Posts by Keith Kauffman

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Of all the particular doctrines which fall within the realm of the ordo salutis of salvation, perhaps none are less understood than the doctrine of effectual calling. This seems ironic since the doctrine is referenced many times in the New Testament alone. Because of its common usage then, this...
Perhaps you’ve passed over Obadiah more times when flipping through your Bible than any other book in Scripture. It’s a third of the way through the Minor Prophets and it’s only one chapter consisting of only 21 verses. But if you have not read it, pause now and read through it before continuing...
Any discussion on the fruit of the Spirit as laid out in Galatians 5 must begin with the simple fact that the list gives fruits of the Spirit, not fruits of human effort and achievement. Thus any discussion on faithfulness as a fruit of the Spirit also begins there. Faithfulness in the life of a...
“I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means!” – Romans 11:1 The fear of rejection is perhaps one of the more influential considerations in our decision making. The choices we make, the conversations we choose to have or avoid, the way we spend our money; many times, these decisions are...
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” – Jeremiah 29:11 For regular readers of PlaceForTruth, you may have given a good little chuckle when you read the title of the article and then the prooftext that we’ll be...
Psalm 132 has a very different feel than the rest of the Psalms of Ascent. In fact, this Psalm is explicitly Messianic, speaking of the Davidic promises and line and the Lord’s Anointed. As a Psalm of Ascent then, this song brings the traveling worshippers into focus on the city and king that God...
Wandering eyes are bad harbinger in Scripture. From the opening chapters of Genesis, when Eve looked at the tree and saw that it was good for food and “a delight to the eyes,” humanity’s false reliance on sight is a consistent theme. From Lot to David, whenever an individual sees that something...
I hope that you’ve read the previous four articles on the doctrines of grace: depravity, election, limited atonement, and irresistible grace. This 5 th installment may not make much sense to you if you haven’t. The reason for this is because this final doctrinal summation of Reformed thought is the...
With much ground to cover, only a brief introduction will do. In our discussions of many theological topics, the via negativa , or the negative way, is often helpful to properly elucidate a particular subject. By specifically asking what a doctrine or concept does not mean, we place fenceposts and...
“The guy upstairs.” “The big man in the sky.” These are just two of the more common, modern slang terms for God. Aside from being utterly irreverent, they transgress the Second Commandment of having no graven images of God in that they grossly mistake this important attribute of God: His...
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” – James 1:17 The truth of God’s immutable nature, a truth stated plainly by James near the beginning of his epistle, is foundational to the entirety of the...
Perhaps you’ve never considered how each of the commandments of the Decalogue relate to the opening several chapters of Genesis. The primacy of God as the only God and the One deserving of all our worship are woven throughout those chapters. God resting on the 7 th day serves as the model for the 4...
On one hand, the 6 th commandment, “you shall not murder”, is probably the most universally accepted of all the ten commandments. By God’s restraining grace, humanity seems to have an innate knowledge that murder is wrong. On the other hand, according to the law of Jesus in Matthew 5, each of us...
The Christian life is no stranger to apparent paradoxes; apparent because they are not true contradictions. Yet there are many times where we seem pulled between two opposites. Walking the path between grace and truth can be a challenge in our interactions with others. We wrestle with the...
1 Cor 15:12 - “If Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection from the dead?” While you may not be using words to say that there is no resurrection of the dead, your lives actually reflect that you think it’s true. The choices we make are...
It’s doubtfully a surprise to anyone to say that we live in an age of increasing division and polarization. This fact seems to accentuate the need for each of us to use wisdom in how we speak and engage with one another. It’s likely that each of us can look back at times in our lives when, in...
Editor's note : Theology for Everyone (TfE) recognizes that churches and denominations hold different views on the deaconate. We also recognize that these are intramural debates among those who embrace the essentials of the faith. However, we also believe that iron sharpens iron. We believe that...
They had one job to do: stay awake and pray. Peter, James, and John, often like the rest of us, failed to accomplish the one simple task they had. Christ took his most trusted inner apostolic circle deeper into the garden with Him as He went a stone’s throw further to spend time in prayer. He...
Learning about the battle between popes and civil authorities in medieval Europe feels a bit like an episode of Oprah’s show: “You get excommunicated; you get excommunicated; everyone gets excommunicated.” Of course it famously culminated in Henry VIII finally not going along with the program and...
