Heads Up

John H. Gerstner, a former professor at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, observed on one occasion that modern authors write as if they had never met a righteous man or a virtuous woman. If that is correct, it presents a serious problem for us: What, then, is righteousness? And where can righteousness be found?

Not only do Christians need to believe the Bible and stand on it as a matter of principle, they need to obey it and act on it too, which is the ultimate test of whether any of us actually believe God’s Word or not. This is what Jesus addresses when He says, “Whoever relaxes one…

Jesus said, “For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” Jesus establishes the authority of the Old Testament by insisting that not even the smallest part of it (iota, dot) will be lost until it is…

The eight beatitudes that begin the Sermon on the Mount are probably its best-known portion, with the possible exception of the Golden Rule found in Matthew 7:12. But in a sense, they are only the introduction, describing the kind of people the rest of the sermon is for. The main body of the sermon actually…

The fifth, sixth, and seventh of the Beatitudes in Matthew 5, beginning with “blessed are the merciful,” describe the inner character of the Christian. He is merciful, pure in heart, and always ready and anxious to make peace.

The standards set in the opening verses of the Sermon on the Mount are unlike anything that is known or can even be dreamed of by the old humanity. Left to ourselves, our natural beatitudes would go something like this: Blessed are the rich, for they have it all and have it all now; blessed…