Convictions are the roots that hold and steady the tree of compassion. Paul underscores three deep convictions that undergird compassion for the lost: one God, one Mediator, and one Ransom. In this study, we give thoughtful attention to these three biblical truths that move us to pray and labor for the salvation of the lost.

God desires all people to be saved. This fundamental truth about God our Savior had grown dim in the church at Ephesus, and Paul seeks to restore it by calling believers to pray for the lost. Here is where our hearts begin to align with the heart of the God of salvation. As beloved children, we are to share His concern, calling those who are not walking with the Lord to reconciliation with Him and restoration to His paths of righteousness. May God be magnified in us as we move in step with His love for the lost.

Scripture teaches us that every church is a witnessing community of believers who need to make disciples of all nations. Every church has a mission to reach the nations with the Gospel and to announce to every creature that Christ has made redemption through his blood and that by repentance and faith, each can receive the remission of sins and entrance into the kingdom of God.

In redemption, we are graciously enabled to partake of the divine nature (v4). This does not mean we become equal to God, but that we begin to reflect His character through godly living. But which aspects of God’s character are we to imitate? In this final study in theology proper, we explore the difference between God’s communicable attributes—those He enables us to reflect—and His incommunicable attributes, which belong to Him alone as the infinite Creator. Peter reminds us that this transformation is not self-produced, but flows from a true and living knowledge of God through Jesus Christ.

Does God ever experience mood swings the way we do? If the Lord is immutable and cannot change, can anything in creation truly affect Him? In this study of divine impassibility, we consider what it means that God is “without passions,” why this truth is theologically necessary, firmly rooted in the language of Scripture, consistent with historic Christian faith, and deeply sanctifying for the believer, especially, with regard to our steadfastness and self-control. This doctrine also sheds light on why the incarnation was necessary for our salvation as well as the constancy of God’s love toward His elect and His hatred for sin.

Paul’s message in 1 Corinthians 2:1–5 is that genuine faith must rest on God’s power, not human wisdom. In a culture obsessed with eloquence, status, and intellectual achievement, Paul deliberately rejected rhetorical showmanship and resolved to preach only Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Though he ministered in weakness, fear, and trembling, the Holy Spirit powerfully worked through Paul's gospel ministry to transform lives. Paul’s example teaches that God often displays His strength through human weakness. Therefore, believers should build their faith on Christ alone, trusting God’s power rather than personalities, performance, experiences, or human ability.  

The LORD God is immutable. This is the resounding testimony of Scripture. As for statements that the LORD changed His mind, relented, or was sorry, these are anthropomorphic and anthropopathic descriptions of God. The immaterial, invisible, and immutable God does not literally undergo such changes. All of this reveals that the LORD is truly the everlasting Rock, and we can (and must!) place our trust in Him. May we learn to depend on Him, pray biblically, and cling to Him as the anchor who keeps us, especially through the storms of life.

What can we know about God? Scripture teaches that He is the absolute Creator and the absolute Being—self-existent, self-sufficient, a se, and self-defining. He is simple and one, not composed of parts but wholly identical with His attributes; He is divinity itself. As such, He alone is the true God, and there can be no other.

In addition to spiritual warfare, Paul introduces a second metaphor—seafaring—to highlight the gravity of maintaining a good conscience. Just as a careless captain can lose his ship through neglect, so a person who fails to nurture and guard his conscience shipwrecks his faith. Paul cites two men who did precisely this: Hymenaeus and Alexander. These two were handed over to Satan—disciplined out of the church—in the hope that they would hit rock bottom, come to their senses, repent, and return to God. Without continuing in a life of holiness and obedience to God’s Word, we cannot maintain fellowship with the holy God or live a life of dependence on Him.

We are all soldiers of Christ in a spiritual war. Satan not only opposes men like Timothy but all God’s people. The call to fight the good fight has implications for all believers. We are all to take up the full armor of God and resist the devil’s schemes. In this passage, Paul highlights the two aspects of this basic Christian fight: faith and a good conscience. We must fight for faith and we must fight for a good conscience. Keeping faith is no passive activity but an active fight to turn our thoughts on the Lord and His truth and to think His thoughts after Him. It is to live as His disciples. Keeping a good conscience is also an active fight to respond affirmatively to the pangs of conscience when our thoughts and actions contradict the word of God. It is to steer away from sin and it is to confess and repent (change/renew the mind) when we have sinned. May the Lord evermore guide us to fight to live another day, fight for faith and fight for a good conscience.

Christian life and love are meant to flow from the fountain of gospel gratitude. It is as we brim over with thanksgiving and praise for mercy and grace that we exude the life of Christ and manifest His love. Paul warms our hearts through his own testimony of how the gospel truth transformed his life. May the Lord teach us to live with gospel gratitude.

On this Mother’s Day, we turn to the book of Ruth and its beautiful story of redemption. To redeem means to free by the payment of a ransom—deliverance that assumes a desperate plight. In this story, we encounter both the stunning devotion of a woman to her mother-in-law and the greater reality of spiritual redemption that ultimately points us to Christ. Join us as we consider: 1) Naomi’s plight, 2) her redeemer, and 3) how this story speaks to us today.