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: 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…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 11068 Few questions in Christian living carry more confusion than the one about anger. Some believers conclude that any experience of anger is a failure of sanctification, and they spend their lives suppressing it or feeling guilty about it. Others treat every surge of anger as righteous indignation that needs no scrutiny. Scripture is…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 05038 No question matters more than this one. Every person, at some point, has looked at their own existence and wondered what it is for. Philosophy, religion, popular culture, and personal experience all offer answers – and they differ wildly. Scripture addresses the question with both directness and depth. The Question Every Person Asks…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 4060 Few distinctions in the doctrine of the Holy Spirit carry more practical consequence than the one between His baptism and His filling. Confuse the two, and you end up either striving for an experience you already possess, or resting in a position without pursuing the power that flows from it. Scripture draws the…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 4063 Paul identifies three conditions for Spirit-filled living in Ephesians 4 and 5, and 1 Thessalonians 5: do not grieve the Spirit, do not quench the Spirit, walk by the Spirit. They are simple to list and genuinely demanding to live. Understanding why each one matters — and where each one is most likely…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 10028 Most Bible readers have had the experience of a passage opening up with a clarity and personal directness it had never carried before — something has changed, though not in the text itself. And most have had the opposite experience too: reading words that are technically comprehensible but which carry no weight, no…
Reading Time: 8 minutesQuestion 0049 It is one of the most sobering realities in the Christian life, and one that every serious believer must confront: it is entirely possible to have impeccable theology and a dead heart. It is possible to know all the right answers, to affirm all the right creeds, to defend all the right doctrines,…
Reading Time: 6 minutesQuestion 0032 It is one of the great tragedies of the modern church that the study of God—which is what the word “theology” means—has become associated with dusty books, academic jargon, and irrelevant speculation. How did we get to the point where knowing God is considered boring? How did understanding the Creator of the universe…