We can learn what and how to pray to God from his very Word—even from the example of his own Son.
Articles on God the Son
304 results found
What Did Jesus Teach about Homosexuality?
In a 2012 article for Slate online, Will Oremus asked a provocative question: Was Jesus a homophobe?
10 Things You Should Know about the Cross
The cross is not only where our sin is paid for, where the devil is conquered, but the shape of Christianity.
10 Key Bible Verses on Serving
Christ set the ultimate example of service and sacrifice when he condescended to us and submitted to death on our behalf.
How Jesus Viewed and Valued Women
Jesus’s regard for women was much different from that of his contemporaries.
What Are the Seventy Weeks of Daniel? (Daniel 9)
The events detailed in Daniel 9 are fulfilled in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. He is the coming king.
10 Key Bible Verses on the Divinity of Jesus
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
10 Things You Should Know about the Resurrection
Sadly, the church only seems to get excited about the resurrection once a year at Easter time. In reality, every Sunday should be Resurrection Sunday.
What Did John Mean When He Called Jesus the “Word”? (John 1)
John proclaims the Word as God, through whom the world was made, in whom is life, and who is unquenchable light.
What the Name “Jesus” Means for Believers
Joel R. Beeke, Paul M. Smalley
Why were Joseph and Mary commanded to name the holy Child “Jesus?” What does his name mean for believing Christians?
Jesus Said More about Hell Than Anyone in the Bible
The word wrath is important for understanding what Jesus meant by hell. Hell is not simply the natural consequence of rejecting God.
10 Key Bible Verses on the Second Coming of Christ
But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
10 Things You Should Know about Union with Christ
In the New Testament we find literally hundreds of references to the believer’s union with Christ.
10 Key Bible Verses on the Incarnation
Read about God’s condescension and wonder anew at his redemptive plan for humanity this advent season.
10 Things You Should Know about Priesthood in the Bible
Gloriously, there is a lot to unpack in Hebrews, but a proper understanding of that book will assist you to understand the rest of the Bible and what it says about the priesthood.
10 Things You Should Know about Biblical Theology
The Bible tells us one story about our Creator God, who made all things and rules over all.
10 Things You Should Know about the Lordship of Christ
1. Christ is Lord over all because he is God. The Father is God; the Son is God; and the Holy Spirit is God. God rules over all things by his providential control (Ps. 103:19). …
If Jesus Is God, Why Did He Pray?
Many theologians over the course of church history have wrestled with this question. The answer to this question is relatively simple.
Christ suffered and died with purpose. Learn why.
10 Things You Should Know about Theophanies
A theophany is a visible display to human beings that expresses the presence and character of God.
10 Things You Should Know about God’s Communicable Attributes
God's communicable attributes show us how to reflect God as Christ did.
10 Key Bible Verses on the Humanity of Jesus
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
3 Reasons Jesus Is Our Only Hope
The Advent story is a hope story because it chronicles the coming to earth of the One who is hope, Jesus.
What Did Jesus Teach about Divorce and Remarriage?
David W. Jones, Andreas J. Köstenberger
Despite the fact that the Mosaic law included provisions regulating divorce, the Old Testament makes it clear that divorce falls short of God’s ideal.
You don’t need to unburden or collect yourself and then come to Jesus. Your very burden is what qualifies you to come.
10 Things You Should Know about Communion with Christ
Before we can have communion (or fellowship) with Christ, we must first be in a right relationship with him. That relationship can only come from our being in union with Christ.
Who Were the Magi, and Why Did They Worship Jesus? (Matthew 2)
Popular Christian images of the magi clash with Matthew’s account. The magi were counselors, not kings, and while they bore three gifts, their number (unstated) was large enough to cause a stir in Jerusalem.
Why Do Christians Make Such a Big Deal about Sex?
The fundamental reason why Christians believe that sex belongs only in the permanent bond of male-female marriage is because of the metaphor of Jesus’s love for his church.
It’s not that Jesus merely teaches truth or that his words are true (he does, and they are!); Jesus is truth embodied. Truth incarnate.
Why Jesus Warns Us to Be Alert for His Second Coming
The appearing of Christ becomes a sudden trap not because it could happen any moment, but because the spiritually unseeing will be blind to Christ’s coming.
6 Questions about Christ’s Heart for Sinners
We cannot present a reason for Christ to finally close off his heart to his own sheep. No such reason exists.
What Did Jesus Teach about Violence and Turning the Other Cheek?
J. Daryl Charles, Timothy J. Demy
Does Jesus’s teaching in the sermon on the Mount to “turn the other cheek” and not resist evil require pacifism on the part of Christians?
