Resources by Topic: Doctrine and Theology

Question from a Reader: I’m studying the book of Luke. I know that the Jews were expecting a Messiah that was king, deliverer, etc., but did they also expect a Messiah that was actually God? Are there any Old Testament prophecies that mention that?

When people say they believe the Bible contains errors, it’s a good practice to ask them to name those errors so you can open a Bible and look at them together.

The people Jesus spoke to lived without streetlights. If they didn’t have a lamp and a means to light it, they groped in darkness, vulnerable to assailants. They understood what it meant when Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

If you follow social media and news online, you’ve likely heard about the Nashville Statement, put together by The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. Along with several dozen other Christian leaders, I’m one of the initial signatories of this statement, which seeks to provide a Christ-honoring and biblically faithful standard on homosexuality and transgenderism.

Echoing David in Psalm 22, Jesus cried out on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” In that haunting cry, Christ identifies with our despair and bridges the gap between God and us not only theologically, in the Atonement, but emotionally—between our suffering and God’s, between our agonizing cries and those of God’s Son.

Since Jesus is God He cannot be tempted by evil, yet He has been tempted in every way we are (and surely we are tempted by evil!). This is one of many paradoxes in Scripture. 

Many apparent contradictions in Scripture are resolved through a closer look. I recently responded to a question related to the differing number of days that the gospel writers use to refer to the same event. I share it as an example of how details in biblical passages are often claimed to be errors, but upon careful examination, we can see they are not. 

Failure to believe in inerrancy must logically lead to my inability to trust the Bible as authoritative. Clearly those parts which are supposedly false cannot be authoritative. I cannot rely upon what I do not believe to be accurate. 

This is a vital question. A chain is only as strong as the weakest link. If we can’t trust the Bible in our hands, the communication God intended collapses and becomes untrustworthy as well.

In 1991, the year after we started Eternal Perspective Ministries, John Piper came out with The Pleasures of God, which was updated in 2000. This is a truly great book that I highly recommend. 

In April 2017, Randy Alcorn taught a course at Veritas Evangelical Seminary on the subject of evil and suffering. In this clip, he talks about the doctrine of depravity.

Jesus was the Lamb, a sacrifice, the Passover, Priest, Prophet, King, the fulfillment of the law, the Bread of Life, the Word. Without time to develop these ideas throughout history and through the writings of the Scriptures, we would never have understood the depths of the Godhead.

God’s omnipotence, His power, is a subject well worth contemplating. I like what Puritan Stephen Charnock wrote: “As holiness is the beauty of all God’s attributes, so power is that which gives life and action to all the perfections of the Divine nature."

October 31, 2017, will mark the five-hundredth anniversary of the Reformation. Martin Luther’s nailing of his Ninety-five Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Church on that day in 1517 has proven to be one of the most important events in the history of the world. Indeed, many evangelicals trace their beginnings to this moment that launched the Protestant movement, of which we consider ourselves heirs.