When one studies the words that Paul penned to the church at Rome nearly 2000 years ago concerning our submission to governing authorities, a pattern clearly emerges. As Christians, we are to live lives of submission. Paul was by no means the only one in the Bible to teach on this virtue, as Jesus modeled the attitude of submission perfectly throughout His earthly ministry, always doing the will of His Father. In fact, perfect submission was so vital to our Lord that He described the will of the Father as His “food” (John 4:34). The apostle Peter likewise wrote concerning the importance of submission in the life of the Christian because “…such is the will of God” (1 Peter 2:15).
Subscribe to the RSS Feed
- Featured Posts
- All Posts
Pinned Post
Give me all the Bacon & Eggs you Have
Vivamus gravida luctus feugiat. Sed sed dolor augue. Curabitur leo ex, vehicula vel orci vitae, elementum placerat nisi. Suspendisse vel urna vel neque tempus Vivamus gravida luctus feugiat. Sed sed dolor augue. Curabitur leo ex, vehicula vel orci vitae, elementum placerat nisi. Suspendisse vel urn…
The Mosaic Covenant: The Israelites Break the Covenant
As we have discussed previously, the Mosaic Covenant was a covenant that God made with His people Israel. It is evident from the moment of its establishment that this covenant is bilateral in nature, for it was an agreement between God and the Israelites, who pledged that they would do all that is required of them in their keeping of the covenant (Exodus 19:8, 24:4, 24:7). As we will discuss in today’s blog, it didn’t take long for the Israelites to fall into sin, and by so doing, break the covenant.
Keep Reading The Mosaic Covenant Established at Mt. Sinai
When you hear the term “Mosaic Covenant”, what comes to mind? Perhaps you think of the Levitical priesthood, or the Law…and you would be right. Those are most certainly major themes of the Mosaic Covenant. But what if I told you that another theme of this covenant is the relationship between God and His people? In fact, the Bible makes a very clear connection between this covenant and the Abrahamic Covenant, where God chose Abraham to be the one through whom the whole world would be blessed.
Keep Reading Introduction to the Mosaic Covenant
When we read the Bible, one theme that stands out is the holiness of God. To be holy is to be set apart. God, the creator of all things, is indeed set apart from His creation. Creation had a beginning, but God is eternal. God has no beginning or end; He simply is. Also known as the Tetragrammaton, His very name is I AM WHO I AM (Exodus 3:14). God’s holiness is thus linked to His aseity -- but there’s more to it. The holiness of God also encompasses His moral perfection. “God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).
Keep Reading The Abrahamic Covenant: The Sign of Circumcision
Ask anyone who is outside of Christ what they need to do in order to be saved, and the response is, more often than not, pretty uniform across the board: do good works, and if you do enough of them, maybe the good works will outweigh the bad deeds on Judgment Day and voila…you would be allowed to enter into paradise. In essence, all religions outside of biblical Christianity share one thing in common: a form of works-based salvation.
Keep Reading The Abrahamic Covenant: The Covenant-Cutting Ceremony
When God first appeared to Abraham in Genesis 12, He gave him three distinct promises: a land, a seed, and a blessing of all the nations. We spent the past few weeks exploring all that was entailed in these three promises, and we ended last time with a reminder from Hebrews 11:13, that Abraham never saw the promises truly fulfilled in his lifetime, but rather saw them only in bits and pieces. He lived in the promised land, yet as a foreigner. He had several offspring throughout his life, yet only his son Isaac received the covenantal blessing. Yet even this did not happen immediately after receiving the promise, as it took 25 years for Sarah to finally conceive and give birth to Isaac. It would be during this time of waiting that God would once again appear to Abraham in Genesis 15 to make a covenant with him, but before we dive into the covenant-cutting ceremony itself, we need to take a step back and consider the overall context.
