When reading a book, a poem, or a short story, the reader’s main goal is to ascertain the author’s intent for writing. One must read the meaning out of the text and not into the text. The author has carefully prepared his thesis and the reader must do the job of understanding it.

The same can be said with regards to the Scriptures. Whether we are reading the Pentateuch authored by Moses, the prophecies authored by the prophets, or the gospels authored by the evangelists, one must ascertain the author’s original intent from the text. This is not an easy task and it can be a bit daunting. As for the gospel according to John, the evangelist has made the task easy.

In chapter 20, John tells us explicitly of why he is writing. In verse 30-31, it states, “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and by believing you may have life in His name.” Viola! Here we have it. John tells us plainly without much investigation as to why he is writing. John does not tell us everything about Jesus or goes into great detail of all His signs. He only gives us the ones that pertain to the purpose of His writing. W. Robert Willoughby, in his small commentary agrees:

John defines his ultimate purpose in writing this Gospel.
He did not intend to record all the miraculous signs which Jesus
did performed (John 20:30). Rather he has presented us with
carefully selected miracles. These not only validate the Lord’s
claims to deity, but they portray profound spiritual truth
concerning His person and work. John’s deep desire is that
believers will find their faith strengthened and unbelievers come
to faith (Willoughby 1999, 374).¹

Now, let’s take a look at Jesus’ sign of raising Lazarus from the dead. We read that a message was sent to Jesus that Lazarus was sick (John 11:3). By God’s decree, this event was to occur “so that the Son of God may be glorified through it” (John 11:4). However, Jesus did not immediately leave to go to Lazarus. He waited for the appointed time.

After Lazarus had died, Jesus then made His way to Bethany. He was met by a very distraught Martha, one of Lazarus’ sisters. She hoped that Jesus would have arrived sooner, so that her brother may be healed. Jesus reveals to Martha that her brother will rise again (John 11:23).

Then, Martha exclaims, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day” (John 11:24). Unlike the Sadducees, Martha believed in the resurrection of the dead (Matthew 22:23). Moreover, Jesus wants to extend her knowledge concerning the resurrection. She was thinking of the future and Jesus was speaking of the here and now. Standing before her is the resurrection and the life. He gives life to whom He wills, and He resurrects whom He wills. All those who are in Christ, even if they die, will live because God is not the God of the dead, but of the living (John 11:25; Matthew 22:32).

Jesus called Lazarus from the grave which proved that He is the resurrection and the life. So then, John, the evangelist gives us another glimpse at the character of the “seed of the woman,” and we are also told that some “believed in Him” (John 11:45) because of this sign.

Technorati Tags: Resurrection, Easter, Christ

In chapter seven we read that Daniel had a frightening vision. Daniel saw several beasts which represented different kings and their kingdoms. Every new beast that rose was more ferocious than the previous one. The kingdom of Satan seems to be winning by constantly conquering and trampling underfoot the kingdom of God. Among his vision of kingdoms conquering kingdoms, Daniel gets to see that the story is not over.

Daniel says, “and I saw one like a son of man” (Daniel 7:13). Many people believe that the title “son of man” proves the humanity of the “seed of the woman” in contrast to His divinity. Actually, the title is Messianic and Daniel’s vision portrays the son of man as being divine. This title is used more times in the gospels by Jesus than any other. It is used to direct His hearers to Daniel’s vision of a triumphant kingdom and to the One who rules it. John the Baptist came preaching, “Repent, because the kingdom has come near” (Matthew 3:2). John could not preach the nearness of such a kingdom unless the King of the kingdom was also near.

By the Holy Spirit, Daniel tells us how this conquering King and His kingdom is in contrast to the kings and kingdoms of the world. It is an everlasting kingdom, whose King will be triumphant, and His kingdom will have no end (Daniel 7:14). This will be the fulfillment of the Davidic covenant in which God promised, “Your house and kingdom will endure before Me forever, and your throne will be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:16).

Prophecy of this type was to help strengthen the faith of the faithful who are in the midst of turmoil and persecution. Whether we are reading the newspaper or watching the news we constantly are reminding of our fallen nature. We hear of wars and rumors of wars, we see the increase of sickness, crime, and murder. Sometimes these events may cast us into a time of despair. But do not be discouraged, for the King is coming, and His kingdom will be triumphant. RIDE ON KING JESUS.

