Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 11076 It sounds like a simple question, but it carries a pastoral complication: depending on how it is answered, it is very likely to produce more guilt than growth. Whatever number is given, someone will feel they are already failing. So before giving any kind of practical answer, it is worth beginning not with…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 7061 At Christian camps, conferences, and evangelistic meetings, the call to re-dedication is a familiar one. A believer who has drifted steps forward to renew their commitment, making promises they genuinely intend to keep. A question sometimes surfaces in that moment, and it is a serious one: does this mean I was never truly…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 7060 The word “backslider” carries more weight in older Christian usage than it does in most modern translations, but the reality it describes is woven through the entire New Testament. It refers to a genuine believer who has withdrawn from active fellowship with God, whose spiritual life has contracted, whose once-warm faith has grown…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 11079 It is a question that rewards careful attention precisely because it is unexpected. The prayer Jesus gave His disciples as a model for how they ought to pray contains adoration, submission, petition, and confession, yet it contains nothing that reads straightforwardly as “thank you.” Given that gratitude is woven throughout the rest of…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 7085 The question arises naturally for anyone who takes the New Testament seriously. Paul can write to the Corinthians and call them “those sanctified in Christ Jesus” (1 Corinthians 1:2), and yet the same letter spends considerable energy addressing a congregation with serious moral and relational problems. If they are already sanctified, what is…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 07073 One of the most liberating and yet most misunderstood aspects of the Christian life involves the relationship between who the believer already is in Christ and who they are still becoming in daily experience. The New Testament holds these two realities in constant and deliberate tension, and failing to distinguish them produces either…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 07074 The question of whether a Christian can reach a state of sinless perfection in this life has been debated with considerable energy across church history, and it continues to be a live issue in certain theological traditions. The claim is made with evident sincerity and spiritual earnestness, which is part of what makes…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 6007 Once we become Christians, is it possible to reach a point where we no longer sin? Some have taught a doctrine of “entire sanctification” or “Christian perfection,” claiming that believers can achieve sinless perfection in this life. Others seem to think that since we are saved by grace, it does not particularly matter…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 6008 Confession is one of those words that Christians use frequently but do not always understand clearly. We know we are supposed to confess our sins, but what exactly does that mean? Is it merely admitting we did something wrong? Is it a formal ritual to be performed in a certain way? What happens…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 6009 Every genuine Christian wants to overcome sin. We hate the way it dishonours God, damages our relationships, and disrupts our peace. But how? We have tried willpower and failed. We have made resolutions and broken them. We have promised God we would do better, only to fall into the same patterns again. Is…