Dr Paul Allen

Previously, we dug through  1 Cor. 12:23 , which contains the first of two occurrences of the term “ modesty ” in the ESV .  We saw that in  1 Cor. 12:23 , the term translated “modesty” carried an idea that wasn’t  primarily  one of appearance, but rather  overall demeanour .  To be clear, the term included appearance but involved  more  than just appearance. Today, we’ll look at the second occurrence of “modesty” in the ESV, which is found in  1 Tim. 2:9 . 1 Tim. 2:9  – Again, I’m going to set the verse within its immediate context of  1 Tim. 2:8-15 I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling;   9  likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with  modesty  and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire ,   10  but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with...

Oil painting of a young John Calvin. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) In 1557, John Calvin published his large commentary on the book of Psalms . In the English translation , this commentary runs to five substantial volumes. This commentary reflects a life lived with the Psalter . He loved the psalms: he knew them, studied them, wrote on them, preached them, and sang them. In the course of his commentary on the Psalms, Calvin gave strong expression to various aspects of his doctrine of providence. Five themes about providence recur in his exposition. First, he recognizes God ’s power as the active governor of the world: He gives us to understand by this word, that heaven is not a palace in which God remains idle and indulges in pleasures, as the Epicureans dream, but a royal court, from which he exercises his government over all parts of the world. If he has erected his throne, therefore, in the sanctuary of heaven, in order to govern the universe, it follows that he in no wis...

Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee.” ( Jeremiah 32:17 ) The Genesis record of creation generates more hostility among men than any other message. Even secular atheists claim to respect the humanitarian teachings of Jesus, but they bristle irrationally when the Lord Jesus is identified as the Creator . Perhaps this is because the evidence for God ’s omnipotence is displayed so openly and vividly by the “greatness of his might” ( Isaiah 40:26 ). The God who can speak the billions of galaxies into existence with the “breath of his mouth” ( Psalm 33:6 ) is a God who can cast ungodly men into eternal hell for their defiance and rebellion against “the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ ” ( Jude 1:4 ). Conversely, the God who “stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing” ( Job 26:7 ) is able to “save them to the uttermost that come unto Go...

English: From frontpiece of Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines (1924) by David Unaipon at the State Library of New South Wales (http://image.sl.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/ebindshow.pl?doc=a1929/a1191;thumbs=1) Category:Images of Australian people (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The first adult Christian at the Point MacLeay Mission, near the mouth of the Murray River in South Australia , was James Ngunaitponi, a Ngarrindjeri man whose name was Anglicised to ‘Unaipon’ by white people who could not pronounce it. The mission, technically non-denominational, was conservatively evangelical and ruled by the stern George Taplin. James Unaipon , born about 1830, came to Christ in 1862 through the teaching of a far gentler itinerant missionary, James Reid of the Free Church of Scotland , whose name James took at baptism. He chose to accompany Reid, acting as a translator and taking his own first steps towards evangelism. He had an immense knowledge of the Bible, the King James Bible of cou...

Jesus is considered by scholars such as Weber to be an example of a charismatic religious leader. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.” ( 2 Corinthians 5:9 ) Paul’s great ambition was to please his Lord and Savior. In our text, the Greek for “accepted” often also is translated “well-pleasing,” and this is the real meaning of the word. Since this also is the great desire of every sincere Christian, let us look at a few of those passages where the Lord tells us specifically how we can please Him. Consider, for example: “But to do good and to communicate [i.e., to ‘share what you have with others’] forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased” ( Hebrews 13:16 ; see also Philippians 4:18 ). There is a special admonition to children: “Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord” ( Colossians 3:20 ). For adults: “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier ...

John Gibson Paton (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) In November 2012, 530 runners were poised on the starting line for the Heaton Harriers 10km race through Newcastle, England . As is customary a cyclist familiar with the route—or “rabbit” as it is quaintly known—was employed to ride just ahead of the frontrunners to lead them. The rabbit, wearing a conspicuously fluorescent yellow top, pedalled ahead moments before the starting pistol sounded. At the bang the racers charged off enthusiastically. However, shortly after the rabbit and a small pack of frontrunners crested a blind rise and turned left, a local cyclist who perchance was donned in a fluorescent yellow cycling top pedalled briefly onto the route and then turned right. The obliging runners dutifully followed him on a meandering, seemingly random route through Newcastle until the biker serendipitously crossed the actual route again, having taken what was in effect a substantial shortcut. The man who thought he was...