Category: Articles

Human beings can go to great lengths seeking opportunities to build character and become better people. While the world offers self-help books, seminars, etc. for growing in this way, God offers the greatest help.

When the apostle Paul spoke to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20, he told them “I commend you to God, and to the Word of His grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified” (verse 32).

The Word of God builds faith (Rom. 10:17) and produces good fruit when it is sown in sincere hearts (Matt. 13:23). It is the book that can transform us from who we are into who God says we should be. It is the spiritual nutrition by which we can grow as God commands (1 Pet. 2:2).

If we want to improve our lives and the lives of others, let us seek the Lord’s solution. The Bible offers greater guidance than all other books ever written. Whether reading the Bible directly or hearing the truth of the Bible taught, God’s truth is the wisdom we should seek and respect as being far above those “words of wisdom” that originate in the minds of men (Isa. 55:9).

May we appreciate God’s Word, which can and does build sincere hearers up into the kind of people we should be.

– Michael Hickox

In Mark 11:28, some Jewish leaders asked Jesus, “By what authority do you do these things? Or who gave you this authority to do these things?”

Jesus indirectly answered this when talking to Pilate in John 19:11. There He said, “Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from heaven above:”

God is the original source of all authority. As the Creator of the world and all that is in it, He has the power to delegate authority as He sees fit.

God the Son has been delegated spiritual authority. The Father “put all things in subjection under [Christ’s] feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all” (Eph. 1:22-23; cf. Matt. 28:18). When it comes to religious matters, authority lies in the Godhead.

This should lead the sincere lover of truth to ask, “By what authority do I believe and practice what I do religiously?” Am I following the authoritative Law of Christ, or am I following the thoughts of men who think they know more than God?

In the letter to the churches at Galatia, the Holy Spirit through Paul dealt with problems caused by Judaizers (men who bound Jewish traditions as requirements for Christians). Paul distinguished between their “authority,” which was from men, and the authority by which he taught, which was Christ’s (Gal. 1:11-12).

Paul was not saying that he was given authority to decide doctrine. He was used by God, though, to teach God’s will at a time the complete written word was not available. Like the other apostles, Paul was an instrument through which Jesus took the Gospel to the whole world.

Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to guide the apostles “into all the truth” (John 16:13). The apostles acted under Christ’s authority. God proved this by confirming the doctrine they taught “by the signs that followed” (Mark 16:20b).

At the point God’s written Word was made complete, there was no longer a need for men to be miraculously guided like the apostles were. This principle is taught in 1 Corinthians 13 (see especially verses 8-10).

If individuals claim to have God working through them to reveal new doctrine today, they must be deemed among the “many false prophets [who] are gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).

What men teach when they try to establish doctrine without God’s authority is nothing more than commands of men. Like the Pharisees who worshipped God in vain by “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:7), so too do those who establish religious creeds and rules from the minds of men. They deceive themselves and others into blatantly rejecting the commandments of God, like the Pharisees did.

Such apostasies are rooted in where one looks for spiritual authority. While God exhorts us to turn to the Scriptures (2 Tim. 3:16-17), mankind often turns to mankind. This is a recipe for error. Mankind will always come up with “bright ideas” that are proven foolish by a simple reading of God’s Word.

What God authorizes with regard to spiritual matters has been revealed in its entirety. There is no need for man to decide what new doctrines to adopt. There is only need for man to study and find out what God has commanded.

Instead of looking to creeds and councils of men for answers to spiritual matters, won’t we look to God’s Word, which is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16), and can be understood by everyone (cf. Mark 7:14)?

Doctrinal authority lies with the Godhead, and that is by what authority Christ’s followers should live.

– Michael Hickox

The central theme of the Bible is God’s plan to save mankind through Christ. Consider why we need salvation, what God has done to make salvation possible, and what we must do to be saved.

What Do We Need To Be Saved From?: We need to be saved from sin (Matt. 1:21).

1 John 3:4 defines sin as “the transgression of the law.” God has given commands for people in all “dispensations” of time to obey. His commands for us are contained in the Law of Christ. When we commit something God forbids or omit something He requires, we are guilty of sin.

All who have reached the age and are able to know right from wrong have sinned (Rom. 3:23). The only exception to this is Jesus Christ (Heb. 4:15).

The ultimate “wages of sin” is eternal death (Rom. 6:23). This refers to eternal separation from God (cf. 2 Thes. 1:9). It involves spending eternity in hell.

Hell is desribed by our Lord as a place “where their worm doesn’t die, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48). It is a place of “eternal punishment” (Matt. 25:46), where there is no hope of ever being with God again.

This is what even one sin against God “earns” us. So what we need to be saved from is sin and its consequences.

What Did God Do So We Can Be Saved?: God’s love prompted Him to do something about our hopeless situation.

