Prayer by itself has no power whatsoever. It wields no inherent supernatural sway; nor does it involve a formula or ritual which, if done right, guarantees any desired result. Christian prayer is not magic. The measure of prayer’s power, then, is...
What is Reformed theology? In the land where the Azusa Street Revival, International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, Calvary Chapel, and Saddleback Church had their birth and continue their influence, I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been...
The Bible is explicit that God revealed ten Words to his people at Sinai and it stands to reason that we should know how to number them, especially given the unique status these Words bear in Scripture.
What you’ll see in this Logos Live episode In this Logos Live, Mark Ward interviews N. T. Wright about his brand new book, Into the Heart of Romans: A Deep Dive into Paul’s Greatest Letter. Mark asks questions about key portions of Romans 8...
When he speaks of the kingdom of God, Jesus simultaneously captures our greatest dreams and summarizes the drama of salvation history. The idea of God’s own kingdom is evocative: the ideal society, utopia, paradise. A kingdom in which all citizens...
Poet Robert Frost famously wrote about two roads that diverged in a yellow wood, and he expressed regret that he could not take both paths. This captures a universal human experience: as finite humans, a yes to one path is necessarily a no to the...
If we wish to understand the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, we must begin with seeing them as a part of the creational order. Trees, along with plants and seed-bearing things, come to life by the word of God as part of...
When you saw that this article was going to be about lust, which Bible verses came to mind? My guess is that you started out with the command about adultery and then remembered Jesus’s words about lusting after women (and cutting off your hand). And...
What does the Bible say about sexual immorality? How does God, through Scripture, comfort the sexually struggling, engage the skeptic, and provide a template for those exasperated by their attempts to live a holy sexual life? Common ethical systems...
Even beyond the earliest examples in the book of Acts, Christians throughout history have experienced many of the same challenges and frustrations we face. They wrestled with materialism and obedience to God, with sharing their faith and worries and...
You probably don’t use the word defiled in everyday conversation. But if the synonyms dirty or unclean come to mind, you’re on your way to understanding the key Old Testament theme of defilement. It’s just that in Scripture, defilement isn’t limited...
Writing and delivering well-communicated, biblically faithful sermons demands our study and energy. But having the right tools can help us in that effort. In this article, we’ll survey some of the best tools and resources available to preachers in...
If someone or something has ever put the fear of God in you, it likely wasn’t a positive experience. And you’d be happy if it never happened again. That cultural idiom is resoundingly negative. But the Bible calls the fear of the Lord the beginning...
“Take now your son, your only son whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering” (Gen 22:2). Chilling words. Abraham, however, does not ask questions. He doesn’t need a clarification; he makes no...
Bible events have shaped more than just the history of Judaism and Christianity. They’ve impacted nearly every facet of Western civilization—from art to literature to politics to ethics. Understanding the most important Bible stories will help...
Life is messy. Really messy. And it presents humans with all sorts of complicated spiritual, social, and legal challenges about what’s right and wrong, or even good or best. Ethics relates to the rightness and wrongness of certain actions. When...
Christians do not have unique possession of the ethical, of what is good and right. The Greeks wrote of the good life; today many different guilds work carefully to police the professional ethics of their respective fields. And plenty of other...
No doubt we’ve all heard somewhere that money is the root of all evil. The saying is deeply embedded in popular wisdom. But is it really true?
A Bible concordance is simply a reference tool in which words from a particular translation of Scripture are arranged alphabetically in a kind of index—often accompanied by words from the immediate context of each use. Scripture references are...
What you’ll see in this Logos Live episode In this Logos Live, Mark Ward talks with Samuel James about his brand-new book, Digital Liturgies: Rediscovering Christian Wisdom in an Online Age. They discuss the ways the social internet is shaping...
Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires (Ps 37:4). This oft-quoted verse has profound implications for the believer. Before we can explore the landscape of this powerful statement, it’s important we take note of its...
Which theologians are people searching for online? Here are sixteen of the most searched theologians (in no particular order) from all traditions—along with a few comments about each and a few books each has written. 1. Karl Barth First is Karl...
Though the Sermon on the Mount gets most of the attention, the Gospel of Luke records another major teaching event regarding the kingdom of God (Luke 6:20–49), known as the Sermon on the Plain. Concerning that sermon, this article will take up the...
The world with its flashing screens, its promises of pleasure, its offerings of wealth, its promotion of power and fame, screams for our attention. It is like Lady Folly in Proverbs, luring us to fix our gaze on things below. Much of what we see in...
What is the most violated verse on the internet? Probably love the Lord your God with all your heart. Every online sin draws its nourishment from that root. But right behind that violated verse might be—our second-place winner—Paul’s words: Speaking...
One of the issues that most divides Christians is the relationship between the book of Genesis and modern science. A central question is the age of the earth; closely related questions include the impact of the Fall of humanity on the world, as well...
What, exactly, is the future Christian hope? What are we supposed to be looking forward to? We long for heaven, of course—and Scripture definitely exhorts us along these lines: Paul tells us to set our minds on things above (Col 3:2).
Pentecostals and charismatics represent more than one out of every four Christians worldwide. Philip Jenkins suggests that this movement is perhaps the most successful social movement of the past century, one which should surpass one billion members...
Who doesn’t love good literature? This is especially true of a Christian book that enriches the soul and encourages growth in your walk with Christ. If you’ve had any exposure to this genre, you’re probably familiar with A Pilgrim’s Progress, Foxe’s...
Envy typically means the desire for something someone else has. It can be used as a noun or a verb. So, for example, we might avoid envy (the noun) or we might envy someone (the verb). Jealousy is a close cousin, though it’s often interchanged with...