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27 results for “Eternal state”
Clear searchSeeing God, bodily resurrection, and life in the renewed creation
…pain, beautiful surroundings, or endless activity considered by themselves. The heart of eternal life is God dwelling with His people. Paul contrasts our present partial knowledge with the future: “now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12).…
Read article →Origen, Arius and the line between Creator and creation
Does Eternal Mean Divine? Origen, Arius and the line between Creator and creation Why this is useful to know: On your walk through life, you will encounter challenges to the deity of Christ from…
Read article →Born, begotten and firstborn in the eternal identity and saving work of the Son
Was Christ Begotten at the Resurrection? Born, begotten and firstborn in the eternal identity and saving work of the Son “This day have I begotten thee” appears to be applied to Christ’s resurrection. Did Jesus become the Son of God when He rose—or does Scripture dis…
Read article →What the Father's love for the Son reveals about God
Eternal Love Before Creation What the Father's love for the Son reveals about God Before there was a universe, what was there for God to love? There were no angels, no human beings and no cr…
Read article →Not escape from the body, but its redemption
…flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Corinthians 15:50)? He explains the statement in the next words: "neither doth corruption inherit incorruption." Flesh and blood describes humanity in its present mortal and corruptible condition. Paul is not cancelling the bo…
Read article →Eustathius of Antioch, the human soul of Christ and the pictures created by our words
…e. Such comparisons are memorable. That is precisely why they require care. A theological statement may be qualified in the next sentence, but a picture can remain in the imagination long after its qualifications have been forgotten. The listener may remember that Jesus was calle…
Read article →Why the distinction matters when we speak about Jesus
…y suggest: Person tells us who Jesus is. Nature tells us what He is. Who is He? He is the eternal Son of God, the Word who was with God and was God. What is He? He is truly God and truly man. Jesus Christ is one Person possessing two complete natures: a divine nature and a human…
Read article →Isaiah, John, and the Divine Identity of Jesus Christ
…akes an instrument the ultimate source of salvation or a competing god. Consequently, the statement “Jesus is called Saviour, therefore Jesus must be God” is insufficient by itself. The stronger question is whether the New Testament places Jesus only among God’s instruments, or a…
Read article →Unity in Christ and distinction in God's purpose
…s natural family whenever Paul discusses their unbelief or promised mercy. If it did, his statement "I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin" would become unintelligible (Romans 11:1). Distinct does not mean unrelated The choice is not between tot…
Read article →Near-death experiences, neuroscience, and the authority of Christ
…ad. A person successfully resuscitated after cardiac arrest was in a catastrophic medical state, but was not irreversibly brain-dead. Clinical death, cardiac arrest and brain death are not interchangeable expressions. If someone returned, we should be cautious about saying that h…
Read article →Responding to five common criticisms without defending what Scripture does not require
…ovised after Israel ruined His preferred plan. Paul describes the Church as part of God's eternal purpose: "According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." —Ephesians 3:11 The mystery was hidden in earlier ages and revealed through the apostles, but…
Read article →El, the Exodus, and the God Who Came from Sinai
…in the cultic assemblage. The site’s ethnic identity and interpretation should not be overstated, but it prevents the archaeological record being reduced to an uninterrupted progress from image-filled Canaanite polytheism to late aniconic Yahwism. Material continuity with Canaan…
Read article →Why the Son assumed a complete human nature, not merely a body
…an become less than fully human in our thoughts. Scripture presents something richer: the eternal Son assumed our complete humanity, including a genuinely human mind, affections and will. That truth helps us understand His obedience, suffering, sympathy and saving work. Suggested…
Read article →Fulfilment in Christ, the inclusion of the Gentiles, and Israel's future mercy
…those truths. Fulfilment in Christ may guarantee God's promises rather than cancel their stated recipients. Gentile inclusion may enlarge the company of the blessed without requiring Israel's exclusion. Spiritual unity may coexist with distinctions which the New Testament itself…
Read article →Why Israel's failure cannot make the word of God fail
…It is often said that if God can abandon Israel, Christians cannot trust His promises of eternal life. The point contains a real insight, but it should be stated carefully. Consider the argument from the Church's side. Suppose another people came into the blessings of the new co…
Read article →Does John 6 teach the literal eating of Christ's body?
…aining away the plain words of Jesus? Has he mistaken an indispensable means of receiving eternal life for a metaphor? Those are fair questions, and they deserve something better than a reflexive Protestant answer. But they also require us to do what the presentation itself often…
Read article →The covenant son and the sacrifice that points to Christ
…ses in Abraham's household: "For in Isaac shall thy seed be called" (Genesis 21:12). That statement does not deny Abraham's biological relationship to Ishmael. It identifies the line through which the calling and promise proceed. Paul quotes it directly: "Neither, because they ar…
Read article →The divine identity of Jesus across the Gospels
…ands the Sabbath better than His opponents. He declares Himself its Lord. Again, a single statement can be assigned to delegated messianic authority. But the cumulative question is already forming. Why does this prophet arrive through a prophecy concerning the coming of the LORD,…
Read article →Why the Trinity is not polytheism—and why Christians confess one God
…Person and three Persons, or one Being and three Beings. We confess one divine Being who eternally exists as three distinct Persons. Christianity begins with one God The Bible's starting point is uncompromising monotheism: "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD." —Deutero…
Read article →Creation, judgement, and the coming reign of Christ
…the Creator Romans 1 provides the necessary starting point. The created world reveals the eternal power and Godhead of its Maker, leaving man without excuse. Yet fallen humanity refuses the response creation ought to produce: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him n…
Read article →The near was real. The far is still coming.
…ructive test. Hezekiah belongs to the discussion. So do Sennacherib, Assyria, Judah’s devastated countryside, Jerusalem’s deliverance and Edom’s hostility. Removing those historical realities would impoverish the passage. But stopping with them would leave much of its language un…
Read article →Two accounts of judgement, mercy, and the sinner's hope before God
…righteous through union with the crucified and risen Son. That difference deserves to be stated accurately. The Christian claim is not that Muslims have never heard of mercy. It is that mercy and justice meet at the cross in a way Islam explicitly denies. The Bible also teaches…
Read article →Christianity, Islam and the verdict of the evidence
…and asked whether He can be contained within the category of prophet. We have considered eternal love, the crucifixion, divine justice, forgiveness and assurance. We have tested the transmission of the Bible, the missing Islamic Injeel, the Qur’an’s miracle claim, alleged prophe…
Read article →The glory philosophy could not contain
…survive; it is glory Christianity alone can proclaim. The Maker entered His creation. The eternal Son made our nature His own. The One whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain was carried in human arms. But what happens when a philosopher encounters that glory and tries to fit i…
Read article →What mercy, holiness and the cross reveal about God
…Christian argument should not deny any of that. It should ask what kind of pattern these statements form and what redemptive act, if any, manifests the love they name. The repeated refrain: Allah does not love Anyone reading the Qur'an continuously is likely to notice a recurrin…
Read article →The Gospel, Human Perception, and the Illuminating Work of the Holy Spirit
…erstood and how he responded to the light he had. 2 Thessalonians 2:10. The gospel can be stated in propositions. Those propositions are indispensable. Yet conversion involves more than agreeing that a collection of Christian sentences is correct. Through the truth God has reveal…
Read article →Constantine, Arius, the Trinity, the biblical canon—and the myths that refuse to die
…could use the word God of Him. The dispute concerned what those words meant. Was the Son eternally from the Father's own being, or was He the first and greatest creature, brought into existence by the Father's will and then used to create everything else? Arius's own letter to A…
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