What Did Jesus Teach about Family?
David W. Jones, Andreas J. Köstenberger
Believers are called to seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness, even when it brings them into conflict with natural family obligations.
This question is not easy to answer, and as such, it requires careful reflection, given the variety of issues involved.
Knowing the Power of His Resurrection
Do you strain with all of your might to see things the way Christ sees them? Do you strain to please him in everything? Do you strain to understand everything through him?
10 Things You Should Know about the Trinity
God wants us to learn about and consider the Trinity. Here are 10 things you should know.
What do the Old Testament commands have to do with New Testament Christians? Should Christians seek to obey the Old Testament just like the Israelites? Can we “unhitch” ourselves from it altogether?
Why Did Jesus Tell People Not to Bury Their Father or Say Goodbye to Their Family? (Luke 9)
Disciples have a more important calling and responsibility: heralding the good news of the kingdom.
What Did Jesus Teach about Prayer?
As mediator, Jesus brings us to God, but he does so by pouring out his Spirit upon us so that our own prayer life is to replicate his prayer life in terms of how the Holy Spirit binds us to our Father in heaven.
George W. Robertson, Bruce A. Ware
Jesus considered the book of Psalms to be ultimately about him.
How the Resurrection Changes Everything
Jesus death an resurrection changed everything, and it has the power to change us.
Practically, How Do We Abide in Jesus?
Jesus commands that we go on repenting, coming, believing, loving, and listening. The transformation of repentance continues. Coming to Jesus again and again continues.
10 Things You Should Know about God’s Attributes
When we speak of his attributes, we must keep in mind that because his essence remains undivided, his goodness is his power. Or, God’s love is his power is his eternity is his immutability is his omniscience is his goodness, and so forth.
What Did Jesus Teach about Evangelism?
When we look at Jesus’s life and ministry we also see that he was the greatest evangelist. In his earthly ministry he was the light of the world, the one who always lived in a way that was pleasing to his Father.
How the Holy Spirit Helps Us Read Scripture
Following Jesus by faith (i.e., discipleship) is the foundation of understanding. We don’t simply understand and then follow. We come to understand as we follow. This is the work of the Spirit.
10 Lesser-Known References to Jesus in the Old Testament
The Old Testament contains “types,” that is, symbolic personages and things and events that point to a climactic fulfillment in Christ. Here are ten lesser-known types that point forward to Jesus.
14 Passages to Read about the Resurrection
As you enter into the celebration of Easter, read these passages to help you meditate on the significance of the resurrection.
Did Jesus Lie to His Brothers? (John 7)
In John 7 Jesus tells his brothers he is not going to the Feast of Booths, but then he does. We must understand what the brothers are suggesting here and what Jesus is saying he is not going to do.
What Are the Bible's Key Themes?
How does knowing the end of the story influence the way we think about the story now?
What Kind of Teacher Is Jesus?
The documents describing Jesus’s career—the four Gospels—make clear that he was a teacher.
The Reason We Don't Feel the Weight of Our Sin
Just as we can hardly fathom the divine ferocity awaiting those out of Christ, it is equally true that we can hardly fathom the divine tenderness already resting now on those in Christ.
Gentle and Lowly: A 14-Day Podcast
Join Dane Ortlund for a 14-day audio devotional to discover the true heart of Christ for sinners and sufferers.
5 Questions about the Ten Commandments
We should love the law because we love Jesus, and because Jesus loved the law.
We tend to project our natural expectations about who God is onto him instead of fighting to let the Bible surprise us into what God himself says.
According to the entire witness of Holy Scripture, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are not three gods. Nor are they some confederation of the one God with lesser gods. These three are the one God.
What Jesus Saw When He Looked at Peter after the Rooster Crowed
When we peer into the word of God, we see who God is: his character is revealed to us. At the same time, we see who we are: we see ourselves in light of God’s character.
With Christ, though, our sins and weaknesses are the very tickets that qualify us to approach him. Nothing but coming to him is required—first at conversion, and ten thousand more times.
Was the Trinity Torn Apart at the Cross?
Jesus's quoting of Psalm 22 on the cross has been a source of wonder and speculation. What can and can’t we say about this cry?
13 Times Jesus Amazed His Hearers in 2 Words or Less
Look at the red letter edition of the Bible! There are pages of verses in red. Treasure-filled treatises. But sometimes, Jesus gave a full, significant, amazing, life-giving answer in two words or less.
J. Alasdair Groves, Winston T. Smith
The issue isn’t really whether or not God has emotions but what they are like. Does God experience emotions the way we do?
