Category: Top articles

Salvation, faith and grace all originate from God alone

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TEXAS GOSPEL VOLUNTEER

Ephesians 2:8 declares that believers are saved by grace through faith, and that this salvation does not originate within themselves but comes as a gift from God. Every element named in the verse, grace, faith and the resulting salvation, traces back to God as its source. None of it comes from human effort.

The verses preceding this statement describe the condition of humanity apart from Christ; dead in trespasses and sins, following the course of this world, and by nature subject to God’s wrath. The turning point comes through God’s mercy and love. These make spiritually dead people alive.

Every part of our transformation, from the initial change of heart to the faith that receives Christ, originates with God rather than with our own initiative.

He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we did in righteousness, but in accordance with His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,

Titus 3:5

The helmet of salvation guards believers against fear of losing their hope

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TEXAS GOSPEL VOLUNTEER

Ephesians 6 instructs believers to put on the full armour of God, including the helmet of salvation. Roman soldiers wore helmets in battle to protect against blows capable of killing them, particularly from large two-handed swords wielded by opponents. A blow to an unprotected head could end a soldier’s life instantly, which explains why head protection carried such importance in ancient warfare.

Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians describes this same piece of armour as the helmet of the hope of salvation, pointing toward the believer’s confident expectation of final salvation rather than merely the initial experience of being saved.

This hope provides security, resting on the assurance that God will complete the work he began, as stated in Philippians 1:6. Believers hold an inheritance that cannot be corrupted, reserved for them and guarded by God’s power through faith until it is fully received.

The greatest danger to a believer’s stability would be doubt about whether that salvation could be lost. The helmet protects against that fear by resting on the promises of God and the finished work of Christ.

But since we are of the day, let’s be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.

1 Thessalonians 5:8

The bitter end of forbidden pleasure

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TEXAS GOSPEL CANADA VOLUNTEER

There was a time when cigarette packaging carried no warning of any kind. The product was sold on the strength of its appeal, its glamour, its association (at the time) with freedom and sophistication. Then came the graphic images of disease, and the logic was inescapable. Let people see where this leads, and perhaps fewer will begin.

Solomon employed exactly this logic centuries before modern public health campaigns were conceived. In Proverbs 5:3, he does not begin with the wreckage. He begins with the attraction, because he understands that the danger of sexual sin lies precisely in its capacity to make the destination invisible. The lips of the forbidden woman drip with honey. Her words flow like oil. That is the entry point, and it is designed to be irresistible.

But Solomon refuses to let the story end at the entrance. He presses forward to the conclusion, to the bitterness of wormwood, the sharpness of a blade that cuts in every direction. No sexual sin arrives without a cost, and the costs are paid by far more than the one who makes the choice. Families fracture. Trust, once broken, leaves marks that do not easily fade. Reputations built over decades can be demolished in a moment. What begins as something sweet ends as a wound that memory carries for years.

The warning is not given to shame us but to protect us. We have been told where the path leads. The honey at the entrance is real, but so is the sword at the end.

Flee sexual immorality. Every other sin that a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.

1 Corinthians 6:18

Why Jude quotes a book outside the Bible

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JEFF TURNER

The short epistle of Jude contains a curious feature. It quotes directly from the ancient text known as 1 Enoch, a book that was never included in the canon of scripture. This raises a fair question about why an inspired biblical writer would reference material outside the official Bible.

The explanation lies in the nature of how scripture sometimes draws on familiar surrounding literature to make a point. The book of Enoch had circulated widely among Jewish communities and contained a statement that happened to be accurate regarding Enoch’s prophetic ministry concerning judgment. The Holy Spirit, inspiring Jude as he wrote, simply made use of this recognizable and true statement to strengthen the argument being made, without thereby endorsing the entire book of Enoch as divinely inspired scripture.

This is not unprecedented. The apostle Paul similarly quoted secular Cretan poets in his letter to Titus because the quotation served his purpose. Such moments reveal scripture’s honesty, drawing naturally from familiar sources whenever those sources happen to state something true.

One of them, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. For this reason reprimand them severely so that they may be sound in the faith,

Titus 1:12-13

A living God who is personally involved in our lives

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TEXAS GOSPEL VOLUNTEER

Scripture describes one other god besides the heavenly Father, and that is the god of this age, the devil. According to 2 Corinthians 4:4, his work is to blind the minds of people so that they cannot see the truth. That blindness reaches the ears as well, leaving people unwilling to listen.

Those who know Jesus Christ as personal Saviour worship a very different God. He is compassionate, loving and personal, and he takes a genuine interest in everything that interests his people. He listens. His omnipotence goes beyond what any person can describe or understand.

Christians serve a living God.

For they themselves report about us as to the kind of reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God,

1 Thessalonians 1:9