJ

Born of Water: In my Bible reading, I just came across John 3:5, where Christ says to Nicodemus, “verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” The next verse, “that which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit,” reminded me of why I believe, contrary to most, that the water referred to in the previous verse is simply and metaphorically speaking of physical/natural birth as so distinguished from that which is communicated by the Spirit of God as spiritual life in Divine Quickening.

It seems as a though Christ was speaking in terms that Nicodemus should grasp, (“art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things,”) which to me sounds like he’s referring to natural birth (water) and spiritual birth (Spirit), both of which Nicodemus ought to have understand in a theological framework.

Taken together, the grammar, context, cultural background, (in Jewish and Greek thought “water” was associated with birth - e.g., the breaking of water in childbirth) and the flow of our Lord's dialogue with Nicodemus I believe support the interpretation that “born of water” refers to natural birth, and “born of the Spirit” refers to the supernatural act of divine quickening, without experiencing both, one cannot enter the kingdom of God.

I know that there are good arguments for a different interpretation of this water, and I’m certain that at one time I held to the popular calvinistic interpretation of the water being synonymous with the word, (as may be deduced from Ephesians 5:26, Titus 3:5, John 15:3, I Peter 1:23,) but ever since so called gospel regeneration was demolished in my mind, and I began to trace these scriptures to their fountainhead in CHRIST, not in a sense of generating life but rather a maintaining / sustaining / nourishing that life in Christ by the word, Matthew 4:4, this interpretation of the ‘water’ has been riveted in my mind. MPJ

Last week, I came across an introduction to what I think was to be a series on the book of Revelation, from a gospel preacher in England that started talking about the kingdom of Satan being the kingdom of this world, and then there was the kingdom of God, wherever that might be? There was far more said about the ‘kingdom’ of the devil, being in his thoughts the one who reigns in this world as sort of a sub-contractor or surrogate of God, than “the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ.” Revelation 12:10.

Unless satisfied with that which has been traditioned down to us by the 'church' have not some of us mused in profound wonder over the exact question that GOD directed to Satan when he appeared on that day among the sons of God, “and the LORD said unto Satan, whence comest thou?” Job. 1:7. Where indeed did Satan come from? Or perhaps, thinking more comprehensively, and in the ‘language’ of the serpent, “why hast thou made me thus?” Romans 9:20. Why did the LORD who “made all things,” Proverbs 16:4, and “created all things” for his own pleasure and glory, (“for of him, and through him, and to him, are all things, to whom be glory forever,” Romans 11:36, “thou art worthy, O LORD, to receive glory and honour and power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created,” Revelation 4:11,) form this one, Job 26:13, whom the scripture refers to as Satan, meaning, “adversary” or “accuser”? Why did “the LORD that created the heavens; GOD himself that formed the earth,” Isaiah 45:18, to be inhabited in the precise manner in which it is, formed and fashioned in accordance within his exact perimeters, and conducted in perfect conformity to his will in all things, Psalms 135:6, create the serpent? Genesis 3:1. “Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this? In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.” Job 12:9-10.

Debilitated by my own inability to discern truth from error, fact from fiction, myth from folklore, &c., on this subject matter of the serpent, satan, lucifer, &c., or under whatever designation is given him in the scriptures, or in the annals of religious mythology, I’m reluctant to say much, (believing this to be one of the greatest spiritual mysteries of all,) but as there seems to exist in many of our thoughts this dualistic mindset that the devil exists independently as some sort of a cosmic agent intent on destroying humanity, whilst thwarting the plans of the Most High GOD, I think it might be helpful to “gird up the loins” of our mind, I Peter 1:13, and think soberly, or in proportion to that “measure of faith,” Romans 12:3, and grace as given to us in Christ, Ephesians 4:7, as we turn the few thoughts that we have to this one that is figuratively depicted as making the earth tremble and shaking its very foundations. Isaiah 14:16. This one who “was given” the script to speak blasphemies “against GOD,” to profane “his name,” &c., and “given” the power to continue “for a time, and times, and half a time,” Revelation 12:14, in a perpetual warfare “with the saints,” being those that have “the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Revelation 12:17. “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them, and power was given him over all kindreds and tongues, and nations.” Revelation 13:5-7.

‘Satan’ is almost universally regarded as the source of all that is perceived as evil or harmful in the world, whilst GOD is seen as the source of all that is good and beneficial. In this distorted and dualistic view ‘Satan’ is depicted as some sort of a rival opponent of GOD, who is engaged in a type of perpetual mutiny whereby he and GOD are locked up in a sort of a life and death struggle with the outcome seemingly teetering in the balance and on the verge of unraveling the ‘powers’ that be. II Chronicles 20:6. This is the essence of dualism, a heretical framework shared not only by many pagan religions but tragically embraced, in some measure, by most professing “Christians” today, who somehow assert that the devil acts autonomously or independently of the LORD.

According to the traditional theological framework constructed by such early “church fathers” like Augustine, Tertullian, Origen, and Jerome, &c., (and later moralized according to puritan ideals in Milton’s Paradise Lost, where it is whitewashed in calvinistic rhetoric by saying it was all part of God's plan,) who all blended human reason with divine revelation, especially in their interpretation of Isaiah chapter 14, which to them needed to be read like a cosmic comic book, not merely about the king of Babylon, (possibly Nebuchadnezzar II, who conquered Jerusalem, destroyed the First Temple, and exiled much of Judah to Babylon,) but as an allegorical reference to some fairy-tale-like fall of Satan, whom they believe was some sort of a high-ranking member amongst the angelical clergy, (renowned for his unmatched beauty and extraordinary wisdom,) whose pride one fateful day finally got the ‘best of him’ as he rebelled against GOD and fell from his lofty position as the “heavenly choir director” to that of a groveling serpent intent on causing as much havoc and destruction as possible, whose arrogance, pride and rebellion serve as a sobering warning to any that would follow in his footsteps.

This, with some variation, represents the prevailing notion held by most who identify as Protestants, Romanists, or otherwise, &c., as there seems to be a general consensus concerning this luciferian fable whereby for the last 2000 years of so-called church history this “fallen angel” and “cosmic adversary” has kept “mankind at bay,” as a god in his own right, II Thessalonians 2:4, ruling in the affairs of men, as some sort of a supreme despot, responsible for all that has gone ‘array’ in this ‘broken’ world, as all humanity is suspended in a ‘divine’ standoff between the forces of good and evil.

We read of a group of religious folks in Romans chapter 1, who held the “truth in unrighteousness,” Romans 1:18, and subsequently exchanged the truth of the glory of the incorruptible GOD for a lie, by worshipping and serving the creature more than the Creator,” Romans 1:25, which sounds a bit like what Christianity has done with their dazzling and fallen cherub, now extolled and universally recognized as the triumphant captor of nearly the entire human race, whose divine powers and attributes are second only to GOD, Revelation 13:4, and as now hailed and “transformed into an angel of light,” II Corinthians 11:14, universally lauded as the grand adversary of the ALMIGHTY, whom God must unceasingly outwit lest all of creation is derailed by this creature of His own making.

This entire concept of GOD creating a perfect angelic being with a “free will” to defy HIM or deliberately plant within His own creation an inherent capacity and potential ability to rebel, sounds all too familiar? This is the very scaffolding upon which the entire Arminian system is built, a system saturated with the same flawed reasoning that elevates human autonomy above the sovereign and unassailable decree of the “MOST HIGH GOD,” Genesis 14:19, as it's retrofitted to match the ‘fall’ of Satan, so as to exuberate God from all evil and sin in the world, being all aware of the universal law of the church world whose code of ethics absolutely forbids GOD from bringing about sin, evil and destruction in the execution of His eternal purpose, who seem to keep forgetting the simple fact that if there exists anything beyond God’s absolute control, then God is not God. (Is there any power other than the Almighty? A more terrifying thought I can scarcely conceive of!)

If we are suggesting that GOD created a good being but did not foresee his descent into evil, then we are saying the devil outmaneuvered God! If the devil acted in a way that caught God off guard, or deviated from a path God had not ordained, what assurance do we have he won’t do so again? Such fleshly logic is not simply flawed, as it is blasphemous, striking at the very heart of God’s absoluteness and sovereignty! Is it somehow more palatable to say God gave a creature the capacity to become ‘evil’ than to say HE ordained the existence of this evil?

