The Christian life is lived under the figure of warfare — not physical warfare against human enemies, but spiritual warfare against the enemies of the soul, supremely the internal enemies: undisciplined thoughts, bodily passions, the self that must be mastered and crucified daily. God cannot use…
The Holy Spirit called Barnabas “a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith,” and his life shows what such goodness looks like — generous with his possessions, glad at others’ blessing, and content to take second place for the cause of Christ. The…
The kingdom of Christ is not a future, earthly, material realm awaiting His return; it is here now — begun at Pentecost, spiritual in nature, with Christ already reigning — and it is identical with the church, as both Christ and Paul plainly teach. The whole…
The same office is named by several scriptural words — overseer, elder, shepherd, ruler, leader — and its qualifications, twenty in all from Timothy and Titus, are not impossibly high but are largely the marks of a mature Christian, attainable now as they were then. Many…
“Keep me as the apple of the eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings” (Ps. 17:8). David wrote that under pressure. Jesus said: “I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand”…
The peacemaker is not the person who avoids all conflict but the person who wages war against the things that destroy peace — sin, division, injustice, unbelief — with weapons that do not include carnal force. The Christian is a soldier of peace whose army and…
Recreation is not the enemy of godliness; it is the restoration of the person for continued godly work. The Christian who does not know how to rest, play, or use leisure time well is not more spiritual — they are less whole, and eventually less effective….
The church is glorious because Christ is its glorious Head, it wears the glorious names God gave it, it carries out God’s glorious work, and it moves toward a glorious destiny as the bride of the Lamb — and everything that divides or rebrands it dims…
The “thousand years” is mentioned only once in the Bible — in the most figurative book of all — and cannot bear the weight of a literal earthly reign; Scripture everywhere teaches instead one coming, one resurrection, and one simultaneous judgment of righteous and wicked, leaving…
The word “Christian liberty” is used in two almost contradictory ways. One use invokes it as a shield against accountability — “I have liberty in Christ; don’t bind your traditions on me.” The other use names the profound freedom Christ actually purchased: freedom from the guilt…