Peter and Pilate (Mark 15:1)
Every student of the life of Christ knows about Peter’s denials of the Lord. It is very appropriate for us to look at what happened to Peter and ask the Lord to keep us from denying Him with our words or our actions. We all should recognize that we can be guilty of denying the […]
Salvation in the Early Church
Many Free Grace teachers, myself included, maintain that assurance of eternal life is of the essence of saving faith. What we mean by that is that when a person believes in Jesus Christ for eternal life, in that moment they know they have it. That is what Jesus promises. In addition, the word eternal in […]
Is There Such a Thing as Guilt-Free Evangelism?
My first two years on staff with Cru, we were encouraged to share our faith with multiple college students each week. But we had no quota we needed to reach. That changed in year three. We were required to witness to ten or more students per week one-on-one. When I spoke to the basketball and […]
John, Meet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 37–38)
Jeremiah is widely recognized as a type of Christ. So many things in his life paralleled the life of Christ. But recently, I realized that Jeremiah also foreshadowed another important person in the New Testament. That person would be John the Baptist (JTB). There are also many parallels between JTB and the Lord Jesus. So, […]
What Is the Crown of Life in James 1:12?
Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. God rewards us when we endure trials with love toward Him. That is the vital point James bring out in Jas 1:12. We are to […]
Can Someone Be Born Again, But Not Saved? Salvation in James
While preparing to introduce the epistle of James for a class I’m teaching, I researched what different leading conservative commentators say about salvation in James. What I found was surprising. I was familiar with three views. 1.The readers were believers who were saved forever. 2. The readers were believers who were saved, but who might […]
On the Winning Team (Mark 4:27-28)
For a short period of my life, one of my favorite people was a guy named Devega. We were in the army together. I had signed up to field a basketball team in a local church league. I was getting older, and my friends who were part of the team were as well. Fortunately, all […]
“The Best Job I Ever Had” (Mark 3:13-19)
As an old army guy, I love a good war movie. One of those is the movie, Fury. It’s a story about a tank crew in World War II. There are five men in the crew, and they experience all the horrors of war together as they fight against Nazi Germany. They have been together […]
A Good Example (Jeremiah 35)
In a previous blog, I wrote about how in Jeremiah 34, we are given a negative example of the Jews in Jeremiah’s day concerning how they treated their slaves. In the very next chapter, Jeremiah gives a positive example that believers even today can learn from. Both the negative and positive examples given in these […]
Do Few People Believe They’re Eternally Secure Apart from Works?
Not all people who identify themselves as holding to Free Grace Theology (FGT) agree that one must believe in Jesus for everlasting life/irrevocable salvation/permanent justification in order to be part of God’s forever family. In fact, some who profess to believe in FGT call that teaching a false gospel. One seminary professor, in criticizing the […]