Romans 1:16

 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

 

I would not even add this one but it has been used as a defence against reformed doctrine. I will post a harder one next time. Also please keep in mind that I am posting these so called proof texts for Armininism just as they have been given to me at times.

1 Timothy 2:3-4
This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

John 1:12

¹²But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

 

We teach that a person is born again (regenerated), before they can have faith in Christ. This is just the opposite of what others teach when they say that you except Christ and then you are born again. This verse seems to teach that we are wrong. This passage seems to teach that belief comes first, then we receive the right to become children of God. He gave the right to become children of God to those who believe. He did not make those who are already children of God believe.

So my theologian friends, lets see what you can do with this verse. For those that are going to be in my Doctrines of Grace Bible study thats coming up, you will be graded on your responses to this verse :)

What about prayer? What does the Bible say about it? How should it be done? Do we look at prayer in the proper way...or any other question, comment, scriptural interpretation concerning prayer.

John Piper

Should women become pastors?

The Bible draws a connection between the home and the church. Just as there is a role distinction at home—where the husband is called to lead the family—there is also one at church. At home men are proving their fitness to be elders (pastors), and at church they are the ones who are given that role. Paul says explicitly, "I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man" (1 Timothy 2:12). And those two functions—teaching and exercising authority—are the functions of the elder. It's not a problem for a woman to minister in hundreds of ways in the church, but the office of leadership and teaching of men is preserved for spiritual and godly men.

Why didn't Jesus choose women as some of his apostles?

The Twelve are all men. That was intentional, because they are all given incredible authority to found the church. They are like pastors, only they have more authority than pastors. But Jesus did call women, and he called them into significant ministry. Read the beginning of Luke 8 or see the role of women at the Resurrection. Jesus broke significant taboos in the way that he elevated the role of women. It was counter-cultural to have Mary sitting at his feet learning like a rabbinic student at the feet of his teacher. And it was counter-cultural for him to have women so closely attending him, providing for his needs, and for him to be so merciful to the women of the street. Jesus was pro-woman to the max. But he did not choose women to be apostles. That wasn't because he was enslaved to his times. It was because, in coherence with the rest of the Bible (Genesis 1-2, Ephesians 5, 1 Corinthians 11, and 1 Timothy 2), he believed that it would be healthy for the church and the family if men assumed the role of Christ-like, humble, caring, servant-leaders, and if the women came in alongside with their respective gifts to help carry his leadership through according to those gifts. So I sympathize with any confusion on this matter, and I pray that the Lord would give you light to see that it's really not very complicated: God has ordained that in the home and in the church men assume a special role of responsible leadership and teaching.

One of the first things a Christian learns as they study the scriptures is that the Bible has been divided into what we call the Old and New Testaments or Old and New Covenants. Both of these covenants represent the Word of God and neither one of them can stand alone as God's inspired truth, but must instead work together to give us His full revelation.

It only takes a cursory reading of the scriptures to see that these two covenants have central themes which represent the majority of their text. The Old Covenant's theme is focused primarily on the people of Israel and their relationship to God and the New Covenant is focused primarily on the person of Jesus Christ and His relationship to His people. Both covenants, however, when looked at under closer examination, point us to the understanding of redemptive grace through Jesus Christ.

The issue we so often wrestle with today is not whether or not both covenants are the Word of God, but placing each covenant in its proper place and understanding each covenant's role to the believer. While they both point us to Jesus, they cannot both be equally in effect. In fact, they must be exclusive of one another, or our doctrine will not be sound.

(To read more of this article, click here) Or find it on our website under the "Lil Nuggets" section.