Technorati Tags: Kingdom of God, Prophecy, Eschatology, Son of Man

The book of Exodus can be divided into 3 sections which constructs its theme: Yahweh’s Gracious Deliverance of Israel, Yahweh’s Gracious Covenant with Israel, and Yahweh’s Gracious Presence Among Israel. In the first part of Exodus, we read that God was displaying His power among the Egyptians, so that they and all the peoples of the earth may know that there is only one God of the universe and that He does not share power (Exodus 9:29). Israel witnessed these works and yet they rebelled against God.

There rebellion came about while Moses was on the mountain receiving the covenant document from God. Israel became impatient because of Moses’ delay. Under the direction of Aaron, Israel gave donations to the making of a golden calf in which they could see and touch. This caused the Lord to become very angry with His people. They even had the audacity to ascribe to this idol the work of God: “Israel this is your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt” (Exodus 32:4).

Because of the golden calf incident, the Lord announced that He would not go with Israel in their pursuit of the promised land. The divine presence of God among His people is what makes the nation of Israel distinct from all other nations. It was the belief in the Ancient Near East that the national deities were territorial. If a particular nation moved to a different territory, then they would serve the national deity of that particular land. However, the God of Israel had no concern with real estate but with a people of His own choosing. Dr. Daniel I. Block states,

Expressions like ‘God of Israel’ and ‘God of the Hebrews,’ with a gentilic or eponymic national designation in the genitive position, stress the association between deity and the population. But all the extra-biblical citations associate the divinity primarily with a geographic locality (Block 2000, 38).¹

So then, the divine presence among the people of Israel is important. But how can a holy God dwell among a rebellious people? The answer is the book of Leviticus. Laid out in Leviticus is the sacrificial system. The sacrificial system points to Him who is to come. The blood of lambs and goats cannot cleanse the conscience, but if the worshiper brought his or her sacrifice in faith, then the Lord would be pleased. More will be said concerning the sacrificial system in part two.

Technorati Tags: Old Testament Sacrifice, Covenant, Idolatry, Worship

Before the patriarch Jacob was gathered to his people, he called his sons to himself in order that he may bless them. Each blessing not only concerned his sons but also the tribes in which they represent. Through one of those tribes, we receive another glimpse of the character of the “seed of the woman.”

Our first glimpse of the redeemer was that he would be born of a woman. Now, through Jacob, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, revealed that He will also be a king from the tribe of Judah. This King will be triumphant in that He will conquer His enemies. This monarchial rule is first typified in King David. King David was a man of war and through David Israel would rest from her enemies. Though David is the type,¹ Christ is the antitype. Ultimately, it is Christ who would have victory over His enemies and through Whom the people of God would find true rest.

Jacob says of Judah, “The scepter will not depart from Judah, or the staff from between his feet, until He whose right it is comes and the obedience of the peoples belongs to Him” (Genesis 49:10). The tribe of Judah is to be the only tribe from which kings should derive. The right of monarchy sits with this tribe alone. It will continue until the true Lion of Judah takes His throne. Kingship and the obedience of the peoples belongs to Him, who is the true King. The Lion of Judah will rule with an iron fist and none of His enemies will conquer Him or His kingdom.

First, we should note that the idea of kingship is not a new concept. God revealed to Abraham that kings would come from him and his wife (Genesis 17:6; Genesis 17:16). Second, we should note that the eternal kingdom of the redeemer is made known again to David when God “cuts a covenant” with Him (2 Samuel 7:1-17). So then, through Jacob, the faithful remnant of Israel captures another glimpse of the “seed of the woman.”

¹ Types or typology is the doctrine of symbols and types which points to someone or something else. Types are found in the Old Testament and the antitype in which is points to, is found in the New Testament.

Technorati Tags: Redeemer, Seed of the Woman, Judah, Messiah

What is wrong with arminianism? Arminianism exalts man above God and teaches that man can come to Christ of his own free will. The arminian’s gospel is synergistic in nature. Calvinists hold to what the Bible teaches in that salvation is monergistic: “God saves sinners.” This false gospel of free-willism is like a cancer entering into our churches that needs to be purged.

