Are you in corporate fellowship and worship this morning under godly ruling Elders? 

"Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine." 1 Tim. 5:17

"Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct." Heb. 13:7

"Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you." Heb. 13:17

If you can't submit to the Elders who rule in the house of God then you have basically 3 options. 

1. Humble yourself and obey.
2. If you cannot obey because you cannot by scripture and conscience do so, go somewhere you can. 
3. Lastly, if the other two options are legitimately exhausted, and you are qualified as an Elder you should probably look to join with at least one other Elder and begin a new fellowship as God leads and provides. 

This last is the trickiest and scariest option. Go only after much prayer, study, and counsel. Try to reason through the scriptures with those with whom you disagree. Don't just bolt after a disagreement you may even be wrong about. 

However, if we are to obey God's word we must be in a place where we can submit to leaders in obedience. I thank God in this country that we still have the freedom to gather in worship and that there are many fellowships to examine in most places. Even small towns have numerous churches oftentimes. 

Praise God if you fellowship under the care of godly Elders. If you can't say that, go find somewhere you can. Or, where as a fellow Elder you are accountable to others for the well being of your soul and of your flock, big or small. 

God bless you as you worship God today under the care of godly Elders who rule under Christ for His glory and our good!

In short I think this book should be read by all Christians. It will convict you and challenge you. This is my first book review for CORE Issues, and I did it by video. Check it out and share with others. God bless!

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTGZQuepa0M&feature=youtu.be

Ouch! That might sting! Pastors, please hear me on this. When I share or post something like this it is NOT because I dislike Pastors who do Altar Calls or promote "Sinner's Prayers". For years I WAS one and was passionate about both! 


I post pictures like this because it makes very clear just how unbiblical much of the "evangelism" done in church is today. I also understand the good intentions behind the actions. Even the motivation. Again I DID IT TOO! However, we cannot sacrifice sound doctrine for tradition of any kind. No matter how much applause it brings or how much support it brings to our ministries due to numbers on a tally sheet. 

I don't think any honest pastor acts this way because their sole or even their primary goal is numbers. In fact I firmly believe many God loving and God honoring pastors due so out of not much more than blind tradition. Yet, I know, because I've been there, that when using methods like this, we DO focus on numbers to some degree and seek to improve them.

We are not to seek numbers at all. We are to seek to powerfully and truthfully proclaim the undiluted saving Gospel of Jesus Christ, and know that He will save all those who come to Him in repentance and faith. 

When you see someone judging someone by telling them they are going to Hell it should upset you. It does me! However, the hypocrisy of the modern church is that we make eternal judgments all the time. When pastors and/or evangelists, or even lay people, all over the country declare that if anyone sincerely prayed this prayer and "asked Jesus into their heart", or "accepted Christ", or said and/or did absolutely anything they prescribe for salvation, and then judges that person assuredly saved and declare it to be so, is equally unfounded and usurping Christ's sole position as the Judge of all men! Friends this should not be so!

Friends, We cannot make tradition into doctrine. Sadly the last hundred years or so of Church history has done that for us and many are still caught under the sway of tradition that does not honor God. On top of that it offers no strength or comfort for men either. 

When we take it upon ourselves to tell a person that we judge them to be saved and going to Heaven we do so without scriptural support and are actually in opposition to Holy writ. Please friends, examine scripture and see how Jesus and all the apostles and saints proclaimed the gospel. It was a command to repent, believe, and follow Christ up a narrow, difficult, and singular path that few find. Let us proclaim that hard but true message with a compassion for the lost fueled by a desire to glorify God in all things!

Oh and as a quick note I do remember all the big verses we can use to justify these methods. But before I address maybe the biggest ones ever used let me say just a couple more things. 

First, we must remember to always have scripture as our guide. If we are evangelizing and preaching in a way that does not line up with scripture we are wrong. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. 

Second, as you look at any text that seems to point to our ability to rubber stamp someone as saved, remember that true faith is a living faith. 

Last an not least I want to say again that we must remember that we are not the judge of anyone as either saved or unsaved. All judgment has been given by the Father to the Son.

