Dr Paul Allen

1 CORINTHIANS 6:15–20 “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (vv. 19b–20). Since the earliest days of the Christian church , believers have confessed the lordship of Christ . In fact, the first confession of the church was the simple affirmation, “ Jesus is Lord .” Our forefathers in the faith who lived under Roman rule were killed for this confession, for refusing to say that “Caesar is Lord.” Thus, it is not surprising that the Apostles’ Creed , the earliest of the ecumenical creeds, confesses Jesus as our Lord. But what is our reason for calling Him “Lord”?  The Heidelberg Catechism takes up that issue in question and answer 34, using 1 Corinthians 6 passage as a proof text. Our reasons for serving Christ as Lord are similar to the reasons for our comfort stated in answer 1 of the catechism, namely, that we belong to Jesus. He has purchased us; thus, we owe Him our highest allegiance. In 1 Corinthians 6:15–20, Paul uses ...

ACTS 9:1–19 “Falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ And he said, ‘Who are you, Lord ?’ ” (vv. 4–5a). Every Christian tradition has formulated some doctrine of regeneration. Despite the differing formulations of this doctrine, however, there are ultimately only two different views of the role of man and the role of God in regeneration: monergism or synergism. A synergistic view of regeneration says man and God cooperate in bringing new life to a person. The Lord acts upon the heart of the unbeliever, imploring him to change. However, though God calls to the heart, regeneration cannot occur unless the unbeliever, who has the ability to say, “yes,” or “no,” embraces the divine call. There are several problems with this view.  First, synergism sees the human will working with the divine will to achieve salvation. Yet we all come into the world spiritually dead and, being dead, cannot take hold of God’s grace unless ...

La conversion de Saint Paul by Luca Giordano (1690), Museum of Fine Arts of Nancy. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) "If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead ." ( Philippians 3:11 ) The usage of this seemingly insignificant phrase, "if by any means" ( Greek ei pos), follows a significant order of development in the New Testament . Occurring only four times, it is used to express the urgency of an object sought, and the background needs and means for its attainment. The context of the first occurrence is the presumed need for physical comfort and security. "Because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the more part advised to depart thence also, if by any means they might attain to Phenice , and there to winter" ( Acts 27:12 ). This particular goal, however, was never attained. The second is a more noble object, that of reaching an area of spiritual ministry. "Without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers,...

Painting image of Joan of Arc (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Joan of Arc, slandered by Shakespeare, who presented her as a whore and a witch in Henry VI, Part 1. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) I don’t know for sure whether God has or not. Certainly there are abundant cases in church history where people claim to have heard voices that were the audible voice of God . Joan of Arc would be Exhibit A. That testimony has come more than once from people whom we generally recognize as being reputable saints, and so I hesitate to cast aspersions on their testimony. On the other hand, we find that even in sacred Scripture , during a time when God was giving direct communication of divine revelation , the occurrences of an audible voice of God were extremely rare. I can only think of three times in the New Testament that there’s a record of God speaking audibly, and all three of them were occasions where the Father made a public declaration about his Son, who incidentally is no longer with us on t...