If Babies Go to Heaven, Why Oppose Abortion?
John Piper In recent online debates, critics of pro-life say, “If aborted babies go to heaven, then why is abortion really a big deal in the end for Christians?”And my answer is, it is a big deal for six reasons at least...
When America Put Pastors in Prison: The Baptist Battle for Religious Liberty
Thomas S. Kidd While today we tend to think of early America as a bastion of religious liberty, many in the colonial era lamented its absence. No one suffered more persecution than Baptists. They were the most likely “well meaning” Christians to be thrown in jail on the eve of the American Revolution...
Talking with Catholics about the Gospel
Tim Augustyn Just about every book ever written with the words “Catholic” and “evangelical” in the title have been primarily for pastors or academics. But Chris Castaldo’s Talking with Catholics: A Guide for Evangelicals is different....
Questions to Ask Yourself About Eternal Security
For the Church Because eternal life is integral to the gospel's promise, eternal security is an integral blessing of the gospel, and to deny it is to embrace a truncated gospel...
Why the Gospel of Jesus's Wife Fragment is a Forgery
Justin Taylor Brad Green, writing at Tyndale House in Cambridge: Much of the New Testament scholarly world is abuzz concerning a purportedly ancient Coptic fragment, which has been called The Gospel of Jesus’s Wife. Is it truly ancient? A forgery?
Theological Primer: Eternal Sonship
Kevin DeYoung There never was when he was not. That was the bone of contention with Arianism, the fourth century heresy which rejected the full deity of the Son of God. The issue was not whether the Son was divine in some sense, but whether he shared the same essence (homoousia) as the Father...
The Son of God Is the Son of David
John Collins “You keep using that word,” Inigo Montoya says in the film The Princess Bride. “I do not think it means what you think it means.” As Christians, we can often do the same with theological terms...
What Was Samson Doing with a Prostitute in Gaza?
Miles Van Pelt Of all the judges in the book of Judges, Samson is perhaps the most famous. Who can forget his miraculous birth, long hair, feats of great strength, and, most notoriously, his relationship with Delilah?
Why Is the Number of the Beast 666?
G.K. Beale Revelation 13:18 says, “Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is 666.” This is one of the most debated verses in the entire Book of Revelation because of widespread disagreement over the identification and meaning of the number 666...
Will Heaven Have Oceans?
Dennis Johnson A friend discovered the joys of body surfing in midlife, when she and her husband moved to Southern California, within 40 miles of the beaches and breakers of the Pacific Ocean. So she was understandably troubled by Revelation 21:1 and the prospect that ocean’s azure waters and surging waves will be absent from the coming new heavens and new earth...
The Shocking Words of Christ
Jimmy Agan It is often said—and rightly so—that Jesus is the hero of every text of Scripture. Yet when we first encounter him in Matthew 15:26, Jesus looks anything but heroic. Instead, it appears that he is failing to be missional, and being entirely rude in the process...
Eat the Law and Live
William Ross Psalm 19 has been on the Top 40 charts for a couple thousand years. Understandably. It’s a classic. It’s short, but loaded with theological goodies. But if you’re like me, you breeze past these rich passages...
Moses, Maximus, and a Bloody Valentine
Mark Gignilliat Karl Barth claims the most difficult parts of Scripture have better and more important things to say than the best of our theological constructions. I wonder if he really meant it...
Rethinking Jephthath's Foolish Vow
Miles Van Pelt Most Christians struggle to understand the narratives recorded in the book of Judges. Consider the opening account where Adonai Bezek is captured by the tribe of Judah, humiliated by having his thumbs and big toes cut off, and then dies in Jerusalem...
Abomination of Desolation
Dan Doriani If a group of Christians sat down to list perplexing passages, it wouldn't take long for someone to mention Matthew 24:15-16...
Eat this Book: Bible in Five
BlackHawk Church This video accompanies Week 1 of the Eat this Book challenge to read through the Bible in one year. This video discusses some of the major themes to look for while reading Genesis 1-12...