OK, here is probably the most famous verses used to say we can declare someone saved by a sinners prayer, etc. 

"that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” Rom. 10:9-11


Remember, as we read this or any passage. We have a living faith and everything here shows that. It does not say that those who once "believed" or "confessed" are saved. Look how emphatic and clear the wording is. Here's the key words, "confess", "believe", and "believes". Notice that these are active and living words! 

It does not matter that one once confessed or believed. It matters whether someone will say till their dying day that they do believe and continue to confess to any man, woman, or child, that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father! 

Maybe my favorite verse for relaying Christ's command to the lost is this: 

"...Repent, and believe in the gospel." Mark 1:15 

Again notice the wording. Key words, "Repent" and "believe". These are again living and active words. It is not someone who once repented and believed who is saved. It is the person who by the grace of God was saved and by the grace of God continues every day to repent and believe as Christ commanded!

Now, don't think I'm a sinless perfectionist. 1 John makes very clear we sin. However, we are growing in holiness, being conformed to the image of the Son as Paul promises us in Romans 8. Some slide back further and longer than others but all who are saved sin with regret and tears. Whether seen by men or not.

I could go on with lots of verses but scripture is clear. Salvation is wholly of the Lord and we are humble and grateful recipients of amazing grace! Let us do as we're commanded to cast and water seeds. Then let us trust in God to bring the increase for His glory and the eternal good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose!

God bless!

You may be asking yourself, “Why bother taking the time to rehash something like this?” First, I definitely believe our representation of doctrine has practical effects on our ministry to the saints. They can be either beneficial or disastrous. However, I don't see the necessity of proper doctrine as primary for that reason. Primarily we strive to have sound doctrine to rightly love, worship, and represent God. I believe Jer. 9:23-24 and 2 Tim. 2:15 describe why we should strive for having sound doctrine. Namely that the only thing we should ever boast in is God and our gracious ability to know Him. As Christians we are able to do this through Holy Spirit empowered and diligent Bible study. These verses show that the reason to have right doctrine is to know and be approved by our gracious and loving God.

First I want to lay out the three main ways Christ's propitiatory work on Calvary are described. In the end only one can be biblical and thus right.

The first way might be best described like this. Christ's propitiation for sin was universally offered as payment for the sins of everyone but is only effectual for those who freely choose to receive the payment.

The second description could be stated like this. Christ's propitiation effectually paid for the sins of all those it was appointed for.

The third description may best be stated this way. Christ's propitiation was universally effectual for all of humanity and thus all people's sins have been paid for.

Now depending on your soteriological stance you will probably quickly align yourself with either the first or second option above. Some may even try to say they ascribe to both option one and two. However, no orthodox Christian would subscribe to option three as it is simple Universalism and thus heresy.

So by now everyone reading this probably ascribes to either option one, two, or some hybrid of both. By the end of this article I think we will all see which of the two views is indeed the biblical view, and as such the only right view.

Let me start off by making a bold claim. I believe that any orthodox Christians' reading this are already on the same page. I know, bold right? Please bear with me. I think that no matter what soteriological position you hold (Calvinistic, Arminian, or some mix you hold to.) you're already in agreement and just need some biblical clarification to see that as the case.

I'm going to tackle this by laying out biblical terms, define them biblically, and then examine the biblically described result. I don't think I can do it any safer than that.

OK, so first let's define our terms. Of course if we're talking about propitiation we had better define it biblically. In the NKJV we see the term used specifically four times. For the sake of saving you time checking them against each other, and to be complete, I'm going to copy out all four verses and the respective Strong's Greek definitions.

1. “whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,” Rom. 3:25

Propitiation – Hilastērion: Neuter Noun

1) relating to an appeasing or expiating, having placating or expiating force, expiatory; a means of appeasing or expiating, a propitiation

a) used of the cover of the ark of the covenant in the Holy of Holies, which was sprinkled with the blood of the expiatory victim on the annual day of atonement (this rite signifying that the life of the people, the loss of which they had merited by their sins, was offered to God in the blood as the life of the victim, and that God by this ceremony was appeased and their sins expiated); hence the lid of expiation, the propitiatory

b) an expiatory sacrifice c) a expiatory victim

2. “Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” Heb. 2:17

Propitiation – Hilaskomai: Verb

1) to render one's self, to appease, conciliate to one's self

a) to become propitious, be placated or appeased

b) to be propitious, be gracious, be merciful

2) to expiate, make propitiation for

As a quick note the last 2 verses use the exact same greek word for propitiation. So I will list the 3rd and 4th verses and then list the definition.

