Page 515 – Grace Evangelical Society

When Errors in the Bible Are Not Really Errors

September 25, 2018 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - Blomberg, ETS, Historicity of the Gospels, inerrancy, Thucydides

Today I read the June 2018 issue of JETS, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society. ETS was started in 1949 to promote the truth that the Bible has no errors in it. I graduated from seminary in 1982. At that time there were two views regarding errors in the Bible: 1) there are no errors

Murdering…the Poor? (James 4:2)

September 24, 2018 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - charity, James, murder, poverty

Did you know that James accused his readers of murder? Yes—murder! “You lust and do not have; so you commit murder” (James 4:2, emphasis added). Was he being literal or metaphorical? You might think he must be using “murder” metaphorically because believers cannot possibly commit murder. Actually, they can! King David is the prime example

Faith is the Sole Condition…Or Not: Thomas Oden on John Wesley

September 21, 2018 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - John Wesley, methodism, Methodist, Thomas Oden, Wesleyan

Thomas C. Oden was a leading Wesley scholar and Methodist theologian. If all you read are Calvinist authors, I think you would appreciate Oden. Many of us in the Free Grace movement are far closer to Wesleyan theology than we are to Calvinist theology. For example, we both believe that God loves everyone, Jesus died

What Is Ultra Dispensationalism?

September 20, 2018 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - Baptism, Dispensationalism, evangelism, Lord’s Supper, Mid-Acts Dispensationalism, Ultra-Dispensationalism

I was taught Dispensationalism at Dallas Theological Seminary (1978-85). That is the view that there is a distinction between Israel and the Church, that the Church began in Acts 2, and that God has had different laws and expectations for people during the six dispensations until now (innocence, conscience, human government, promise, Law of Moses,

Carl F. Wisløff on Assurance

September 19, 2018 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Assurance, Carl F. Wisløff, lutheran, pietism

Carl F. Wisløff (1908-2004) was a Norwegian Lutheran theologian and preacher. I recently acquired a copy of his short systematic theology, I Know in Whom I Believe: Studies in Bible Doctrine (I ordered it from here). Here is what Wisløff writes about assurance of salvation: “In Romans 4:16, it is said of Abraham: “For this

Has My Evangelistic Message Changed?

September 18, 2018 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - assurance is of the essence of saving faith, The finished work of Christ, what we believe in Jesus for

One of the dangers of writing articles and books for over thirty years is that people notice if you contradict yourself. I plead guilty. I have not always been as clear as I wish I had been. Here is an email with a genuine concern about what I believe: I am fairly new to GES

Yesterday’s Faith

Posted on September 17, 2018 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Amos Binney, Arminianism, Continuous faith, methodism

Rev. Amos Binney was a Methodist preacher who wrote a short systematic theology called Binney’s Theological Compend (published in 1840) explaining “Biblical Methodism” (see here). The “improved” version edited by Daniel Steele is very readable and succinct. I think it is a model for how a short systematic theology should be done, and I plan

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Three Ways to Evaluate an Argument

September 14, 2018 by Shawn Lazar in Blog

Gordon H. Clark once said, “Unless one knows the definition, he does not know what he is talking about” (see here). I recently wrote a blog where I said that while GES believed that Jesus is God in a fully Trinitarian sense, we deny that you need to believe that to be born-again (to grow,

Saving Faith Is Not Like Sitting in a Chair

September 13, 2018 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - chair illustration, saving faith, trusting Christ

A Pastor friend told me he ran across a 1993 article I wrote regarding the chair illustration. He shared it with a Bible study group and they found my suggestion helpful. The following is a revised and condensed version of that article. Many theologians, including some Free Grace proponents, say that saving faith has three

God Did It (Galatians 1:1-5)

September 12, 2018 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Grace, legalism, Salvation

Legalists from Israel were corrupting the Galatian churches, teaching them they needed to be circumcised and to keep different laws to be saved. Paul hit back. Hard. Paul’s greeting to the Galatian churches (1:1-5) strongly emphasized that God is the main actor in salvation. God sends the preacher (v 1a). God raised Jesus from the