Dr Paul Allen

If there is a belief that is central to Israel’s identity in the Old Testament, it is this: God is one (Deut. 6:4). In contrast to the nations surrounding Israel, nations that worshipped many gods, Israel was set apart as a people who worshipped only one God. They were to be monotheists. But we should add that true monotheism is not merely the belief that there is one God. It means also that this God is one. Theologians call this God’s simplicity. This doesn’t mean that God lacks depth. Rather, simplicity refers to God’s oneness. He is not a God made up of parts, let alone divided by parts. It’s not as if you could add up all God’s attributes to get the sum total we call “God.” Instead, God is one. His attributes are His essence1 and His essence His attributes. All that is in God simply is God. To say, then, that God is one not only means that there is only one true God but also that this God is one in essence. THE REVELATION OF THE TRINITY IN THE GOSPEL If you’ve read the

Christians are, generally speaking, weak on understanding God the Father. We hear a lot about Jesus, and rightly so. Depending upon which kind of church you associate with, the Holy Spirit may get a fair amount of attention and this is good also. At the same time, it seems like we’ve almost forgotten the Father, which may have contributed to the lack of good dads in our day. In the Old Testament, we hear a lot about fathers (e.g. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc.) but very little about God the Father. In fact, God is referred to as Father some 15 times depending upon which English translation you prefer. Furthermore, nearly every one of those few occurrences is speaking of God’s relationship to the entire nation of Israel instead of one individual. Everything changes, however, with Jesus Christ. His favorite name for God is “Father”. Roughly 165 times in the gospels, Jesus refers to God as Father. In John’s gospel we hear about God as Father some 100 times, which is the most of any gospel

As I read the scriptures, particularly the New Testament , there is a theme that recurs again and again regarding the Christian ’s willingness to be in submission to various types of authority. Given the rebellious spirit of our age, that frightens me. It’s all too easy for us to get caught up in an attitude that will bring us into open defiance of the authority of God . Let’s turn our attention to 1 Peter 2:11–16: Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of f

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 Shack Movie is not another C.S. Lewis ’ Narnia. Several well-meaning friends have expressed the idea that The Shack is no different than the very creative Narnia series by C.S. Lewis. Again, we turn to the writing of Tim Challies where in his blog “ Why Papa of The Shack Is not Aslan of Narnia. ” He suggests three reasons why the two are not the same: different genres (allegorical fiction vs didactic fiction), different persons ( Jesus vs God the Father , God the Son and God the Holy Spirit ), and different messages (Aslan is like Jesus vs Papa is God). Challies wraps up his blog with the following: I have argued on three grounds that Papa of The Shack is not Aslan of Narnia. They appear in different genres of literature, represent different characters, and teach different messages. Narnia is an allegorical tale; The Shack is didactic fiction. Aslan is a Christ-like figure from a parallel world and its fabricated mythology; Papa is God the Father in the real-world and

“An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” ( Matthew 12:39-40 ) If there was ever “an evil and adulterous generation,” it is surely this present one and, once again, there is a widespread seeking after signs (same word in the Greek as “miracles”). The almost explosive interest in all forms of occultism and supernatural phenomena: astrology, channeling, near-death experiences, UFOs , meditation, and mysticism of many strange varieties. Even in Christian circles, there is an unhealthy interest in new revelations and other supernatural signs. The Lord Jesus , however, rebuked those who wanted special signs before receiving Him. “Except ye see signs and wonders , ye will not believe” ( John 4:48 ). He has already given us the greatest of all signs—His

“And when they were awake, they saw His glory, and the two men that stood with Him ” ( Luke 9:32). The disciples were with Jesus Christ on the Mount, and in his Epistle , Peter records what they saw there; he says, “we were eye-witnesses of His majesty” (2 Peter i . 16). Jesus Christ is no Comrade to Peter, He is absolute King of kings . In the Apocalypse the Apostle John gives the same revelation of the appalling and sublime majesty of Jesus Christ. The disciples are fully awake now and face to face with Reality. Intellectual thinking and reasoning never yet got a man to Reality, because these are instruments of life, and not the life itself. Our only organ for getting at Reality is conscience, and the Holy Spirit always deals with conscience first. Intellect and emotions come in afterwards as the instruments of human expression. The disciples came down from the Mount into the demon-possessed valley, but it was not until after the Cross and the Resurrection that they began to

The saving ministry of Jesus Christ is summed up in the statement that He is the "mediator between God and men" (1 Tim. 2:5). A mediator is one who brings together parties who are out of communication and who may be alienated, estranged, or at war with each other. The mediator must have links with both sides so as to identify with and maintain the interests of both, and represent each to the other on a basis of goodwill.  Thus Moses was mediator between God and Israel (Gal. 3:19), speaking to Israel on God's behalf when God gave the law (Ex. 20:18-21 ) and speaking to God on Israel's behalf when Israel had sinned (Ex. 32:9-33:17). Every member of our fallen and rebellious race is by nature "hostile to God" (Rom. 8:7), standing under God's wrath, the punitive rejection whereby as Judge He expresses active anger at our sins (Rom. 1 :18; 2:5-9; 3:5, 6).  Reconciliation of the alienated parties is needed, but can only occur if God's wrath

The aftermath of a conversation can change the way we later think of its significance. My friend — a younger minister — sat down with me at the end of a conference in his church and said: "Before we retire tonight, just take me through the steps that are involved in helping someone mortify sin." We sat talking about this for a little longer and then went to bed, hopefully he was feeling as blessed as I did by our conversation. I still wonder whether he was asking his question as a pastor or simply for himself — or both.  How would you best answer his question? The first thing to do is:  Turn to the Scriptures . Yes, turn to John Owen (never a bad idea!), or to some other counselor dead or alive. But remember that we have not been left only to good human resources in this area. We need to be taught from "the mouth of God " so that the principles we are learning to apply carry with them both the  authority  of God and the  promise  of God to make the

This principle seems to hold true in nearly every area of life: The most satisfying joys we experience are realized mainly through adversity and struggle, while poor, unhealthy, thin joys can be had without much effort. Fulfilling joys usually require strenuous pursuit. Another similar principle also seems to be true: When the pursuit of a fulfilling joy moves from an inspiring idea to actually having to work hard for it, the reward suddenly diminishes in appeal. Therefore, we must often strenuously pursue a fulfilling joy when we don’t feel like it. I find both principles are often true when it comes to thanking God . A heart full of thanksgiving experiences profound joy. But cultivating a thankful heart is hard work — work we often don’t feel like doing. But God knows this about us, and his many commands that we “magnify him with thanksgiving” ( Psalm 69:30), “come into his presence with thanksgiving” (Psalm 95:2), “sing to [him] with thanksgiving” (Psalm 147:7),

“For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father .” ( Ephesians  2:18 )   We cannot see or hear the Holy Spirit , but He is very real and is, in fact, the very life of each true Christian . It is only through Him that we have access in prayer to the Father, as our text points out. Christ in His resurrection body is seated at the right hand of the Father in the distant heavens, but the Holy Spirit has His temple in our very bodies.   He not only hears each spoken prayer, but also each thought of our hearts. From the moment we receive Christ, we live in the Spirit; He is always with us, to guide our steps, to bear witness with our spirits that we belong to God , to illumine our understanding, and, when needed, to convict and chasten when we get out of His will.   Therefore, “if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” ( Galatians  5:25 ). When we yield to some worldly temptation, it is because we have ignored this admonition, for the promise