In a time where the United States collectively pauses to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, and the mantra of the season is to “put Christ back into Christmas,” the question is rarely asked, was Christ ever in Christmas to begin with? This question brings us back to Christmas’ roots, which reveals it to be […]
What are the deeds by which we will be judged?
Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? —unless indeed you fail to meet the test! – 2 Corinthians 13:5 What exactly does the Bible mean by “good deeds”? Scripture tells us that everyone, both believers and […]
“In Christ” = In the visible Church
From The Baptized Body by Peter J. Leithart: 1 Corinthians 12:12 is particularly striking the way Paul identifies the Head-and- members body of Christ as “Christ.” “‘Christ” is not just the title of the Anointed Head. The anointing flows like the dew of Hermon down from our priestly Head, down the beard, down to […]
Sound Gospel: Abundant Life in Jesus Who Saves
Humanity loves her heroes. We write about them, sing songs about them, and even fantasize about being them. And that because, at our deepest sociological level, we all realize we need them. This means also that we realize there are problems in this world which are bigger than our abilities or resources. And such is […]
The Fall: Our tragic beginning, but not our end.
As discussed in the previous lesson, the Creation account found in the first chapters of Genesis provides us with not only the answer to how everything that exists came into being, but also why. It was all created to serve as the striking motif of and motivation for what would prove to be every human […]
6 MORE Arguments for the Imputation of the Active Obedience of Christ Examined and Refuted
In the last article on this topic, we dealt with six textual arguments that are meant to be in favor of the doctrine of the imputation of the active obedience of Christ (IAO). The source of these arguments was an article written by Phil Johnson and posted at Pyromaniacs a couple of years ago. Today, […]
6 Arguments for the Imputation of the Active Obedience of Christ Examined and Refuted
On a couple of occasions, we have stated that the doctrine of the Imputation of the Active Obedience of Christ (IAO) has no textual support. Obviously, proponents of IAO disagree with that assessment and to be fair, we have spent little or no space on this blog dealing with the textual support that is […]
Sound Gospel: The Goal of God
Indeed man wishes to be happy even when he so lives as to make happiness impossible. -St. Augustine All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended […]
10 Truths Taught by the Clothing Metaphor in Scripture
A metaphor is used to illustrate unfamiliar ideas through the means of familiar objects and Scripture often uses the common object of clothing as a picture of man’s standing before God. There are scores of instances where Scripture uses the metaphor of clothing in order to picture one’s standing before God. We find instances of […]
The ‘obedience of faith’ according to Paul
The following quotes are from ‘The Obedience of Faith’ A Pauline Phrase in Historical Context by Don Garlington. The work of Garlington and others like him has proven invaluable in determining the structure of the Christian faith and covenant by providing a historically accurate picture of Second Temple Judiasm. This picture shows that Judaism was […]
Imputation: justification through the righteous act of Christ
Modern Reformed theologians such as RC Sproul, Wayne Grudem and others teach that in order for the believer to be justified, he must be imputed with both the righteous life of Christ (His active obedience) as well as the sacrificial death of Christ (His passive obedience). This teaching, sometimes called “double imputation” or the doctrine […]
The Church as God’s foundational institution P. 2
Though the Scripture is clear that the church is God’s foundational institution, there are still many who insist on believing that this role was given to the family. While it is not my intention to “sling mud” at those who make such claims, the following is important to consider with an objective mind and an […]
The Church as God’s foundational institution P.1
The spiritual and moral fabric of our world is disintegrating. As a result, Christians are looking for solutions and one solution subscribed to by many Christians is to attempt to heal our world by restoring the integrity of the family and its role in society. With the divorce rate among Christians as high as it is among […]
Analogy between royalty and justification
We cannot earn or work our way to royalty status.
The importance of good deeds to salvation
Finding the proper perspective and place for good deeds in the Christian life can be a tricky task. The relationship between “good works” and salvation has been debated from the beginning of the Christian faith and this relationship is still controversial. While it is nearly impossible to solve all of the pertinent issues in one […]
Every Gospel must be examined
In popular, evangelical Christianity, nearly everyone who names the name of Christ seems to get the benefit of the doubt when it comes to the Gospel. Yet, Scripture is clear that the greatest threats to the true Gospel will come from inside the Church. There will be some who profess to know God, but they […]
Our Confession
We observe the Lord’s Table on a weekly basis at Christ Covenant Church. Here is the confession that our members recite in unison just prior to the serving of the elements: We who profess to be the redeemed people of God also confess that we are sinners in need of a Savior. We cannot save […]