What Did Jesus Teach about Total Depravity?
The assumption of universal guilt before God is evident throughout Jesus’s teaching in the Gospels. Proof of this reality is manifold. Below are four evidences to support this claim.
What’s The Deal With Footwashing?
Jesus demonstrates to the disciples through footwashing that the greatest among us is the one who serves out of deep and abiding love
10 Things You Should Know about the Beatitudes
The Beatitudes set the moral and spiritual bar so high that we cannot possibly live up to them—and in our best moments, we know this.
What Does It Mean to Live a Life Worthy of the Gospel?
On the one hand, here is the gospel. And on the other hand, here is your life. And Paul’s exhortation is this: Live in such a way that your life “weighs the same” as the gospel!
What Did Jesus Teach about Limited Atonement?
There are a number of texts demonstrating that when Jesus lived, died, rose, ascended, and interceded, he did so for a particular group of people. Read what Jesus says about this.
A Devotional on the Birth of Jesus by Martin Luther
I would not have you contemplate the deity of Christ, the majesty of Christ, but rather his flesh. Look upon the Baby Jesus. . . . See how God invites you.
Did Jesus Possess Faith and Hope?
Christ had to have trust in his Father, hope in his Father’s promises, and love for his Father.
Where Christ Isn’t Being Treasured, He’s Being Used
Christ as a treasure is not a slice of Christ. It is every dimension of Christ—all of Christ—making up the totality of his infinite value.
Did Jesus Come to Bring Peace or a Sword? (Luke 12)
Jesus came to bring peace, but peace is not the only consequence of his coming. Both peace and division, harmony and conflict, joy and strife will occur.
Why Was Jesus’s Teaching So Astonishing?
What was so unusual and so attention-grabbing about Jesus’s teaching? Part of it was that once people began to challenge him and ask him questions, Jesus proved to be a masterful chess player.
Does Scripture Teach that Jesus Is Fully God?
One of the most debated, and at times perplexing, aspects of belief in the Trinity is the question “Does Scripture actually teach that Jesus is fully God?”
Walk with Jesus During His Last Week on Earth
The final days of Jesus were the most important days of the most important person who ever lived.
What Does the New Testament Mean That Jesus Will Come Soon?
What would it mean for an infallible spokesman (an apostle!) of the Lord Jesus, who cannot predict the time, to say that Jesus is coming soon?
Orthodoxy and Heresy Orthodoxy means right doctrine or belief. In one very important sense it is essential to salvation. Although we are saved entirely by the grace of God, not on the basis of the …
5 Things You Must Remember about the Resurrection
What does it look like to look at life through the window of the resurrection? As I assess my life right here, right now, what about the resurrection must I remember? Let me suggest five things.
Jesus Is Not Ashamed of Those Who Are Hurting and Hopeless
Be amazed at the power of Christ to transform a helpless man; but also, marvel at the love of Christ that claims rebels like this as his own.
10 Things You Should Know about the Incarnation
The Son, who is in eternal relation to the Father and Spirit, willingly humbled himself and chose to assume a human nature in obedience to his Father and for our salvation (Phil. 2:6-8).
10 Notable Quotes from Gentle and Lowly
The gospel flows from God’s deepest heart for his people, a heart of tender love for the sinful and suffering.
A Thought Experiment to Help Recalibrate Our Beliefs about the Trinity
Matthew Y. Emerson, Brandon D. Smith
The way we talk about God’s acts often divides the persons of God in a way that is contrary to our confession that God is one God in three persons.
Did Jesus Really Mean That We Should Hate Our Families? (Luke 14)
He is to have absolute rule and sovereignty over one’s life; no family relationship can take precedence over one’s commitment to Jesus.
5 Ways We See Jesus Serve as a Priest
Yet, when we look at these four books, we see Jesus doing what priests do throughout. He teaches the law, purifies the unclean, cleanses the temple, forgives sins, and prays for his disciples.
How Do I Follow Jesus When He Is Not Here?
Jesus knew that he would not always be on earth, so the command that we follow him was relevant not only for his physical days on earth but for all time.
What Did Jesus Teach about the Bible?
Norman L. Geisler, Frank Turek
Jesus and his apostles considered the Old Testament Scriptures to be the written Word of God, and thus the ultimate authority for life.
The Son of Man Came Eating and Drinking
The meals of Jesus represent something bigger. They represent a new world, a new kingdom, a new outlook. But they give that new reality substance.
The word of God is more than enough for the people of God to live their lives to the glory of God.
