Just as all things came from the Father, the Scriptures tell us all things came through the Son. He is the instrument of Creation, and Creation is brought about for him. Every glory belongs to Jesus as the Creator. This is the same Jesus who humbly...

Jesus is the incarnate Son of God. By this, Christians do not mean that God the Father sired Christ in the normal way of humans. As Jesus said, the Father has granted the Son to have life in himself (John 5:26). The Son is eternally generated from...

Who is Jesus? This is perhaps the central question of the Nicene Creed. The identity of Jesus can be broken down into "Lord," "Jesus," and "Christ." Each of these names brings with it a freight of meaning. Jesus is...

God is the source of all that exists, even those things we cannot see, and all that exists finds its purpose in him. His act of Creation is not just the act of a clockmaker putting gears into motion that move on their own from that point forward...

The first clause of the Nicene Creed confesses our faith in God, who is one, who is Father and who is Almighty. None of these properties had been taken for granted in ancient cultures, which were full of gods, none of whom were entirely almighty, and...

Jude appealed to his readers to "Contend for the faith once delivered to the saints." What is "the faith" we're contending for? The early church confessed, "Jesus is Lord," and "Christ is risen from the...

The apostles predicted that scoffers were gonna scoff. Those who do not take seriously the things of God will go on causing division, but Jude urges the church to a sincere faith. This is what it means to contend for the faith passed down: build each...

In a letter that bears much resemblance to 2 Peter, Jude warns the church against the reality of false teachers. They are cavalier about spiritual matters and have forgotten the gravity of the unseen world. These teachers do not all come as outsiders...

This week we conclude 2 Peter, returning to Peter's instructions in chapter 1. Taken altogether, the qualities he lists describe spiritual growth. Embracing growth keeps us from being neutralized in our fruitfulness for God's kingdom. To...

In Peter's final remarks, he addresses the Christians as those who wait. We wait for the new heavens and new earth, and by extension for the return of our Lord, unlike the false teachers of Peter's day who justify their moral choices by...