Pax in Terra

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By Art Farstad* *This article first appeared in December 1991 in Grace in Focus. At Christmastide, even the most convinced Protestant should be allowed a little Latin–for example, gloria in excelsis Deo! After all, didn’t the great Reformers, Luther and Calvin, write chiefly in Latin? And wasn’t Calvin’s Latin style a great deal more elegant
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We Believe in: Sanctification

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Arthur L. Farstad1 (1935-1998) But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, because I am holy” (1 Pet 1:15-16). I.INTRODUCTION Blue-eyed British monk Pelagius (ca. AD 360-420) taught that if we should, we can. Denying original sin, he made grace essentially
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Rightly Divided: Readings in Biblical Hermeneutics

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Rightly Divided: Readings in Biblical Hermeneutics. Ed. by Roy B. Zuck. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publishers, 1996. 320 pp. Paper, $14.99. Dr. Zuck has woven together a scholarly work with contributions from scholars associated with such institutions as Oxford and Aberdeen, as well as Dallas, Denver, Gordon Conwell, Trinity, and Western Conservative Seminaries on how to
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New Revised Standard Version

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The New Revised Standard Version. Oxford University Press, USA, 1991. I. Introduction In May of this year the latest and most thoroughgoing revision of the RSV appeared, sponsored by the National Council of Churches. I must confess that I have been having my morning devotions in the NRSV for the last several months.1 The reason
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You’re a Saint or You Ain’t

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Many well-meaning Christians are not well taught on this supremely important and practical subject. A common phrase heard in Christendom (and sadly even by supposedly evangelical Christians) is “I’m a Christian, but I’m no saint.” The idea is that while we can expect a person to go to church, give money, and keep away from
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Faith Is Just Believing

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Near the beginning of Sir Walter Scott’s classic novel Ivanhoe, the fool Wamba discusses the difference between good old AngloSaxon words (like swine and sheep) and the (then) new-fangled French words (like pork and mutton) that had been making headway in England since the Norman conquest of 1066. Many centuries later we still use Wamba’s
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Voice from the Past: Born Again

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This article was originally published in the GES newsletter in April of 1991. Have you ever heard or had a conversation something like the following? “Are you a Christian?” “Well of course I’m a Christian! Do you think I’m a heathen? I’m an American!” “Well, I mean do you believe…” “I believe in God.” “But
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You and Your Teaching – 1 Timothy 4:16

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During the hundreds of years in which the notorious Spanish Inquisition was in force to root out and destroy “heresy,” there was a “ceremony” called an auto da fe, which is Portuguese for “act of faith.” In Spain, Portugal, and their New World colonies, Protestants, Jews, and other non-conformists were frequently burned at the stake-often
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