Dr Paul Allen

English: John the Baptist baptizing Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The chief and primary means by which the Holy Spirit communicates the grace of God to us is the preaching of the gospel. It is by preaching, first of all, that He creates faith within us. As Paul says, " Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ " (Rom. 10:17). The "word of Christ," which is the preached word of the gospel, is the means through which the Holy Spirit gives faith to faithless sinners. But do not think preaching is only for unbelievers. It is also the means whereby the Lord gives His people faith that they might continually trust Him and His promises. This is why we call preaching the primary means of grace. The Belgic Confession says the Holy Spirit "kindleth" faith in us (Art. 22), and that it is "wrought in man by the hearing of the Word of God and the operation of the Holy Ghost" (Art. 24). When the powerful Holy Spirit accompani...

English: Roman Catholic church, Târgovişte, Romania (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The two sacraments that Christ Himself instituted are baptism ( Matt. 28:18–20) and the Lord's Supper (Matt. 26:26–29). Because of our continuing struggle with sin, the visible Word of the sacraments supplements the audible Word of the gospel preached, for God "hath joined [the sacraments] to the word of the gospel, the better to present to our senses, both that which he signifies to us by his Word, and that which he works inwardly in our hearts" ( Belgic Confession , Art. 33). As the preaching of the gospel creates faith, the sacraments confirm that faith within us ( Heidelberg Catechism , Q&A 65), just as circumcision did for Abraham, being "a seal (confirmation) of the righteousness that he had by faith" (Rom. 4:11). To purely administer the sacraments, a church must do so "as instituted by Christ" (Belgic Confession, Art. 29). This means, first, that it re...

The last Judgment - an icon 17th cent. from Lipie, Historic Museum in Sanok, Poland (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) John Lennon's 1971 song "Imagine" encouraged a generation to imagine there is no heaven or hell, and to instead embrace "living for today." Over 40 years later, many evangelicals are following Lennon's advice. It's commonly said that the gospel is not really about the afterlife. The gospel answers much bigger questions than a person's eternal state. It's about life today—not so much about tomorrow. And slowly but surely, we have begun to let the promise of divine judgment that appears in the Apostles' Creed —"He will come again to judge the living and the dead"—slip by unnoticed. Many Christians talk a lot about justice and very little about judgment. Justice here and now is a popular subject. Judgment there and then? Not so much. But justice and judgment are two sides of the same coin. You cannot have perfect justic...

Image via Wikipedia The very fact that we have to address this question, even in evangelical circles, demonstrates the true measure of the church’s worldliness. It is not a superstitious attachment to days, but respect for the Lord’s generous service to us, that gives us one day in seven to be swept into the drama of redemption. When the holy day is reabsorbed into the common week, the church is bound to be reabsorbed into the world’s bloodstream. In the Old Testament , the weekly Sabbath is anchored in creation ( Ex 20:8-11 ) and God ’s redemption of Israel from Egypt ( Dt 5:12-15 ). The apostolic church met on Sunday, “the first day of the week,” also identified as “the Lord’s Day” ( Jn 20:19 , 26 ; Ac 20:7 ; 1 Cor 16:2 ; Rev 1:10 ). After the apostles, the twin dangers of antinomian neglect of the weekly assembly and “ Judaizing ” legalism already reared their head. Addressing the latter problem, Ignatius reminds the Magnesians, “If then, those who lived in antiquated customs ca...