communion of saints

“ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.” – Romans 18:18-19 Paul has given us hope, an assured hope, that to endure any present...

Psalm 133:1 extols, Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It teaches us to appreciate how God ’ s good blessings are especially experienced in the worshipful union and communion of His saints. This pleasantness is something Christians enjoy in local...

The Abitinian Martyrs – The Christians Who Couldn’t Do Without a Lord’s Day Service. " Sine dominico non possumus " ("We can't do without the Lord’s Day"). This was the answer of a group of 49 Christians (31 men and 18 women) who were arrested for participating in a Lord’s Day service. They lived...

The culture in which we live is diametrically opposed to the idea of the family as set forth in Psalm 127. Here, the Psalmist refers to a household, composed of a father and mother who married early and are blessed by an abundance of children, as a direct and wonderful blessing from God. It is, in...

One of the most important things to maintain, yet one of the hardest, is peace with others. From the time we get up in the morning until the time we go to bed at night we have many opportunities to either be a peacemaker or a peace-taker. What we decide depends on our relationship with God. We are...

“The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” – Romans 8:16-17 Paul has been moving us from one degree of glory to...

What do we do when suffering breaks into our lives like an unwelcome intruder, when a diagnosis comes at an inconvenient time, when we feel disillusioned and full of despair? Where do we turn when we are scared, sad, and sobered at the fragility of our lives or the lives of our loved ones? This...

Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg – The First Protestant Missionary to India While William Carey’s role in the evangelization of India is undisputed, few remember a two-men team who preceded him by 88 years. In reality, the German Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg and Heinrich Plütschau, who landed in the Indian...

The Law, though written on tablets of stone, is still able to condemningly penetrate into the depths of our hearts, and the last Commandment leaves us all with our “mouths stopped”, as Paul argues (Romans 3:19), that in our own strength we are unable to love the Lord our God with all our heart...

Gregory I’s Female Correspondents Some of our best sources of information about specific women in the early centuries of Christianity come from the correspondence of church fathers, particularly Jerome at the turn of the fifth century and Gregory I about two centuries later. Jerome’s letters were...