Satan is our adversary, not God’s, which I believe is no minor point, but a vital distinction which must be kept in mind. Additionally, he was created a murderer, (not an angel,) and a liar from the beginning. John 8:44. His very nature from the beginning, was that of a liar, a deceiver. His domain is not the heights of heaven, but the soil of man’s fallen nature, Job 2:2, as he slithers about the carnal and corrupt appetites of men, seeking whom he may devour. I Peter 5:8.

Sin, death, and the devil exist as divinely ordained instruments, created by GOD for the sole purpose of exalting His glory through the triumph of CHRIST over them. Philippians 2:11. GOD, in His sovereign and unsearchable wisdom appoints both life and death, light and darkness, good and evil, truth and falsehood, &c., as necessary ingredients in his eternal design to display and magnify his power and glory. How would ‘good’ even be recognized if there was no evil? Something derives its meaning only in contrast to its opposite. How could any speak meaningfully of light, or how could light be distinguished from darkness if there was no darkness? What value would health hold if sickness had never afflicted us? How about life and death? Without the dark contrast of sin and corruption, the sheer radiance of righteousness and holiness would be veiled and unvalued. For it is against the backdrop of man’s depravity that the purity of God’s character shines most illustriously. Just as light is most glorious when it pierces the deepest darkness, so too the majesty of divine holiness is most deeply revered when seen in stark contrast to its counterpart, especially in relationship to the gospel of Christ, Romans 5:20-21, and our valuation of “him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,” Revelation 1:5, as our eyes are measurably opened to the profound nature of sin from which we are redeemed in Christ. 'But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ.' Ephesians 2:5.

What, then, is Satan’s work? In a real and sobering sense, it is the very work of GOD, executed under divine compulsion in complete subjection to Christ, Matthew 28:18, and confined by eternal parameters “according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.” Ephesians 1:11. If Satan has the ability to act autonomously, that is, independently of God's purpose and decree, then the entire framework of divine sovereignty collapses and we are left with two opposing and rival deities, each with their own sphere of power. It goes without saying that such a notion is not only untenable but is a direct assault on the absolute supremacy of the MOST HIGH. “For thou shalt worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” Exodus 34:14.

However vague and undefined our conception of God’s serpent may be, we can with some absolute certainty reverberate the words spoken by God to Pharaoh, as unquestionably applicable to Satan himself, “and in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.” Exodus 9:16.

Just rereading this to check for spelling mistakes, and I can clearly see that I've opened more questions than given answers, but I'm ready to move on, and perhaps use these preliminary thoughts for my own personal starting point in exploring more of what the scriptures say on this matter. May it please the LORD to grant us a measure of discernment in these things and not be as those who have succumbed to a theological conclusion that elevates to a god-like status, this one whom the LORD cursed. Genesis 3:14. “To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.” Romans 16:27. MPJ

Some brief thoughts on Gospel Experience in a letter to a friend: We mentioned the (hyper) experimentalism of some British Baptists who somehow have figured out a way to make an ax head to swim, II Kings 6:6, which in my thoughts would be equivalent to imagining that a corrupt tree can somehow bring forth good fruit, Matthew 7:18, regardless of how they may label them as ‘gracious’ affections and stigmatize those as ‘dead letter' calvinists who cannot quite “ascend into” their imaginary heights in bringing ‘Christ’ down to their experience. Romans 10:6-8. I’m fairly certain that the ‘christian’ life is not measured and does not consist in morbid introspection but in the Spirit's testimony to CHRIST. John 16:15. The Spirit’s work is to exalt Christ, (our identity in relationship to our feelings will decrease, as Christ is lifted up,) not to cultivate self-awareness.

Those thoughts that a ‘spiritual’ man (“ye which are spiritual,” Gal.6:1,) thinks in his mind, those heavenly affections, Colossians 3:2, which at times enrapture his heart, (which David no doubt felt when he “danced before the LORD with all his might,” II Samuel 6:14,) are inseparable and form one experience. It’s called living “by the faith of the SON of GOD,” Galatians 2:20, and not upon our own resources, no matter how we may attempt to spiritualize them by backpedaling the scriptures in order to conform them to our ‘experience’ of Christ. It is the whole of man who thinks, feels, and experiences the grace of Christ, and these things are inseparable! Believers worship & love GOD with their heart, soul, mind & strength, Mark 12:30, in the totality of their being, which forms, as it were, an inseparable unity, and any attempt to isolate or elevate one aspect over another can only lead to error and confusion.

Our ‘lostness’ cannot be overstated! Affections tainted, feelings inverted, desires misplaced and ‘voices’ that sound all too similar like our own, &c. This is no time to be trusting in our feelings or seeking the way of truth through sensory experience. Besides, as believers it’s impossible to be stoic about Christ and the gospel of our salvation! Our love, (the “love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord,” Romans 8:39,) our joys, (our “joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” Romans 5:11,) our peace, (our “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” Romans 5:1,) and whatever else may constitute our life in Christ by which the LORD sustains us, John 6:35, in the totality of our being as we abide in HIM. I John 2:24-28.

The believer’s experiences, as delineated throughout the scriptures, consist chiefly, and are always intertwined with the written word, and inextricably linked to the gospel, and the belief of the truth. It's experience that is fed, governed, and amplified by the word of the Lord as opened to our understanding by the Spirit of Truth, and elevated in the energy that accompanies the power of the gospel, Romans 1:16, unveiling CHRIST as articulated in the word, whilst saturating our hearts in love. John 14:21. MPJ

New Pope: Question: “Did you hear that they elected a new pope, and that he's an American?” Answer: That’s interesting! It's all religion to me! Roman Catholicism is its own religion, just as is Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism or the Muslim faith, &c. The one thing in particular that makes this man-made religion all the more abominable than its pagan counterparts is the detestable fact that it parades itself throughout the world under the false banner of Christianity, when in fact it is the exact opposite, a religion of antichrist with a pope as its head! Romanism, alternatively known as “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH,” Revelation 17:5, has been from its pagan roots and throughout its accursed history, in its masquerade of what the world calls Christianity, (from our ‘impaired’ perspective, Hebrews 2:8,) the greatest ‘enemy’ of the true gospel in existence, as “the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk” with this toxic mixture, Revelation 17:2, and are satisfied to call it Christianity, being “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine,” Ephesians 4:14, which “the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle,” Isaiah 30:33, in the earth in order to demonstrate the fact that man cannot, Jeremiah 10:23, formulate his own way to GOD. Though not one for religious labels, as in “protestant,” (not protesting anything, Psalm 46:10,) name or no name, it's impossible not to hate something that so blasphemes the name of CHRIST, Psalm 139:21, and not to unashamedly cry out against her atrocious practices, teachings and manifold idolatries. This may be a good time to remind ourselves that the papacy is the “seat of the beast,” whose ‘kingdom’ is full of darkness, Revelation 16:10, and that ‘antichrist’ might be closer than we think. “Little children, it is the last time, and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.” I John 2:18. MPJ

Surgical Scribes: Last week a friend attempting to navigate through a fog of calvinistic conditionalism mentioned how in dialogue with one of their chieftains, Matthew 23:2, when attempting to question what seemed to be a message in total antithesis to the ‘grace gospel’ being promoted by their website, &c., made this statement in his defense. “Brother, there are five phases to God’s dealings and relationships with His children, and they easily explain what we may initially think are contradictions.” There are five phases to God's dealings? That's hilarious! How are we sure that there are not any more? These are indeed some spiritually deep waters that so very few know absolutely anything about? So thankful for these 'guides' that can point the way! What would we do without them? II Kings 7:3-4. But really, who comes up with this stuff? Difficult not to mock this sort of hacksaw 'christianity' as some surgical scribe compartmentalizes the scriptures to his own presets. Sad fact is that the religion of man is full of this sort of human logic blended with the language of scripture, and let's face it, the “people love to have it so.” Jeremiah 5:31. Talk about limiting the limitless ONE with a witness! MPJ

Allow me to share a ‘reformed moment’ with you from earlier this week, as I think it was on Monday driving to work in the morning, when I generally tap into, for better or worse, the sermon audio site. Their featured sermon or message of the day was by some ‘reverend’ from a Protestant Reformed Congregation entitled the “Conclusion of God's Law.” I decided to give it a spin, after all, I love God's law, and I know that Christ is the conclusion and fulfillment of that law, so of course, I'm interested, let's hear what this guy has to say?