Keep ReadingThe Abrahamic Covenant: The Promise of Land
When it comes to events that change the course of human history, we often think of various wars, natural disasters, famines, and plagues. Certainly, these are major events in and of themselves, but what if I told you that there was a single event experienced by one ancient Mesopotamian man that overshadowed all of these? In the next few blogs, we will be talking about that very event: the day when God appeared to a man named Abraham and promised him a land, a seed, and a blessing for all the nations.
Keep Reading Introduction to the Abrahamic Covenant
As we continue our study of the biblical covenants, a couple of key themes begin to stand out: man’s inability and unwillingness to obey the word of God, and God’s faithfulness in keeping His covenant promises in spite of our sinfulness. Just as Adam and Noah were undeserving of God’s mercy and grace, we will find that theme once again played out in the life of a pagan from ancient Mesopotamia called Abram, whose name would be later changed to Abraham.
Keep ReadingAug 8
2023
A Time for Everything
Change: we all experience it on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis. In this life we find that nothing is static – things are always changing. Even our spiritual walk changes from day to day, as we continue to grow in our sanctification, defeating sin in our lives one battle at a time. If you are a young person, you will one day find that you don’t have the youthful vigor that you once did, and you won’t always have the amount of free time and carefree lifestyle that you enjoy now. Whether it’s good times or bad times, easy times or hard times, times of plenty or times of want, all of us are going through various seasons of life or transitions from one season to another.
May 16
2023
Why the Church Submits to Government
When we think about the relationship between the church and the government in our modern context, what often comes to mind is the clash of worldviews that comes between us and the government’s desire to hinder the advancement of the very gospel that the church is commanded to proclaim to all people.
May 2
2023
The Source of Governing Authority
For many people around the world, 2020 was an unprecedentedly challenging year, so much so that even the term “2020” has become synonymous with chaos or craziness. As many, if not all, Christians continue to feel the devastating effects of all that took place that year — especially as tensions between the church and the government continue to rise across America — there has also been a sudden increase in discussions over Romans 13, among other related passages.
Apr 4
2023
Keeping it Simple - Gender
It might be the most triggering verse in all of scripture for our modern world. Fewer words, when put into syntactical order, can cause such offense to the most sensitive out there. The verse is Genesis 1:27: “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:27, NASB; emphasis mine)
Mar 14
2023
Keeping It Simple - Race
You’d have to be intentionally ignoring the world around you today to not notice that many people believe America has a problem with racism. The concept of race has existed for thousands of years, but its definition has been changed from what it was originally.
Feb 27
2023
Keeping It Simple
Whether it’s philosophy, psychology, religion, or social or political issues, this current world system is attacking the church and God’s people with several layers of deceit through several different human institutions. It might seem overwhelming at first, but in reality, all these institutions have the same goal: to understand and control the world while ignoring and rejecting God.
Jan 17
2023
Preserving Through Trials
Whether it is a worldwide pandemic or a flat tire, life is hard. Things that are supposed to work as we would expect them to, often don’t. Plans that are made often get canceled or postponed due to unforeseen circumstances. These difficulties are experienced by everyone, including unbelievers. If life as a pagan is difficult, does that mean it gets any easier once you are in a right relationship with God? Does God really “have a wonderful plan for your life”, as is commonly said amongst professing evangelicals?
Jan 10
2023
Can Believers Lose Their Salvation - Part 2
Last week, we sought to address a couple of passages that are often difficult for some to reconcile with the doctrine of eternal security. What may seem at first glance to be in the favor of the conditionalists (that is, Christians who believe that true saints can later lose their salvation) upon closer examination of the context of the passages in question and understanding the clear teaching of Scripture of true vs. false conversion, show they are not.
Jan 3
2023
Can Believers Lose Their Salvation - Part 1
The doctrine of eternal security, which teaches that the salvation of believers is forever guaranteed by our Savior and great High Priest Jesus Christ, is a glorious doctrine that gives believers assurance of their faith in Christ and their eternal inheritance.