By Bob Wilkin and Zane Hodges Question: Doesn’t Matthew 7:15-20 teach that all believers will inevitably have some good fruit in their lives? Does the evidence of good works in a person’s life prove they are saved? Bob Wilkin (BW): The saying, “You will know them by their fruits,” is found twice in Matt 7:15-20,

Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matt 5:3). With these words the King opens His famous Sermon on the Mount. He has been proclaiming a message that declared: “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt 4:17). So He opens the Sermon with a reference to

In his first letter to Timothy, Paul wrote these words about prayer: “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men…For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the

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

Romans 5:5. now expectation does not result in shame, because the love of God is poured out in our hearts through the holy spirit who has been given to us. The expectation that is produced in us through enduring our trials and becoming approved in God’s sight, promotes a boldness about our Christian profession. What

This article was first published in the GES News seventeen years ago in July of 1994. Paul stated a timeless truth when he wrote: Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. —Rom 3:20 Even under the law in

(Romans 3:26) By Zane C. Hodges1 The result of the death of Christ on the cross is that God can be righteous and justify the person who has faith in Jesus. The English necessarily obscures an obvious Greek word play, since the Greek words for righteous (dikaion) and justify (dikaiounta) are cognates joined in Paul’s

Editor’s note: Before he died last November, Zane had completed the first six chapters of brief commentary on John’s Gospel. In the future we plan to publish that in its entirety. Here is a small and quite edifying sample. 1:47-48: Before Nathaniel can say anything to Jesus, or ask questions about His connection with Galilee,