Steve Camp posted an entry on yesterday entitled Arminian Idle: …a ‘four point’ sandy theology of faith. Steve mentions three cancer sores found in the arminian’s system. One is that salvation is initiated by man, two, salvation is dependent on free will, three, lips service enough, and four, evidence not necessary.

Some may see Calvinists as being too harsh when we speak out against the cancer of a false gospel. That is right, I said it. Arminianism is a false gospel. It is not what we find in the Holy Scriptures. Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit gave us a warning for teaching a Gospel foreign to the Scriptures. We would do well to heed it. I have a feeling that there are going to be more blogging on this subject from the blogosphere.

Technorati Tags: Arminianism, False Gospel, Ergun Caner, James White, Calvinism, Monergism

“I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” - Genesis 3:15

From the very beginning we read in Genesis of how the sovereign Lord of the universe stepped out of His domain to establish a covenant with man and His creation. Throughout the Scriptures, we read that God is always the one taking the initiative to cut a covenant. This sets the stage in showing that God always seeks out a person instead of vice versa. Nehemiah Coxe explains the covenant transaction by stating,

This is also worthy to be noted by us: that when God has made covenants, in which either mankind in general or some select number of men in particular have been involved, it has pleased him first to transact with some public person, head, or representative for all others that should be involved in them. (Coxe 2005, 39) ¹

The first covenant in Scripture is the Covenant of Life (also known as the Covenant of Works) made with Adam as the head and representative of all humanity (Genesis 1:28-30; Genesis 2:16-17; Hosea 6:7). By keeping God’s covenant, he would procure life for himself and his posterity.

Due to Adam’s failure in keeping God’s covenant, death passed from Adam to all his posterity, although, the buck does not stop there. In the midst of darkness shines a ray of light. However, God would have been just in sending these rebels into outer darkness. Nevertheless, He announces a remedy which was a plan that was on His mind before the creation of time.

In Genesis 3:15 we have the first utterance of prophecy concerning a future redeemer. God says, “I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” Genesis 3:15 is known as the protoevangelium. Protoevangelium is a Greek word which means “first message” or “first Gospel.” We have stated in Genesis 3:15 the first proclamation of the “good news.” Anthony Hoekema calls it the “mother promise” when he states, “This passage called the “mother promise” now sets the tone for the entire Old Testament.” ²

We should take note of two facts found in the protoevangelium. First, is the fact that God speaks of the struggle between the seed of Satan and the seed of the woman. On one hand, it is revealed that there will be a battle between the children of darkness (seed of the serpent) and the children of light (seed of the woman). On the other hand it is ultimately a battle between Satan and the Seed. Coxe concurs:

For the seed of the woman is to be understood collectively of Christ and [His] members (as the seed of the serpent includes all wicked men) though it has a principal reference to Christ personally, who alone has obtained the victory over the infernal power and destroyed the works of the Devil. (Coxe 2005, 55) ³

The redeemer will do for the elect of God what the first Adam was unable to accomplish.

The second fact to note is that the protoevangelium does not give explicit details concerning the character of this redeemer except for the fact that he will be born of a woman. The nature of prophecy in the Old Testament is of a progressive nature. As the utterance of messianic prophecy progresses the identity of the redeemer becomes more evident. We later learn that this Seed of the woman will be a king from the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10), a prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15), and a priest after the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110:4).

So then, for what purpose did it serve that the redeemer should be born of a woman? For the purpose of condemning sin in the flesh (Romans 8:3). The second Adam had to clothe Himself in the nature of those whom He would set free from the bondage of sin. This is He whom the Old Testament pointed to and in whom the Old Testament saints placed their faith.

Technorati Tags: Covenant of Works, Genesis, Gospel, Covenant Theology, Seed of the Woman, Redeemer

As an illustration he mentioned how many of us might move to a different city to start over or try to escape our past. We’ve all been there. Some of us might have had a career change or some other kind of life change. But no matter what we may change in our life, we remain the same. We cannot change who we are.

