1 John 1:9 — Salvation or Sanctification?

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” For much of my lifetime, I heard this verse referred to as a cleansing and restoring truth for believers who in some way had stumbled into sin. Such an interpretation affects sanctification. About…

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Anger in the First Degree

Murders come in all kinds of ways. They come through violence. They come through domestic squabbles. They come through gang warfare. Unfortunately, records of murder litter the history of the world. In fact, murders are so commonplace that they don’t always make the news cycle unless they’re bizarre or multiple. Yet, the most prevalent form…

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The Double Cure

The first verse of the hymn “Rock of Ages”ends with these words: “Be of sin the double cure, Save from wrath and make me pure” (Majesty Hymns, 451). Interestingly, some hymnals have an alternate reading: “Be of sin the double cure, Cleanse me from its guilt and power” (Hymns for the Living Church, 149.) Fortunately,…

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What Were You Thinking?

Sanctification is a transformation of the believer into the image of Christ. If believers are going to please God, they must involve themselves in the process of spiritual transformation. The goal of this article is to suggest some basic truths regarding Biblical transformation as expressed in Romans 12:2. Paul asks two questions. First, into what…

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The Error of Counterfeit Holiness

The Scripture upholds true godliness and holiness with statements like “Godliness is profitable unto all things” (I Tim. 4:8), and warns against the counterfeit, with statements like “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away” (2 Tim. 3:5). While the context of 2 Timothy primarily addresses counterfeit religion among…

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Guns and Sanctification

The recent tragedy of the shooting in Florida reminds us once again of man’s depravity and his need for salvation through Jesus Christ to receive a changed heart. The wake of this egregious crime certainly has spurred debate about guns, but common sense recognizes the truth of the adage, “The only thing that stops a…

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Does the Bible Really Teach Two Types of Forgiveness?

Kristopher Schaal I’d like to make a case for two distinct types of forgiveness. When a person gets saved, God forgives all of his sin—past, present, and future. This is often referred to as “positional forgiveness.” Although some people may not like that term, I don’t think anyone even close to orthodoxy really disputes the…

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Straight Cuts: “The Just Shall Live by Faith” (Habakkuk 2:4b)

Mike Harding This inspired text penned by the ancient prophet Habakkuk is quoted three times by two NT authors. In the NT, the prophet’s profound utterance comprises the “soul of Pauline theology.”1 Boice comments, “This is a great text. It could even be called the great text of the Bible. To understand it is to…

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Stubborn, Ceaseless Civil War (2)

Mark Minnick In Part One, Dr. Minnick writes to us of the struggle of the spiritual life, instructing us of the Nature of the struggle and assuring us of the Normalcy of the struggle. The Enormity of This Struggle Though everything described thus far is the normal experience of all Christians, it isn’t their experience…

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Stubborn, Ceaseless Civil War (1)

Mark Minnick All Christ’s followers, ministers or otherwise, are in one of three states of spiritual warfare: (1) some have given up battling almost entirely, (2) some are battling weakly but generally unsuccessfully, and (3) some are battling energetically and generally victoriously. But there is no such thing as a child of God who is…

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