Dr Paul Allen

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven” ( Matthew 6:19–20 ). In Matthew 6:19–34, Jesus discusses the orientation toward life that is to characterize the family of God . We need to bear in mind that Jesus is providing us with aphorisms that address our attitudes. He is not contradicting other passages of His Word where we are told to be careful in our use of possessions. He says that treasures laid up on earth do not last. Precious garments of wool can be destroyed by moths, and implements of iron can rust. It makes no sense to invest our love and attention on such things, though we may enjoy them and make use of them. We must focus our attention on good works that please God, “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (v. 21). He goes on to say that we cannot serve two masters. Certainly we can serve two people, indeed many people, but ...

Second Timothy 3:16 contains one of the most important statements in the Bible about where the Bible came from and what it is: “All Scripture is God -breathed.” As we will discuss further in a later chapter, this means that the Bible is from God and is indeed the very Word of God. That makes the Bible the most important book that has ever been written. But what will reading the Bible do for you? If we continue reading 2 Timothy 3:16–17, we’ll find a helpful purpose statement for the Bible:  “All Scripture is God-breathed and is [therefore] useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Of the four terms at the end of verse 16, the first and last are positive—teaching and training in righteousness. The middle two are negative—rebuking and correcting. All of these revolve around the important issue of truth. We can think of truth as that which conforms to God, his thinkin...

How can Jesus be both - God and Human - in one individual at the same time?” Because this is so mysterious, so hard to understand, many have denied it and concluded that either Jesus was God or he was human, but not both. The Joining of Two Natures in One Person The taking on of humanity is called the incarnation . The eternal Son of God , the second person of the Trinity , took humanity upon himself, in addition to his deity, and became, forever, fully God and fully human. The means of the incarnation was the virgin birth of Jesus . Mary became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit , and she gave birth both to someone who had always been—the Son of God—and to a facet of him that was entirely new—the God-man, Jesus.  This was foretold in the Old Testament in Isaiah 7:14,  “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son.” Matthew quoted this verse and understood the fulfillment to be in Jesus (Matthew 1:22–23). John wrote, “The Word [Christ] became fles...

One of the most remarkable foundations of the Christian faith is that Jesus Christ is eternal God . This is disputed by other religions (including the other monotheistic faiths, Judaism and Islam), by Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses, and certainly by many skeptics. Without question, lacking this central pillar, Christianity fails and has nothing to offer anyone. It is no surprise that from very early on, believers have contended for, fought for, and died for this teaching—the deity of Jesus Christ . In a nutshell, the doctrine is that Jesus Christ is fully God (not half God or one-third God) and eternally God (he did not become God at some point in time). Anything less has been considered heresy. There are many lines of argument for the deity of Jesus. Plainly, the fact is crystal clear if one allows Scripture to say what it says. Here are a few of those contentions and a few examples. Not only did Christ exist before he was conceived by Mary (this is what preexistence mea...

The doctrine of definite atonement states that in the death of Jesus Christ , the triune God intended to achieve the redemption of every person given to the Son by the Father in eternity past, and to apply the accomplishments of His sacrifice to each of them by the Spirit. In a nutshell: the death of Christ was intended to win the salvation of God’s people alone, and not only was it intended to do so, but it actually achieved it as well. Jesus will be true to His name: “He will save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). The doctrine is theologically rich, but it is also immensely practical, especially in relation to the church. Two pictures in the New Testament dramatize Christ’s love for the church. There is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep and the Bridegroom who sacrifices Himself for His bride (John 10:15; Eph. 5:23-25). The first picture has implications for Christian pastors; the second has implications for Christian people. IMPLICATIONS FOR P...

There is no greater message to be heard than that which we call the gospel. But as important as that is, it is often given to massive distortions or over simplifications. People think they’re preaching the gospel to you when they tell you, ‘you can have a purpose to your life’, or that ‘you can have meaning to your life’, or that ‘you can have a personal relationship with Jesus .’ All of those things are true, and they’re all important, but they don’t get to the heart of the gospel. The gospel is called the ‘ good news ’ because it addresses the most serious problem that you and I have as human beings , and that problem is simply this: God is holy and He is just, and I’m not. And at the end of my life, I’m going to stand before a just and holy God , and I’ll be judged.  And I’ll be judged either on the basis of my own righteousness –or lack of it–or the righteousness of another. The good news of the gospel is that Jesus lived a life of perfect righteousness, of perfect obed...