When the Supreme Somebody Became Nobody
It’s what the Lord Jesus took to himself that humbled him, not what he laid aside. It was in taking to himself humanity that he became nothing.
What Is Christ to Us If He Is Not Our All-Satisfying Treasure?
The aim of God’s work in redemption is not that through Christ we might have salvation, but that through salvation we might have Christ—the all-satisfying treasure.
10 Things You Should Know about the Holy Spirit
When you find your mind wandering or getting lost in the details of pneumatology (the doctrine of the Holy Spirit), just call back to mind the basic Christian confession that there is one God in three persons.
When You Think of Jesus, Do You Think “Genius”?
Was Jesus a rather ordinary teacher with brilliant students who selflessly credited him with their great ideas? Or was Jesus a very smart teacher with smart disciples, and therefore the credit should be shared?
Jesus of Nazareth vs. Caesar Augustus
The nature of infancy teaches us something about weakness, and it teaches us something about our God. Every Christmas we celebrate not Caesar’s triumphant census, but our Emmanuel: God with us.
At Christmas, God thunders into our lives in his flesh and beckons us to behold in him the glory of God, full of grace and truth.
What Did Jesus Teach about Disabilities?
In the record of Jesus’s ministry in the four Gospels, we see in the Savior a striking focus upon a ministry among the deaf, mute, lame, blind, and the broader community they represent.
What Does It Mean that Jesus Is Prophet, Priest, and King?
Jesus has one office, that of Messiah or Christ. He is the anointed one, the one mediator between God and man, the Savior. But this office has three aspects to it: those of prophet, priest, and king.
The Trinity Transforms the Church into a Community of Love
Just as the church is the glorious gift of love from God the Father to Christ the Son, so the church, as the body of Christ, reflects that Trinitarian love and beauty outwardly to the world.
What Does the Bible Say about the Incarnation?
God the Son became the Man, Jesus. He lived the life we should have lived and died the death we deserved.
Why We Dare Not Seek God without Christ
The true and living God is too much for us to bear, to handle, to conceive, to adore, to know, to trust, to understand, and to worship. The Incomprehensible One is simply too much for us in every conceivable way.
Why It Matters That Jesus Was and Still Is Human
The impression often seems to be that the Son of God came down from heaven in incarnate form, spent three decades or so as a human, and then returned to heaven to revert back to his preincarnate state.
10 Things You Should Know about Christmas
The primary purpose for observing Christmas is remembering Jesus’s birth.
The Temple Destroyed: Jesus Becomes the Meeting Place Between God and Sinners
If we are going to understand why Matthew reports these words, we must remember that the theme of Jesus' destruction of the temple has already been introduced.
Why I Wrote a Book about the Marrow Controversy
What is Jesus really like, truly like—deep down, through and through?
4 Reasons We Neglect the Resurrection
The cross is the basis by which we can be forgiven. Because the cross is literally crucial, it sometimes overshadows the resurrection.
What Jesus Thinks about Children
Children occupied a precarious position in the Hellenistic society of the first century.
A Historical Person Maybe you have never really thought about who Jesus is, or whether his claims have any implications for your life. After all, we’re talking about a man who was born in the …
6 Times We See the Heart of Jesus in Action—and What It Means for Us
What we see Jesus claim with his words in Matthew 11:29, we see him prove with his actions time and again in all four Gospels. What he is, he does. His life proves his heart.
According to Jesus, the people who are ashamed of him are those who refuse to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow him. They’ve considered Jesus unworthy of their devotion and obedience.
10 Things You Should Know about Early Christology
Many Christians often can assent to key statements on Christ’s divinity like the Nicene Creed, but struggle defending such statements from Scripture.
Why the 10 Commandments Are Still Relevant
The law in the New Testament is to show us that in the life of the believer, the law is in fact a means of grace because it shows us what pleases God.
3 Times Jesus Told Us He Was God without Saying It
“Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” The scribes aren’t wrong: the only person with the right to say these words is God himself.
What Did Jesus Teach about Discipleship?
Jesus’s instruction about discipleship applies to all (i.e., not simply the twelve) who want to follow him and includes three elements: denying oneself, taking up one’s cross, and following him.
Because your world is not out of control but under God’s careful redemptive control, you can have hope even when it looks to you as if darkness is winning the day.
The Final Days of Jesus: Monday, March 30, AD 33
In this video series, well-known New Testament scholars explore the background and significance of the history-shaping events that occurred during Jesus's last week on earth.
What Is Distinct about the Theology of Mark?
Certainly Mark is the Gospel that has most in common with the other Gospels. But even Mark has some distinctives that are worth noting and that help us to read Mark as Mark.
