Who are the 144,000 in Revelation 7?
Tom Schreiner answers this one.
When pastors need to be extra cautious
Really helpful one from Tim Challies. Lots of good advice in it and particularly important if you are a pastor.
Is New Testament Greek the Most Precise Language known to Mankind?
‘There is an idea which floats around in pulpits and Bible studies, and it goes something like this: “Greek is a perfectly precise language which clearly conveys its meaning, and this is the reason why God used Greek for the New Testament.” I do not pretend to know the mind of God regarding why the New Testament is in Greek. But there are some substantial problems in the assertion that Greek is “perfectly precise.” Uncovering these problems—in this article and a follow-up in the next issue—will actually help us interpret the Bible more accurately.’
The pitfalls and possibilities of being political
‘If a pastor is better known for his views on COVID-19 or for his analysis of the latest shooting than he is for his views on the Trinity, the person of Christ, and the gospel, then something is wrong.’
Salman Rushdie and the social media fatwa
I don’t agree with all of Carl Trueman’s analysis here, but I think his essential point has merit. We haven’t really valued free speech for a long time.
Do elders receive their authority by congregational vote?
This is a really helpful, clarifying article on what is going on when churches vote in their elders. It speaks to where elders get their authority from as well as what the church are actually doing in elected people to office and what authority they have to do so.
From the archive: The value of word-ministry is not necessarily seen in the short term
‘We may wonder what effect our preaching is having each week. In the weeks of silence as nobody tells us how the Lord was specifically dealing with them, we may question whether it is doing anything at all. In the weeks when our congregations are grumbling about it, we may wonder if we’re cut out for the task. In the weeks when people tell us how they believe the Lord was speaking specifically to them and we struggle to figure out whether they were even listening to the sermon we were actually preaching, it is easy to wonder about the point of it all.’