Copyright © 1994, 2019

by
Jim Kerwin

A Look at Roman Law in Acts

“Moving in a Roman World”

Nikolai Bodarevsky's painting of St. Paul on trial before Festus, King Agrippa II and Berenice¹

“The student of the New Testament is con­stant­ly made aware that he is moving in a Roman world,”² and awareness of the Roman en­vi­ron­ment is the first step toward un­der­stand­ing its significance and influence on the second volume of Luke’s magnum opus and on the life of Paul. By providing the serious Bible student a primer of [continue reading…]

Copyright © 2018¹

by
Percy Gutteridge

“This shall be a sign unto you.”
But what was the sign?²

Luke 2:1-18

As we read through Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus, we discover a key theme of the Christmas season. It’s the message that the angel gave to the shepherds. The fact that an angel said it underscores its importance. He said:

“And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”

What is the significance of this sign? If God took the trouble [continue reading…]

Copyright © 2018

by Jim Kerwin

The Importance of Context

What is “the acceptable year of the Lord”?¹
 

Every time there is a “first” in the Scriptures, it is good to take note of it, because often the Holy Spirit is laying down a special foundation, or principle, or doctrine. I believe this is true in the case of Jesus’ first recorded sermon, which is found in Luke chapter 4.

Part of what I teach leaders when I come to Latin America is the importance of context when they are reading and studying and teaching and preaching God’s word. The two most important points are these:

Let’s think about the context of Jesus’ message in Luke 4. In the previous chapter, Luke 3, Jesus was water-baptized by John; immediately the Spirit of the Lord [continue reading…]

A Plain Account of Christian Perfection

by John Wesley

Part V:
Advice to the Sanctified

Section 25 (continued)

Question 29: Can those who are perfect grow in grace?

Answer: Undoubtedly they can; and that not only while they are in the body, but to all eternity.

Question 30: Can they fall from it?

Answer: I am well assured they can: matter of fact puts this beyond dispute. Formerly we thought, that one saved from sin could not fall; now we know the contrary. We are surrounded with instances of those who lately experienced all that I mean by perfection. They had both the fruit of the Spirit, and the witness; but they have now lost both. Neither does anyone stand by virtue of anything that is implied in the nature of the state. There is no such height or strength of holiness as it is impossible to fall from. If there be any that cannot fall, this wholly depends on the promise of God.

Question 31: Can those who fall from this state recover it? [continue reading…]

Copyright © 2011¹

by
Percy Gutteridge

Psalm 19

Who Is Earth’s Most Powerful Preacher?

Who is earth's most powerful preacher?²

Let’s consider the question, “Who is the most powerful preacher that God has ordained on earth?” And understand that I’m not talking about a human being. I am not going to pick out one of today’s famous evangelists or ministers and say, “This one is the most powerful preacher,” because none of them has the worldwide audience or impact of God’s sovereign choice. So then, let’s refine the question and ask, “What is the most powerful preacher that God has ordained on earth?” as we examine potential candidates.

The Sun?

How about the sun? Is the sun earth’s most powerful preacher? Our Scripture passage says that the sun is really a preacher; it comes out of its chamber as a bridegroom. It comes up in the morning and goes down at night, going right over the whole circuit of heaven, and there is nothing hidden from its heat. It preaches of light, it preaches of energy, it preaches of power, it preaches of judgment, it preaches even of love. It preaches also of life, because there would be no life without the sun. The sun preaches to us about so many things.

But men don’t take any notice. In fact, some foolish people [continue reading…]

A Plain Account of Christian Perfection

by John Wesley

Part I:
Historical Background
of the Teaching

Section 1

What I purpose in the following pages is, to give a plain and distinct account of the steps by which I was led, during a course of many years, to embrace the doctrine of Christian Perfection.  This I owe to the serious part of mankind; those who desire to know all the truth as it is in Jesus.  And these only are concerned in questions of this kind.  To these I would nakedly declare the thing as it is, endeavouring all along to show, from one period to another, both what I thought, and why [continue reading…]

A Plain Account of Christian Perfection

by John Wesley

Part II:
The Teaching Explained

Section 17

On Monday, June 25, 1744 our first conference began, six clergymen and all our preachers being present.  The next morning we seriously considered the doctrine of sanctification, or perfection.  The questions asked concerning it, and the substance of the answers given, were as follows:—

Question: What is it to be sanctified?

Answer: To be renewed in the image of God, in righteousness and true holiness [Ephesians 4:24].

Question: What is implied in being a perfect Christian?