Needless to say, I knew before he uttered his first word, that unless in this message he abandons his confession of faith, leaves his congregation, and outright denies his reformed heritage, &c., that I would most likely not agree with everything he has to say, but regardless of how we agreed or disagreed on certain tenets of “the faith,” Jude 1:3, it was hoped that we both, and all listening to this message, would at least be somehow directed to that straight gate and that narrow way which leadeth unto CHRIST, Matthew 7:14, but unless I’m completed confounded on the basic ABC's of Christianity, I'm fairly certain that somebody missed a major signpost at some point along the way, which actually is not that difficult to see it all, for it clearly reads this: “FOR THE LAW WAS GIVEN BY MOSES, BUT GRACE AND TRUTH CAME BY JESUS CHRIST.” John 1:17.

My comment regarding the message was short but enough perhaps to grab someone's attention. (Apparently it did because it was deleted a few hours later.) My title to the comment was: REFORMED CHRISTIANITY AT ITS BEST! And the comment was, “what an eloquest message by this one representative of what the world calls reformed christianity! It's a mockery of the grace of Christ, and the gospel of free justification. Congratulations on adequately hacksawing God's Holy Law into little fragments so that we can all keep whatever remains of it, and by stripping the Law of all its sanctions, and then calling the 'death' of Christ a provision.”

I mentioned the ABC’s of Christianity, because it's difficult to understand how this can be missed, as the contrast between LAW and GOSPEL are so clearly delineated in the scriptures. The law, one law, as such was “given by Moses,” John 1:17, and was “added because of transgressions, till the SEED should come to whom the promise was made.” Galatians 3:19. The law was “not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient.” I Timothy 1:19. Believers are “dead to the law by the body of Christ.” Romans 7:4. “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” Romans 10:4. It points invariably to HIM; it terminates wholly in HIM who has obeyed its every precept; sustained its entire penalty; and satisfied all its requirements. Matthew 5:17. The Law as a schoolmaster drives us to God’s mercy which is found nowhere but in Christ alone, and after that faith / CHRIST is come, “we are no longer under a schoolmaster.” Galatians 3:24.

Additionally, it is unambiguously declared that believers are dead with Christ, and that their life is hidden “with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:3. They have been “delivered from the law,” being legally joined to him that is risen from the dead, Romans 7:4, and now serve the Lord “in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.” Romans 7:6. “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” Romans 6:14. In Colossians we discover that Christ blotted “out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross,” Colossians 2:14, so that it can no longer be seen or read unto condemnation “to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Romans 8:1. Again, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law.” Galatians 3:13. Either we are under it or we are not under it! There is no middle ground! Deuteronomy 12:32. It is impossible for anyone to be under only a part of the Law! James 2:10.

The truth is that righteousness does not come by the law at all, under any circumstances, or by any scheme. No, it comes by the gospel, it stands exclusively in the death of Christ, and it is called “the righteousness of God without the law.” Romans 3:21. The law is referred to as a “killing letter,” II Corinthians 3:6, and “administration of death,” II Corinthians 3:7, it gives the “knowledge of sin,” Romans 3:20, it pronounces a “sentence of death,’ Romans 7:24, it “worketh wrath,” Romans 4:15, it was “added because of transgressions,” Galatians 3:19, it’s called the “oldness of the letter,” Romans 7:6, the “strength of sin,” I Corinthians 15:56, as it stops every mouth, and brings in “all the world guilty before God.” Romans 3:19. “The law made nothing perfect.” Hebrews 7:19. “The law is not of faith.” Galatians 3:12. Where is the disconnect? It's either a salvation that is based upon Law keeping or upon the Law Keeper! This is not rocket science! It's as plain as the nose on your face! I'll go as far as to say that I'm fairly certain that it doesn't even require any depth of thought or special revelation, as truth has a way of defending itself almost effortlessly, whilst error (in the sense of a fallacy, misconception or delusion) and falsehood (in the sense of an intentional act of deception, where someone knowingly presents untrue information,) both require much attention, constant maintenance and frequent reinforcement.

This would certainly explain all the fuss about Catechisms and Confessional Classes prior to formal church membership, (as if somebody could join themselves to the ‘body’ of Christ,) and let’s not forget about all the theological seminaries and bible colleges which are all necessary ingredients in order to prop up this ‘faith’ and maintain the reformed tradition. It's sort of like “beating the same dead horse” over and over again and getting nowhere closer to Christ. Galatians 5:4. In one sense, it’s nothing more than reformed folklore! Religious traditions and beliefs that are passed on through generations by confessions and creeds, and now in this day, as the ‘floodgates’ of reformed theology have opened, and new disciples (“Moses' disciples,” John 9:28) are born in rapid succession each day, Isaiah 37:3, it becometh us “who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit,” Romans 8:1, who “rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh,” Philippians 3:3, to “not sleep, as do others” but “watch and be sober,” I Thessalonians 5:6, “lest Satan should get an advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices,” II Corinthians 2:11, and to be made aware lest we too be spoiled “through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” Colossians 2:8.

I'm without doubt mistaken about many points of scripture, but it's impossible to be mistaken about the clear distinction between the law and the gospel unless you are blinded by tradition, and have some bias towards this “theological clock” that in the reformed mindset stopped running either in 1561 (Belgic Confession of Faith) or 1646 (Westminster Confession of Faith) and like a mechanical wristwatch that has been overwound has stopped working altogether. “Woe unto you, lawyers, for ye have taken away the key of knowledge; ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.” Luke 11:52.

This tenacious deathgrip to the law despite the clear testimony of scripture, must be a bit like infant baptism I suppose, a papist stronghold that those of the reformed movement refuse to relinquish at whatever the cost! Acts 28:27. After all it's chiseled in stone as embedded in their 400 year old confessions & catechisms, (Moses himself wouldn't be able to break one of these tablets, Exodus 32:19,) which we know can't be wrong as they define ‘the faith’ of their fathers, &c., in the reformed tradition. It’s something you have to really want to see in the scriptures in order to make it appear, which may in one place be called ‘wresting’ the scripture unto your “own destruction?” II Peter 3:16. Thank the LORD that he “knoweth them that are his,” II Timothy 2:19, those that may be found within their circles, a poor and afflicted people that are calling upon the name of the LORD, Zephaniah 3:12, who have been brought unto ZION “to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.” Hebrews 12:22-24.

Indeed, what once was veiled and transient, like the fading glory on Moses' face, has now been revealed in full, permanent brilliance in Christ, Matthew 17:2, a glory not merely reflected, but intrinsic to Christ as the eternal Son of God. “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” II Corinthians 4:6. “This is the true God, and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.” I John 5:21. MPJ

A Gospel Sage: Who are we to audaciously question some who undoubtedly have been indoctrinated in the ways of Christ, perhaps even 'pillars' of some ‘grace’ community, 'prophets' in their own estimation, and diviners of all matters relating to the scriptures? Those who have convinced themselves that they have some private ‘keys’ to the kingdom which can unlock almost every door, some v.i.p. pass to access the ‘inner court’ and who have already determined to not allow the scriptures to get in the way of their theology, bottling up the ‘water of life’ for their own consumption, to be dispensed as needed in reaffirming their own biblical correctness, as they ‘childproof’ the scriptures from “the simplicity that is in Christ.” II Corinthians 11:3.

A friend just recently mentioned sending one such individual a short paper questioning his position on a particular aspect of biblical ‘truth’ that he himself saw a bit differently, but decided to opt out. Sounded like a good idea to me! Why unsettle our own thoughts, and burden our minds in attempting to 'correct' those who differ from us in matters that do not directly affect the gospel? Especially those who have elevated themselves above the scrutiny of all “in the camp” II Peter 1:1, or “outside the camp” Revelation 22:15, in pretending to possess some innate ability, not only in all matters relating to the gospel of Christ, but everything contained in the scriptures (under the banner of it's christocentric embodiment,) which if questioned would be equivalent to ‘gospel’ suicide.

