If God never changes, then how can He change His mind?
Malachi 3:6
“For I am the Lord, I do not change; therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.”
If God never changes, then how can He change His mind?
Malachi 3:6
“For I am the Lord, I do not change; therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.”
The requirements of love might be simple enough in theory, but following them might not always be so easy in practice. This is what Matthew 11:28ff means. And love and peace are there for those who would want them – it doesn’t mean that one is immune from one’s own mistakes and the corresponding correction from God like from a father.
You have abandoned the love you had at first. (Revelation 2:4)
We will always remember that best and brightest of hours when we first saw the Lord, lost our burden, received the gift of grace, rejoiced in full salvation, and went on our way in peace. It was springtime in the soul; the winter was past; the mutterings of Sinai’s thunders were hushed; the flashings of its lightnings were no more perceived; God was beheld as reconciled; the law threatened no vengeance, and justice demanded no punishment.
If you have been a Christian for any length of time, you will probably have heard the saying, ‘God hates the sin but loves the sinner’. You might even have said these words yourself.
Continue reading →The Apostle Paul’s words in Romans 9 reveal one of the most emotionally charged moments in all of Scripture. Speaking from the depths of his heart, Paul confesses his grief over those closest to him: his fellow Israelites, his family, and his friends, who have rejected Christ. “I speak the truth in Christ; I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit; I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race” (Romans 9:1-3, NIV).
Paul’s anguish was not theoretical. It was deeply personal. His sorrow came from the realization that many of his own people, those who shared his heritage, his traditions, and his memories, had chosen to remain outside of the salvation found in Jesus Christ. Although he does not explicitly declare that they are beyond redemption, his grief reflects a profound awareness of their separation from God’s plan of salvation. This passage is a moving expression of what every Christian eventually faces: the pain of knowing that those we love may never accept the gift of eternal life through Christ.
Continue reading →All those who BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ RECEIVE the Holy Spirit of God (John 7:37-39). This blessed and divine Person dwells within every born again believer (1 Corinthians 6:19; Romans 8:9). The living God wants to powerfully WORK in the submissive believer to produce CHRIST-LIKENESS (see Philippians 2:13)
Problem: How do Galatians 6 verses two and five harmonize? According to the apostle Paul, Christians are to “[b]ear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). However, only three verses later, he writes: “For every man shall bear his own burden” (6:5). Skeptic Steve Wells, author of the popular Skeptic’s Annotated Bible, categorizes Galatians 6:2 and 6:5 as contradictory verses (see Wells, 2015). Bible critic Dennis McKinsey comments on these verses, saying, “Gal. 6:2 says that we should bear one another’s burdens to fulfill the law of Christ, while three verses later we are told that everyone should bear his own burden. So who is to bear our burdens?… One can’t help but ask why people would be obligated to aid the poor if every man is supposed to bear his own burden” (1995, pp. 86, 430). So are Christians to “bear one another’s burdens,” or is the child of God to “bear his own burden”?
Love is a boundless word woven into the tapestry of humanity, a subjective word that can transcend beyond borders, so unique that it can create intense emotion that’s both humane and spiritual.
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1 John 4:8 & 16 KJV, “… God is love …”. To be like God we must study God.
To study God we must learn how to love by reading and reflecting on 1 John
and 1 Corinthians 13.
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Problem: Jesus taught that we should love our enemies (Mt. 5:44), but Paul prays a curse over his enemies. This word for “accursed” is anathema. Colin Brown writes,
The LXX uses anathema regularly to translate the Hebrew herem, ban, what is banned (Num. 21:3; Josh. 6:17; 7:12; Judg. 1:17; Zech. 14:11 with the original root meaning to forbid, separate, consecrate, annihilate). What is banned (persons or things) is directly given up to God and so cannot be redeemed (Lev. 27:18).
The “ban” (Hebrew herem or Greek anathema) was originally for the Canaanites, who were judged by God (Josh. 6). Here, Paul uses the same word to describe the judgment on these false teachers. How can we harmonize Paul’s curse with Jesus’ words?
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Problem: The spiritual gifts listed by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12:8-11 are grouped into the three categories.
Category 1
the word of wisdom
the word of knowledge
Category 2
Faith
gifts of healing
working of miracles
prophecy
discerning of spirits
Category 3
kinds of tongues
interpretation of tongues
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Problem: The argument goes something like this: (1) 1 John 4:8 indicates that “God is love;” (2) 1 Corinthians 13:4 says that “love is not jealous” (NAS); and yet (3) Exodus 20:5, along with several other passages, reveals that God is “a jealous God.” “How,” the skeptic asks, “can God be jealous when several verses say God is love and 1 Cor. says love is not jealous?” (McKinsey, 1992). Simply put, if love is not jealous, and God is love, then God logically cannot be called jealous. Or conversely, if love is not jealous, and God is jealous, then God cannot be considered loving. Right? How can these verses be anything but contradictory?
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Problem: Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. (1 Corinthians 7:1 (NKJV))
For I wish that all men were even as I myself. But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that. But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: It is good for them if they remain even as I am. (1 Corinthians 7:7–8 (NKJV))
And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” (Genesis 2:18 (NKJV))
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