Biblical interpretation

At face value, the 9 th commandment could be read as merely a prohibition against committing perjury or lying under oath. However, this commandment encompasses so much more. According to both the Westminster Shorter and the Baptist catechisms, “The ninth commandment requires the maintaining and...

The Works of God and the Fall of Man Dutch theologian Petrus van Mastricht ministered in a time much like our own. Emerging scientific methods, the politics of the day, and other 16 th century issues were bringing into question accepted beliefs concerning the origins of the created order and sin...

The fifth through tenth of God’s Ten Commandments focus on preserving and protecting persons. Here, the eighth hones in on safeguarding and maintaining a person’s possessions. In the reiteration of the Decalogue for the second generation of the covenant about to enter the Promised Land, Deuteronomy...

The eighth chapter of Romans has rightly been described as one of the most beautifully rich chapters in all of Scripture. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said that it is “one of the brightest gems of all… that in the whole of Scripture the brightest and most lustrous and flashing stone, or collection of stones...

According to the Westminster Confession of Faith, “The moral law doth for ever bind all, as well justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof….neither doth Christ, in the Gospel, any way dissolve, but much strengthen this obligation” (WCF, 19.5) Obviously, the Westminster Divines were not...

As we come to the conclusion of our study on the beatitudes it will be good to ask, how we should respond? What are we expected to do about this set of familiar blessings? Certainly these blessings are part of a larger sermon and so should be viewed in that light. For example, just as the sermon...

In Matthew 5:9, Jesus preached, Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God, proclaiming that God’s children are shown to be His by extending their Father’s peace to others as something they enjoy, often by exertion. Peacemaking is not keeping the peace at all costs,...

On Christmas Eve, 1968, astronaut Jim Lovell sat aboard Apollo 8 and watched the earth rise over the moon for the first time in history. Reflecting on that moment, he observed: “You can put your thumb up and you can hide the earth behind your thumb. Everything that you've ever known, your loved...

Introduction In late December 1943, a young American pilot of a B-17 bomber found himself in flight during the throes of World War 2. Alone in the skies over Germany, his plane had been shot to pieces by enemy fighters, and his crew were either badly wounded or dead. In a moment, he and his co-...

You are what you eat! This age-old motivational wisdom teaches that the content of our diet is exposed by the composition of our selves. This is never more true than in spiritual matters. We become what we consume, and we consume that for which we hunger. So the question comes: what are you hungry...