Dr Paul Allen

Christ in Gethsemane (Christus in Gethsemane), oil painting by Heinrich Ferdinand Hofmann (Heinrich Hofmann). The original is at the Riverside Church (Riverside Church, New York City). (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “… They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word” (John 17:6b). The first words of this passage are filled with doctrinal significance: “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world.” Jesus is, of course, speaking of the disciples in particular, but He is also referring to the elect in general (v. 20, “for all those who believe in Me”). Jesus makes known the name of God , which is His character and all His attributes, to those “who believe in Me.” And those who believe in Christ are those whom the Father has graciously chosen from all the people of the world. One of the best commentaries on this is found in the Canons of Dort : “Now election is the immutable purpose of God, whereby, before the foundations of the wo...

William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - The Flagellation of Our Lord Jesus Christ (1880) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) "For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." ( Colossians 2:9 ) The term "Godhead" occurs three times in the King James translation . Each time it translates a slightly different Greek noun, all being slight modifications of the Greek word for " God " (theos, from which we derive such English words as "theology"). It essentially means the nature, or "structure," of God, as He has revealed Himself in His Word. The first occurrence is in Acts 17:29 : "We ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device." Men have been guilty throughout the ages of trying to "model" the Godhead, but this leads quickly to idolatry, whether that model is a graven image of wood or stone or a philosophical construct of the human mind. What man ca...