3. “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.” 1 John 2:2

4. “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 4:10

Propitiation – Hilasmos: Masculine Noun

1) an appeasing, propitiating 2) the means of appeasing, a propitiation

I hope we can all agree that the only major difference in these terms is their respective usage, ie. verb, noun, etc. So now that we've looked at all the verses, I'm going to try to summarize propitiation for us in a way that fits the three different greek words here.

Propitiation is the merciful and gracious appeasement of God's wrath against sin, paid for and absorbed in totality, by Christ on the cross.

I believe that if we honestly adhere to the biblical definition of propitiation we already must admit which of the remaining two possible definitions is the right one.

You'll remember how I boldly said at the beginning that I believed all orthodox Christians already agree about what is meant by Christ's propitiatory work.

So I'm going to make a declaration now and then elaborate on my reasons for the declaration. Be assured that the reasoning flows from the biblical definitions above. As such, it is the biblical definitions above that dictate my belief regarding propitiation, and not vice versa.

That said, the biblical, and thus correct way to understand propitiation is, option two. Let's spell it out again here for review.

Christ's propitiation effectually paid for the sins of all those it was appointed for.

So first, a very short answer. In light of the biblical definitions we see above we must agree that the propitiatory work of Christ was an effectual work and not a conditional work. So now let's get into some more detailed reasoning that I hope will help us clear up any confusion.

Let's start with simple grammar. As we've seen above the propitiation of our sin in Christ is a done deal. Three word's from Jesus ring true and amazingly gracious to our ears: “It is finished.”

Everything we read in scripture and everything we've covered here in this short article makes it clear. Those of us who are in Christ have had our sins propitiated by Christ. Jesus both paid for our sins and suffered God's wrath in our place, on the cross!

That truth is so important to understand! No one who has partaken of Christ's propitiatory work can ever suffer an ounce of God's wrath! Paul proclaims it to us so beautifully!

“For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,” 1 Thess. 5:9

Again, the mere black and white definition of propitiation makes it clear. Those who have received Christ have received the full benefits of His propitiatory work. Praise God for that!

So now let's move on to some logical conclusions based on these biblical truth's. We've established that those who have had their sins propitiated cannot be held accountable anymore for them. In short, they have been saved!

Yet, we all agree that not everyone is saved. Therefore, since everyone is not saved, Christ's propitiatory work could not be universal or conditional.

Propitiation cannot be universal because the Bible clearly teaches that all people are not saved(That's a whole other book to write!).

Propitiation cannot be conditional because it's very definition is of an effectual, finished work.

Last but definitely not least here I want to deal with the righteousness of propitiation. This is very important. We have to understand this.

Christ's propitiatory work was not only(or even primarily)because we needed it for salvation. Though we are very happy for that! That may sound shocking but the following scriptures make it abundantly clear that it is truth.

“But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Rom. 3:21-26

Friends, do you see the picture here? It would be absolutely scandalous to think that God would punish every sinner from creation to the cross in Hell and yet pass over the sins of His people by simply sacrificing animals! No animal sacrifice could ever pay for someone's sin and no soulless animal could suffer God's wrath for someone's sin!

For a man's sin to be paid, a man's blood must be shed. For the eternal God's wrath against a man to be appeased, the eternal soul of the man must suffer eternally. No animal could accomplish this!

So for God's righteousness and justice to be established unquestionably, the sinful man must pay his debt in blood and eternal suffering!

Now here is what boggles our minds and I believe will do so forever.

“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 4:10

Only Christ as a man could pay the blood debt of men. Only Christ as eternal God could propitiate in Himself the full measure of God's eternal wrath and yet rise again!