We can also say this of our spiritual state. Just as a leopard cannot change his spots (Jeremiah 13:23), we cannot change our spiritual state. A regeneration of the inward man must occur. The Bible uses three wonderful pictures for the idea of regeneration: the new birth (John 3); resurrection (John 11:25-26); a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Before the new birth, we are like dead men walking. We do not realize that we are dead until we are made alive by the Spirit. There is truly life after birth and this new life is the work of God that cannot be thwarted.

Technorati Tags: Rebirth, Regeneration, Holy Spirit, New Creation

MacArthur’s purpose for writing this book came from his evaluation of how the Gospel is being preached today. Many people around the world sit in church every Sunday and believe they are going to heaven but have been misinformed. They have no idea about what the Gospel entails and what it means to be a disciple of Christ. The author wants to inform his readers of the deadly mistake, and he wants to encourage them to hold fast to the message of the Gospel and the cross.

MacArthur brings out the biggest problem of why the Gospel has become so watered down, and that is the problem of being seeker-sensitive. He mentions that there are many evangelicals and churches that are so seeker-sensitive that the Gospel sounds more like fluff than the Gospel.

One of the examples of true evangelism and the truth of the Gospel is when the rich young ruler approaches Jesus asking the question, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” This is what MacArthur had to say concerning Mark 10:17-22:

What a setup for personal evangelism! Jesus could have said, “Pray this prayer” or “Make a decision to accept Me!” He [did not]. Instead, he confronted the young man with the reality of sin to reveal whether or not he was convicted of his wickedness and penitent over his iniquities. (8)

This is what MacArthur says is missing in the Gospel and evangelism today. Churches that are seeker-sensitive want to shorten the sermon if it is too long, calm the message down if it is too harsh, or make the music more of a Los Vegas show if it is too boring. They make Christianity appealing, easy, and fun, but many have had a rude awakening. Some have seen that the Christian life is not that easy to live and it was not what they were expecting. The author mentions some of his friends who seemed on fire for God but then have walked away to pursue a life of drugs or join some other false cult.

MacArthur brings up another problem that is vastly becoming popular and that is the health and wealth and name it claim it gospel. Many people are seeking an experience rather than a person. The New Testament is filled with examples of the crowd wanting to follow Jesus because of the miracles that he performed but when it came down to making a life changing decision, they wanted no part of it.

Many people in Christian churches are trying somehow to get the power - and speakers are encouraging them! They say, “Folks, we want you to get the power.” Then, wild, crazy things go on with people jumping and hollering and screaming and flipping and flopping all over the place for one basic thing: they’re trying to get the power. (171)
This is what MacArthur mentioned about jazzing up the Gospel to give it a pretty makeover so that people will accept it.

When I picked up this book, I was eager to read what MacArthur had to say. This book is an encouragement to those whose heart is broken because of where Christianity is headed. The Bible has mentioned that there will come a time when many will turn away from the truth and preach to itching ears (2 Tim 3:3-4). MacArthur opens the Scripture to reveal to his readers the right way to present the Gospel. The Gospel should not be user-friendly or seeker-sensitive, it should be life-changing. People should be hit with the truth and hard facts, so that they may choose this day whom they will serve. MacArthur does an excellent job of stressing the “cost of discipleship”.

Technorati Tags: Gospel, Lordship Salvation, John MacArthur, Christianity, Seeker Sensitive, Evangelistic

The problem with those who are trying to be seeker-sensitive is that their message disregards repentance, the Lordship of Christ, and the work of the Spirit. Their emphasis is usually on what God can do for you in this life. �If you are in pain, come to Jesus. If you are feeling lonely and depressed, come to Jesus. If you have no friends, come to Jesus. If your rent is due and you have no money, come to Jesus.� This is the extent of the message. But the true message should be �If you realize that you are a sinner and the wrath of God is upon you, repent and believe!� If we preach that Jesus is a savior, we need to preach from what we are being saved. It is not the cares of the world, but our sickness caused by sin.

Besides repentance, the Lordship of Christ is not emphasized as well. The Lordship of Christ became a controversial issue some years back after the publication of John MacArthur�s book The Gospel According to Jesus. I don�t see why it is such a controversy since the Scriptures speak of Him being Lord.

