Tag: law


  • In January 2019, I wrote a post that was triggered by New York’s abortion law that legalizes abortion up to 24 weeks (see “The Slaughter of the Innocents: Then and Now”). A year and a half later, I find it necessary to revisit this issue–this time to talk about a law and its implications on…

  • How Then Shall We Live? (Pt. 3)

    In our last post we talked a little about what it means to be holy and to grow in Christ. We said that holiness is a work of God with which we cooperate in His transforming us into the image of Christ (His image). It is primarily focused on the inner thoughts and attitudes, and…

  • How Then Shall We Live? (Pt. 2)

    The New Covenant is what God uses to change and transform us, making us holy as He is holy. We are changed into Christ’s image.

  • How Then Shall We Live?

    The promises of the New Covenant mean that there is no sin from which God cannot free us. Change and growth are possible for every believer in Christ.

  • Better Promises, Better Covenant

    But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. (Hebrews 8:6) So far in this series, we have seen that the New Covenant has a better High Priest (“Jesus, the Highest Priest“)…

  • Jesus, the Highest Priest

    For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. (Hebrews 7:26) In our first post in this series (“A Better Word than Abel“), we talked about why a New Covenant was needed. Beginning with this post, we’re going to look…

  • A Better Word than Abel

    But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to…

  • The Law of the Lord II (Ps. 119:17-32)

    Deal bountifully with your servant,    that I may live and keep your word.Open my eyes, that I may behold    wondrous things out of your law.I am a sojourner on the earth;    hide not your commandments from me!My soul is consumed with longing    for your rules at all times.You rebuke the insolent,…

  • Looking into the Mirror: The Root of Sin

    You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s (Exodus 20:17). If the first commandment God gave His people (“no other gods before Me”) set the tone for their relationship…

  • Looking into the Mirror: A True Witness

    You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor (Exodus 20:16). When Peter and John were arrested by the Jewish leaders for preaching the resurrection of Christ, they defended themselves by saying, “We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20). In this simple statement we find the definition and duty…

  • Looking into the Mirror: Not Yours But His

    You shall not steal (Exodus 20:15). Years ago, a Colorado woman sent in two eight-cent stamps to make up for having used one stamp twice (which, for some reason, had not been canceled). A former IRS employee mailed in one dollar for four ballpoint pens she had never returned to the office. In February 1974,…

  • Looking into the Mirror: The Great Sin

    You shall not commit adultery (Exodus 20:14). Do not commit adultery. This command, like all the Commandments, seems so simple and straightforward. Yet, one look at the world around us–and even within the church–tells a different story. Like many of God’s commands, the church has often been guilty of treating only the symptoms without getting…

  • Looking into the Mirror: The Sin Behind Murder

    You shall not murder (Exodus 20:13). Like many of the Ten Commandments, most people know (or think they know) what murder is and how it applies to their life. (And most would say it doesn’t, since they have never killed anyone.) However, like all the Commandments, Jesus has a different idea of what murder entails…

  • Looking into the Mirror: Honor Father and Mother

    Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you (Exodus 20:12). In an age where people are living longer, and society is more transient and fragmented than ever, many Christians wonder how this commandment should apply to their relationship with parents…

  • Looking into the Mirror: Remember the Sabbath Day

    Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock,…

  • Looking into the Mirror: The Name of the Lord

    You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.s (Ex. 20:7). In this post, we will examine what it means to take the name of the Lord in vain. Many are confused about what this commandment does…

  • Looking into the Mirror: The Image of God

    You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God,…

  • Looking into the Mirror: No Other Gods

    You shall have no other gods before me (Exodus 20:3). The first commandment that God gives to Israel (and thus to all) is the logical one: Have no other gods before Me. This may seem an obvious command to many, but we have to remember the context. Israel had just left Egypt with their many…

  • Looking into the Mirror: The Ten Commandments

    And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above,…

  • Conversations With Jesus: Caught in the Act

    Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the…

  • Welcome to the first installment of #WordforWednesday. In this series, we will study a passage of Scripture once a week in an in-depth manner to pull out its teachings so that we may apply them to our lives. Just a note: These posts may tend to be longer than the average blog post. But that’s…

  • After seeing the title of this post, you might be inclined to ask, “Law? What law? I thought we were under grace?” It is true, the believer is under grace, not law (Rom. 6:14). But it’s equally true that every Kingdom has laws and standards by which the subjects of the Kingdom live. As with…

  • Recently I witnessed several conversations on social media between believers and those who either might be considered “liberals” or out-and-out unbelievers. I was, to be honest, shocked by the behavior and words I saw—mostly from the Christians. I shook my head, and felt as hurt as the Lord must feel. Judging by the words, I…

  • In the last post, we suggested that it’s indeed possible to have both sound doctrine and true heart-felt passion in our faith. We also suggested that what makes that possible is a changed heart guided by the Holy Spirit. In this follow-up post, we will consider how segments of the church can move from what…

  • “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”  he second is this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these (Mark 12:30-31). One of the purposes of The Shepherd’s Voice…