I made a life plan when I was ten years old (yeah, I know, crazy). It included all the normal things: graduate high school, go to college, travel the world. With regards to romance, though, I always assumed I would get married at 23, because “Why not?” and “Surely I’ll have met somebody by then.” So, in my late teens, I arbitrarily picked a date (today, April 22, 2017) as my likely wedding day because (a) it’s a few months before my 24th birthday and (b) because I’ve always wanted a spring wedding. I added details about kids and jobs and travel along the way, but my plan has remained mostly unchanged. Pretty straightforward, right? Except the God I serve isn’t always a straightforward God. He is straightforward in what he wants from me: to act justly, love kindness, and to walk humbly with him (Micah 6:8), and to set nothing above him in my heart, mind, or soul ( Deuteronomy 6:5). But what about beyond that? What about my wedding day? Much to the woe of my control-des...

" Effectual calling " is the title of ch. 10 of the Westminster Confession (1647). The chapter begins: All those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and those only, He is pleased, in His appointed and accepted time, effectually to call, by His Word and Spirit, out of that state of sin and death, in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation, by Jesus Christ ; enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God, taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them a heart of flesh; renewing their wills, and, by His almighty power, determining them to that which is good, and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ: yet so, as they come most freely, being made willing by His grace.  What is described here is the process of Christian conversion , involving illumination, regeneration, and the transformation of the will.   It is a sovereign work of God, "effectually" (that is, effectively) performed by the power of the ...

Theologian Erich Sauer has written, “The present age is Easter time. It begins with the resurrection of the Redeemer and ends with the resurrection of the redeemed. Between lies the spiritual resurrection of those called into life through Christ . So we live between two Easters, and in the power of the first Easter we go to meet the last Easter.” The last Easter to which Saner refers is, of course, the bodily resurrection of the saved. Scripture speaks of that resurrection of the righteous (Rev. 20:6; 1 Thess. 4:13–18; 2 Cor. 5:1–5; Luke 14:14; John 5:29), calling it the first resurrection. The second is the resurrection of the unrighteous (John 5:29). It is of the first resurrection that Paul speaks in 1 Corinthians 15 . The apostle has reminded the Corinthians that they already believed in Christ’s resurrection (15:1–11) and that logically they must also believe in their own resurrection and that of all saints, mentioning seven disastrous and absurd consequences that would r...

Love does not insist on its own way ( 1 Corinthians 13:5). What a beautiful concept to contemplate. Like many expressions of biblical love, this one is heartwarming and inspiring to read about or observe, at least from a distance. Unfortunately, in the moment we’re called upon to exercise this kind of love, it often doesn’t appear or feel very lovely; it appears confusing and feels frustrating. It feels like self-denial. Me and Mine Wanting our own way is woven into the fabric of our fallen nature. Since the fall, it has been our default orientation. We can see this, even from our earliest days, whenever our way is crossed. We insist in the cradle and then as toddlers; we insist on the playground and then as over-confident teens; we insist in the church and the workplace; we insist as parents of toddlers and then as stubborn parents of over-confident teens; we insist as parents of adult children, and then as retirees, and then as nursing-home residents. We are disturbingly...

A. W. Tozer ’s discerned the decline of theology in the typical evangelical pulpit many years ago. T ozer (d. 1963) points back to the dumbing down of youth ministry as the moment that the cancer of non-doctrinal preaching entered evangelicalism. When youth pastors began to fancy themselves as professional entertainers, they prepared the students to disassociate theology from church:   We have the breezy, self confident Christians with little affinity for Christ and his cross. We have the joy-bell boys that can bounce out there and look as much like a game show host as possible. Yet they are doing it for Jesus ’ sake?! The hypocrites! They’re not doing it for Jesus’ sake at all; they are doing it in their own carnal flesh and are using the church as a theater because they haven’t yet reached the place where the theater would take them. (T ozer on Worship and Entertainment ). He then watches that cancer work its through the body as those youth pastors became pastors, ...

Copia desde la Crucifixion dibujada hacia 1540 por Miguel Angel Buonarroti para Vittoria Colonna. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) One of the so-called contradictions that we hear brought up concerns the disagreement between the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of John as to the time of the crucifixion of Jesus .  Mark 15:25 ( KJV ) states, “and it was the third hour, and they crucified him,” while in John 19:14 (KJV) we read, “And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews , Behold your King!”  This does indeed present a difficulty, since Mark has Jesus being crucified at the third hour, or nine o’clock in the morning, according to Jewish reckoning, while John places Jesus before Pontius Pilate at about the sixth hour, or noon.  Many say this discrepancy is impossible to reconcile, while others say the difference between the two is a result of a mistake early in the copying process. Neither of these two views is plausi...