Author Archives
Equipping the Saints for the work of ministry.
-
Origins of the Christmas Tree
Depending on family tradition, the tree brought into the house is now festively decorated and referred to as the “jultree,” “light tree,” “Christmas tree,” or “Christ tree.” How many people are aware that this practise was long reviled by the church? Numerous sources in folk literature mention the fact that the
-
25th December…why?
The Philocalian Calendar or Chronograph of 354 lists Rome’s consuls from 255 to 352, Roman bishops from 255 to 352, and martyrs’ anniversaries. It is the first document to mention Christmas. The list of martyrs begins with the birth of Christ on December 25, whereas the list of consuls begins on Friday, the fifteenth day of the new moon. The list of Roman bishops concludes with the two most recent bishops out of order, indicating that it was compiled in 336, before these additions, and that the city was already celebrating Christ’s birth as a festival at the time.
-
How many meanings are there in a Biblical Text?
Scripture becomes, as Martin Luther put it, a wax nose that can be shaped into whatever form the interpreter likes. When this happens, the interpreter cannot be corrected by the text; rather, the interpreter becomes lord over the text.” Therefore, when we seek to discover the meaning of scripture we are seeking the plain meaning as the original author intended.
-
Your sacrifices are not good enough!
The Tabernacle is a visible picture, or model, showing us how we come to God through Jesus. From the foundations of the world, there’s only been one way. Jesus is the way.
-
Can Christians lose their salvation?
This question of whether a person can lose his salvation is not an abstract question. It touches us at the very core of our Christian lives, not only with regard to our concerns for our own perseverance, but also with regard to our concern for our family and friends, particularly those who seemed, for all outward appearances, to have made a genuine profession of faith.
-
Euthanasia for children?
Child euthanasia is a form of euthanasia that is applied to children who are gravely ill or have significant birth defects.
-
Christological Heresies: EUTYCHIANISM
A follower of Eutyches in the belief that the divine and the human in the person of Christ so blend as to constitute but one nature so that Christ is of two natures but not in two : monophysite
-
Christological Heresies: NESTORIANISM
At Council of Chalcedon in 433. The assembled bishops declared Christ was two natures in one person. “We all with one voice confess our Lord Jesus Christ one and the same Son, at once complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting of a reasonable soul and body; of one substance with the Father as regards his Godhead, of one substance with us as regards his manhood, like us in all things, apart from sin…”
-
Christological Heresies: APOLLINARIANISM
Apollinarianism granted Christ a human body but not a complete human soul. But if Christ was to have a real incarnation it was necessary that He add to His divine nature not merely a human body but also a human mind or soul; for humanity consists not merely in the possession of a body but of a body and soul.
-
Christological Heresies: ARIANISM
Arian theology holds that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was begotten by God the Father with the difference that the Son of God did not always exist but was begotten within time by God the Father, therefore Jesus was not co-eternal with God the Father.
-
Christological Heresies: DOCETISM
Docetism is an ancient heresy that says Jesus was not fully human. According to Docetism, he seemed to be human, but because Jesus was fully divine, he had no physical body. The form people saw was essentially a ghost.
-
Christological Heresies: EBIONISM
They believed in one God and taught that Jesus was the Messiah and was the true “prophet” mentioned in Deuteronomy 18:15. They rejected the Virgin Birth of Jesus, instead holding that he was the natural son of Joseph and Mary. The Ebionites believed Jesus became the Messiah because he obeyed the Jewish Law.
-
Be a man!
An irrational abject attitude of mind toward the supernatural, nature, or God, proceeding from ignorance . . . a belief in magic or chance, or the like is the definition of superstition.
-
What did Jesus Preach?
The Gospels indicate that Jesus’ full humanity as David’s heir, and full divinity as the ruler of the universe, relate closely to his role as Christ and to the “good news” or “gospel” he announced.
-
Why Didn’t Christ Fight Back!
After Jesus’ Farewell Discourse and final prayer, Jesus was arrested. But even though He knew He was going to be crucified, Jesus made no effort to avoid arrest. He allowed himself to be taken, beaten, and executed.