Not sure why this comes to mind now, but a few months ago I sat ringside to a short FB debate on some theological point, which conversation was ended with these lines, which I copied down because it seemed like such a thoughtless affirmation, but more so because it came from one whom I regard (not that my opinion matters) as one that loves Christ. “I sent you the list of scriptures that the Lord used in my own heart to bring me to see this truth, so for you to say that it is false, is to deny the very work of the Spirit having taught me and the clear testimony of the Scriptures. I would be very careful.” I won't spend the time to pick that statement apart at this moment, but needless to say, acting like some ‘gospel’ sage is never a good idea! I truly wish some of these individuals the ‘best’ in whatever way the LORD carries them along, especially if CHRIST is preached. Philippians 1:18. With that in mind, should we even be ‘correcting’ everyone's theology? Everyone is a pope in their own thoughts, so easily upset if others do not recognize their ‘divine’ authority, their ‘office’ in the ‘church’ or their unique insight in expounding the scriptures. We know what we know, and no one can rattle our belief system, as deep within we have persuaded ourselves that we are right and everyone else is wrong, regardless of what pious glaze we put upon our own ignorance! Every once in a while as the mental fog dissipates we may indeed get small glimpses of the fact that we are all completely in the hand of the LORD, “in whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.” Job 12:10. Ultimately, “the deceived and the deceiver are HIS,” Job 12:16, but so are the “holy” and the “peculiar,” I Peter 2:9, and what glorious consolation lies therein! “And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those, the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.” Isaiah 35:8. Christ is our wisdom! I Corinthians 1:30. In consideration of the fact that this is thankfully all out of our hands, we are forced to return to our dust-like mentality, Job 30:19, 42:6, in realizing that the ‘light’ of Christ cannot be switched off and on. All true knowledge of the CHRIST of scripture comes to us, (regardless of any attempts on our part to enlighten ourselves,) via divine revelation! Revelation 3:7. Nothing more, nothing less! “For with thee is the fountain of life, in thy light shall we see light.” Psalms 36:9.

Along those same lines I was just thinking about many that almost seem to enjoy debating the scriptures, whereas I've always been afraid of such confrontations, and generally hide, as it's almost 100% guaranteed that I’ll lose, if there are even any winners or losers in such debates. Some are so persuasive, impressive and clear minded, whereas I'm none of those things, and generally all too easily confounded. Besides, I've always been afraid of that sort of thing, as it would expose my shallowness in so many theological matters, and, let's face it, who wants to look stupid? We all want to be seen as high rollers, whatever our field of expertise may be! But some are really good at debating theological matters and smart at making their opponents look dumb. II Timothy 2:25.

One has to wonder though, at what point do you cross over to the other side of the fence when answering a fool according to his folly, (“answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him,” Proverbs 26:4,) or giving that which is holy unto the dogs? “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.” Matthew 7:6. Let's not make mincemeat of the Bible in chopping it into little theological pieces for everyone to chew on or barter away the truth of the Gospel in such a ramshackle way.

Debating the absoluteness of GOD, sovereign divine predestination, efficacious grace & calling unto CHRIST, HOLY SPIRIT ‘regeneration,’ the oneness of GOD, the DEITY of the SON, the perfection of holy scripture, free justification by the blood and righteousness of CHRIST alone, absolute and effectual redemption at the cross, the complete insignificance, valuelessness and futility of man, &c., these and other inseparable gospel presuppositions are clearly delineated in the scriptures of truth, and to some measure, (“according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith,” Romans 12:3,) recognizably discerned as revealed to the elect in every generation. Mark 4:11-12.

In some sense, there is nothing to debate! It has all been settled by the gospel of Christ. Let's stop pretending that we are Peter or Paul, going about and contending for the truth of the gospel at a time when there was no official canon of Holy Scripture. That was then, this is now! Now we have a “more sure word of prophecy,” II Peter 1:19, and “that which is perfect is come,” I Corinthians 13:10, as the light of CHRIST in the gospel has been revealed to his own. “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight.” Matthew 11:25. With all our carefully polished theological terms, scrutinous exegesis and refined hermeneutics we will never turn a goat into a sheep, or a tare into wheat! In one very real sense we are all shipwrecked on the shore of God's absolute decree which has its eternal center in the blessed Person of our LORD and SAVIOUR Jesus Christ.

Besides, so many of these parochial disputes have been hashed out over the eons of so-called church history, but once the record stops spinning (often stuck in the same theological groove for ages) and the sound begins to fade, we're all too often left with nothing but “a bag with holes.” “Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.” Haggai 1:6. Overall I suppose there is a place for debating the truth of holy scripture, especially if it's in defense of the Gospel, Philippians 1:17, but only if the debates are not held in Capernaum! “And he came to Capernaum, and being in the house he asked them, what was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way? But they held their peace, for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest.” Mark 9:33-34.

In a reference to those that are squabbling outside the lines of the gospel in attempting to remove everyone's right ear, John 18:10, for the least ‘infraction’ it might be well to refresh our memories to the fact that all those that belong to CHRIST are sincerely seeking the same thing, which is his glory! It's inevitable, and it's that bond which cannot be broken regardless of man's attempt to split it with his theological ax! Romans 16:17. MPJ

Spurgeonism, &c., in a letter to a friend. Hello brother, first and foremost, thanks again for being my friend. Sorry to hear of your bodily afflictions, which makes my struggles seem trivial! Anxious thoughts in reference to aging all too frequently unsettle the mind as constant reminders of our “body of this death,” Romans 7:24, are apparently needed, Psalm 119:67, and faithfully dispatched, Isaiah 42:16, in a such a meticulously proportioned and merciful manner in order that we might retain our place, Psalm 46:10, as sheltered under the 'wings' of the ALMIGHTY. Ruth 2:12. “The LORD is thy keeper, the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.” Psalms 121:5.

Since the subject line of your return letter had my original title still attached, (C.H. Spurgeon,) I should take a minute to confess my confusion in regards to this ‘great’ individual, Luke 6:26, as my thoughts on Spurgeon or Spurgeonism have fluctuated over the years, and I'm back to the basics! The basics of honoring the scriptures above men at whatever the cost! What turned the scales was the fact that I just came across his validation of John Wesley again, (endorsing his brother-in-arms Wesley as a true disciple of Christ, II John 1:10-11,) I say again, because I'm sure I've read it a dozen times, but this time I was left speechless in my mind.

Here is the quote: “There is no soul living who holds more firmly to the doctrines of grace than I do, and if any man asks me whether I am ashamed to be called a Calvinist, I answer, I wish to be called nothing but a Christian; but if you ask me, do I hold the doctrinal views which were held by John Calvin, I reply, I do in the main hold them, and rejoice to avow it. But far be it from me even to imagine that Zion contains none but Calvinistic Christians within her walls, or that there are none saved who do not hold our views. Most atrocious things have been spoken about the character and spiritual condition of John Wesley, the modern prince of Arminians. I can only say concerning him that, while I detest many of the doctrines which he preached, yet for the man himself I have a reverence second to no Wesleyan; and if there were wanted two apostles to be added to the number of the twelve, I do not believe that there could be found two men more fit to be so added than George Whitefield and John Wesley.” (CHS, “A Defense of Calvinism,” extracted from his autobiography.)

There is so much that could be said about this, which I'll have to pass by for the moment, but what even are these so-called “doctrines of grace” that he is referring to? I suppose it's what he calls Calvinism? Somehow in his deluded mind he piecemealed “the doctrine of Christ” into doctrines, which one with no real love to the truth can randomly discard ‘willy-nilly’ without any real consternation, which might explain this derision of CHRIST? “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God.” II John 1:9. Is it possible to rejoice in the language of the gospel, and not the gospel itself? Men ‘tubbed and scrubbed’ in the way of ecclesiastical churchianity, eager to fetch unto themselves notions of gospel truth, who themselves are not fetched or apprehended by the power of the truth, (“apprehended of Christ Jesus,” Philippians 3:12,) can easily relinquish that which never ‘cost’ them anything in the first place. {“Alas, master! for it was borrowed.” II Kings 6:5.}

The gospel, or the language of the gospel can be learned. Not that any of the catechisms or confessions of faith that are parroted around in any sense define or can contain the gospel, but just think, how many people learn those catechisms, subscribe to those confessions, make a profession of faith, and then, if really serious as enamored with their discoveries of biblical truth or the “doctrines” of grace as they are called, become your next pastors, preachers and elders, &c., and the show goes on and on, year after year, generation after generation, as the ‘form’ or ‘shell’ of Christianity has sustained itself for almost 2,000 years. Incredible show!

