Dr Paul Allen

“ Christ took upon Himself our sins, not by constraint, but of His own good will, in order to bear the punishment and wrath of God: not for the sake of His own person (which was just and invincible, and was not in any way guilty), but for our person. So by means of a joyous substitution, He took upon Himself our sinful person, and gave to us His innocent and victorious person: with which we, being now clothed, are free from the curse of the law. . . . By faith alone therefore we are made righteous, for faith alone lays hold of this victory of Christ.” (Commentary on Gal.  3:13 ) John Calvin ’s comments on 2 Corinthians   5:21  are similar: “How can we become righteous before God? In the same way as Christ became a sinner. For He took, as it were, our person, that He might be the offender in our name and thus might be reckoned a sinner, not because of His own offences but because of those of others, sin...

c. 880 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) "Forget not all His benefits." Psalm 103:2 It is a delightful and profitable occupation to mark the hand of God in the lives of ancient saints , and to observe his goodness in delivering them, his mercy in pardoning them, and his faithfulness in keeping his covenant with them. But would it not be even more interesting and profitable for us to remark the hand of God in our own lives?  Ought we not to look upon our own history as being at least as full of God, as full of his goodness and of his truth, as much a proof of his faithfulness and veracity, as the lives of any of the saints who have gone before? We do our Lord an injustice when we suppose that he wrought all his mighty acts, and showed himself strong for those in the early time, but doth not perform wonders or lay bare his arm for the saints who are now upon the earth.  Let us review our own lives. Surely in these we may discover some happy incidents, refreshing to ourselv...

The heart of the question centers on Paul’s statement in  2 Corinthians   5:21 : ”He made Him who knew no sin  to be sin on our behalf , so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” In what sense did Jesus become “sin on our behalf”? Does that phrase mean that Jesus literally became a sinner on the cross? There are some today who teach that Jesus became a sinner (or took on a sin nature) at the cross. Benny Hinn is one such advocate. In a TBN broadcast, Hinn exclaimed: “He [Jesus] who is righteous by choice said, ‘The only way I can stop sin is by me becoming it. I can’t just stop it by letting it touch me; I and it must become one.’ Hear this! He who is the nature of God became the nature of Satan when he became sin!” (Benny Hinn,  Trinity Broadcasting Network , December 1, 1990) Kenneth Copeland echoes those same teachings. In Copeland’s words: “The righteousness of God was made to be sin. He accepted the sin nature of Sat...

Psalms 8:1 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Psalms 29:2 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness. Psalms 95:6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!  Psalms 99:5 Exalt the LORD our God ; worship at his footstool! Holy is he!  Psalms 59:16 But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress. Psalms 63:3-4 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Psalms 66:4 All the earth worships you and sings praises to you; they sing praises to your name.” Selah   Psalms 150 Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him ...

English: An image of Psalm 23 (King James' Version), frontispiece to the 1880 omnibus printing of The Sunday at Home. Scanned at 800 dpi. Français : Illustration du Psaume 23 (version autorisée par le roi Jacques), en frontispice de l'édition omnibus du Sunday at home. Version numérisée à 800 dpi. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) "Let them praise the name of the Lord: for he commanded, and they were created." ( Psalm 148:5 ) Certain Christian intellectuals today are promoting the concept of what they call "process creation," a euphemism for theistic evolution . This is a contradiction in terms , however, for creation by definition is supernatural and instantaneous. The Bible makes this plain. Our text is in one of the beautiful "hallelujah" psalms in which the entire creation is exhorted to praise the Lord . The sun, moon, and all the heavens are included, and then the testimony of our text is given. As soon as God commanded, they were created,...