Dr Paul Allen

Fruit of the Spirit, we took a general look at the list to begin to uncover the meaning of the Apostle Paul’s words to the Galatians. Now we will examine each of these slices of the Spirit’s fruit, starting with love. What is this love produced by the Spirit?  Defining love is not an easy task, but here’s one that attempts to sum up the biblical nature of love: Love is a holy, divine affection toward others produced by the Spirit of God in all believers. This is spiritual love – produced, wrought, and empowered by the Holy Spirit. So, what does this love truly mean? First, spiritual love is not a natural phenomenon. Spiritual love is not the natural affection of the world. The world might be capable of love in the human sense of the term. We know there are unbelievers who have good marriages. Some unbelievers are willing to sacrifice for the greater good of humanity. It is possible to do these things without having true love as God defines it. As Paul says, a person can be a great ...

A little over ten years ago, the book "The Shack" became an unexpected bestseller, sparking debate and garnering appreciation from across the evangelical landscape. Although the author originally wrote the book for his children and had it copied at Kinko’s, it reached number one on the New York Times fiction best-seller list after its release. In 2017, a major motion picture based on the book returned to the top spot once again. The themes of the book are heavy, at times harrowing, and inescapably theological, though they are presented in such a way that the reader can forget it is indeed a work of theology. The theological themes touched on include the character of the church, the problem of evil (theodicy), the nature of revelation, the depiction of God, and our understanding of the Trinity. I want to speak to an element of this last theme because the novel assumes something we are all tempted to assume: in reference to God, ”Father” is ultimately a metaphor and, as such, c...

One woman with cancer told me years ago, “I’m not a believer anymore—that doesn’t work for me. I can’t believe in a personal God who would do something like this to me.” Cancer killed her God. What would happen to me? I felt like a surgeon who was suddenly on the operating table. Would I be able to take my own advice? Facing such a serious diagnosis, Keller was forced to reexamine not only his “professed beliefs” but his “actual understanding of God.” He writes, Had [my ideas about God] been shaped by my culture? Had I been slipping unconsciously into the supposition that God lived for me rather than I for him, that life  should  go well for me, that I knew better than God does how things should go? The answer was yes—to some degree. I found that to embrace God’s greatness, to say “Thy will be done,” was painful at first and then, perhaps counterintuitively, profoundly liberating. To assume that God is as small and finite as we are may  feel  freeing—but it offers no...

Kevin De Young  We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. (2 Cor. 5:10) In 2 Corinthians 5:18–20, Paul explains that he has a ministry of reconciliation. This invites the question: How are we reconciled to God? That may seem like a silly question to us. “What do you mean, how are we reconciled? We say we’re sorry for our sins. God says it’s not a problem. And everything’s all better.” But God’s forgiveness doesn’t work like that. It would be a violation of his own nature. God is loving, but he is also just. God cannot simply pass over our sins because he feels like it. Sin is a personal offence to God. If God were to look past our sin just because he really likes us, he would treat his name with contempt. There needs to be some kind of restitution for our wrongs and satisfaction of divine justice. Proverbs 17:15 says he who justifies the wicked is an abomination to the Lord....

I dwell...with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit. (Isa. 57:15) Matthew Henry, in the eighteenth century, wrote,  “He that dwells in the highest heavens dwells in the lowest hearts, and inhabits sincerity as surely as he inhabits eternity. In these he delights.” 1 Franz Delitzsch, in the nineteenth century, put it beautifully:  The Holy One is also the Merciful One. . . . The heaven of heavens is not too great for him, and a human heart is not too small for him to dwell in. He who dwells among the praises of the seraphim does not scorn to dwell among the sighs of a poor human soul.2 John Oswalt, writing in the twentieth century, says it this way:  “He offers life to those from whom the life has been all but crushed out; he offers life to those whose spirit has been ground down to nothing. They need not be captive to their sin and shame.”3 Our tenderhearted King knows that being alone at rock bottom is unspeakably painful. He vividly remembers that day on his cross ...

I could strengthen you with my mouth,  and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain. (Job 16:5) Job’s sufferings reveal Job’s heart. What he says in suffering opens a window into his soul. He is under intense pressure. He has lost his wealth, position, children, and health. But the worst pressure is that his so-called comforters accuse him of unforgiven sin. They say that his accursed state proves he is under the curse of God; the fact that he is “shriveled... up” is “a witness against” him (Job 16:8). There is something of Job’s comforters in us all. We hear of someone’s misfortune, and we can hardly help but wonder if, in some way, they deserved it; in the same breath, the thought occurs to us that perhaps our own happy state shows we deserve that too. How wrong we can be! In this speech, Job's heart is described in two remarkable ways. First, despite how badly they are treating him, Job longs to comfort and bring solace to his friends (v. 5). Far from wanting to “get back a...

The reign of Christ represents the ultimate standard of truth, justice, and righteousness. However, throughout history, various ideologies, practices, and worldviews have emerged as counterfeits of His rule. These counterfeits often appear to address societal needs but ultimately deviate from biblical truth, undermining God’s design for humanity and creation. Below are 10 prominent counterfeits of the reign of Christ, structured to highlight their biblical contradictions and societal implications. Socialism vs. Meritocracy Based on Sowing and Reaping The Bible affirms the principle of sowing and reaping, as outlined in Galatians 6:7: “A man reaps what he sows.” This principle underpins a meritocratic system where individuals are rewarded for their labor, diligence, and stewardship. Socialism, by contrast, redistributes resources irrespective of effort, undermining personal responsibility and the biblical work ethic. While Scripture calls for generosity and care for the poor, these are ...

Speak to God God is not asking for silence. When we suffer and do not understand, he is not demanding the stiff upper lip. He does not object to our groanings, our pleas for help, our desperate whimpers when we can’t even form words. He does not need us to piece ourselves together before we say our Thee’s and Thou’s in formal prayer. He invites us to question him. God is not threatened by our questions, so we should not tell the suffering to silence their complaints. Instead, they must take their accusations straight to God and listen. Everywhere you look in the Hebrew Bible, you’ll see exchanges between God and the patriarchs, prophets, or kings. God does not shrink before our speech. If anything, as we see amid the calamity of invasion at the outset of the prophet Isaiah’s ministry, God invites this dialogue. Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet,       they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson,   ...

And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you can number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the LORD and counted it to him as righteousness. (Gen. 15:4–6) Even though Abram and Sarai cannot have children, God assures Abram that his “very own son” will be his heir. Taking him outside to look at the stars, God promises Abram that his offspring will be equal to their number. The New Testament quotes Abram’s reply four times: “And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness” (Gen. 15:6).  This verse reveals a key scriptural pattern. God regards Abram as righteous in grace and accepts him because of his faith. Paul agrees: “For by grace you have been saved through faith” (Eph. 2:8). In the following two verses of Ephesians, Paul says God did not save us because of our wor...

Stephen Wellum Any sane person knows that there is something wrong with us. No one can honestly examine history, let alone their own lives, without being struck by the extent to which we as a human race have “missed the mark” and not lived up to our ideals. Reinhold Niebuhr keenly observed that “the doctrine of original sin is the only empirically verifiable doctrine of the Christian faith.”[1]  The “human condition” has been the subject of countless books, films, and plays as people have wrestled with the reality of good and evil. One of my favourites is The Lord of the Rings, in which Tolkien explores the insidious power of the ring and the evil that lurks in every heart. 1. Reinhold Niebuhr, Man’s Nature and His Communities: Essays on the Dynamics and Enigmas of Man’s Personal and Social Existence (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1965; repr., Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2012), 24. However, although everyone admits that something is wrong with us, we do not explain the “huma...