Speaking the ‘language’ of holy scripture is relatively easy, and so it comes as no surprise when we see JW's on the street corner denying the ‘breath’ of their existence, John 1:4, or Arminians trampling the blood of Christ under their feet, Hebrews 10:29, &c., but when we hear a so-called gospel minister, a well indoctrinated writer, or whoever, speak so definitively of the grace of Christ, the gospel of our salvation, sovereignty of divine grace, justification in Christ, &c., and whatever else becometh “sound doctrine,” Titus 2:1, in terms so definitive, and passionately clear, how can we not be so completely boggled in our minds and confused in our thoughts as in wonderment we just can't understand how this can be? That anyone indoctrinated into the way of Christ, “sealed” with the “holy spirit of promise,” Ephesians 1:13, whose eyes has been measurably opened to the glory of redemption, the preeminence of Christ in all things, the absoluteness of GOD and salvation by grace alone to so easily relinquish or compromise the Gospel by giving credence to that which is so blatantly heretical, (Arminian Conditionalism,) and ‘break bread’ with those that scoff and ridicule the absoluteness of all which CHRIST finalized on the cross? Voluntary affiliation with error is a condonation of it, and the sheer fact that one would treat with such contempt that (the truth of the Gospel) which should be more precious than life itself, speaks volumes as to our valuation of Christ, as the two are inseparable! “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.” II John 1:9.

Of this we can be most certain, which is that Christ never revealed anything to men that derogates from his own glory, or that which obscures his own preeminence in all things, Colossians 1:18, and although we may all be confused about countless things that are revealed in the scriptures, outright confounded at times as we navigate its pages, and undoubtedly mistaken regarding many portions of God's word, &c., but of this we can be also most certain, that regardless of what understanding we may or may not have been given, in whatever “measure of faith,” Romans 12:3, that has been allotted to us “according to the measure of the gift of Christ,” Ephesians 4:7, that faith (the “faith of God’s elect,” Titus 1:1 = “an understanding” to “know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ; this is the true God, and eternal life,” I John 5:20,) will look to CHRIST for all of salvation, all of life, and nowhere else. “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am GOD, and there is none else.” Isaiah 45:22. This is that “one mind” (“that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” Romans 15:6,) that all those “sanctified in Christ Jesus” have in common; the “common faith” as we have it in Titus 1:4, to “call upon the name of JESUS CHRIST our LORD.”

With this in mind we are reminded of the fact that no one can say that “JESUS is the LORD,” in the most absolute and all comprehensive sense “but by the Holy Ghost.” I Corinthians 12:3. In a very real sense the “whole” apostate “world,” Revelation 12:9, as deceived, Jeremiah 50:6, and deceiving, Jeremiah 14:14, deny this cardinal truth - “JESUS is the LORD” - when they deny his DIVINITY and ONENESS with the FATHER, either outright by mutilating the scriptures “to their own destruction,” II Peter 3:16, (“and the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it, and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil,” Numbers 11:8 = a good description of how those that have “giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils,” I Timothy 4:1, treat the scriptures,) and so deny that JESUS is LORD in his person, or by insinuating in any sense that the work of Christ was not sufficient enough to “finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness,” Daniel 9:24, to fully satisfy the justice of GOD for all those for whom he died, (“I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep, John 10:11,) as a substitutionary sacrifice, (“the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me,” Galatians 2:20,) by which “he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.” Hebrews 10:14.

In summation, when God “saves” a person, he gives that person a knowledge of both the PERSON and the WORK of Christ. This is inseparable! This revelation of Christ, if I may call it that, is that which assimilates your life, so that in one very real sense you may more easily pluck out thy own “right eye,” or sever your own limbs, Matthew 5:29, than to ‘part’ with the truth of the gospel, or in treating it with such contempt by embracing those that hate the LORD, and calling them brethren, regardless of their “apostolic wesleyan demeanor.”

Well dear brother, that is far more than I had intended to write, which explains the long delay, as I think of you not only when we speak “one to another” in these infrequent communications, Malachi 3:16, but daily as we congregate together around the gospel of our salvation as positioned in the death of the Substitute. “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great GOD and our SAVIOUR JESUS GOD.” Titus 2:13.

From your last, I love this confession when you write, “focusing on my unworthiness and lowliness can take my eyes off of the fact that in Christ, I am perfect and holy. That, I find incredible! I love reading Scripture and seeing the impossible demands of God throughout Scripture and knowing that in Christ, I am credited with all of those glorious accomplishments and qualities, though I possess none of myself.” Wow, that’s a loaded statement, to which I say AMEN, how else could we otherwise live! MPJ

Calvinistic Conditionalism: A letter I just sent to a friend, which perhaps may be helpful to others entangled in a ‘works’ oriented ‘gospel.’ Hey brother, I'm so sorry that I have not replied, but it's kind of your fault, because you mentioned a particular website, which I've always felt very uneasy about, but without any apparent reason, so I thought I should perhaps think about it a little bit more closely, and my thoughts sort of carried me away. One thought led to another, and I started jotting some things down. I'm glad I did, because it seems like most of the things I write, I write principally to myself, which in a way clarifies my own thoughts about ‘gospel’ matters, and as enabled to keep these things in remembrance. II Peter 1:12. So yes, the delay is for the fact that my mind was sort of fixated on that, and since I'm such a slow writer, and have such little time these days, I thought I would wait until after I completed it before writing back, your friend in Christ.

This website that you mentioned is one that I am familiar with, but really, I don't think I've read much of their stuff, (at least in the past 10 years,) as it seems a bit too textbook christianity for me. Interestingly enough, I just started receiving the updates from a dear friend who often posts materials from other authors on his website feed, and just recently he posted some articles about the church by this one guy, who I know is a disciple of that ‘movement’ who posted, what I thought, some of the worst possible articles on the relationships that a church should have to its pastor. It was complete Protestant Priestcraft no matter how you slice it up. In one place he mentioned something about how the members of the church needed a pastor to instruct them, because they were incapable of discerning the ‘truth’ for themselves. That’s a laughable statement! With that sort of a romanish mentality it's no wonder that the sheep are scattered, Ezekiel 34:12, and as scattered more easily snatched up by such as would make “merchandise” of them, II Peter 2:3, by confining them within their own “scripturally” structured belief systems, from which to stray in even one point would be almost unthinkable, and tantamount to apostasy. These essentially exist in a closed ‘gospel’ system, constantly reinforcing their own “theological correctness” to the exclusion of everyone else, except those within their own immediate circle of fellowship.

Perhaps things are different now, but when I first discovered their website, probably about 10 years ago, I read a few things here and there, and moved on almost immediately. Much sound gospel teaching, and as I recall, some exceptionally well researched, and often unique topics, &c., a ‘confession of faith’ much like ‘my’ own, but intermingled throughout with a spirit of authoritarianism, legality, exclusivity, &c., as sifted through a dialog of grace. Galatians 5:1. Toss in some forced compliance to a ‘gospel’ decorum, and some paid cleric telling everyone how to live the christian life, (or in other words, to live just like he pretends to live,) and you have disciples at best. (Gospel taskmasters differ little from those of the reformed community. Both like to broadcast their ‘living’ standards, and delight in telling the rest of us how to live.) In essence it's an entire Arminian substructure, built up around calvinistic principles, as so-called morality is substituted for Christ. Since when has the LORD forgotten them that are his? Those that name “the name of Christ depart from iniquity,” II Timothy 2:19, and don't need moral guide posts at every street corner to tell them what to do. II Corinthians 5:14.

In truth, everybody knows the difference between right and wrong, and we don't need a bible theologian to tell us the obvious! If that's all we need, let's all join the fundamentalist baptist movement, so that we can all glory together in our shame, Philippians 3:19, (the shame of glorying in their destruction of the true message of the gospel,) and “make a name” for ourselves. Genesis 11:4. I would like to think that most of us have had enough of this throughout our lives? Speaking for myself, I can without any hesitation say that I've chiseled enough brick and mortar to last me a lifetime, Exodus 1:14, and I would think that it's nearly impossible at this point for anyone who “knows his own bitterness,” Proverbs 14:10, and by faith has glimpsed even just “the hem” of Christ's “garment,” (is “made perfectly whole,” Matthew 14:36,) to revert back “from the grace of Christ,” Galatians 1:6, “unto vain jangling,” I Timothy 1:6, (empty talk as severed from Christ,) and return to a brick and mortar mentality, as this would be like attempting to build again those things which have been destroyed. Galatians 2:18. Not wise! “Remember Lot's wife.” Luke 17:32. Impossible! “Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again.” Job 12:14. “Let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up his garment.” Mark 13:16. “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in GOD.” Colossians 3:3.

