Biblical Studies

APPOINTING ELDERS (Titus 1). Like his first letter to Timothy, the Apostle Paul instructs his assistant Titus regarding the church on the island of Crete, to which Titus has been sent as an emissary. One thing that is needed on this island is church elders who are men of integrity and faithfulness. The list for elders here is similar to the one he gives to Timothy in 1 Timothy, chapter 3. Because this is a personal letter involving the care of the early church it is called a pastoral epistle .     THE GOD WHO NEVER LIES. We should pause and see a great truth packed into a short statement. "God, who never lies..." (v 2). In the original text it is only three words, "the not-lying God". It means that God is free from all deceit and completely truthful and trustworthy. "God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?" (Num 23:19; cf. Heb 6:17...

"And the angel said to them, 'Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.'" (Luke 2:10) “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay." (Matthew 28:5-6) Angels figure prominently in the Christmas story. I believe angels actually exist and are active in this world. Most of the time they are behind the scenes, unseen by human eyes, but sometimes they make their appearance. Angels were prevalent in the events surrounding the birth of Jesus, and then again at his resurrection and ascension, but not so much in between. So, when they show up in the biblical record we should take note. In a recent advent sermon, we heard references to "going back to the Garden" (that is, Eden) and to not being able to "find our way home." I'm not sure it was intended, but (as a child of the '60s) these two phrases...

"For I the LORD do not change..." (Malachi 3:6 ESV) "...the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." (James 1:17 ESV) A foundational truth in the Bible is the doctrine of God's immutability, that is, he is unchanging. He cannot become greater or lesser or other than who he is as the eternal and self-sufficient God. The Westminster Shorter Catechism states that God is "unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth." Below are a couple of excerpts from J. I. Packer's Knowing God (IVP, 1973, 2023), specifically from chapter 7, "God Unchanging", which highlight God's immutability in relation to his word and his purposes: ----------   God's truth does not change. People sometimes say things that they do not really mean, simply because they do not know their own mind; also, because their views change, they frequently find that they can no longer stand behind things...

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26-27 ESV) What does it mean that God created man in his own image? Lesslie Newbigin (1909--1998), British theologian and missionary to India, wrote in answer to this question,   "All will agree that this is one of the fundamental texts of the Bible. Let us consider it somewhat closely. What is meant by 'The Image of God'? It is obvious that we do not mean that man's outward appearance is the same as God's. God has no outward appearance. God is Spirit; man is spirit and body. But it is noteworthy that the Scripture does not say that God created man's spirit in the image of His own Spirit, but si...

"For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:19-20 ESV) I've finished reading again Paul's Epistle to the Galatians -- and what a wonderful charter of freedom it is for the Christian! I've been helped with two companion studies. They are The Origin of Paul's Religion , by J. Gresham Machen (1921), and Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free , by F. F. Bruce (1977). Here are just a few highlights from each...  "One fundamental feature of the experience has too often been forgotten—the appearance on the road to Damascus [Acts 9] was the appearance of a person. Sometimes the event has been regarded merely as a supernatural interposition of God intended to produce belief in the fact of the resurrection, as merely a sign. Undoubt...

I'm once again appreciating the rich contribution that J. Gresham Machen (1881-1937) has made both in New Testament studies and in apologetics. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, he was educated at Johns Hopkins, Princeton University and Seminary, Marburg, and Gottingen. Ordained in 1914, he taught New Testament at Princeton Seminary from 1906 to 1929. He, along with others, founded Westminster Theological Seminary (in Philadelphia, PA) and served as president and professor of NT until his death in 1937.  Among his most significant publications are Christianity and Liberalism (1923), What is Faith? (1925), The Origin of Paul's Religion (1927); and The Virgin Birth of Christ (1930). His popular radio messages have been published in book form as Things Unseen in 2020 by Westminster Seminary Press. Below are some random highlights from my past reading in Machen's books.  From Christianity and Liberalism (1923) “The truth is that the life-purpose of Jesus discovered by modern li...