The second part of Romans 6:23 says “but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Though sin earns us eternal death in hell, God offers us eternal life in heaven.

We do not earn or deserve this gift. It is unmerited, and is offered to us through God’s Son, Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is deity, and took part in creating the world (John 1:3). But though He is deity, God the Son came to earth and took on human form (Phil. 2:7-8). Jesus lived in perfect obedience to the Father’s will, and then gave His life so we could be saved from sin. The Father raised Him from the dead, thus providing hope of eternal life to His faithful children (1 Cor. 15).

So through God’s plan, Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, and the Holy Spirit’s revelation of all of this, we have the opportunity to be saved from sin.

What Must We Do To Be Saved?: By fulfilling His role in the plan of salvation, Jesus became the author of eternal salvation. More specifically though, He became the author of eternal salvation to those who obey Him (Heb. 5:9). Salvation is offered to everyone, but something is needed on our part to receive this gift.

The New Testament shows what it takes for one to be added to the body of the saved. We must believe Jesus is the Son of God upon hearing that truth (Rom. 10:17). Some on the Day of Pentecost responded to this conviction by asking the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37). The apostle replied, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (verse 38). About three thousand souls responded by repenting and being baptized in the name of Christ for the forgiveness of sins (verse 41).

This pattern is seen throughout Acts. Those who believed the truth about Jesus and were willing to confess Him (Acts 8:35-39) repented of their sins and were “baptized into Christ” (Rom. 6:3; Gal. 3:27), and thus added by the Lord to His church, the body of the saved (Acts 2:47).

While one enters a saved condition upon being “baptized into Christ” as a repentant believer, this does not ensure one can never lose his or her salvation. Christians must faithfully obey God to remain in a saved condition (cf. Gal. 5:4). When one has sinned after becoming a Christian, he or she must repent and seek God’s forgiveness (Acts 8:22).

Much more could be said about God’s plan of salvation, but after looking at these points from Scripture, we can understand that salvation is needed because of sin, God did His part to make salvation possible through the work of His Son, and now we must respond in faithful obedience to Him in order to receive this gift of salvation.

– Michael Hickox

Mark 12:41-44: Jesus sat down opposite the treasury, and saw how the multitude cast money into the treasury. Many who were rich cast in much. A poor widow came, and she cast in two small brass coins, which equal a quadrans coin. He called His disciples to Himself, and said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, this poor widow gave more than all those who are giving into the treasury, for they all gave out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to live on.”

In Mark 12:38-40, the inspired writer recorded Jesus’ rebukes against certain scribes who did works for “greetings in the marketplaces” and “for a pretense.” These individuals’ righteousness looked impressive to many, but God saw right through them.

Right after Mark’s account of these rebukes comes the account of the poor widow. Just as God saw through the hypocrisy of the scribes, He saw the sincerity of a woman who may not have appeared to be doing a whole lot in the eyes of others, but Jesus knew the “full story.” Whether or not the widow’s benevolence was impressive to mankind, it pleased God in part because it came from a pure heart.

Some who gave much may have done so to “show off,” like the motive the scribes had for making long prayers (Mark 12:40). Some may have given “grudgingly, or under compulsion” (2 Cor. 9:7), instead of cheerfully. The widow who gave two mites did not demonstrate either of these attitudes.

The widow’s example demonstrates several biblical principles. God does not always judge and value things in the same way man does. This is partly because He knows things that we do not, as demonstrated with the poor widow and her circumstances.

It is also brought out that God looks at more than just outward actions…he looks at our hearts (cf. 1 Sam. 16:6-7). This is not to say that outward actions are not important, as this account itself shows, but the heart must be right to please God. The details of the account imply that the widow obeyed from the heart.

May we learn from this example and remember what Jesus said in His Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matt. 5:8).

– Michael Hickox

God’s mercy was well exemplified in the life of the apostle Paul. Before Paul was converted, he bore the name Saul and zealously persecuted those who followed Jesus (Acts 8:3).

As he was traveling to Damascus to find Christians to persecute, Saul was met by Jesus who asked, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4). Saul learned that he had been living in sin. He learned what he needed to do to be forgiven, and then did it. Because of Saul’s repentance and choice to obey God, the grace of God was extended to him.

When Paul looked back on this, he realized that he was undeserving of God’s mercy (1 Tim. 1:15-16).

In his letter to the Romans, Paul pointed out that we have all done things that make us undeserving of God’s mercy. Romans 3:23: For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;

No matter what an individual has done in the past, though, he or she can be forgiven by God through obedience.

Those who reject such a gift will be greatly disappointed on the Day of Judgment. Those who accept God’s mercy have reason to always rejoice for such a wonderful gift.

– Michael Hickox