I know Jesus died for my sins, but why did He have to die? Couldn’t God have just forgiven sinful humanity? The song “In Christ Alone,” by Keith and Kristyn Getty, contains one stanza that speaks to your question. It says that Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins satisfied the wrath of God. […]

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What does Peter mean when he writes about the “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father”? This question may address the omniscience of God in knowing who will respond to the gospel, or it may address predestination, God’s choosing of specific ones from creation. Or perhaps the question refers to the threefold work […]

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Is sanctification essential for salvation? Salvation is what God does for humanity. Based on His sovereign will, He reconciles those to be redeemed to Himself (Romans 5:6-11; Colossians 1:20-23; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21). God’s saving plan is grace toward all those who receive Him with faith in Jesus Christ (John 3:15-18; 1 Thessalonians 5:9, 10; Romans […]

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How can Jesus be both all God and all man? Does the Church of God (Seventh Day) teach this? First, it is important to understand that as divine, God exceeds our ability to grasp all that He is. Thus, it is imperative we receive in humility whatever God reveals of Himself to us. The mysteries […]

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How do we reconcile the Bible’s teaching of a God of love and a God of wrath? There is no reconciliation to be made in God’s nature. God’s love and God’s wrath exist in the context of one another. As surely as a mountain’s peak cannot exist without the valley deep, so God’s love cannot […]

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How do we reconcile divine grace and human responsibility in the work of salvation?     Ephesians 2:8 is maybe the best verse for understanding the divine-human dynamic in the work of salvation. Through this text we can assert, by introduction, that these two are reconciled within a particular covenant relationship. Let’s look: “For by grace […]

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Which is more important: Jesus’ birth or His resurrection, and why?  I like your question. It pushes us to think great thoughts and face great questions, like “Who is God? Who is Jesus? What did He/they do? How should we respond?”  Jesus Christ’s time on earth began and ended with incomparable events. At the first, God’s […]

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Do Christians lose salvation when they sin? We do not lose our salvation by sinning. If we did, none of us could remain saved very long. More than a few scriptures affirm the reality of sin’s presence in us all — all our earthly lives (1 Kings 8:46; Psalm 53:3; Isaiah 64:6; Romans 3:23). The […]

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Does being made righteous refer to a status or a process? The short answer is both. Let’s take a closer look at this great word, starting with its background in the Old Testament.  In both Hebrew and Greek, the basic meaning of righteousness is “conformity to a norm.” In its biblical context, the norm that […]

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