Dr Paul Allen

“And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn.” – Luke 2:7 When I became a Christian, I learned that we really do not know when Jesus was born.  The Bible does not clearly tell us when Jesus was born. In Luke 2, the birth story of Jesus simply says that, at the time of Jesus’ birth, the flocks were in the fields. This likely means that Jesus was not born in December. Why?  That time of year experiences a lot of rain and cold, which would cause a shepherd to keep their flock safe and warm and not roaming in the open fields. Those who defend the Christmas date as the potential time of Jesus’ birth respond by saying there are often weeks during the winter when the weather warms up and allows sheep to roam freely in the fields.  Arguments against Jesus being born in December are many. One, during the winter months, many roads are impassable, which would mean that the governm...

Here are 10 things we must know about the Incarnation: 1. The person or active subject of the incarnation is the eternal Son. John 1:14 is clear: “The Word became flesh.” In other words, it was the Son from eternity who became incarnate, not the divine nature. The Son, who is in eternal relation to the Father and Spirit, willingly humbled himself and chose to assume a human nature in obedience to his Father and for our salvation (Phil. 2:6-8). 2. As the eternal Son, the second person of the triune Godhead, he is the full image and expression of the Father and is thus fully God. Along with the Father and Spirit, the Son fully and equally shares the divine nature. As the image and exact correspondence of the Father (Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3), the Son is fully God. All of God’s perfections and attributes are his since Christ is God the Son (Col. 2:9). As the Son, he participates in the divine rule, receives divine worship, and does all divine works as the Son (Ps. 110:1; Eph. 1:22; Phil. 2:9-1...

Christians are often taught to interpret the Bible literally. There are problems that can come out of overemphasizing literal interpretation.  If we interpret the text at face value, so the idea goes, we’ll more often than not be interpreting Scripture correctly. This approach—though well-intentioned—isn’t always the best strategy, for several reasons. One is that the most straightforward reading can produce bizarre outcomes. Genesis 4:1 is a case in point: “Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, ‘I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.’” We might look at this verse and see nothing amiss, but the English translation is concealing a controversial problem. In Hebrew, Eve says, “qanithi ish eth-YHWH.” The English words “the help of” were supplied by the translator of the ESV; they are not represented in the Hebrew text. In addition, the Hebrew verb qanah (the basic form of the word qanithi, translated “I have gotten” in the ESV) el...

“Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.” ( Psalm 139:16 ) This is an amazing verse, testifying as it does to the omniscient fore-planning of our Creator for each human being. Each person has been separately planned by God before he or she was ever conceived; His eyes oversaw our “unperfect [not imperfect, but unfinished] substance”—that is, literally, our embryo—throughout its entire development. Not only all its “members” but also all its “days” (the literal implication of “in continuance”) had been “written” in God’s book long ago. While modern evolutionists argue that a “fetus” is not yet a real person and so may be casually aborted if the mother so chooses, both the Bible and science show that a growing child in the womb is a true human being. Instruments called fetoscopes have been able to trace every stage of embryonic development, showing that ...

The doctrine of limited atonement (also known as "definite atonement" or "particular redemption") says that the atonement of Christ was limited (in its scope and aim) to the elect; Jesus did not atone for the sins of everybody in the world. In my denomination, we examine young men going into the ministry, and invariably somebody will ask a student, "Do you believe in limited atonement?" The student will respond by saying, "Yes, I believe that the atonement of Christ is sufficient for all and efficient for some," meaning the value of Christ's death on the cross was great enough to cover all of the sins of every person that ever lived, but that it applies only to those who put their faith in Christ. However, that statement doesn't get at the real heart of the controversy, which has to do with God's purpose in the cross. There are basically two ways in which to understand God's eternal plan. One understanding is that, from all et...

The Old Testament covers 1,600 years of historical narrative from the call of Abraham (about 2091 BC) to the prophecy of Malachi (about 430 BC). The historical narrative of Matthew through Acts covers only about 53 years, from the births of John the Baptist and Jesus (about 6 BC) to the Roman imprisonment of Paul (AD 59). Although Matthew and Luke narrate the birth of Jesus and some stories of his childhood, the Gospels focus on the ministry of Jesus from about AD 26 to 30. The letters of John and the Revelation were written near the end of the first century AD, but do not continue the narrative of the apostolic era. Integrated into the historical narrative of the Gospels are conceptual parallels from Acts and 1 Corinthians, as well as genealogies from Ruth and 1 Chronicles. Dating the Life of Jesus The 12-month, 365.25-day solar calendar used by most of the western world was introduced in 46 BC by Julius Caesar and is therefore called the Julian calendar. The Romans numbered their yea...