Skip to main content

Doctrines

The Vulnerability of God

Love4
Why are we Christians? We are Christians simply because of Christ. We have recognized in His humanan nature the perfect embodiment of God which was expressed through His actions, reported by His closest friends while He was among us. The highest revelation of God through the history of communication between Him and us, was when He revealed Himself in human flesh. It is the culmination of God's revelation, where He tried to tell us one important thing, namely about His exceeding love for the dignity of our human nature, which was created in His image. Through God's revealed love we get to know a God who is ready to sacrifice himself and suffer for us. Through Christ's crucifixion, God has revealed Himself to be vulnerable and showed us that He can experience pain. In this article, we represent reflections on God's Vulnerability taken from J. R. Lucas' article "The Vulnerability of God."

Continue reading

The End of Charismatic Gifts

 

dove.2In this article, we will examine the validity of the charismatic belief, that is, whether the charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit are still present in the Church of Christ. The charismatic belief affirms that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are still present, and have never ceased to be in operation from the birth of the Church on the day of the Pentecost until the present. The gifts will continue to exist until Christ's return. The charismatic belief is referred to as the continuationist view, or continuationism, while the opposite view is known as the cessationist view, or cessationism. We will show that continuationism is incorrect by examining the important arguments that are present in the issue.

Continue reading

House Churches

House Church1

This article deals with a biblical justification for the necessity and sufficiency of the house meetings in our Christian gatherings. First, we will give a brief historic perspective on house churches. Then, in the second part, we will examine various passages that are relevant for the topic on house churches. This examination will be the most important one, and consequently a long one. These passages are divided in five groups according to their clarity with respect to the relation between the Church and house. The second part will, thus, be divided into five sections according to the type of passages into consideration. The third and fourth part are concerned with the leadership and the autonomy of a local church.

Continue reading

Early Church Practises

EarlyChurch

Pre-Constantinian Church

In this section we are going to look at just some of the practices of the early church believers for approximately the first 250 years of the church. In 313, Constantine issued the Edict of Milan legalizing the practice of Christianity. We have many today that refer to the church fathers as being from this time forward but really the church fathers were the 11 Disciples and Paul, with many co-laborers, not for instance St. Augustine, St. Athanasius, or Gregory of Nazianzen, let alone theologians such as Luther or Calvin.

Continue reading

The Scriptural Law of Worship

bible prayer3w.2The offering of spiritual service to God in the celebration of His Holy Person is one of the highest, noblest employments in which man can engage, the supreme reach of the soul. (...) The worship of a Supreme Being seems to be a universal instinct, and because of the sovereignty, majesty, and holiness of God, must be surrounded by such safeguards, restrictions, and sanctities as will preserve the divine honor and secure the acceptance of the worshiper and his worship. (...) Rather than incur the wrath of heaven by a form of worship that is dishonoring and displeasing to God we should, instead of allowing ourselves ignorantly to worship, seek some divine message declaring what the mind of the Lord is, and follow it.

Continue reading

Faith and Works

2faiths.2Are we saved by faith alone?

"For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God -- not by works, lest any man should boast.(Ephesians 2:8, 9)

When the Bible says that we are not saved by works (Eph. 2:8-9), how shall we understand it? Does it follow that we can both continue in sin and be saved? Of course not, otherwise it would contradict with Paul's clear warnings, just to mention two passages.

Continue reading

Inclusivism

tribe.2Can the unevangelized be saved? The unevangelized are people who have never heard about Christ or have insufficient information about Him. Can they be saved even though they have no opportunity to hear about the Gospel?

We believe that they can, and such a view is known as Inclusivism. Inclusivism teaches "that the unevangelized are saved or lost on the basis of their commitment, or lack thereof, to the God who saves through the work of Jesus. They believe that appropriation of salvific grace is mediated through general revelation and God's providential workings in human history. Briefly, inclusivists affirm the particularity and finality of salvation only in Christ but deny that knowledge of his work is necessary for salvation. That is to say, they hold that the work of Jesus is ontologically necessary for salvation (no one would be saved without it) but not epistemologically necessary (one need not be aware of the work in order to benefit from it)" (John Sanders, No Other Name, p. 215, emphasis added).

Continue reading

Israel and God's Plan – Jacob and Esau

twins.2Exposition of Romans 9:10-14

Exposition of Romans 9:10-14 dealing with the question of God's election. People often fail to understand that in this text the apostle is talking about the election of nations and not about individuals.

Continue reading

Ark8 logo Designed by Ark 8 Ltd.