Dr Paul Allen

Could there be a more profound opening to a book than the one to John’s Gospel? One could search through the great ideas of mankind, explore the thoughts of philosophers, and examine the poetry of artists, and still find no idea higher than God, nor a more concise—yet expressive—statement about Him than the one John makes at the beginning of his Gospel. John profoundly links his Gospel to the creation account in Genesis 1 with the words “In the beginning” (John 1:1a) before launching into the world’s most economical articulation of the everlasting relationship between God the Father and God the Son. The first statement of John’s Gospel is a bomb of meaning that goes off without warning, erupting suddenly, and the sublime and inexpressible, the infinite and unsearchable, and the personal and ineffable reality of God come exploding onto the consciousness of John’s audience in the words of John 1:1–5. Here, John proclaims the Word as God, through whom the world was made, in whom is life, ...

Do you know God? Do you have the assurance that you have eternal life? Knowing that we know God is paramount because salvation ultimately can be boiled down to this one thing: knowing God. In John 17, Jesus, before going to the cross, was praying to the Father for His disciples – both those present at that time and those who would believe in future generations through the preaching of the apostolic word of the gospel. In verse 3, Jesus defines eternal life for us, praying,  “This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” “Eternal life” is a phrase used forty-one times in the New Testament. And in John 17, we see what it means: to know God the Father and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Eternal life is not merely to live forever and never die. It includes that, of course, by definition. But eternal life is not simply an eternal existence of isolation or independence. It is eternal life in a relationship with God. It is a life th...

  “And you are to give him the name JESUS; because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matt. 1:21, capitalization added). Thus the angel of the Lord informs Joseph about Jesus, His name and His mission. Jesus is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew name “Joshua” meaning “Jehovah is salvation.” Jesus means “Savior,” aptly describing His work of saving men from their sins (Luke 19:10). The title Christ or Messiah means “anointed one.” It designates Jesus as the fulfilment of the Messianic hopes of the Jews in the Old Testament. The name Jesus Christ means that He is the Messiah who came to earth to save lost mankind. I. Jesus, the Son of God The logical question that follows is, Who is this Jesus, this Messiah? Many answers have been given. Some of the Jews thought Him to be Mary and Joseph’s son (Mark 6:3; Matt. 13:55). Others called Him a “deceiver” (Matt. 27:63). Still others thought Him to be a prophet (John 6:14). Some people today say that He is just a man except that He l...

“And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power.” ( Luke  4:32 )   God’s words, whether spoken by Jesus or written in Scripture, are indeed full of power, and it is noteworthy how many and varied are the physical analogies used to characterize and emphasize its power.   For example, consider  Jeremiah  23:29 . “Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” The fire analogy is also stressed in  Jeremiah 20:9 , when the prophet became weary of the negative reaction against his preaching: “Then I said, I will not . . . speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.”   God’s Word is also called a sharp sword wielded by the Holy Spirit. As part of the Christian’s spiritual armor, we are exhorted to take “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” ( Ephesian...

Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. [Gen. 2:19] In Genesis 2:19–20 we find the birth of science . One of the tasks of science is to harness the forces of the natural world, making them work for us rather than against us. We improve our agricultural skills; we discover fire and atomic energy; we devise ships for the sea and planes for the air. In this way we exercise dominion over the human environment, as God commanded in Genesis 1:28. Since the fall and the entrance of sin into the world, the ability to enjoy dominion has been greatly frustrated. The enterprises of science begins with taxonomy—the separating of things into categories. In taxonomy, we see the process of individuation. What is the difference between (or what “individuates”) a man and an ape? To carry out individuation we...

Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglican Church http://www.stjohnsashfield.org.au, Ashfield, New South Wales. Illustrates Jesus' description of himself "I am the Good Shepherd" (from the Gospel of John, chapter 10, verse 11). This version of the image shows the detail of his face. The memorial window is also captioned: "To the Glory of God and in Loving Memory of William Wright. Died 6th November, 1932. Aged 70 Yrs." (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Someone I know recently expressed an opinion that surprised and in some ways disappointed me. I said to myself, "I thought he would have more discernment than that." The experience caused me to reflect on the importance of discernment and the lack of it in our world. We know that people often do not see issues clearly and are easily misled because they do not think biblically. But, sadly, one cannot help reflecting on how true this is of the church community, too. Most of us doubtless want to dis...

Many times the Bible uses symbolic language in order to teach. Often spiritual truth can be conveyed more realistically by the employment of symbols, which bring a picture to the human mind. Thus, there are a number of symbols used throughout the Scripture for this purpose. We list those which are most apparent. A. A Mirror. “For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror …” (Jas. 1:23–25 NASB ). This illustrates the revealing power of the Word. B. A Critic. “For the word of God … is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart ” ( Heb. 4:12). “The Greek of Heb. 4:12 reads, ‘The Word of God is … a critic of the thoughts and intents of the heart.’ ”21 C. Seed. “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever” (1 Pt. 1:23). (See also: Lk. 8:5–15, note especially v. 11, “The seed is the word of God”; Is. 55:10, 11; Jas. 1:18.) ...

What is necessary to have a church? Might a group of people who claim to be Christians become so unlike what a church should be that they should no longer be called a church? In the early centuries of the Christian church , there was little controversy about what was a true church. There was only one world-wide church, the “visible” church throughout the world, and that was, of course, the true church. This church had bishops and local clergymen and church buildings which everyone could see. Any heretics who were found to be in serious doctrinal error were simply excluded from the church. But at the Reformation a crucial question came up: how can we recognize a true church? Is the Roman Catholic Church a true church or not? In order to answer that question people had to decide what were the “marks” of a true church, the distinguishing characteristics that lead us to recognize it as a true church. Scripture certainly speaks of false churches. Paul says of the pagan temples in Corint...

“And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes.” ( 2 Kings 22:11 ) This experience of Judah’s good King Josiah illustrates the convicting power of the Scriptures and points up the essential importance of the revealed Word of God in the process of repentance, forgiveness, and salvation . It is the Word of God which brings conviction of one’s need of salvation, and this is the indispensable first step leading to salvation. “For by the law is the knowledge of sin” ( Romans 3:20 ). It is also through the Scriptures that one comes to an understanding of salvation: “The holy scriptures . . . are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus ” ( 2 Timothy 3:15 ). Furthermore, it is the Word which generates saving faith: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” ( Romans 10:17 ). Finally, the very miracle of regeneration, transforming a lost soul into a born-again chil...