The question above is deliberately framed to focus, not on God’s ability to help us – which is without limit, but on our ability to receive help from him. WE NEED GRACE! Grace (χαρις/charis in Greek) is a very important New Testament word. It denotes first of all the undeserved favour God shows us in that: “when we were yet without strength, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly!” Rom. 5,6 But in making us the gift of…
We may need to be persistent in prayer when the storms of life threaten to strike us down, remind God of his promises, keeping our situation before him. That must not mean, however, that we are fear-stricken, finding no peace! We need to find a resting place in God. In this respect, the first image that springs to my mind is that of Jesus asleep on a pillow (Mark is the only one to record that detail) in the stern…
A situation in my family, has forced me to postpone the blogs I had planned to write until a later date – I will return to them God willing! Instead there will be other blogs. In this one, I revisit the theme of prayer (see my blogs on prayer in Archives, October 2019). JESUS TEACHES ABOUT THE FATHER AND PRAYER ““Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to…
“give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thess. 5,18 In ALL circumstances says the scripture! IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES; but note: Not FOR all circumstances – not for evil! We need to give thanks even in the very darkest hours of our lives – because he is still God, because he is still on the throne, because he still loves us, and because he is still mighty to act…
In this blog, I want to pick up the story again from my blogpost called ‘The People of the Messiah’. I explained there why Paul chose that word εκκλησία/ekklesia, and what it means. Before we discuss the term “body of Christ”, I need first to mention two ways in which εκκλησία is used: The εκκλησία is both the universal church, as in Eph. 3,10, and the local church as in 1 Cor. 1,2 – where the local church in Corinth…
DURHAM UNIVERSITY UK, AUTUMN 1974 Before I went to Durham to study in the autumn of 1974, I can with hindsight see that God had started to speak to me. I was in search of answers. I was filled with the desire to find compassion for other people in my own heart. I said to myself, “When I get to Durham I’m going to attempt to find out if God is real or not.“ I got installed in Grey College,…
I am currently writing a blogpost about the body of Christ. Before I publish that, I want to share something from John’s Gospel. It’s about the Holy Spirit. In John chapter 4,13-14, Jesus speaking to the Samaritan woman by the well says: “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a…
I cited Romans 11, 32 in my last blogpost: “For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.” Rom. 11,32 That he may have mercy on all, means that ALL may be elected in Christ – for salvation on the basis of grace. God wants ALL to be saved (1Tim. 2,4), and his mercy extends to ALL. That does not mean that all will be saved – each of us must respond with faith…
My blog up until this point, has predominantly been about the Christian´s relationship with God. As I recently stated, I want now in a few blogposts to look at the Christian fellowship; the fellowship of believers, the church. It is the church as a theological entity in the New Testament which interests me, not church buildings or denominations (e.g. the Lutheran Church) To a degree several New Testament writers have thought about this question, but it is Paul and John,…
Remember Eric Liddell, and all those who have gone before! “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand…
If you are like me, you are prone to worry about many things. Young people might worry about their futures, about school or friends. Parents of course worry about their children. We can all worry about our health, money, employment and what the future will bring for us. Some areas of our life we may reasonably think that we have control over (perhaps before the advent of the coronavirus), other areas of our lives, we know are outside of our…
In my recent blog posts, I have been approaching the subject of sanctification by an indirect route. This was certainly true with 1 Corinthians, and to a lesser extent with Romans chapter 8. I know that the words ‘law’ and ‘obedience’ can evoke sometimes traumatic emotions in people; often dictated by the kind of atmosphere in the home we grew up in – by the relationship we had with our father, or our parents. Such traumatic emotions can become effective…