Whenever men cease to preach these great doctrines of the Bible, drawing them directly from the fountain head, believing something definite, knowing what they believe and why they believe it, and how to prove it from the Inspired Word, then the pulpit soon loses its power. – John Broadus
Archives For Quotes
Dr. David Alan Black, professor of New Testament and Greek at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, recently blogged (August 25, 2012) some helpful advice for seminary students who are contemplating pursuing a doctorate. Black’s advice was spurred on by a post by biblioblogger Brian LePort (Near Emmaus) where LePort laments the current realities of finding a biblical studies professorship. Leport writes in his post “You’re going to be an adjunct and it is going to be terrible“: Continue Reading…
Yesterday, I woke up to a George Whitefield quote a brother texted me for encouragement and exhortation. The quote is from a letter Whitefield penned to students of Harvard and Yale. Continue Reading…
In his brief but helpful book Humility: True Greatness, C.J. Mahaney quotes John Sott on the humbling effect of Christ’s cross.
Our humility can often be measured by how much time we have spent at the foot of the cross. There is no flame of human pride to fan while communing with other beggars in worship at the cross. Continue Reading…
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see. – John Newton
John Newton’s “Amazing Grace” is played and sung in churches across the world every Lord’s Day. It is no doubt the favorite hymn of many Southern Baptists, and yet the theology behind the hymn seems to be currently eroding in our Southern Baptist era. Continue Reading…
The life of dying to self and killing sin is difficult, incredibly difficult. When focusing on mortifying certain sins in one’s life, it is easy to lose focus on other sin areas and actions that may be less noticeable but are just as crippling as the perceived “major sins.”
John Piper has recently compiled a few sermons into a free ebook called Sanctification in the Everyday. In the book, Piper shares a personal breakthrough he experienced while on sabbatical from ministry. His focus had been set on a certain sin area while others sins were going unbattled or at the very least hardly fought.
Sin is never fought passively, even the sins we perceive as “minor.” Continue Reading…
In his Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary professor Donald Whitney points to 2 Timothy 4 and Paul’s request for two specific items. May God’s word be our daily request. Continue Reading…
Dr. Charles (Chuck) Quarles, Vice President for Integration of Faith and Learning at Louisiana College and Dean of the Caskey School of Divinity, has written a clear and helpful article on what Baptists believe regarding divine sovereignty and human responsibility in salvation titled, “What Baptists Believe.” Quarles cites both the New Hampshire Baptist Confession and the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 in expounding what Baptists believe. Continue Reading…
John 12:32 is often used as a prooftext for showing God has no particular love for a specific people. Many employ the verse to show that God equally loves all people by equally drawing “all men” to himself.
“And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.”
Is this what Jesus is communicating? Is there an immediate context regarding “people groups” that should be acknowledged when interpreting this verse? D.A. Carson addresses the text in his commentary on John: Continue Reading…
Southern Baptist appreciation of Reformation theologian John Calvin is not a new or novel reality. From its inception, the Southern Baptist Convention’s own theologians and statesmen have appreciated the theological work of John Calvin.
Below is a quote from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) founding professor John Albert Broadus taken from a letter written to fellow SBTS professor William Williams. Continue Reading…
Below is a quote from Charles Spurgeon’s Soul Winner on winning converts and keeping them by avoiding God’s truths in Scripture. Continue Reading…
LifeWay Research President and Southern Baptist blogger Ed Stetzer has written a great blog post over at Between the Times on what he is encouraged and excited about regarding the 2012 SBC Annual Meeting taking place next week (which you can watch a live stream of SBC Annual Meeting tweets at SBCTwit.com).
A particular section of Ed’s post was so well written and in line with my own thoughts regarding the latest brouhaha, I wanted to post it on my blog. I encourage you to go and read the rest of Ed’s post. Continue Reading…
Charles Spurgeon addresses the emotionalism employed by pastors of his day in his book The Soul Winner. Continue Reading…
Eric Hankins, nominee for Second Vice President of the Southern Baptist Convention, recently heavily contributed to a non-Calvinist soteriological statement presented at SBCToday.com Hankins came onto the blog scene back in April with posts advocating a soteriological position distinct from Calvinism and Classical Arminianism. It is obvious that these posts played a role in setting the ground for the Statement now being discussed across SBC life.
Recently, Tom Ascol documented how Hankins’ soteriological statement would exclude Southern Baptist statesman W.A. Criswell as the document denies a particular call of salvation, affirming only a general non-salvific call that cannot save apart from the cooperation of man and his libertarian free will. Ascol posted a sermon from Criswell detailing Criswell’s Calvinistic soteriology. Continue Reading…
Southern Baptists and the doctrine of imputed guilt has recently been a much discussed topic. Today, SBC Heritage is running a post documenting Southern Baptist statesman and seminary founder James P. Boyce’s affirmation of imputed guilt in his Abstract of Systematic Theology. In light of this historical documentation of Southern Baptists affirming the doctrine, I thought it would be helpful to document a current SBTS professor’s understanding regarding the imputation of Adam’s sin and guilt. Continue Reading…