Do not all present-day legalists uniformly reject the principle of a spiritual life lived in Christ, (“Christ, who is our life,” Col 3:4,) otherwise known as the law or principle “of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:2. Man-made religion has the principle of legalism / conditionalism at its core, as the seeds of legalism run deep in all of us by nature, even as we attempt to incorporate those principles into our profession / persuasion of grace. We all equally revolt against the truth of a spiritual life lived in Christ, by Christ and upon Christ, from first to last, to receive him every day, (“as ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord,”) as he was received the first day, ever conscious of this fact, that we have nothing to bring him, (“nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling,” Toplady,) our last day on earth, in a way of commendation than the first day we heard his blessed name. “Naked came” we all out of our “mother’s womb” and naked” shall we all “return thither,” Job 1:21, is a divine principle of life, naturally and spiritually. I think it was Luther who said, “when I look at myself, I do not see how I can be saved, but when I look at Christ, I do not see how I can be lost.” That’s the story of our lives!

The justified live by faith and only by faith, Hebrews 10:38, which can be faithfully transcribed “live by Christ and only by Christ.” If you define the christian life by anything else, you will find yourself in a works gospel, or risk falling into legalism. We ought to obey and follow Christ in everything we are constantly being told, but since when has that even been an option? Believers do obey and follow Christ, who’s giving us options here? “If a man love me, he will keep my words.” John 14:23. Where is the disconnection here between the life of a believer and the life of Christ? If we love Christ, sin will be our greatest enemy! This can’t be undone! The two are inseparable! May we never look at obedience as something that we bring to the LORD, but rather that disposition of mind and heart that he brings to us, as all things are from him, to him, and unto him - the Spirit of God working within us “both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13.

The LORD directs all our steps, and I trust he knows what he's doing. If we can trust him with our salvation, from first to last, I'm sure we can trust him with our morality or whatever you want to call it. Unlike “a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke,” (or as one unacquainted with the gospel of Christ, of all spiritual blessings and heavenly truth laid up in Christ, &c.,) all believers, (called “out of darkness” and “into” the “light” of Christ, I Peter 2:9,) are being turned continually unto the LORD. “Turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God,” Jeremiah 31:18, and here the last is first, as our ever turning towards Christ for everything, (in salvation, grace & time,) is indicative of the fact that the LORD is our GOD. “It is written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.” John 6:45. All that the Father giveth unto Christ cometh unto Christ, which isn’t a one time reckoning or some ‘conversion’ experience, having little to do with our initial quickening, but everything to do with our life in Christ daily, as we look to him for all things.

If “he that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much” Luke 16:10, then it’s an undeniable fact that GOD who is altogether faithful, Deuteronomy 7:9, and especially, (if I may even so speak, as “thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds,” Psalm 36:5,) in the great matter of our redemption, Hebrews 1:3, then we can believe with some certainty, I Thessalonians 5:24, and rejoice (ultimately “because our names are written in heaven,” Luke 10:20) in confident expectation of this “very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6. Doesn't he save everyone to “the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” Hebrews 7:25. How do we dismember that all inclusive gospel declaration? Why would we want to? What or who can possibly “separate us from the love of Christ?” Romans 8:35. “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things.” Romans 8:32.

The LORD keepeth me. “The LORD is thy keeper.” Psalm 121:3-4. “He will keep the feet of his saints.” I Samuel 2:9. “Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.” I Peter 1:5. Perhaps we are forgetting that Christ's garden is enclosed? Song 4:12. The LORD is my keeper! That's good enough for me! I'm not out to impress anyone or pretend to be something that I'm not. At the end it all comes down to this anyway, “by the grace of God I am what I am,” I Corinthians 15:10, and for those of us who “have learned of the FATHER,” do continually, always and only to come to Christ. John 6:45.

These days I don't dabble much in confessions of faith, but when it comes to a confession of my hope of being kept in the faith of Jesus Christ, (“faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it,” I Thes.5:24,) I'm making this entire Psalm my charter. Psalm 121. “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved, he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is thy keeper, the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil; he shall preserve thy soul. The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.” Psalm 121:1-8. May it please the LORD to give us a glimpse of our complete preservation in Christ. Jude 24. I'm going to read this Psalm again tonight with my wife, and I hope it's as rich in gospel treasure as it is at this moment. Wow, these thoughts are very scattered, hopefully there’s some ‘good’ which can be extracted. MPJ

Some thoughts in regards to “God’s Authorship of Sin,” which I was recently asked about, along with some general observations from the scriptures that pertain to this subject matter. As an introductory statement I’ll affirm my fixed persuasion that man’s will has no independent existence outside the realm of God’s decree, and that the LORD is actively controlling all things according to his eternal counsel, so that everything is exactly the way it should be! Every atom is precisely positioned, every star is in its designated orbit, every sparrow duly provided for, &c., nothing is haphazard, and all things perfectly arranged as all of creation unerringly moves “according to the eternal purpose” which GOD “purposed in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 3:11. “For I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.” Isaiah 46:9-10. Whatever persuasions we may be brought to as we search the scriptures, Acts 17:11, every believer, every spiritual worshiper of Christ has this indisputable fact etched within their mind, as delineated by the spirit of truth, which is that the essence and character of GOD is unassailable and above reproach! We “worship at his footstool; for he is holy!” Psalm 99:5.

And although God’s holy essence eludes our comprehension, we have been mercifully given enough light to know with a certainty that everything GOD does is inherently holy and just! GOD is so indescribably above any limitations that men place upon him, (whether or not they manufacture them in their minds from the misuse of scripture, the ‘gospel’ traditions of men, their own moral code, &c.,) for just “as the heavens are higher than the earth,” Isaiah 55:8, so the ways of the LORD are far above our measly apprehensions of what we think we know, and can only be discerned through his word and through his Christ. “For with thee is the fountain of life, in thy light shall we see light,” Psalm 36:9, as “of him, and through him, and to him, are all things, to whom be glory for ever.” Romans 11:36. With this in mind it becometh us as beings with countless limitations to speak of that ONE whose attributes are veiled in infinity, with the utmost reverence, all unbridled thoughts in complete subjection to his unerring rule.

It goes without saying that Divine design is inherent in everything, expressing the undeniable unity and perfect structure of all which the LORD has fashioned. Psalm 119:73. Nothing is arbitrary! Everything has composition, structure and purpose, as all things are meticulously interwoven together by an infinite range of cause-and-effect scenarios, as the LORD {who in his infinite wisdom has decreed the end, and designed the means} harnesses all these resources, and subordinates all “according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Ephesians 3:11.

Interestingly enough, the phrase that God is the “author of sin” is foreign to my gospel vocabulary, and is a term that I’ve personally never used? GOD is GOD and I don’t think he needs anyone to limit him as to what he has wrought or brought forth in the earth, as everything is in accordance with his unified purpose to glorify himself. We have far too diminished views of Christ, of the gospel, and of GOD in general as men nitpick about attempting to exonerate his glory by diminishing his sovereignty in implying that God is not the author of all things, and in some respects establishing himself as the ultimate missionary in attempting to save God from himself! Personally, I’m not too inclined to spend much time pursuing a subject matter that generally ends in unbelief in one form or another, no matter how we try to sugarcoat it.

Realistically, the entire question of whether or not GOD is the AUTHOR of sin is an imprudent one, generally articulated by those who seek to confine or limit the infinite ONE who is outside the realm of all limitations! God is the underlying cause of all things, and nothing exists apart from God. Besides, what basis could possibly exist for a “worm” of the earth, Job 25:6, to examine any of GOD’s actions with such critical scrutiny? “Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus?” Romans 9:20. Would GOD who works “all things after the council of his own will,” Ephesians 1:11, ‘permit’ (as is commonly asserted) anything to take place which he did not absolutely will In the first place? Who actually believes this? All things are determined either by fate, predestination or by chance. If by fate then nothing matters! If by chance then everything is left up to us! If by predestination then God is in complete control! If he isn’t, then who is?

If this concept of mere ‘permission’ were true one must question the very nature of a God who most emphatically had the power to prevent Adam’s transgression yet chose not to intervene, somehow ‘permitting’ the introduction of sin and corruption to infiltrate the world which He created, which in its ultimate consummation necessitated the sufferings & death of his only begotten SON. Such a notion seems undeniably blasphemous, though commonly propagated within the confines of those who have in their thoughts decommissioned everything pertaining to sovereignty and sin that does not align with their own ‘moral’ code that God is prohibited to cross. Hopefully the LORD consulted them before he violated their standards of ‘morality’ by destroying the entire world civilization by a flood in Noah’s Day, Genesis 6:13, set ablaze the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, Genesis 19:24, “smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt,” Exodus 12:29, massacred the Canaanites under Moses and Joshua, Deuteronomy 20:17, annihilated the Amalekites, I Samuel 15:3, and commanded the prophet Samuel to hew “Agag in pieces.” I Samuel 15:33. Could God be held accountable for any transgression? Against whom can God possibly commit an offense? Is He subject to any law that exists above His own nature or any authority that exists beyond Himself? It is God’s eternal prerogative to act according to His own will! Once again, GOD is GOD and is not in any sense accountable to man in anything, which should settle it in our minds.