Luke 5:12
While He was in one of the towns, a man was there who had a serious skin disease all over him. He saw Jesus, fell facedown, and begged Him: “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.

Luke 6:46
Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do the things I say?

John 20:28
Thomas responded to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

Acts 2:36
Therefore let all the house of Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah!

Romans 10:9
if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

�If you confess with your mouth, �Jesus is Lord?�� Hmmm, sounds like Lordship salvation to me. You cannot separate the work Christ accomplished through the cross from His Lordship. For this is why the grave could not keep Him. He is Lord over all.

Lastly, the seeker-sensitive movement neglects the power of the Spirit. No one knows from where He comes and to where He goes. The moving of the Spirit cannot be manipulated by men. He is God and He does what He wills. Creating new evangelistic techniques cannot manipulate a goat into becoming a sheep. They must already be sheep and be part of the fold. That is why Christ stated, �But you don�t believe because you are not my sheep� (John 10:26). If they are not chosen before the foundation of the world, there is no amount of manipulation and parlor tricks you can do to get a goat into the Kingdom of God.

Technorati Tags: Seeker-Sensitive, Purpose Driven, Gospel, Rick Warren, Lordship, Salvation

I was reading a blog entry this morning entitled, “Southern Baptists . . . An Unregenerate Denomination.” Jim Elliff, the author of this entry pointed out a few statistics in regards to unregenerate church membership in the convention. This is not an attack on this great denomination but an assessment as to why so many of its members seem to be unregenerate. His entry is very informative because he brings to light what might be some key issues to this dilemma. The one I want to stress is the evangelistic approach.

I was a youth minister in a Southern Baptist church while I was attending college. We would meet on Sunday’s and Wednesday nights. At the end of each lesson, I was very intentional in bringing it back to “Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). During a lesson one Sunday, I asked the class, “who is ready to follow Christ?” I do not believe that we should ask such a question because we have no examples in Scripture. But what we read in Scripture is that the Gospel is preached and that whoever is ordained to eternal life will come (Acts 13:48). One student raised her hand and then I said to her, “we will talk after class.” As we talked, I wanted to make sure she understood the “cost” and what it means to “repent and believe.” After our conversation she decided that she was not ready to confess Christ as Lord. To tell you the truth, this was the first time that I had ever really taken a different approach, or I should say the biblical approach to presenting the Gospel. This is when I realized that I was neglecting to give the whole message. My understanding of evangelism changed after this encounter.

Though we do not know whom the Lord will call, our evangelistic message should always include the righteousness of God, the sinfulness of man, and repentance. Some make a decision without understanding that there is a cost to discipleship. I know that there will always be unregenerate people who think they are Christians, but I believe if we be true to the message, we will have less people coming in droves looking for Jesus to be a “quicker fixer upper.”

Technorati Tags: Repentance, Sin, Regenerate, Southern Baptist, Church, Salvation, Kingdom of God

I have participated in many evangelism conferences where the emphasis was on
getting the person to make a decision. On one evangelistic outreach I
participated in, one person in our group did just that. He was trying to get
a woman to confess Christ and to her credit she said, “I am not
ready.” However, that did not stop him. He then asked her to pray with us and she conceded. But the prayer turned
out to be different than what I expected. He asked the woman to repeat
the prayer after him. Guess what? Yup, you guessed it. He had her
recite the “sinner’s prayer” as if bam boom, she would become saved
because she prayed it. Only thing I can say is that I was completely
flabbergasted. I could not believe what I had just witnessed.

The way evangelism is conducted today is not like the examples we see in the Scriptures. The way most evangelicals do evangelism today is lacking due to the fact that sin is not called sin anymore. People want
to put a band-aid on it. The Bible states that sin equals death: for
the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). We must help them to see that they are sinners in need of repenting. Is this not the
reason why Christ came: to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15)? How else or why else
would you present the Gospel? Sin is the problem, Christ
is the solution.

We have such a great example of evangelism from Jesus in the Gospels when He is approached by the rich young ruler (Matthew 19:13-22; Mark 10:17-22; Luke 18:18-23). The rich young ruler approaches Christ and calls Him “Good Teacher” while also asking how may someone “inherit eternal life.” Jesus takes the opportunity to point out that there is no one good but God and mentioned the keeping of the commandments in order to inherit eternal life.

