Words from a Branch

  You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.   But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. 2 Peter 3:17-18 ESV              There is an ever-present danger that the true saints will be carried off in the errors of those who claim to be saints and are not. Here Peter calls such people lawless, indicating that they are marked by a lack of submission to the commands of Christ. This is further supported by the end of verse 16 which states that these same twist scriptures bending it to their foolish ends rather than yielding themselves to its ultimate authority. Now if one would dare even to tamper with God’s holy word, what manipulations would they reframe from?           ...

  Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. John 17:17 ESV             These words come from the high priestly prayer of our Lord the Christ, and express His desire and aspiration for the whole Church. Here He wishes the Church to be brought into perfection, by perfect alignment with the word of God that is the Bible. God’s word is absolute truth, unchanging (Psalm 119:89), and effective (Isaiah 55:11). It is therefore a firm foundation, steady and unmoving, consistent throughout the ages. At the same time, it is able without any adjustment to answer the challenges of humanity in all seasons. It is thus the perfect standard to which we must adhere.             The difficulty is that men like to form their own foundations, and to adjust the dimensions of the buildings to suit there own ideas, for as it is said throughout the book of Proverbs, “There is a way that...

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 1:7 ESV             Those who would reject the fear of the Lord as the foundation of their philosophy, and would dethrone theology from her rightful place as queen of all sciences are indeed foolish. The rest of the book of Proverbs will detail their folly, but to summarize they do themselves harm. They are fools not because they displease God, though they do, or because they miss the fullness of truth, again they do; but because they inevitability secure their loss and destruction they are fools. This second half of 1:7 is then both a true statement and a warning. Would you be a fool? Then receive wise instruction and fear the Lord.             It is this fear of the Lord which humanity in its folly is prone to despise. Few if any like to be thought of as foolish or uned...