Dr Paul Allen

Incarnation of Jesus (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) What we celebrate at Christmas is not so much the birth of a baby, as important as that is, but what's so significant about the birth of that particular baby is that in this birth we have the incarnation of God Himself. An incarnation means a coming in the flesh. We know how John begins His gospel, " In the beginning was the Word , and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." So in that very complicated introductory statement, he distinguishes between the Word and God, and then in the next breath identifies the two, "The Word was with God, and the Word was God." And then at the end of the prologue, he says, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." Now in this "infleshment," if you will, of Christ appearing on this planet, it's not that God suddenly changes through a metamorphosis into a man, so that the divine nature sort of passes out of existence or comes into a new form ...

To the Glory of God  (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Christians often speak of the glory of God and living for the glory of God, but what is the glory of God ? The Westminster Shorter Catechism rightly tells us that the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. And yet, ‘glorifying’ God and living for ‘the glory of God’ can often seem mysterious and ultimately disconnected from day-to-day life. There is no theme more central to the message of Scripture than the glory of God. He created the world so that his name would be glorified in and by the things he made, and he has saved us so that we might glorify him in eternity. It is a focus that a self-centered generation badly needs to recover, and the contributors to this volume have given us a wonderful introduction on which to base our reflections and our worship. An understanding of God’s glory affects every area of Christian living: the purpose of the Christian life, worship, ethics, evangelism, missions, past...

Saint Augustine of Hippo, a seminal thinker on the concept of just war (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) While he had been sitting under the Gospel preaching of Ambrose of Milan , Augustine of Hippo had the occasion to hear of the testimonies of the rhetorician  Victorinus  and of Anthony  and the Egyptian monks—schooled philosophers whom Augustine held in high esteem, men who had come under the conviction of the Holy Spirit by the Scriptures and were humbled to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ . At this point he could bear the convictions of his own soul no longer. He confronted his dear friend Alypius and spoke of the inner turmoil he was experiencing. Within the house of my spirit the violent conflict raged on, the quarrel with my soul that I had so powerfully provoked in our secret dwelling, my heart, and at the height of it I rushed to Alypius with my mental anguish plain upon my face. “What is happening to us?” I exclaimed. “What does this mean? What did yo...

John Owen, by John Greenhill (died 1676). See source website for additional information. This set of images was gathered by User:Dcoetzee from the National Portrait Gallery, London website using a special tool. All images in this batch have been confirmed as author died before 1939 according to the official death date listed by the NPG. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Puritan writers like John Owen are well-known for teaching Christians to pursue holiness and kill sin. This is helpful, but Puritans like Owen also recognized that this can also lead to a serious misunderstanding on the part of Christians. In the pursuit of holiness , Christians are tempted to dwell too much on their own sins and forget the kindness of their Heavenly Father . Think through the logic. We know that God hates sin. And although we fight sin in ourselves, no matter how hard we try, we will always find a lamentable degree of remaining sin on this side of glorification. Therefore, God must be perpetually an...

Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia What happens to infants who die? This is an issue almost every Christian faces at some point during his pilgrimage and it is one for which there is no easy answer. What’s more, surveying the writings of the great Christians of the past or present produces no clear consensus. Here are the predominant views found amongst believers: All children who die in infancy are saved.  If one view holds an edge on the others in terms of the quantity of adherents, this would likely be it. While all admit the Bible is not explicit here, they believe it can be deduced from a study of relevant passages in Scripture. The children of believers are saved . This view, held by a minority of believers, depends on a belief in covenant theology and holds that the children of believers are ushered into heaven; it takes no clear stand on what happens to the children of unbelievers. We can have no assurance . This view ...

Image via Wikipedia Science as we know it grew from pagan, occult, and biblical roots. Christianity Today  likes to emphasize the biblical sources. The story of creation, told in Genesis and elaborated in the New Testament , pictures a rational intelligence creating an orderly and predictable cosmos. Without that predictability in the natural world, neither Newton nor Einstein would have been possible. There are times, however, when a careful reading of the natural world seems to conflict with our reading of Scripture. Sometimes, Christian ways of thinking must adjust. Two famous names—Copernicus and Galileo—tell that tale. Other times, Christian thinkers adopt some of what scientific research suggests, but hold firm on key aspects of biblical knowledge.  The name B. B. Warfield tells that tale: The Princeton theology professor (d. 1921) taught in the wake of the Darwinian revolution. He and fellow evangelical leaders saw good reasons to believe that humanity's physical fo...