The ability to ‘read the room’ is a really good life skill to have. What do I mean? Oftentimes one may get themselves in a fair bit of trouble if they, in whatever varied situation they find themselves in, are unable to grasp the particular demeanor or emotional temperature of the gathering...
The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us many things. One of those things that has stood out to me has been the realization of how many of us are absolutely driven by fear. We all remember how the toilet paper aisle at the grocery store went empty the moment lockdowns became a possibility. And it wasn’t...
A five-part series on the solas of the Reformation is timely and needed. There are several good books on the importance of remembering the Protestant Reformation and the doctrinal distinctions that made it necessary, but more can and should always be written. In an age of ecumenicism and doctrinal...
Solos are easy. To perform a good solo, a musician or singer can simply lock themselves in a room and practice until the cows come home. They work on hitting the right notes, making sure their intonation is correct, and ensuring they follow the proper dynamics. I’ve played musical instruments and...
It’s probably fair to say that Jesus was the most misunderstood man who walked upon the earth. The gospel accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus seem to continually highlight this fact. Of course it started at his very birth, when Herod attempted to kill him. Those to whom he spoke often...
As I was sitting down to write this article initially, there were at that very moment, unbeknownst to me, a hoard of rioters breaking into the Capitol of the United States. In the days that have followed, people living in the US have been at one another’s throats. Every word, every action,...
Just to lay my cards on the table: whenever the New Testament references the calling of believers, it is always a reference to our salvation or its fruits in our lives, what theologians have termed the effectual call of God [i] . Yes, there is the general call of the Gospel that goes out to all the...
In a world full of uncertainty and confusion, each of us longs for the ability to navigate our circumstances well, to make a right judgment or take the right action. Sometimes we are presented with a plethora of options and we are left trying to pick the right one. In other instances, perhaps we...
“From everlasting to everlasting, you are God.” This declaration of the eternal nature of our God ends one of the most notable opening verse couplets to any of the Psalms. Moses, in Psalm 90, declares the excellencies of the God of Israel, contrasting the eternal nature of God with the extremely...
“The guy upstairs.” “The big man in the sky.” These are just two of the more common, modern slang terms for God. Aside from being utterly irreverent, they transgress the Second Commandment of having no graven images of God in that they grossly mistake this important attribute of God: His...
Life can be a crucible. A crucible is a container in which metal is heated to such a high temperature that it melts. I imagine this analogy is too often appropriate for how many of us feel about our lives. We feel beaten down, discouraged, put under intense pressure and heat that we sometimes just...
It’s not too often that one goes to Genesis to find instruction on Biblical preaching, but there is a fascinating, and I think helpful example of good, Biblical preaching within this book of beginnings. The example comes in chapter 41, where Joseph, a prisoner of Potipher, is brought to stand...
There are many challenges that a young Christian husband faces in the first years of marriage. There may be doubts about his ability to be a good dad when the time comes. There may be temptation to see and gain worldy success immediately in order to provide the best life for his family. There may...
“Love yourself.” This modern psychological mantra, we are told, is the cure that heals all ailments. Have a negative self-image? Just love yourself. Are you being treated poorly? Don’t let them define who you are – just love yourself. Is society, or certain aspects of it, abusing you and keeping...
In the current political divide in the Unites States, one of the underlying narratives that divides the political left and right is the question of entrustment, or more specifically, to whom should the citizens of the country entrust themselves. The basic answer on the left side of the debate is...
The dual questions of where do we meet God and how do we hear from God are important. And they are also highly relevant in 21 st century Christianity. These two questions run like yellow-brick roads throughout Scripture, weaving their way through the varied landscapes of the Bible. We first...
It was a distinct moment of realization, a head-slapping, should-have-known-it nugget of truth that I had just heard. Dr. Mohler, at the 2018 U.S. Banner of Truth Minister’s Conference, made the simple point that we, as Christians in modern America, should not be at all surprised that our doctrine...
Rare is that jewel of a book that alters one’s life, perhaps changing a perspective on some particular topic, or perhaps more importantly, altering one’s views about God or His unfailing Word. A book that causes us to reevaluate something at the core of our identity as a child of God is a gem...