Absolutely mind boggling and amazing love! I look forward to singing praises for eternity to God who loved me and saved me by His grace and good pleasure. All according the unfathomable yet perfect counsel of His own will in spite of my wretchedness! Praise be to God!

I want to tackle one more issue of justice in Christ's propitiatory work before closing up. In doing so I'm going to ask you to think on your personal sin for a moment.

As Christian's I think it is safe to say that when we think about any of our sins, great or small, we are all grieved by them. This does not take away from our knowledge that they are forgiven yet it does none the less pain us to know we helped place Christ on the cross we deserve.

Yet, even at our most humble, in our most grieved moments over our sin, we never see the full affront that it is to God. Yet for Christ it was not so.

On that cross, the Godman knew the full affront each and every one of our sins were to God. In full knowledge of them, yet with no part in them, Christ propitiated every single one of them. Not for us alone, but for all that believe!

I constantly think of that worship song line that says: “I'll never know how much it cost, to see my sin upon that cross!” As abhorrent as I know that my sin is, I can't begin to fathom their true depths! What I do know is that Christ does know. He did know in eternity past before He ever made me. Yet, He made me anyway, and grace upon grace still saved me!

Now assuming that you have a similar view of your own sin, think about this.

In light of God's righteousness and justice this last very important detail cannot be overlooked.

It is not possible for God to hold two people accountable for sin. It would be completely unjust for God to exact universal propitiation on Christ for an unrepentant sinner and then exact payment and pour out punishment on the sinner as well.

Despite the fact that by definition, universal propitiation would eliminate the possibility of the unrepentant sinner paying for and being punished for sin. Think about it. Why would the sinner have to pay for what Christ already paid? Now emotionally we would still see the justice of people paying for and being punished for their unrepentant sin. Yet in light of the biblical definition of propitiation it just won't work.

However, all of us would have to decry the injustice of Christ shedding His blood and suffering God's wrath for every filthy, painful sin, of every unrepentant sinner in history! All for nothing! This cannot be so! Do you really believe He paid the price of even the sinners who were already suffering for their sins in Hades? It makes no more sense that He'd knowingly do so for those who He knows will end up there after the cross either!

Sadly, it is the above conclusions that have driven some to embrace the heresy of Open Theism. They can't escape the plain truth of propitiation(Since it is necessary for anyone to be saved.),so they trade off the true God of sovereign omniscience for a god of hopeful ignorance.

Christ's propitiatory work was not universal and thus we should not present it as such. To do so misrepresents the God of the Bible and misleads man.

Let me make some closing remarks in light of how Christians' differing views of soteriology may cause some discomfort. I did not skirt on my promise that any orthodox Christian will be able to agree in the end.

We all believe that God is omniscient and thus has perfect knowledge of all things including time. So, whether your soteriology embraces the libertarian free will of man or the sovereign free grace of God, we can all agree that God's knowledge of those for whom Christ's propitiatory sacrifice was made(the elect)is perfect. God's undeniable omniscience makes any other conclusion impossible.

As such it is biblically right to boldly proclaim that His propitiatory work was individually and perfectly effective for all and only those who have obeyed Christ's command to, “...Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” 

God bless and thanks for reading and sharing!   

Welcome to CORE Issues! This is where I hope to address issues as they pertain to Evangelism in general and CORE ministries specifically. I don't know exactly how wide we'll range in topics, but most will be issues that arise due to peoples questions, comments, and concerns.

At other times I'll just be sharing what's on my heart and mind. Most often even these issues are going to stay mostly in the realm of evangelism as that is what CORE is mostly about. However, I'll probably address general theology issues and social concerns as they relate to the church today as well.

In the past I've posted some lengthy things on Facebook addressing issues and concerns but they kind of roll by and are gone after a short time Sometimes I'd like to be able to point someone to something I addressed but it is long gone by the time I want to do so. This way you and I both can keep track of what I've spouted off about!

In the end my first priority here(as in everything else)is to glorify God. After that I hope the blog will be a resource that blesses you and furthers your walk with God.

Please feel free to make comments here, in Facebook, email me, etc. Your ideas and overall input will be a major fuel source for this blog. God bless and thanks for your prayers!