It really comes as no surprise when the unbelieving world (all whom the Lord has in derision, Psalm 2:4) scoffs and ridicules a believers confession of absolute sovereignty; but when did the entire ‘christian’ world turn deist in regards to this question of sin and evil, and the hands-off / clock-wound policy that GOD has erected as man puts in motion the affairs of this life? It just isn’t so! The scriptures speak of ONE “who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,” Ephesians 1:11, “in whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind,” Job 12:10, who “hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.” Psalm 115:3.

But human autonomy bolstered up by the “ye shall be as god” movement recoils from this truth, as men possess an intrinsic aversion (an “inalienable right”) towards the thought of being “controlled” by another, (“we be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man,” John 8:33,) as they subscribe to a theological framework that depicts ALMIGHTY GOD as a mere opportunist, as he finagles his way through life, exploiting the innate wickedness of man to some greater end? The unerring creator and disposer of all things, “that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers,” Colossians 1:16, is not reactatory and knows nothing contingently. The LORD “in whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind,” Job 12:10, who by his Spirit garnished the heavens, and “formed the crooked serpent,” Job 26:13, has no dependence whatsoever on external circumstances to bring about his eternal purpose. All things, including the sinful acts of men, are governed and manipulated, (either directly or indirectly,) and ultimately tend to the one great end for which they were created. “All things were created by HIM, and for HIM, and he is before all things, and by HIM all things consist.” Colossians 1:17.

How about those events that GOD meticulously orchestrated in bringing forth CHRIST, in the precise way and manner in which they unfolded? Acts 2:23. One may indeed question how the advent of a Saviour that was “foreordained before the foundation of the world,” I Peter 1:20, could be so entirely predetermined, and everything “fall into place” in the precise manner that it did by “the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,” Ephesians 1:11, if the occurrence of ‘sin’ is excluded and relegated to chance? How can one ensure anything through chance, given that a solitary random and unforeseen event could potentially dismantle the entire framework?

The same Divine blueprint that assured the coming of Christ as the Redeemer of sinners likewise irrevocably ordained the fall of Adam and the ensuing introduction of sin. If GOD did not decree the existence of sin, (“in the day that thou eatest,” Genesis 2:17, not “if” but “when” thou eatest,) it would not have come into existence, unless we somehow think that sin is greater than God? If Adam “chose” to sin prior to God’s ordination of that sin, then the will of God would be reliant upon and subordinate to the will of man. Perfect, it’s just where “christianity” wants god, who in their atrocious thoughts keep him there, safely confined within their theological borders.

Throughout the old testament ages {otherwise known as our redemption history} could there have been some sin committed or uncommitted in “the generation of Jesus Christ”? Matthew 1:1. Was anything out of place? Could those “wicked hands” that crucified Christ acted any differently? Once again, GOD is GOD, and is under no constraint or limitation to the “forces” that HE has actively engaged to bring about his divine purpose! We read of “an everlasting covenant ordered in all things, and sure,” II Samuel 23:5, of a “Lamb slain,” Revelation 13:8, a “kingdom prepared,” Matthew 25:34, of an elect seed chosen “in Christ,” Ephesians 1:4, of “works” that were “finished,” Hebrews 4:3, of the “hope of eternal life” which God “promised,” Titus 1:2, all either “from” or “before” the foundation of the world, and ultimately of the purpose of ONE that “worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.” Ephesians 1:11. Scripture is consistent through and through! “The LORD GOD omnipotent reigneth.” Revelation 19:6.

Additionally, the fact that our Heavenly Architect, (“our God is in the heavens, he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased,” Psalm 115:3,) is orchestrating all the affairs of this life in such a holy and precise manner in executing His will through the free and uncoerced actions of sinful men actually enhances His glory. “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” Romans 11:33.

And lest any foolishly imagine that the very few of us who have been persuaded in our simple minds that GOD is GOD could possess any capacity to think lightly of sin, or as “slanderously reported” by some whom say that we entertain a “let us do evil that good may come” mentality of life, Romans 3:8, they know not what they affirm. How can those of us “that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” Romans 6:2. These accusations and similar ones by the “many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh,” Galatians 6:12, directed against those of us that believe in unconditional election, free justification, unlimited sovereignty, &c., are ultimately against GOD himself in implying that CHRIST as “that great Shepherd of the sheep,” Hebrews 13:20, is somehow incapable or negligent in the ingathering, shepherding, and preservation of his flock. (“For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.” Ezekiel 34:11.) The “foundation of God standeth sure!” “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations,” II Peter 2:9, who in the name of Christ “depart from iniquity,” II Timothy 2:19, being called “unto holiness,” I Thessalonians 4:7, and “newness of life” in Christ. Romans 6:4. How shall we, how can we “that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” Romans 6:2. The Lord is their shepherd! Psalm 23:1. The Lord is their keeper! Psalm 121:5. Listen, the LORD reigneth! That settles it, as he is so far above and beyond all this religious whitewash! “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against GOD?” Romans 9:20. MPJ

MEANS: For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” Romans 1:16. Stirred up in my mind by those thoughts which I posted about the great commission, and the fact that my wife and I ended our bible reading the other night with this particular verse, I thought I would attempt some remarks in relation to this passage, especially since my thoughts are going to run contrary to most. This passage of scripture as used by some as a proof text to somehow imply that “the gospel of Christ,” the “gospel of your salvation” as we read in one place, Ephesians 1:13, (as it sets forth that ONE in whom your salvation resides,) is “the power of God” to the unbeliever, or an instrument / means in regeneration (‘regeneration’ as commonly understood in the theology of man) those that are dead in trespasses and sins, as is commonly taught, I believe to be an error.

Lurking beneath this faulty premise is a notion that perhaps those of the calvinistic persuasion (who ‘shipwreck’ their own ‘faith’ by contending for gospel regeneration, a position that is inherently contradictory and cannot possibly be true if the sinner is totally depraved, or dead in sin) would be reluctant to admit, which is that those who could be saved, given the appropriate means, might just be the elect of God, and these chosen individuals would be condemned to 'hell' unless the Gospel is communicated to them.

It all comes down to preaching! It all comes down to some man that God has raised up in order to be the regenerating agent of quickening dead sinners. Those who want some part as necessary instruments in man's spiritual resurrection from the grave of total depravity, and who see themselves as an integral and indispensable component in this scheme of disciple making. These will make much of what they call ‘saving faith,’ which comes as no surprise, for in order to remain faithful to their calvinistic scheme they can’t use such conditionalistic terminology such as decisional regeneration, as this implies human effort, and the free will of man, so have of necessity shifted everything over to what they now call faith, because after all it’s the gift of God. But this is nothing more than a “theological smokescreen” in order to facilitate their importance, and mask their Arminianism.

The Bible does not recognize decisional or faith regeneration! In fact, contrary to what some of these in the gospel regeneration camp would assert the Gospel is NOT for the REGENERATION of sinners. Sovereign instantaneous regeneration is a direct and immediate work of GOD, through His Spirit based on the finished work of Christ, without any use of 'means' as they are called, as the word of Christ goes forth conquering those to whom it is sent {‘to you is the word of this salvation sent,’ Acts 13:26,} being capacitated by grace to receive the word with ‘all readiness of mind.’ Acts 17:11. ‘I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD.’ Jeremiah 24:7.

Once we are brought to the realization that forging new believers is completely out of our hands, and we have nothing to do with making christians, then do we begin to see that the Gospel is for the CONVERSION of the elect, so that they might know those “things that are freely given to them” by God in Christ, I Corinthians 2:12, that they may lay hold upon the “hope of eternal life” Titus 1:2, and be instructed in the manner of their “holy faith,” Jude 1:20, as a delineated by Christ in the scriptures, Luke 24:45, and come to find everything in HIM, (for in CHRIST “dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,”) from HIM, (“ for all the promises of God in him are Yea and in him Amen unto the glory of God,”) and unto HIM to whom “be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” Ephesians 3:21.

