'Doctrine' Tagged Posts

'Doctrine' Tagged Posts

Christmas is Doctrinal

I love the Christmas season because it is a time to reflect on the doctrine of Christ. Yes, Christmas is doctrinal. It may seem strange to say that Christmas is doctrinal because Christmas in the United States has become so commercialized and sentimentalized. Christmas in America, it seems, is more about Black Friday deals and chestnuts roasting on an open fire than about “Christ given for us and for our salvation.” But when you think about what Christmas is—the incarnation…

Praise God for Chapters and Verses

If you have ever read theological writings from the sixteenth century (or before), you will notice something about the Scripture references used in the writings. For example, in Luther’s masterpiece, The Freedom of a Christian (1520), arguing for the Spirit’s role in freedom, he says: “As Christ says in John 4[:14], it is a ‘spring of water welling up to eternal life.’” The reason verse 14 is in brackets is because verse 14 was not what Luther wrote. An editor…

Sorting Out Our Priorities

The COVID-19 pandemic has sorted out priorities in all of our lives. We haven’t arrived in this reorganization, but we’re closer perhaps than ever before. As a pastor, this prioritization has taken place regarding theology. Theology matters. But not every area of doctrine has priority. I believe three doctrines emerge as foundational. 1. The foundation of the inerrant word of God. As we have discovered on social media, everybody is an expert and people’s opinions come and go, but the…