-
Was Jesus a Real Person?
We have canonical evidence. We have extra-canonical evidence. We have evidence from Josephus. We have evidence from other early Christian sources that are not in the New Testament. We have evidence from the Roman historian Tacitus. We have evidence from Suetonius, and other roman historians, so we have both biblical and extra biblical evidence that Jesus existed. In addition to that, we have epigraphic evidence; we have archeological evidence.
-
What is the relationship between the gospel and the kingdom of God?
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel.” The gospel is the good news proclaiming that the reign of God’s kingdom has come into this world.
-
Is Jesus’ sonship similar to those born-again?
When Christians become disciples, become sons of God in that sense there is, of course, a kind of transformation, a kind of likeness with God that happens to us, but that of course is true with Christ in His capacity as Son in ways that go far beyond what any disciple of Christ can claim.
-
No Christianity Without Christ!
The divinity of Christ says, because He is Lord, because He is God, what He says about himself and about who we are and what the way of salvation is, is authoritative and final. Christianity is definitely Jesus. Without Jesus it would not exist.
-
Divinity of the Holy Spirit
He gives us the strength to say “no” to sin, and so, “yes” to God — say “yes” to God — and to say “yes” to obedience. And only God can do that. The Holy Spirit is God, and he does those mighty works in our lives and in our world. He rules over every event. He saves us, literally. He brings salvation that Jesus Christ earned into our lives and makes it ours. And He continues to change us until we meet Jesus someday.
-
How should we respond to the Holy Spirit in our worship and prayers?
Even though Christians insist that the Holy Spirit is fully divine, and that his works and personhood benefit us in many ways, we often don’t praise Him for these things in our worship, or even petition Him in our prayers.
-
How could Jesus be both fully human and fully divine?
Christ comes to unite the divine life that is lost in the fall of Adam, back to our humanity. Only if Christ is the one who can bring God and man together can we really say that we have been saved.
-
The Idea that One God is Trinity…
There should be no question that the doctrine of the Trinity is true to Scripture. But there should also be no question that it’s a difficult doctrine that took the church hundreds of years to define clearly.
-
Mentoring should not be Manipulation
Today’s mentoring processes have been largely replaced by the classroom experience. Instead of a stamp of approval by a mentor, the person receives final grades and a diploma. Knowledge has become more important than wisdom and character. The essence of mentoring is relationship. For the Christian leader, mentoring is the process of developing a man or woman to his or her maximum potential in Jesus Christ in every vocation.
-
Human Free Will Incapacitated
Human free will exists in sinners, but that it is compromised by sin.
-
Spiritual Warfare
A biblical view of spiritual warfare points to the final establishment of the kingdom of God throughout the whole universe. When we focus too much on the current battle, we lose sight of the cosmic picture in which the real story is not the battle, but the eternal reign of Christ. That vision transformed the early church, and it should be our focus in ministry today.
-
Jesus was in the form of God
If Jesus is in the form of God, then He has all the essential attributes of deity, or all those characterising qualities that make God. Thereby, Jesus is in the form of God is God. Paul is merely stating that Jesus did not surrender His divine attributes but chose voluntarily not to use them or to set them aside. Hence surrendering the glory, majesty, and the prerogatives of deity, but not the deity itself.
-
Delinquent Fathers
The issue of the relationship between God as Father and human fathers is very important in our culture, especially because we of course so often experience in the brokenness of modern families-father models who are problematic
-
Can we call Jesus God?
The Apostle John in affirming the deity of Jesus Christ in John 1:18, “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known”. Thus showing oneness of essence between Father and Son. In addition, Apostle John mentions in John 10:30, “I and the Father are one.” Thereby bearing upon the essential unity. It is interesting that whether the word “one” is neuter in gender, or literally, one thing.
-
Impossible Prophecy Fulfilled
So when the apostle Matthew mentions a prophecy in Matthew 1:21-23, he is quoting from the prophet Isaiah written in 700BC (before Christ incarnate). Is that not mind blowing? The prophecy states in Isaiah 7:14, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
Theology School 