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

By Dix Winston Hanukkah, also called the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish festival celebrating the time when Israel gained independence from Greece and, beginning on the 25th of Chislev, the subsequent rededication of the temple. This year, Hanukkah will be celebrated December 7-15. The temple had to be rededicated because Antiochus Epiphanes had

By Bob Wilkin “But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away.” The Lord often taught by parables. He did so to conceal truth from those who rejected Him and

By Ken Yates Recently, I had lunch with some friends at a restaurant. It was a Sunday afternoon and we had just left church, so we were in the mood to discuss a little theology. One of them asked me a question about faith. He asked, “Is it a quantity or a state?” I think

By Brad Doskocil Bob Wilkin recently wrote an article suggesting that H. A. Ironside held to Free Grace Theology (FGT). I emailed him, suggesting that in some of his commentaries, Ironside made statements that are inconsistent with FGT. Bob asked me to send him some quotes; this article is the result. The following observations are

By Ken Yates I conducted a very unscientific survey. What I found is that the most popular way of presenting the gospel today is for the speaker to tell unbelievers that Jesus will forgive them of their sins if they believe in Him. We find this gospel presentation in numerous tracts, in sermons, and even

By Marcia Hornok What could Ishmael–Abraham’s son by Sarah’s servant Hagar–and Abraham’s great-grandson, Joseph, possibly have in common? Since the Holy Spirit’s verbal inspiration is intentional, even small details are purposeful and, in this case, can show similarities between Ishmael and Joseph. AGE SEVENTEEN God wants us to know Joseph’s age when he was exiled

By Bob Wilkin1 James 2:14 begins with three words in Greek: ti to ophelos. Those three Greek words are found only one other time in the NT. Guess where? Two verses later James repeats those three words. Those words are translated in four different, but related, ways in the leading English translation: What does it

By Mike Lii Back when I was in high school, my church produced a video designed to encourage evangelism. The concluding scene of that video is burned into my memory. A young man was shown in tears and in relative darkness in order to represent his being in hell. He was looking at his friend—a

By Kathryn Wright Of all the passages in the NT, James 2:14-26 is the one we most frequently encounter in an adversarial way when we proclaim the message of grace. Sadly, many have fallen prey to works-based salvation due to popular misapplications of these verses. Because of these misunderstandings, if you teach that eternal life