Studies on Heresy

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The Heresy of Body/Spirit Dualism

Author

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:31, 1 Timothy 4:4-5, Colossians 1:16, Romans 1:20, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Christianity Does Not Reject the Body The “spirit-good / body-bad” dualism that often passes for Christianity is actually an ancient gnostic error called “Manichaeism,” and it couldn’t be further from...

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Innovation or Heresy

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Ecclesiastes 7:10, Colossians 2:8, Matthew 9:17, 1 Thessalonians 5:21, Romans 12:2, Mark 7:8-9, Isaiah 43:19

It’s funny how sometimes members of the church can associate anything new with “heresy.” We often make the mistake of confusing technological innovations or scientific discoveries for changes to the g...

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The Hand will Be the First to Burn

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Daniel 3:, Job 1:, Matthew 10:32-33, 2 Timothy 1:7, Psalm 31:24

Thomas Cranmer (1489–1556), the archbishop of Canterbury from 1532 to 1556, played a pivotal role in the English Reformation. A key figure in Henry VIII’s break with the Roman Catholic Church, Cranmer...

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The Essential Confession

Author

Paul David Tripp in John Piper & Justin Taylor

Keywords

Scripture

James 3:5-10, Matthew 12:34-37, Psalm 141:3, Proverbs 15:1, Genesis 3:12-13, Isaiah 6:5

I actually want to believe that when it comes to communication, my biggest problem is outside of me, not inside of me. I want to think that it’s my kids, my wife, my neighbors, my boss. I want to thin...

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Negotiating with God

Author

Max Lucado

Keywords

Scripture

Job 1:20-21, Daniel 3:17-18, Habakkuk 3:17-18, Luke 22:42, Psalm 34:18-19 , John 6:66-69

A few days ago I met with a young couple. Their toddler was injured in a car accident. When I visited them in the hospital, the child was on life support. As we stood outside the ICU and spoke, I saw,...

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One Very Important Word of Encouragement

Author

Dan B. Allender and Larry Crabb

Keywords

As a youngster I developed a thoroughly annoying and humiliating problem of stuttering…In the ninth grade, I was elected president of our junior high student body. During an assembly of the seventh, e...

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The Reconciling Love of the Father

Author

Jen Pollock Michel

Keywords

Scripture

John 1:12-13, Romans 8:15-17, Galatians 4:4-5, Ephesians 2:12-13, Colossians 1:21-22, 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

In her book Keeping Place: Reflections on the Meaning of Home , Jen Pollock Michel reflects on the nature of home in a transient age. In this short excerpt, Michel reflects on the Biblical doctrine...

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Did Jesus Really Suffer on the Cross?

Author

Gerhard Lohfink

Keywords

Jesus did not descend from the cross. He was powerless, delivered up to his opponents. There was a false and erroneous form of Christianity that refused to accept that. As early as the second century ...

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The Protestant Buddhists

Author

Michael Reeves

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 18:9-14, Ephesians 1:7, John 14:6, Psalm 23:1, John 17:3, Titus 3:4-5

In his insightful book, Delighting in the Trinity , Michael Reeves shares an interesting point of connection between the Protestant understanding of sola grati discovered by Francis Xavier during...

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God’s Word and Calvinism vs. Arminianism

Author

Charles Spurgeon

Keywords

It has been my earnest endeavor ever since I have preached the Word, never to keep back a single doctrine that I believe to be taught of God. It is time that we had done with the old and rusty systems...

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Bible Controversies come from our Hermeneutics

Author

R. C. Sproul

Keywords

Scripture

Nehemiah 8:1–8, Genesis 3:1–7, 2 Kings 22:8–13 , Luke 24:25–27 , 2 Timothy 2:15, Psalm 119:130

Many of the modern controversies surrounding the Bible—for example, human sexuality, creationism and the “openness” of God—revolve around questions concerning hermeneutics. The science of hermeneutics...

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The Heretic

Author

Emo Philips

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 7:3, James 2:13, 1 Corinthians 1:10, Galatians 3:28, Romans 14:1, John 13:35

I was walking in San Francisco along the Golden Gate Bridge when I saw a man about to jump off. I tried to dissuade him from committing suicide and told him simply that God loved him. A tear came to h...

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A Mischief to Religion

Author

Joseph Glanvill

Keywords

Anti-Intellectualism has been a problem in the church for some time now. Consider the words of the 17th century English clergyman Joseph Glanvill, who had this to say about the role of reason in faith...

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The Principle Crime of the Human Race

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Ezekiel 144:6, Colossians 3:5, 1 John 5:21, 1 Corinthians 10:14, Jeremiah 10:14-15, Matthew 22:34-40, Exodus 20:3

Tertullian was an early church leader (a bishop in Carthage) in North Africa. His voluminous writing and ministry have led many to acknowledge him as the father of Latin Theology/Western Theology. Ter...

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The Analogy of Faith

Author

R. C. Sproul

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:26–27, Exodus 3:1–14, Isaiah 53:3–6, Luke 24:25–27 , Romans 3:21–26, Psalm 110:1

When the Reformers broke with Rome and claimed the view that the Bible was to be the supreme authority of the church (sola Scriptura), they were very careful to define basic principles of interpretati...

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Gaining Scholars but Losing Jesus

Author

N. T. Wright

Keywords

Scripture

Deuteronomy 18:15 , Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 11:1–4, John 14:6–9 , Philippians 3:8–10, Psalm 34:8

A friend of mine, lecturing in a theological college in Kenya, introduced his students to “The Quest for the Historical Jesus.” This, he said, was a movement of thought and scholarship that in its ear...

