Six Questions Regarding Assurance of Salvation, Part 4

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The fifth objection is that if “assurance is of the essence of saving faith” were true, then from AD 100 until 1517, almost no one was born again.   This is not a Biblical argument. If we based our theology on this type of reasoning, then we certainly would not believe that only people who profess to be Christians are born again. Less than
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Six Questions on Assurance, Part 3

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We are considering six objections to the teaching that assurance of everlasting life is of the essence of saving faith. In this blog we consider objections three and four.   The third objection is that John 20:31 is saying someone can correctly perceive who Jesus is and yet not believe that by faith in Him, he has everlasting
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Six Questions Regarding Assurance of Salvation, Part 2

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In this blog I will discuss the first two objections to assurance being of the essence of saving faith as stated in Part 1. Those two objections are that when a person believes in Christ, he has objective assurance, even if he is not sure he is eternally secure, and that 1 John 5:13 proves that point.   First, I
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The King James Study Bible on James 2:14-17 and Saving Faith

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In November 1995, my mom presented me with a King James Study Bible. I had come to faith only a few months before, around June.  I found the Bible in storage and was leafing through it, in preparation for writing the first draft of a Free Grace Study Bible.  The contributing editors include, among others, Jerry Falwell. Of the thirteen contributing editors, five
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The Importance of Understanding the OT to Understand the NT

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I wrote a review of a book and published a form of the review as a blog post. That led to this excellent question:  Hi, Bob,  I enjoyed reading today’s blog post, Irresistible, by Pastor Andy Stanley. You made several astute points.  However, in response to one of the main points you identified in Stanley’s book, you wrote, “Item
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What Do Nominal Church-Goers Believe About Salvation?

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In Joel Thiessen’s The Meaning of Sunday: The Practice of Belief in a Secular Age, he interviews a number of Canadians about their involvement with different “Christian” denominations.  Frankly, I would consider every single person he interviewed a candidate for evangelism. No one gave any evidence of knowing or believing the gospel. I wouldn’t call them nominal Christians,  so much
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Reaping Eternal Life for Work Done? (Galatians 6:8)

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A U.S. pastor sent me this excellent question:  Grace in Focus Crew,  Thanks for the series on eternal rewards. Not sure if you covered this yet: Galatians 6:8 says, “For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” 
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Where Did the Term “Free Grace” Come From?

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We believe in Free Grace Theology—which is distinct from Calvinism, Arminianism, Lutheranism, Thomism, and other –isms.  But where did the term “Free Grace” come from?  Some people think it’s redundant.  I wish it were.  Historically, the expression “free grace” was used by both Calvinists and Arminians.  For example, John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, preached a sermon called Free Grace (Sermon 128, preached
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