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Naming

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"Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field." (Genesis 2:19, 20 ESV) Again and again, I marvel at the miracle of language and the power of words. Human language is not the result of evolutionary development from grunts and sounds to vocal articulation, it is the gift from a communicating Creator to his creatures made in the image of God .  German theologian Erich Sauer comments on Genesis chapter two...   "What is a word? A sound, a note, a tone which goes out of the mouth! Yet much more! A conveyor of a motion of the spirit, an instrument for manifesting the intelligence, a sign, a sound-symbol of an activity of the soul. Only through the gift of the spirit and speech man becomes really ...
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From heaven he came

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"Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." (Philippians 2:5-8)  God's Son, our Lord Jesus, "took the form of a bondservant..." and came into our world. This passage, along with John 1 and others, clearly teaches the pre-existence and deity of Jesus Christ. The point here is not that the second Person of the Trinity ceased to be God, but rather that he took a human nature and dwelt among us as a man. Jesus was not two people, nor was he one person who was half-God and half-human. He is one Person with two natures. World religions may say that Jesus was a man, a great man, or even a prophet. Or they may say he was a spiritual emanation of God, ...
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Supporting witnesses

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“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning."  (John 15:26-27) We are called to be witnesses for Christ (Acts 1:8). Yet sometimes we may feel outnumbered and alone in giving our witness. Our witness is our testimony of how and why we have come to trust the Lord Jesus. It's telling about what we know to be true and our experience of it.  We may feel opposition from our hostile culture and be intimidated. Yet we need to remember our testimony, our witness, is one among many that confronts and weighs upon unbelievers .   Who are these fellow witnesses? There are seven "testimonies" to the reality of God, his power, and his grace given to us in Jesus Christ. 1)   The witness of creation (Psalm 19:1-2; Acts 14:7; Romans 1:20). People may suppress this knowledge, but there is...
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Ten best books on apologetics

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Christian apologetics is the study of the philosophy and method of defending the Christian faith.  Since taking apologetics courses in seminary, and over 35 years of pastoral ministry, I have found these books to be the most helpful to me.  Admittedly, they range from presuppositional to evidential in their approach -- but I have discovered that God freely uses a variety of means in bringing people to himself.  Blomberg, Craig L. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels (IVP Academic, 2007).  This is a very good, scholarly overview on that topic.    Geisler, Norman L., and Turek, Frank. I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist (Crossway, 2004). An excellent walk-through of the evidences for, and reasons why, we believe.    Groothuis, Douglas. Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for Biblical Faith (IVP Academic, 2011). This is a larger reference work, and very worthwhile to have; it covers many of the issues and topics related to a...
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Given for our sins

 "...who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father..." (Galatians 1:4) In commenting on this verse, Martin Luther wrote the following... "Human reason wants sin to have no greater power than we imagine it has. That is why hypocrites, being ignorant of Christ, feel the remorse of sin but think they can easily get rid of it by their good works and merits. Secretly, in their hearts, they wish that these words, who gave himself for our sins, were words of overstatement; they want their sins not to be true and real sins but light and small matters. In short, human reason wants to present to God not a real sinner but a pretend one, unafraid of anything, without any feeling of sin. It wants to bring to God one who is well, not one who needs a physician; and when it feels no sin, then it wants to believe that Christ was given for our sins… "True Christian wisdom regards these words of Paul as most true, ef...
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The case for the deity of Christ

Jesus replied, "Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad." "You are not yet fifty years old," the Jews said to him, "and you have seen Abraham!" "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I AM!" At this, they picked up stones to stone him. (John 8:55-59 NIV) [This is a repost from 2009, giving the outline and quotes shared by Dr. David Kingston from his October 4 sermon that year. He stated that much of the outline came from John Stott's excellent little book, Basic Christianity (Eerdmans, 1999).] 1. The Importance of the Doctrine A. It is central to Christian faith. B. The fact that Jesus Christ is God distinguishes Christianity from other major religions C. If Jesus was not God, then His death had no special significance, and we are still the objects of God’s wrath. D. If Jesus was not God, then He is not coming back again to establish His kingdom. The Nicene Cree...
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hungering and thirsting

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“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." (Matthew 5:6 ESV) Geerhardus Vos served as Professor of Biblical Theology at Princeton Seminary from 1892 to 1932. A collection of the sermons he gave in chapel between 1896 and 1913 is available as Grace and Glory , now being published by Banner of Truth (2020).  Below are some excerpts from his sermon, "Hungering and Thirsting for Righteousness", taken from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter five... "It is God's inalienable right as God to impress his character upon us, to make and keep us reflectors of his infinite glory. But in a state of sin this can only intensify a thousand times the consciousness of man's utter inability even to begin to realize what nevertheless is the very core of his end in life, the sole ultimate reason for his existence." "[T]he purpose of this demand of God-likeness is not to be primarily sought in the desirability for ma...
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