Question: If assurance is of the essence of saving faith, why does 1 John 5:13 imply that these believers might never have known that they had everlasting life? Answer: Does the text really imply this? What we know is that John desired that they possess absolute certainty of their everlasting life. Does he suggest that

By C. I. Scofield1 The New Testament Scriptures contain a doctrine of salvation for the lost and a doctrine of rewards for the faithful services of the saved. And it is of great importance to the right understanding of the Word that the student should clearly make the distinction between these. What that distinction is

By Ken Yates, Lt. Col. (ret.) One Judgment or Two? Many people believe that all of mankind will one day stand before God in a final judgment. At this judgment, God will either cast each person into the lake of fire, or allow them into His Kingdom. This appears to be the majority opinion of

Among the very last recorded words of our Lord Jesus Christ are these: “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work” (Rev 22:12; italics added). This is a clear and definitive statement on the subject of rewards by the Lord Himself. Not

At our April 2013 conference an issue came up in one of the workshops that grabbed my attention. What does the expression entering the kingdom mean in the Lord’s teachings in the Gospels? The workshop was an interactive session. The participants were given a list of all the entering the kingdom passages in the Gospels

Have you ever noticed the similarity between Matt 20:1-16 and 2 Pet 1:1-11? I didn’t at first. Of course, Peter was one of the recipients of Jesus’ teaching in Matt 20:1-16 (see Matt 19:27-30). In fact, it is the question Peter posed to Jesus (Matt 19:27) that prompted Jesus’ response in the succeeding verses. We

By Shawn Lazar and Bob Wilkin We are all familiar with the Calvinistic acronym TULIP which stands for: Total depravity Unconditional election Limited atonement Irresistible grace Perseverance of the saints. At a recent meeting of Wesleyan scholars Shawn heard a paper presenting an Arminian response to TULIP, called ACURA. That stands for: All have sinned

What is the secret to a prosperous life? In their controversial bestseller, The Triple Package: How Three Unlikely Traits Explain the Rise and Fall of Cultural Groups in America, Amy Chua and Jeb Rubenfeld offered to explain why some cultural groups do better than others. They put it down to possessing three traits: a superiority