“The reality of apostasy for real Christians (Heb 6:4-6, 10:26-30), means a justification that can be lost by real Christians (Gal 5:4).” (RSJ)
Galatians Backstory and Theme
Christ Covenant Church is in the midst of a study of the book of Galatians, the Apostle Paul’s first epistle. This sermon is the last of an in-depth look at the historical circumstances which caused the book to be written before we dive into the text itself. The backstory is a history of Paul from […]
Marriage Covenant Theology
All saving relationships between God and man in the Bible are patterned after the marriage covenant. There are five [1] major marriage covenants in the Bible: the Adamic Covenant [2], Noahic Covenant, Abrahamic Covenant, Mosaic Covenant and New Covenant.
23 Bible passages which teach the loss of . . . something . . .
The vast majority of Evangelical and Reformed theologians accept the doctrine which teaches that no man who has been sovereignly elected to salvation will be lost (John 6:39, 10:25-29, 17:12-15) as this doctrine is well-supported in Scripture. However, if not understood with biblical precision, this idea creates apparent inconsistencies with a large number of […]
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 […]
4 Critical Keys to Understand Your Bible
I. Works of the law are clean laws versus commands. A. Within Reformed thinking, theologians have historically held to a tripartite distinction/division of the OT law. In other words they have broken it into three categories: 1. Ceremonial: laws pertaining to temple ceremony, sacrifice and duties of the priests. 2. Civil: laws pertaining to commerce, […]
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 […]
Justification Rediscovered: An Evaluation of the Evangelical-Reformed Definition of Justification
The following is an excerpt from the teaching entitled: Justification Rediscovered. Previously published excerpts include Difficulties in studying the doctrine of justification and Justification Rediscovered affirmations. You can also download a PDF of the entire study or listen to audio of the teaching here. One of the biggest myths within Evangelical Christianity today, is […]
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 […]
Lord before Savior
Christ Covenant Church has recently completed the first major point in our Sound Gospel series: The good news of abundant life in Jesus Christ. A.W. Pink once said, “Many are deceived into supposing that they have accepted Christ as their personal Savior who have not first received Him as Lord.” Thus we come to the second element of the […]
The Purpose of the Clothing Metaphor in Scripture
A metaphor is a figure of speech which expresses the unfamiliar in terms of the familiar. In most instances, a common, usually physical object is used to illustrate a more abstract or less familiar idea or concept. There is an implied comparison between the two, but this comparison does not always use the words like […]
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 […]
Jude: A Passionate Appeal to “Every Member Warfare”
Backstory: Author: Jude, the half-brother of Jesus. He was a later convert to Christianity. Audience: All who are truly saved. Date: Probably late AD 68, after the writing of 2 Peter and Revelation, making it the last book written in the New Testament. Theme: True spiritual warfare is contending for the truths found in […]
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 […]