“One of the aspects of the Christian faith that I find particularly perplexing is the freedom God gives his people to obey him in different or even opposite ways, so that one person’s obedience is another person’s disobedience. Even as two people take the same action, one might be obeying him and the other disobeying him.” - Challies
“ ‘You know, kids. Your mom and I were talking about it recently, and we agreed that even if in the end, Christianity ended up not being true, it was still worth it.’… something seemed to be off. The tension became even stronger for me when I read 1 Corinthians 15:19” - P&D
“For all its strict view of perseverance, Bunyan manages to pastorally describe meditation on the Word, trusting in God’s promises, the power of prayer, fleeing temptation, living by grace, maintaining spiritual disciplines and ultimately leaning on the sustaining grace of God that is the ground and cause of it all.” - Churches Without Chests
Read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.
The third front in our three-front war, according to the common saying, is “the devil.” In the Old Testament he’s called Hasatan, the adversary; in the New, ho diabolos, the accuser (literally, the one who throws things through you). The biblical description clearly presents him as a person, someone who makes accusations (Job 1) and seeks “whom he may devour” (1P 5.8).
So we’re fighting a three-front war—something no one’s likely to win without divine power. Let’s take a look at the first enemy, the world.
I wrote some on this just a few posts ago, focusing primarily on definitional matters. Here I’d like to focus on how to fight so as to win. I think a key biblical source on this question is John’s first epistle.
The Right Family
The Scripture often uses military language for the Christian life. Most famously, I suppose, Paul describes the “armor” (lit. “panoply”) of the Christian warrior, supplied by God for both defense and offense (Ep 6.13-17). Christians who take a more pacifist approach to life (e.g.
We need to read our bibles. God wants us to read our bibles—it is the story of Him revealing hidden things to us we would otherwise never know! Fair enough. But I first want to ask an important question—what is the best way to think of the Scriptures?
This article is adapted from a sermon I preached on 13 January 2019, entitled “Following the Leader.” Video and audio may be found here.
Peter has just made an important confession; that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One (Mk 8:27-33). How do you sum up what this office means?1 It’s common to see Christ as the prophet, priest and king. Millard Erickson shifts the emphasis from office to function, and presents Jesus as the revealer, ruler and reconciler.2