Jesus was pointing out to the rich young ruler that he was a sinner in need of saving. However the rich young ruler missed two aspects of Jesus’ answer. One, the rich young ruler should have confessed and realized that the One who is standing before him is the great I AM. Second, the rich young ruler denied that he was a sinner by confessing that he kept the commandments from his youth. No man born of a woman (with the exception of Christ) is able to keep the law.

Since the rich young ruler believed that he was oh so righteous, Jesus decided to put the icing on the cake. Jesus said, “sell all that you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me” (Luke 18:22). Hold on. Didn’t Jesus miss an opportunity to push him for a decision? Wasn’t Jesus supposed to say “pray this prayer” or “walk this aisle?” No, the rich young ruler failed to realize that he was in rebellion against God. He wanted to put a band-aid on his problem instead of repenting and following Christ. This is biblical evangelism

One other aspect concerning biblical evangelism is that one must understand the activity of the Spirit. Sinners are dead men walking. They don’t know that they are dead and they cannot resurrect themselves. Unless the Spirit resurrects them, they will stay dead. The Spirit blows where He wills and no one can manipulate His moving (John 3:8). Soli Deo Gloria!

Technorati Tags: Evangelism, Gospel, Christianity, Salvation, Lordship

I heard many answers to my former question, but the answer that I received the most was based on Ephesians 2:8 which states, �For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift.� Then the explanation would be that though salvation is God�s gift, man has the free will to accept it or reject this gift. Though my question was answered I was quite unsatisfied with the answer. I was looking for more of a step-by-step process. However, the answer to my second question gave way to the answer to my first.

Why me? This is a question that has plagued me the most. I began to ask this question in light of having many Christian friends who were from Christian homes or were third and fourth generation Christians. I was not from a Christian family, and my family�s background was unbeknownst to me because my father was adopted. Out of everyone in my family, why was I the only one to realize this magnificent �gift� of God?

In finding the answer to the question why me, I figured out that the answer was in the question itself. It has nothing to do with me but the fact of the matter is that it is all of grace. Then I came to the realization that there maybe some weight to the doctrine of election and predestination. My question then went from why me to why some and not others? The answer was that it was according to God�s good pleasure (Ephesians 1:5).

After finding the answer to the why me question, my other question was beginning to be answered as well. I began to understand that the how of salvation finds its conception in God alone. The answer to these questions sent me on a hunt to find out more about the Protestant Reformation, Calvin, Luther and others. After the reading of many books, articles, and searching the Scriptures, I was convinced that reformed theology was true biblical theology.

Technorati Tags: Reformed Theology, Calvinism, Covenant Theology, Federal Theology, Doctrines of Grace

Creedal theology is not seen in a good light among many non-reformed churches. Non-creedalism is why we have so many differences of opinions among Christians these days. Many Christians approach the Scriptures with their individualistic interpretations without giving any regard to what was the orthodox belief among the Church in all times. I would hear time and time again, “well this is what such and such verse means to me.” I agree that the Scriptures have numerous applications, but it has only one interpretation.

Because of the individualistic interpretation of Scripture, many of the heresies that our fathers fought against are reappearing. This is exactly why we need creeds. The confession of a creed keeps us in unity of mind with one another. By confessing a creed together, we confess the same belief. The Church of Christ should not be divided because “no city or house divided against itself will stand” (Matthew 12:25). Please don’t misunderstand me. I am not saying that creeds should be placed above the Bible. Because I believe that “The supreme judge by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture” (WCF I:x). Creeds are not God-breathed (theopneustos) or infallible. However, creeds are statements that give a systematic understanding of what the Scriptures teach.

But is creedal theology a biblical one? I believe it is. For the apostle Peter wrote in his first epistle, “but set apart the Messiah as Lord in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15). We should always be ready to give a ready defense for why we believe what we believe. I strongly believe that we need a resurgence of creedal theology in our churches. We will not be unified until we are all able to confess the same belief.

Technorati Tags: Creedal Theology, Westminster Divines, Scripture, American Christianity, Evangelicalism