A recap of the last few thoughts would be that the preaching of the Gospel is not in order to save sinners, but it's to glorify CHRIST in the manner of how he saves sinners. The gospel only gives light, not life, as no man is ever quickened or given life by the gospel. Men are not made alive by believing or understanding the gospel, but the fact that they believingly embrace the “grace of Christ,” Galatians 1:6, as delineated by the “Spirit of truth,” (“whom the world cannot receive,” John 14:17,) in the gospel evidences the fact that such have been given life, and are already in the way of Christ. This life is by a divine infusion of light by the spirit of Christ, (“we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding,” I John 5:20,) in order to be capacitated to believe “the record that God hath given to us eternal life,” and the fact that “this life is in his SON.” I John 5:11. The ‘gospel’ and the ‘word’ are clearly distinct, I Peter 1:25, and it is through the dissemination of the gospel that the ‘word’ is revealed and “life and immortality” are brought to light. II Timothy 1:10. Simply put the gospel is the method whereby God has deemed fit to enlighten and inform his people of that which Jesus Christ has accomplished on their behalf. “And we know (the knowledge of the gospel as the fruit of Divine quickening) that the SON of GOD is come and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.” I John 5:20. MPJ

GREAT COMMISSION: One basic premise with many who have aligned themselves with the ‘evangelical’ movement, which one could somewhat classify as anyone and everyone that is in any way involved with the proselytization (to convince someone to change their beliefs or way of life to match their own) of others, under some groundless assumption that countless ‘souls’ are perishing and going to ‘hell’ simply because they have not heard the ‘gospel’ being preached is false. But isn’t “getting folks saved” what it's all about? As ‘disciples’ of the LORD this evangelical charter is the zenith of our existence? There is no calling greater than this sacred work, surpassing all other priorities – no expenses are to be spared in this ‘holy’ endeavor, as souls are being turned into ‘hell’ as we speak, because we have not sent the ‘gospel’ to them – the 'heathen' are perishing and we must do everything on our part to fulfill the “great commission,” and other evangelical fables that are never to be questioned, and thus not subject to much scrutiny.

The “great commission.” Everybody recognizes the supreme importance of it. All are agreed! No surprise! Every doctor of divinity, every reverend theologian and professional bible scholar throughout the ‘church’ age, (these entrusted with the “key of knowledge,” Luke 11:52, that “understand all mysteries,” I Corinthians 13:2,) are agreed here! We can consult their commentaries and study their confessions of faith if we have any questions. Let's hope that there is no bias there, even though most of them were sort of reliant upon that ‘commission’ in order to sustain them in their way, (that is if they were ‘hirelings,’) and give some validity to their calling, so no surprise. We can only expect to find them all agreeing of the importance of this great commission, “as” they have constructed it in their manuals. After all, who would dare to question this obsession with christianity to fulfill what they call the great commission, to question something so obvious, and so tenaciously held to throughout the eons of so-called christian history? I wonder? Perhaps the entire christian world has bought into some huge scam? I honestly don't know? Something within me says I hope not, but then again, it's possible isn't it? Especially as one surveys the carnage of what has taken place in 2000 years of so-called church history, and the conversion-based gospels that are being panhandled about under the name of the christian religion.

What is this so-called great commission? Some sort of a commission that all followers of Christ supposedly have a duty to fulfill, by doing their part in going, or paying others to go, and make disciples, teaching, baptizing, &c., utilizing ministry, missionary work, evangelism, &c., funding bible colleges, theological seminaries, missionary societies, &c., and for what purpose? To fulfill this great commission! After all, this is what christianity is all about. This is the only reason the ‘church’ even exists! Without this there is no purpose! If we remove this pillar, the entire structure will come crashing down on us, and we will have nothing left to do but to worship Christ.

The majority of those who have so ‘sacrificially’ volunteered their services to fulfill this ‘great’ commission are generally under a variety of delusionary tenants, such as the false pretense that all men are redeemable, that salvation is found in conversion, and that all authority in heaven and earth is given unto men to accept or reject the edicts of Christ, calling on men to save themselves, and make their peace with God, and other mindless tactics. Such were never called! This is the driving engine of what the world calls Christianity. It's doomed, and believers have absolutely nothing in common with this system, and will not support it in the least. The true preaching of the gospel finds its roots in the cross of CHRIST, and to collaborate with those (“the enemies of the cross of Christ,” Philippians 3:18,) who deny its power is to deny that ‘faith’ which we are called upon to proclaim. Anyone proves himself false to Christ, to the very same degree that he has fellowship with the ‘world’ in this ‘disciple’ making business!

(As a quick side note, it seems to me that a very significant number of these “evangelists” consider their fervent commitment and enthusiasm to what they refer to as 'soul winning' as a means of securing their own personal assurance. The more passionately they stir up themselves for “winning souls for Jesus” and the more individuals they attract to their belief system, the more “assurance” they derive for themselves. For them it’s a double ‘blessing’! It’s the ultimate mother of all pyramid schemes!)

First and foremost we see that this was a commission received by CHRIST from the FATHER when all power was delegated unto HIM in heaven and in earth, and it goes without saying, that the LORD “who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,” Ephesians 1:11, does not commission his work to anyone else. Christ as that ONE inaugurated and enthroned in his mediatorial capacity, Luke 1:32, was now delegated with “all power” over “all flesh” that he should give eternal life to the “many” that the Father had given unto him. John 17:2. Christ now commissioned in all his mediatorial fullness, and by the promised effusion of the Spirit, consequently authorizes and delegates his chosen disciples (“as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you,” John 20:21,) to proclaim in the ONE name of the FATHER, SON & HOLY SPIRIT, on the behalf of God’s elect, (for whom it is designed, and to whom the Spirit of the Lord sends it, Acts 13:26,) this message of “reconciliation,” II Corinthians 5:18, otherwise known as the “gospel of peace,” Romans 10:15, or the “glad tidings” of what was consummated at the cross, otherwise known as of the preaching of Christ crucified. I Corinthians 2:2.

Additionally, we also might ask ourselves, to whom did Christ say, “go ye”? The chosen disciples of our Lord, whom he had now specifically empowered and qualified for the work. And there is not a word here about sending others? In fact, I might be wrong here, (I'm shamefully too lazy to research it at the moment,) but I don’t believe that any of the New Testament Epistles say anything about making new churches, or sending out missionaries to foreign lands? If this was their number one task, would not this have been addressed?

Ever wonder why all this missionary activity is completely absent from the Old Testament? Instead of “goat herding” all the gentile nations together under some delusional hypothesis that this is what the LORD required, we discover the exact opposite. Their mandate was to “overthrow their altars,” “break their pillars,” “burn their groves with fire,” and “hew down the graven images of their gods,” Deuteronomy 12:2, to never “bow down to their gods,” or “do after their works,” to “utterly overthrow them.” Exodus 23:24. What? No missionaries being sent forth to evangelize the surrounding nations with some feigned and pretend love that is supposed to encapsulate all? The word of the LORD was never sent to the nations abroad, as it was not intended for them. Nothing has changed! “Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.” Luke 8:10. “Lord, who hath believed our report, and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.” John 12:38-40.

“The Lord knoweth them that are his,” and knows exactly where they reside! Precisely where he has placed them, whether it be in Jerusalem, Luke 2:25, Samaria, John 4:7, or under a fig tree. John 1:48. “For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.” Ezekiel 34:11-12. Those reserved, distinguished and secured by the grace of election, in the hands of Christ, in whom they were chosen, and in whom they were blessed with all spiritual blessings all come to believe the gospel. “They shall hear my voice.” John 10:16.

Romans speaks with such heavenly splendor and gospel clarity of “HIM” that was of power to establish them (not to save them, beget them, &c., as they were already believers,) according to the gospel declaration - “the preaching of JESUS CHRIST” - Yes, this ONE commissioned by the Father. This ONE who not only fulfilled every commission, but met every condition, this ONE who once in the end of the world “appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself,” Hebrews 9:26, this ONE commissioned by the Father, (“to this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice,” John 18:37,) and it goes on to say in that passage, who now was “made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith.” Romans 16:25-26. All nations! Sounds pretty comprehensive! But what about the Chinese, the Indians, and lands far removed from the testimony of this gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ? What about them? Have you heard the gospel? GOD is GOD! Fall down and “worship at his footstool.” Psalm 99:5. God does not owe anyone an opportunity to hear the gospel, it's entirely his mercy & grace that He has placed his children in a place where they will hear the gospel, and be conducted in the way of Christ! “But I say, have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.” Romans 10:18. MPJ