Answer: The loving God with all our heart, and mind, and soul (Deut. vi. 5). [continue reading…]

A Plain Account of Christian Perfection

by John Wesley

Part III:
Tares Among the Wheat Contrasted
with the Wonderful Testimony of Jane Cooper

Section 20

In the year 1762 there was a great increase of the work of God in London.  Many, who had hitherto cared for none of these things, were deeply convinced of their lost estate; many found redemption in the blood of Christ; not a few backsliders were healed; and a considerable number of persons believed that God had saved them from all sin.  Easily foreseeing that Satan would be endeavouring to sow tares among the wheat [Matthew 13:24-30], I took much pains to apprise them of the danger, particularly with regard to pride and enthusiasm.  And while I stayed in town, I had reason to hope they continued both humble and sober-minded.  But almost as soon as I was gone, enthusiasm broke in.  Two or three began to take their own imaginations for impressions from God, and thence to suppose that they should never die; and these, labouring to bring others into the same opinion, occasioned much noise and confusion.  Soon after, the same persons, with a few more, ran into other extravagances,—fancying they could not be tempted; that they should feel no more pain; and that they had the gift of prophecy, and of discerning of spirits. [continue reading…]

A Plain Account of Christian Perfection

by John Wesley

Part IV:
“Farther Thoughts on Christian Perfection”

Section 25

The next year [1763], the number of those who believed they were saved from sin still increasing, I judged it needful to publish, chiefly for their use, Farther Thoughts on Christian Perfection:—

Question 1: How is “Christ the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth”? (Rom. x. 4)

Answer: In order to understand this, you must understand what law is here spoken of; and this, I apprehend, is:— [continue reading…]

Copyright © 2002¹

by
Percy Gutteridge

Faith-Life

Yes, faith is substance, a living substance
that's meant to grow within us.²

Life is the greatest of all human desires. Even most suicides rush out of this life because they think that the next life cannot be as unpleasant as the one which they are now enduring. When Graceless in Pilgrim’s Progress was convinced that the City of Destruction, in which he dwelt, was going to fall into Tophet,³ “the man put his fingers in his ears and ran on, crying, ‘Life! Eternal life!’” Because of this, his name was changed to Christian. The Lord Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). [continue reading…]

Copyright © 2010¹

by
Percy Gutteridge

Salt: an emblem of the Holy Spirit²

These words about salt are the very words of the Lord Jesus. It is our great joy to be able to read the actual words that Jesus said when He was on the earth. And we must remember, when we read them, who is speaking. Of course, it is the Lord Jesus; but it is the Creator talking. It’s the Logos. It’s the Word of God. “All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:3). There can be no scientific inaccuracy in what the Lord Jesus said, for He is the Author and the Creator of all science, of all matter, of all scientific laws, of everything on the earth. So if the Lord Jesus tells us something about matter, we can believe it, for not only did He create it, He also sustains it. “By Him all things consist [hold together]” (Colossians 1:3). It’s almost amusing, if it was not so solemn, to realize that if it were not for the existence of the Christ, atheists would be “non-ists”—nothing! gone! having no being! All things hold together by Him. That means you, and matter, and all things are held together by Him. So this is the One, this glorious One, Who is telling us something about salt, and something about us in association with salt.

[continue reading…]

e do not need to have a complete grasp of the doctrine of entire sanctification in all its relations and bearings in order to enjoy the experience, but if we can have a clear and distinct view of the thing at which we aim it will help us very much to reach it as a definite point of attainment.

In one of the churches of Rome there is a beautiful painting.  Those who stand in one position before it always say they see no beauty in it—that it appears like a huge tangled mass.  But when the guide leads you to where the light falls properly on the picture, suddenly its wondrous beauty dawns upon you.  So it is with holiness.  It is only when the Holy Spirit furnishes the light that we see clearly what our privilege is.  He only can reveal sin and present the remedy.  When we ask humbly and earnestly for His illumination we see clearly the point we are to aim at.  “He that willeth to do His will shall know of the doctrine” [John 7:17]. [continue reading…]

his is the theory of holiness by Imputation without Impartation.  The unvarnished statement runs thus, “As a saint, he is now ‘not in the flesh,’ though the flesh is in him; but he is in the Spirit, and is responsible for the uprisings and sins of the old man.” ¹  At a glance it is evident that this at once denies the removal of the carnal mind, which is the very question at issue.  It is a bold denial of the experience of entire sanctification, and yet at the same time positive claiming of it.  But this is not all of the statement.  It further declares,

He is henceforth pardoned as a son, according to the value of the blood presented before God for him; the person, the individual, now becomes a Christian, the man possessed of these two natures, who should be walking “in the Spirit,” though ever and anon he is made to stumble through the power of the “flesh.”  Thus the saint does not advance in sanctification, by a change being effected in the character of either nature, but in the gradual development of “the new man” by means of the in-working of the Holy Ghost, and in the daily mortification of the members which are upon the earth.  The man is thus gradually sanctified and made more like Christ. Grace and Truth p. 187.

[continue reading…]