Dr Paul Allen

Why is it that after Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden and incurred the just penalty of death, they did not immediately die? What enabled them to go on living to enjoy the many of the benefits of life for years afterward (food, marriage, sex, children, etc.)? And why do so many sinners today enjoy those same benefits, even those who will never believe? In general, we can answer by pointing to grace—a fitting description for every one of God’s blessing, each of which is, by very definition, undeserved. However, because the grace we are talking about here is poured out “on the just and on the unjust” (that is, on both believers and unbelievers—see Matthew 5:45), and since it is of a different kind than the other manifestations of grace we read about in Scripture (e. g. forgiveness of sin, adoption into the family of God, eternal life in heaven—that is, special grace, or graces related to redemption), theologians have found it helpful to distinguish this ascommon grace. It is common in t...

Christ the Saviour (Pantokrator), a 6th-century encaustic icon from Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai. NB - slightly cut down - for full size see here (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) "For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." ( Mark 10:45 ) Especially as noted in the Gospel of John , Christ identified many reasons why He had been born. Consider the following sampling of verses and references. First and foremost, Christ came to redeem those who would believe: " For God so loved the world , that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life " ( John 3:16 ). But under that umbrella of redemption come many other aspects. Jesus said, "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work" ( John 4:34 ). God 's will was paramount even in judgment ( John 5:30 ) as well as resurrection. "This is t...

Image via Wikipedia "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." ( John 6:37 )   In this verse and the verses to follow, we find Christ using a marvelous teaching technique. Several times He makes a general, generic statement, but quickly advances from the general and impersonal to the particular and personal.   Note that at the first, Christ tells of an abstract gift to Him from the Father of an entire group, ("all") of which should come to Him for salvation. This is in itself a wonderful truth, for Christ highly values this gift from His Father: "And I give unto them eternal life ; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father . . . gave them |to| me" ( 10:28-29 ). The entire group "shall come" to Him.   But Christ switches in mid-sentence from general to specific: "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out," a concrete statem...

Image via Wikipedia "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." ( Romans 6:23 )   Verse three of the majestic hymn "Crown Him with Many Crowns" speaks of life--eternal life--made possible by the death of the Creator of life. This was followed by His retaking life and returning in victory from the grave. The hymn expresses it well.   Crown Him the Lord of life, Who triumphed o'er the grave, And rose victorious in the strife For those He came to save. His glories now we sing Who died and rose on high, Who died, eternal life to bring, And lives that death may die.   As in our text, eternal life is a "gift of God," made possible "by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" ( 2 Timothy 1:10 ). The penalty for sin had to be paid, and so "Christ died for our sins" ( 1 Corinthians 15:...

Image via Wikipedia "Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen." ( 1 Timothy 6:16 )   In the Greek New Testament , there are two words translated "immortality." One is athanasia  ("without death "), which is used in our text to describe God in His eternal essence. The other is  aphtharsia  ("without corruption"), used in  2 Timothy 1:10 : "| Christ | hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel," and translated "incorruption." In  1 Corinthians 15:42 : "So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption."   The doctrine of the " immortality of the soul " is a doctrine of both ancient paganism and modern "New Ageism." Such people all believe in some form of evolution and reject the doctrine ...

"To be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace . Because the carnal mind is enmity against God : for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." ( Romans 8:6-7 )   This passage defines for us both the carnal mind and the spiritual mind, not with formal definitions, but by giving equivalent terms.   First, the carnal mind is identified as being "enmity against God" ( v. 7 ), a rampant disregard for God’s law. Furthermore, the carnal mind is equated with death, specifically eternal, spiritual death . A physically living person may have a carnal mind, bringing with it a spiritual deadness and eternal doom. This also serves us as a working definition of death--being hostile toward God, or minding the things of the flesh . "So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you" ( vv. 8-9 ).   Next, we see that the sp...

Image via Wikipedia "For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another." ( 1 John 3:11 )   The pungent phrase "from the beginning" occurs no less than nine times in the first three chapters of the little epistle of 1 John. Thus, while in one sense, Christ 's command to love one another was a new commandment , in another sense it has been with us from the very beginning of the world. "Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning" ( 1 John 2:7 ).   The first verses of John's epistle show that this beginning is the same beginning in Genesis 1:1  and  John 1:1 : "That which was from the beginning, . . . of the Word of life; . . . that eternal life , which was with the Father , and was manifested unto us" ( 1 John 1:1-2 ). Note also  1 John 2:13 : "I write unto you, fathe...

Image via Wikipedia "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now." ( Romans 8:22 ) Sometimes we don't get to see the results of our work or choices soon enough to suit us.  But on one occasion, a man's choice and resulting action were given immediate attention, and the effects of that attention even now rule the universe. "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat" ( Genesis 3:6 ). The result of Adam's deliberate sin--"Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression" ( 1 Timothy 2:14 )--was immediate and total punishment upon Adam and Eve, and through them, on all humanity ( Genesis 3:14-19 ).  "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so deat...

Image via Wikipedia 1. God made everything and everyone. He rules the universe, and made us in his image. He made us to know and serve him, and we will have to account for our lives. Because we do not know and serve God, God sent his Son the Lord Jesus Christ to show us how to live, teach us about God, and die in our place, taking on himself the judgment we deserved. He then rose from the dead, and rules with God. We should turn to trust in God’s Son, join his people, receive his Spirit , and live for his glory. 2. There is only one God, who created the world and everything in it. Though God intended humans to rule the world under him, each of us has sinned against him, the penalty for which is death and hell. But because he loves us, God sent his Son Jesus to live a perfect life and die on a cross as a substitute for his people.  On the third day, he rose bodily from the grave and now reigns in heaven, offering forgiveness, righteousness, and eternal life to all those who r...

Image via Wikipedia "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" ( Mark 8:36-37 )   The lives of many people revolve almost completely around the stock exchange , and they never stop to realize that it easily may become a soul exchange, where they exchange their very souls for the imagined blessings of the great god Mammon .  "For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows" ( 1 Timothy 6:10 ).   Similarly, many are greatly exercised about their monthly profit-and-loss statements.  But the Lord Jesus asks whether there is really a profit, even if one acquires the wealth of the whole world at the cost of his soul, and the answer to such a rhetorical question has to be: "No!" For "the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth ...

Image via Wikipedia " For God so loved the world , that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life ." ( John 3:16 )   There are many wonderful promises to the believer listed in the Gospel of John. Many of these promises are things which "shall" happen, but let us consider seven of these which teach of things which "shall not" happen to the believer whose trust is in Christ .   Teaching of the indwelling Holy Spirit , Christ said, " Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life" ( 4:14 ).   Similarly, " Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life : he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst" ( 6:35 ).   Furthermore, He taught: "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk...