Dr Paul Allen

Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) "In Adam's fall , we sinned all." So begins the New England Primer , which taught generations of early Americans to read. In introducing our forefathers to the letter  A , the primer was also administering a generous dose of biblical theology. As Paul puts it crisply in 1 Corinthians   15:22 , "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive." Through Adam, sin and death entered into the world. By Christ, sin and death were conquered. Adam forfeited life by his disobedience. Christ achieved life by His obedience. These simple, basic truths, Paul tells the Corinthians, are the very structure and content of the gospel. In the modern world, skeptics have long questioned or denied the historicity of Adam. Neo-orthodox theologians added their voices to this chorus in the last century. More recently, and under the pressure of evolutionary theory, some prominent evangelical voices...

The Temptation of Christ, 1854 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Matthew 4:1 “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (v. 1). The Messiah who would defeat the Devil ( 1 John 3:8b) and bring back God’s people from exile came to Israel around 4 B.C. As the prophets foretold, Jesus was the Son of David , had a miraculous birth, and was opposed by many of His own brethren (Matt. 1–2). Despite this opposition, Jesus still identified Himself with His people and confirmed His ministry through His baptism (chap. 3). In  Matthew’s gospel  chapter 4, it describes Jesus’ testing in the wilderness. Before we look at His testing in detail, we must first place this event in its historical and theological context in order to understand clearly what occurred when Satan tempted the Christ. The Westminster Confession of Faith , chapter 7, says God made a “ covenant of works ” with the first human being. In ...