Many New Testament truths are stated in paradoxical form.  A paradox has been loosely defined as “truth standing on its head,” and more exactly explained by Webster as “a statement that seems contradictory, unbelievable, or absurd but that may actually be true in fact.”  When Jesus speaks of the last being first, and the first

The prayer we have come to call the “Lord’s Prayer” contains this thought-provoking phrase:  “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”  (Matthew 6:12, McCord.) Asking God to forgive us as we forgive others is a sobering proposition! God knows more about us than we know about ourselves.  He understands that

I would be happy, or so oft I say If trouble could leave me somehow; If life started suddenly going my way, And not as it’s going right now. Oh!  What a joy and blessing I’d be; I’d be a true servant, you know; If only my burdens weren’t bothering me, And life hadn’t brought

We’re hearing renewed rumblings from many of our brethren concerning the need for freedom within the Lord’s church.  If the ones suggesting this freedom use the term as the Bible does, we enthusiastically join their ranks.  Certainly the church should maintain freedom from the Old Covenant, from sin, and from the creeds and doctrines of

According to Hebrews 11:1, faith is the “assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen” (ASV).  A healthy understanding of faith comes from digging into the entirety of the book of Hebrews as a whole, and especially the eleventh chapter.  This chapter is often referred to by Bible scholars and students alike