Dr Paul Allen

The Westminster Shorter Catechism has an excellent definition of repentance in Question 87: " Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin , and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ , doth, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, with full purpose of, and endeavor after, new obedience." In the heat of the Christian life, however, that definition may seem more theoretical than practical, not particularly helpful when seeking to live a life of repentance (See the first of Martin Luther's 95 Theses : When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, " Repent " (Mt 4:17), He willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.) We recognize that repentance is a grace. That is, it is a gift from God. It is not something we work up for ourselves. It is not turning over a new leaf. It is a turning away from sin and a turning to God that is fueled, as it were, by the Spirit of God at work with

To the Glory of God  (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Christians often speak of the glory of God and living for the glory of God, but what is the glory of God ? The Westminster Shorter Catechism rightly tells us that the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. And yet, ‘glorifying’ God and living for ‘the glory of God’ can often seem mysterious and ultimately disconnected from day-to-day life. There is no theme more central to the message of Scripture than the glory of God. He created the world so that his name would be glorified in and by the things he made, and he has saved us so that we might glorify him in eternity. It is a focus that a self-centered generation badly needs to recover, and the contributors to this volume have given us a wonderful introduction on which to base our reflections and our worship. An understanding of God’s glory affects every area of Christian living: the purpose of the Christian life, worship, ethics, evangelism, missions, pastoral

Our Lord Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Because God is one ( Deuteronomy 6:4 ) and God is truth, it follows that truth is one. While we can talk about distinct propositions, the truth is that truth is monolithic, one piece, simple rather than parts. Such means, of course, that His revelation is not part cake and part icing, part substance and part sizzle. It's not as though justification by faith alone is the painting and election is the frame. We are called to believe all that God has revealed, and every error in our thinking is at least implicitly dangerous. That said, we do err and our failures cannot rule out His success. Our goal with those to whom we preach Christ , just like with ourselves, can't be to get them perfectly sound on everything. Those of us who have a deep interest in theology, who are given to seeing the connections between our affirmations, are tempted to pray like the Pharisee , "I thank you Lord that I am not like other men. I aff

English: Icon of Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Man’s chief end is to glorify God , and to enjoy him forever.” When I read that, I didn’t struggle to understand the first part of the answer: “To glorify God,” but I did struggle to understand the second part: “to enjoy him forever.” Why didn’t the Westminster divines provide us with an answer that echoed Jesus’ answer when He said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” ( Matt. 22:37 )? Why didn’t they just say, “To glorify God,” and leave it at that? What did they mean by “enjoy him forever”?‡ Over time, I have come to see the wisdom of the words to enjoy God. They capture the all-encompassing nature of our relationship with God; namely, being chosen by God, called by God, united to God in Christ , justified by God, indwelt by the Spirit of God, adopted by God, sanctified by God, and loving God and neighbor to the end that we might glorify God.  And althoug

The First Mourning (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The word “sin” first appears in the Bible when God speaks to Cain , warning him not to give in to his anger against his brother: “If you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it” (Genesis 4:7). This is not the first sin, though. Romans 5:12-14 teaches that Adam’s fall was also a sin and, of course, the origin of all human sin. But what precisely is sin? The Westminster Shorter Catechism says it well: “ Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.” In Genesis 3 this involves Adam and Eve eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil despite God’s clear prohibition against doing so. In chapter 4 it takes the form of murder when Cain kills Abel. Through the rest of the Bible we see countless other expressions of sin: lying, stealing, idolatry, and impatience and anything else the heart of man can concoct. But what is the root that unit

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 ) Have you ever asked yourself: "What is sanctification?" The Reformation Study Bible's theological article on " Sanctification " provides a clear and concise answer. According to the Westminster Shorter Catechism (Q. 35), sanctification is "the work of God 's free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness." It is a continuing change worked by God in us, freeing us from sinful habits and forming in us Christlike affections, dispositions, and virtues. It does not mean that sin is instantly eradicated, but it is also more than a counteraction, in which sin is merely restrained or repressed without being progressively destroyed.  Sanctification is a real trans

Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia Not many pastors rise at 3 A.M. to be sure they have sufficient time for God and their people. Samuel Rutherford was one who did. Thus it came as a great blow to him when he was compelled to leave the folk he loved. Rutherford had published an  Apology of Divine Grace  against the heresy of righteousness based on human works. This work offended the government.  On this day, February 20, 1636 , Archbishop Laud , who controlled the established churches of Britain, exiled Rutherford to Aberdeen. He forbade him to preach anywhere in Britain. It might seem Rutherford could not be blamed if he slipped into depression. The years had not been kind to him. In 1630, after barely five years of marriage, his wife died following a painful illness of thirteen months. Their two children also died, and Samuel himself suffered a debilitating fever for three months. Now he was in exile, excluded from the work he cherished most. But rather than become depress

Image via Wikipedia The question, “What is sin?” is raised in the Westminster Shorter Catechism . The answer provided to this catechetical question is simply this: “ Sin is any want of conformity to or transgression of the law of  God .” Let us examine some of the elements of this catechetical response. In the first instance, sin is identified as some kind of want or lack. In the middle ages, Christian theologians tried to define evil or sin in terms of privation ( privatio ) or negation ( negatio ). In these terms, evil or sin was defined by its lack of conformity to goodness. The negative terminology associated with sin may be seen in biblical words such as  dis obedience ,  god less ness , or  im morality . In all of these terms, we see the negative being stressed. Further illustrations would include words such as  dishonor ,  antichrist , and others. However, to gain a complete view of sin, we have to see that it involves more than a negation of the good, or more than a simple l

Image via Wikipedia It is my conviction that a very large part of mankind’s ills and of the world’s misery is due to the rampant practice of trying to feed the soul with the body’s food. Jesus in His confrontation with Satan reminded us for all time of Moses ’ proper distinction: “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God ” ( Matthew 4:4 ). Job had also made the distinction: “I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my daily bread” (23:12b). In addressing the gluttony of his day, Clement of Alexandria said, “The right food is thanksgiving.” He perceived that in the yearning for food and drink we mingled the deeper yearnings of the soul. In Paul’s day the mingled yearnings disgraced the Lord’s Supper in Corinth, and he counseled the Christians there to eat and drink to the glory of God. The Westminster Shorter Catechism begins by stating that “man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.” But if man misses the