What is justification?
Simply put, to justify is to declare righteous. Justification is an act of God whereby He pronounces a sinner to be righteous because of that sinner’s faith in Christ. According to one theologian, “the root idea in justification is the declaration of God, the righteous judge, that the man who believes in Christ, sinful though…
How could Jesus say, “Your sins are forgiven,” before He died on the cross?
We know that God forgives sins on the basis of Jesus’ shed blood on the cross (Ephesians 1:7; 1 John 1:7). Yet, before He went to the cross, Jesus told two people that their sins were forgiven. This fact puzzles some people. How could Jesus forgive sin before the sacrifice was even made? After all,…
What is impartation?
The word impart means “to give, convey, or grant.” Impartation, then, is the act of giving or granting something. In the Bible spiritual gifts are imparted (Romans 1:11); wisdom is imparted (Proverbs 29:15); the message of the gospel is imparted (1 Thessalonians 2:8); and material goods are imparted (Ephesians 4:28; 1 Timothy 6:18). Some translations…
What is righteousness?
Dictionaries define righteousness as “behavior that is morally justifiable or right.” Such behavior is characterized by accepted standards of morality, justice, virtue, or uprightness. The Bible’s standard of human righteousness is God’s own perfection in every attribute, every attitude, every behavior, and every word. Thus, God’s laws, as given in the Bible, both describe His…
Why doesn’t God save everyone?
“If God loves us and wants us to spend eternity with Him, why doesn’t He just save everyone now?” This question and others like it often keep people from seeking God further, as they assume that this question is the mountain that cannot be scaled. But the question itself is based upon some faulty assumptions.…
Why did Jesus have to die?
When we ask a question such as “Why did Jesus have to die?”, we must be careful that we are not calling God into question. To wonder why God couldn’t find “another way” to do something is to imply that the way He has chosen is not the best course of action and that some…
What does it mean that God draws us to salvation?
The clearest verse on God’s drawing to salvation is John 6:44 where Jesus declares that “no one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.” The Greek word translated “draw” is helkuo, which means “to drag” (literally or figuratively). Clearly, this…
Why did the sacrificial system require a blood sacrifice?
The whole of the Old Testament, every book, points toward the Great Sacrifice that was to come—that of Jesus’ sacrificial giving of His own life on our behalf. Leviticus 17:11 is the Old Testament’s central statement about the significance of blood in the sacrificial system. God, speaking to Moses, declares: “For the life of a…
What does it mean for salvation to be a gift from God?
The word gift is an important one in the Bible, and it is good that we understand its definition and implications. In the New Testament, there are several Greek words translated “gift.” Some of these words are used in contexts other than God’s gift of salvation, such as the reciprocal gift-giving of celebrants (Revelation 11:10),…
What is the horn of salvation?
The horn of salvation is mentioned several times in the Bible, but what does this expression mean? What does salvation have to do with a horn? In the Old Testament, the word horn signifies many things. Of course, one usage of horn was to refer to a pointed bony structure growing out of an animal’s…