Dr Paul Allen

Obedience to the Word of God rightly takes center stage in most discussions of living as a follower of Christ. Nevertheless, I would suggest that Christians as a whole would benefit from a greater emphasis on the second aspect of faithful Christian discipleship—namely, submission to the will of God.  Submission to God’s will could be a broad category that would include obedience to His written Word, but I particularly mean the daily walk before the Lord in which we lay our requests, desires, and prayers before Him and then actively submit to His sovereign will as it plays out in our lives. And as in all areas of Christian discipleship, Jesus gives us the perfect example of what this looks like. In particular, His prayer to His Father in the garden of Gethsemane shows us the way. Jesus’ words on the night He was betrayed are some of His most remembered, as He prays “My Father if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matt. 26:39). I...

1. Welcome those who disagree with you ( Rom. 14:1–2). Concerning any area of disagreement on third-level matters [i.e., disputable issues that shouldn’t cause disunity in the church family], a church will have two groups: (1) those who are “weak in faith ” (14:1) on that issue and (2) those “who are strong” (15:1). The weak in faith have a weak conscience on that matter, and the strong in faith, a strong conscience. Don’t forget that “faith” here refers not to saving faith in Christ (14:22a makes that clear) but to the confidence a person has in their heart or conscience to do a particular activity, such as eat meat (14:2). The weak person’s conscience lacks sufficient confidence (i.e., faith) to do a particular act without self-judgment, even if that act is actually not a sin . To him it would be a sin. What this means is that you are responsible to obey both Paul’s exhortations to the weak and his exhortations to the strong, since (1) there are usually people on either side o...

Title: The Prayer of Jesus (St John Passion - 3) Painter: Jacek Andrzej Rossakiewicz (b.1956) Year: 1990 Characteristics: Oil on canvas, 245 x 137 cm (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.” ( Proverbs 28:9 ) There are some prayers that God hates, strange as that may seem. In fact, our very prayers can even “become sin ” ( Psalm 109:7 ). When one who has deliberately “turned away his ear” from the Word of God (preferring his own way to God’s revealed will as found in His Word) attempts to ask God for blessing or direction, his prayer becomes presumption. God hates such prayers, and those who pray them should not be surprised when He does not give them their request. “Behold, the Lord ’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear” ( I...

THE CHRISTIAN ’S ASSURANCE “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God , to them who are the called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28) HOW many of God’s children through the centuries have drawn strength and comfort from this blessed verse. In the midst of trials, perplexities, and persecutions, this has been a rock beneath their feet. Though to outward sight things seemed to work against their good, though to carnal reason things appeared to be working for their ill, nevertheless, faith knew it was far otherwise. And how great the loss to those who failed to rest in this inspired declaration: what unnecessary fears and doubtings were the consequence. “All things work together.” The first thought occurring to us is this: What a glorious Being is our God, who is able to make all things so work! What a frightful amount of evil is in constant motion. What an almost infinite number of creatures there are in the world. What an incalculable quantity of...

Christ oriental - Our Lady of Lebanon Melkite Church, Fortaleza Brazil (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) There can be only one proper response to grace: a life of grateful holiness . Christ 's atoning death was "in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit" (Rom. 8:4). There are two ways of understanding these words. One way is to view them as a statement of what our Lord achieved on the cross: He fulfilled what the law required by offering up a perfect obedience (the active obedience of Christ ) and by meeting the law's retribution for our sin by His death (the passive obedience of Christ). He fulfilled the righteous requirements of the law for us in His life and death. Grateful law-keeping is the saved sinner's response to received grace. More likely, however, Paul is stating (what he will elaborate on later in this chapter) that Christians, whose sins are forgiven, n...

Antonio Ciseri's depiction of Pontius Pilate presenting a scourged Christ to the people Ecce homo! (Behold the man!). (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Matthew 27:27–31 “And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him” ( v. 31 ). Reformed theologians often describe Christ ’s work in terms of His active and passive obedience . The active obedience of Christ is His doing the Father’s will, taking specific actions — teaching, miracle-working, obeying the Law — to “fulfill all righteousness” ( Matt. 3:15 ). The passive obedience of Christ encapsulates His submission to death. We cannot absolutely separate Christ’s active and passive obedience, for Jesus must actively set His mind on the Father’s plan if He is to endure the cross. Still, passive obedience is an appropriate description of Jesus’ nonviolent resistance to suffering ( 1 Peter 2:23 ). This passive obedience includes Jesus’ arrest, trial, and scourgin...

Christ oriental - Our Lady of Lebanon Melkite Church, Fortaleza Brazil (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law” (Rom. 3:28). Protestantism , in keeping with its commitment to the Bible as the final authority in all matters of faith and life, emphasizes that justification is by faith alone . Only by our faith are we justified.  It would be a mistake, however, to view this faith as in itself some kind of meritorious work that earns our justification. Faith is not some good thing that makes up for all of the evil that we have done in our lives. Christians mistakenly assume that we are justified as a reward for the goodness of our faith or that we, even after the Fall, possess some small bit of good will that enables us to exercise fai th on our own. The Bible tells us that this is not the case. Our faith itself is a gift from God (Eph. 2:8). We are responsible to exercise it, but the only reason we have it at all...

Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia There can be only one proper response to grace: a life of grateful holiness. Christ 's atoning death was "in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit" (Rom. 8:4). There are two ways of understanding these words. One way is to view them as a statement of what our Lord achieved on the cross: He fulfilled what the law required by offering up a perfect obedience (the active obedience of Christ ) and by meeting the law's retribution for our sin by His death (the passive obedience of Christ). He fulfilled the righteous requirements of the law for us in His life and death. Grateful law-keeping is the saved sinner’s response to received grace.  More likely, however, Paul is stating (what he will elaborate on later in this chapter) that Christians , whose sins are forgiven, now live in holy, obedient gratitude for the g...

Image via Wikipedia God is called holy not only because of what He does, but also because of who He is. Originally the term referred more to God's being than His action or behavior. For us to be called saints ("holy ones"), we must have a catharsis. We must be made clean. No unclean thing can stand before the presence of a holy God. That which is unclean is profane in His eyes. For us to be holy to God, our unclean, unholy moral imperfection must be purged and our sin removed from us. That is why the absolutely necessary condition for redemption is atonement. Without atonement we would remain always and forever unclean and unholy before His penetrating gaze. No human is holy in himself. Holiness is foreign to us. It is alien. That is why we require the righteousness of another to cover our moral nakedness. The Holy One has given us the holiness we need in the cloak of Christ's righteousness . Therefore we pray: "God is great, God is good. And we thank Him f...