WRITINGS
Justification and regeneration are closely related doctrines. Regeneration occurs in believers' hearts when they receive Christ and become “born again.” It refers to an impartation of life and is God’s answer to the problem of sin and spiritual death. In comparison, justification by faith is the foundational truth of God’s provision of salvation. Justification is often misunderstood but is one of the profound truths of God’s salvific plan restored to the church from the Protestant Reformation.
Our salvation requires faith, and Jesus was looking for it when He came to the Jewish people. Jesus told His disciples: “When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8).
But Paul said: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). From his words, we are not saved by faith. Instead, God’s grace saves us through faith. But even our faith is a gift from God lest we erroneously believe that somehow, we can save ourselves from our dead nature caused by sin. No, we were dead in trespasses, and dead people are neither aware nor capable of making themselves alive through faith. Only God can save us by His grace and the faith He has given us so we might choose Him. As we read, “God has dealt to each one a measure of faith” (Romans 12:3).
Christ's death, burial, resurrection, and ascension reveal many purposes in God’s unfolding restoration of humanity and His creation. God entered this world in the likeness of human flesh and the person of the Holy Spirit to bring about man’s complete rebirth and transformation. God’s provisions for us include election, repentance, faith, justification, regeneration, adoption, sanctification, assurance, and security. Christ is Lord and King over all, but without royal subjects to govern, there is no King, and there can be no Kingdom.
There are many expressions in the Bible that define sin. Some include: missing the mark or aim, overpassing or trespassing of a line (to transgress), disobedience to a voice, falling where one should have stood upright, ignorance of what one ought to have known, diminishing of that which should have been rendered in full measure, non-observance of a law, lawless or anarchy (complete disregard for the law), and debt, failure in duty, and not meeting one’s obligation to God. The Bible also uses iniquity, godlessness, wickedness, unbelief, unrighteousness, injustice, and unholiness to define sin.
The Apostle Paul said, “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will” (Ephesians 1:11). From Paul’s words, we see that we have an incredible destiny in Christ. Let us discover what it looks like.
Yeshua said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6). Yeshua is the way to eternal life. That is clear. But what is the truth? Pontius Pilot, the governor of the Roman province of Judaea, asked Jesus the same question.
I never expected to write about the gospel. And yet, I find myself needing to clarify the biblical gospel in the light of a rising movement, even within the church, trying to redefine what the Bible says about this subject.
If you search on the internet, you will quickly discover some of the many other gospels out there. There is a social gospel, also called social constructivism. There is the gospel of science, Christian humanism, and list goes on and on.
Arguments between early Jewish and gentile believers often resolved around a theological disagreement over the Law of Moses. The word law is translated from the Hebrew word Torah, and literally means instruction. This instruction was intricately woven into the Mosaic Covenant, encompassing 613 positive and negative obligations (does and don’ts).
Much has been written about the Old and the New Covenants. Clearly from scripture we find the new is a better covenant. However, does the Old Covenant still serve a purpose in the life of a Christian today? There are many arguments on both sides; some claiming the law has been completely superseded by the New Covenant—called supersessionism—while others within the Messianic Community still follow the Law of Moses, claiming the law is an eternal statute given to the Jewish people.
The story of David, an ordinary boy raised to extraordinary heights by an extraordinary God. The Son of Jesse, a simple shepherd boy chosen by God to be the King of Israel. And the only figure in the bible to be called: “A man after God’s own Heart.” In so many ways David is given to us as a type of Yeshua, a preeminence of Him to come.
