Dr Paul Allen

Psalm 21, Initial D. In: Albani-Psalter (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Icon of Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) "I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee." ( Psalm 2:7 ) There are many today (especially Muslims, Jews, and Christian "liberals") who are monotheists, believing in one supreme God but rejecting the deity of Christ . They argue that the doctrine that Jesus was the unique Son of God was invented by the early Christians and that the God of the Old Testament had no Son. Orthodox Jews in particular emphasize Deuteronomy 6:4 : "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD." The fact is, however, that there are a number of Old Testament verses that do speak of God's only begotten Son. Note the following brief summary. First, there is God's great promise to David: "I will set up thy seed after thee, . . . I will be his father, and he shall be my son. . . . thy throne sh...

Caricature of John Charles Ryle (10 May 1816 - 10 June 1900), Anglican Bishop of Liverpool. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Icon of Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Dove representation in the Baptism of Christ by Pietro Perugino, circa 1498 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The debate about sanctification (does holiness come through personal effort, or is the best approach to sanctification to “relax” and trust God more?) is hardly limited to this age. J. C. Ryle fought the same battles over 100 years ago. Here are his comments on the idea that we are sanctified in the same way we are justified: “I ask whether it is wise to speak of faith as the one thing needful, and the only thing required, as many seem to do nowadays in handling the doctrine of sanctification. Is it wise to proclaim in so bald, naked, and unqualified a way as many do that the holiness of converted people is by faith only, and not at all by personal exertion? Is it according to the proportion of God’s Word? I do...

Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia Ye have heard the blasphemy : what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death." ( Mark 14:64 )   There are today many liberal theologians who profess to be Christians , but who argue that Jesus was merely a great man, and that He never claimed deity for Himself. But the Sanhedrin and its high priest had no such doubts, for they had heard it from His own lips.   When the high priest asked him directly: "Art thou the Christ , the Son of the Blessed?" Jesus (who had been silent up to that point in His own defense) answered him plainly. "I am," He said: "and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven" ( Mark 14:62 ).   The council immediately voted to condemn Him to death, since blasphemy was considered a capital crime. Two members of the body, Joseph and Nicodemus , had evidently already left, probabl...

Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia Jesus said, “I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him” (John 5:42–43). When Jesus says, “receive him,” he means receive him for who he really is: the divine , eternal Son of God who lays down his life for the sheep and takes it up again in three days. If a person does not receive him in this way, that person, Jesus says, does not love God. Jesus said, “The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father . Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him” (John 5:22–23). When Jesus says, “Honor the Son who sent him, he means honor the Son for who he really is as the divine, eternal Son of God who laid down his life for the sheep and took it up again in three days. The person who does not honor him in this way, Jesus s...