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The Four-Letter Word

Author

Brett McCracken

Keywords

In today’s world, holy is the most offensive of all four – letter words. It’s far more acceptable to say, “My life is so messed up,” than it is to say, “I am striving to be holy.” For many, Christiani...

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Worlds are Colliding

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

John 1:, Hebrews 1:, Acts 17:16-34

In the book of Hebrews (and elsewhere in the New Testament and theology, generally), the Greek and Jewish worlds collide. A funny parallel may be drawn between this and George's complete meltdown ...

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Foolishness to the Greeks

Author

John Stott

Keywords

Scripture

2 Timothy 2:12, James 1:2-4, Matthew 5:11-12, Philippians 1:29, Romans 8:18, 2 Corinthians 4:17, John 15:20

Nevertheless, what was shameful, even odious, to the critics of Christ, was in the eyes of his followers most glorious. They had learnt that the servant was not greater than the master, and that for t...

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Quarreling Yesterday & Today

Author

Tim Muehlhoff & Richard Langer

Keywords

In Paul’s day the church quarreled over the Jewish law and over genealogies, over meat sacrificed to idols and sabbath practices, and over favoritism shown to the rich patrons and negligence shown to ...

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The Hole In Our Holiness

Author

Kevin DeYoung

Keywords

Holiness

The hole in our holiness is that we don’t really care much about it. Passionate exhortation to pursue gospel-driven holiness is barely heard in most of our churches. It’s not that we don’t talk about ...

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Excluding Sinners is Excluding God

Author

Brennan Manning

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 19:7, Matthew 21:31, John 1:11, Luke 7:34, Mark 2:17

There is a story of a public sinner who was excommunicated and forbidden from entering the church, He took his woes to God. "They won't let me in, Lord, because I am a sinner." "W...

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The Two Equal and Opposite Errors

Author

C. S. Lewis

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 4:10, James 4:7, 2 Corinthians 11:14, Ephesians 6:11-12, 1 Peter 5:8

There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest...

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A Conscience Held Captive by the Word of God

Author

R. C. Sproul

Keywords

Scripture

Jeremiah 20:7–11 , 1 Kings 22:13–28 , Exodus 32:19–26 , Acts 5:27–29, 2 Timothy 3:14–17, Psalm 119:89–93

When asked to recant of his writings, Luther replied, “Unless I am convinced by sacred Scripture or by evident reason, I cannot recant. For my conscience is held captive by the word of God and to act ...

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Haters of Humanity?

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Acts 8:1-3, 2 Timothy 3:12, 1 Peter 4:12-16, Matthew 5:10-12, Luke 6:41-42, Genesis 3:8-19, Genesis 39:6-20, Job 2:11-13, Job 42:7-9

Most of us are aware of various persecutions that took place during the first few centuries of the church’s existence. One particularly brutal local persecution took place during the reign of Nero, wh...

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Taking Convictions Seriously

Author

Tim Muehlhoff and Richard Langer

Keywords

We might say that convictions are firmly held moral or religious beliefs that guide our beliefs, actions, or choices…[M]ost Christians attach their convictions to Christ personally. In other words, we...

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Thirty-one New Testament Descriptions of Sinful Mankind

Author

L. Meredith

Keywords

Sin

Scripture

Ephesians 4:18, John 12:40, 2 Corinthians 4:4, 1 John 2:11, Romans 8:6, Matthew 7:17-18, 1 Timothy 6:5, Matthew 6:23, John 3:19, Romans 1:21, 1 John 1:6-7, John 5:24, Colossians 2:13, 1 Timothy 5:6, 1 John 3:14, Titus 3:3, Isaiah 64:6, Titus 1:15, 2 Peter 2:20, Revelation 22:11, Romans 1:18, Matthew 7:23, Ephesians 2:3, James 4:4, Matthew 6:22, John 3:20, Matthew 7:26, Ephesians 5:15, 1 Peter 2:25, Matthew 6:2, Romans 2:5, Hebrews 3:8, 2 Thessalonians 2:12, 2 Timothy 3:4, 1 John 2:15, Romans 1:30, 1 Timothy 6:4, James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5, John 3:35, 2 Timothy 4:4, Acts 7:51, John 8:44, 2 Timothy 3:2, Revelation 3:17, John 3:34, Romans 6:16-17, Romans 1:25, John 8:33, Romans 7:7, 1 Corinthians 6:9

Alienated from God (Eph. 4:18). Blind (John 12:40; 2 Cor. 4:4; 1 John 2:11). Carnally or fleshly minded (Rom. 8:6, 13). Corrupt (Matt. 7:17-18; 1 Tim. 6:5). Darkened (Matt. 6:23; John 3:19; Rom. 1...

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J.C. Ryle on True Christianity

Author

J. C. Ryle

Keywords

Christianity

Scripture

Hebrews 1:24, Galatians 5:17, 1 Peter 5:8-9, Romans 7:23, 2 Corinthians 10:4-5

True Christianity is a fight. . . .There is a vast quantity of religion current in the world which is not true, genuine Christianity. It passes muster; it satisfies sleepy consciences; but it is not g...

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Saints of Darkness?

Author

Austin Fischer

Keywords

There are many ways to be a saint, and at times our fidelity may look like betrayal. We may have to become “saints of darkness.” We may have to be saints whose light seems to go out as we wander in th...

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Mistaken Identity

Author

John Ortberg

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 3:12, Matthew 23:27-28, Titus 1:16, 1 John 3:18, Romans 12:2, Galatians 5:22-23, Matthew 7:21

A man is being tailgated by a woman who is in a hurry. He comes to an intersection, and when the light turns yellow, he hits the brakes. The woman behind him goes ballistic. She honks her horn at him;...

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