The Virgin Birth of Christ in Matthew 1

The first chapter of Matthew is designed to tell us the origin of the person whom we call Savior and Lord. Matthew begins with the genealogy of Jesus of Nazareth. Note carefully the wording of verse 16. It relates that “Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus.” Prior to this…

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Differentiating Holiness from Legalism

One of the most emotionally divisive issues between Christian brothers and sisters is something hotly labeled legalism. But ask nearly anyone to define what legalism actually is, and the explanation quickly gets vague. The old joke is that legalism is anything to the right of me! Worldliness is anything to my left. Unfortunately, in real…

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How Valuable to Me Is My Bible Today?

What would it feel like today not to own a Bible? What if I knew hardly anyone who did? What would I be willing to do to have one for myself? Six Years and Fifty Miles? One of the most heartwarming true stories I’ve ever read along this line is the experience of a determined…

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New Year’s Reading on the Book of Psalms

The new year is here, with a golden opportunity to read more and better in the months ahead. Maybe you were given money for books for Christmas. Wonderful! There’s little that I enjoy more than helping other people spend money on good books! I want to recommend the possibility of your working through three books…

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“Rightly Dividing” More Right Than Ever

Cutting Straight Conspicuously It has always been essential for preachers to ground their sermons in a text. But I’m persuaded that postmodernity necessitates our doing so far more conspicuously. That is, I believe that the nature of contemporary culture compels us to establish visibly and indubitably that our content is what texts are actually saying.…

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What’s an Evangelical to Do? (8)

Mark Minnick FrontLine • March/April 2009 Part 1 ♦ Part 2 ♦ Part 3 ♦ Part 4 ♦ Part 5 ♦ Part 6 ♦ Part 7 To recap, Part 7, posted yesterday, covers Dr. Minnick’s discussion of Romans 16:17 and 2 Corinthians 6:14–7:1. He continues in today’s post with further discussion from 2 John and…

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What’s an Evangelical to Do? (7)

Mark Minnick FrontLine • March/April 2009 Part 1 ♦ Part 2 ♦ Part 3 ♦ Part 4 ♦ Part 5 ♦ Part 6 This is the last of four columns [broken into six Proclaim & Defend posts, see links above] addressing the problem of theological confusion within Evangelicalism. That it is reaching an epidemic level…

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What’s an Evangelical to Do? (6)

Mark Minnick FrontLine • November/December 2008 Part 1 ♦ Part 2 ♦ Part 3 ♦ Part 4 ♦ Part 5 Resurrecting the Question: Two previous columns [broken into four Proclaim & Defend posts, see links above] in this series raised the issue of how Evangelicals should respond to unorthodox men within evangelical ministries. Admittedly, Jesus…

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What’s an Evangelical to Do? (5)

Mark Minnick FrontLine • November/December 2008 Part 1 ♦ Part 2 ♦ Part 3 ♦ Part 4 Resurrecting the Question: Two previous columns [broken into four Proclaim & Defend posts, see links above] in this series raised the issue of how Evangelicals should respond to unorthodox men within evangelical ministries. Admittedly, Jesus warned His followers…

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What’s an Evangelical to Do? (4)

Mark Minnick FrontLine • September/October 2008 Part 1 ♦ Part 2 ♦ Part 3 Part 3 established the fact of false teachers and showed how they can appear to be orthodox, yet their reality can’t be denied. Part 3 closed with this question: But practically speaking, how are we to detect him? Back to the…

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