I wonder what that song was like for Jesus. I wonder because of the other details the Gospel writers also included about that evening—and there are many.
Growth in Christ Is Not Just Personal Improvement
Jesus is not a concept. Not an ideal. Not a force. Growing in Christ is a relational, not a formulaic, experience. Who then is this person?
Podcast: Does Jesus Really Like Me? (Dane Ortlund)
What does Scripture say about God's disposition towards us as redeemed sinners? What does it mean that Jesus is "gentle and lowly in heart"?
Can Jesus Pray Prayers of Repentance?
If the Psalms give a window into the human emotions and affections of Jesus Christ, we must ask what we are to understand when the psalmists express repentance for sins.
How Hannah’s Prayer Found Its Fulfillment in Mary’s Magnificat
Why does Luke talk so much about God being "high"? The answer lies in Mary’s praise in the well-known Magnificat.
What Is Distinct about the Theology of Luke?
The four Gospels present Jesus as true Israel and the divine Son of God who lived a faithful life, died for sins of his people, and rose from the dead, but each evangelist retells this story a bit differently.
Why Study the Book of 2 Corinthians?
The Christian life is impossible to live without 2 Corinthians.
What Did Jesus Teach about the Poor?
If poverty will always exist, does that mean any efforts to alleviate poverty—in our own communities and around the world—are in vain?
11 Reasons Jesus Is the Perfect Husband
John Owen argues that we live out our friendship with the Father with his love at the center, but when it comes to the Son, it’s all about his grace.
Most of us would be quick to speak up and protest our innocence. It’s just human nature to want to speak up and justify ourselves.
Maximus the Gladiator and Jesus the Christ
Just as Maximus was not just a gladiator but the ultimate Gladiator, the Gospel authors claim that Jesus is not just a king, but the King.
5 Truths about God’s Unity of Simplicity
God’s unity of simplicity means that God is one with himself, selfsame and indivisible in his being and operations, and God is not composed of parts.
4 Approaches to Understanding the Redemptive Nature of Scripture
We should be very willing to learn principles of redemptive interpretation that the New Testament writers employed and exemplified.
The Lord's Prayer—a simple prayer which Jesus taught his disciples—can also show us how to talk with God in prayer.
An Open Letter to the Evangelical Church on Christology
Scripture speaks to us on many issues, but none so important, glorious, and central as our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Problem of Nice and the Promise of New
When it comes to how we think about conversion, it’s crucial to get both our doctrine and our practices right. Churches should believe that God makes people radically new, not just nice, through conversion.
Should We Pray in, for, or to the Holy Spirit?
While it is possible for Christians to pray to the Spirit, for the Spirit, and in the Spirit, the Bible overwhelmingly focuses on one of these.
The Final Days of Jesus: Sunday, April 5, AD 33
In this video series, well-known New Testament scholars explore the background and significance of the history-shaping events that occurred during Jesus's last week on earth.
If Christ came to die so that when you do sin, there is a propitiation, a removal of God’s wrath, then what does this imply for living your life? Three things.
What Did Jesus Teach about Judgment?
Some have said that the most popular verse in the Bible is Jesus’s command to his followers not to judge. How are we to understand Jesus's teaching on judgment?
How to Have the Mind of Christ
It is all very well to say that being “worthy of the gospel of Christ” means being restored to the image of God so that we begin to reflect the character of the Lord Jesus. But what does that mean?
The Prayers of Jesus: A 7-Day Reading Plan
Today, we're introducing a new 7-day reading plan on ESV.org to guide you through some of the prayers Jesus uttered during his earthly ministry.
10 Things You Should Know about the Atonement
Through his death on the cross Jesus accomplishes reconciliation, victory, removal of shame, justification, adoption, propitiation, glorification, healing—and much more!
Understanding the First and Last Adam
Truly God and truly man, Jesus was not a transgressor like the first Adam. Our hope is the perfect righteousness of Jesus, which is credited to us sinners.
The place of Advent in our calendar as being the four-week period before Christmas day on December 25 certainly lends itself to that understanding. However, while this is true, it is only half the truth.
Jesus isn’t like you. Even the most intense of human love is but the faintest echo of heaven’s cascading abundance.
Can We Have Jesus without the Church?
Being in fellowship with a church is integral to participating as a part of the body of Christ.
Luke’s presentation helps us see clearly that the gospel of Jesus is about the comprehensive blessedness of God available to us through Jesus Christ.
What Was the Holy Spirit’s Role in the Incarnation?
Joel R. Beeke, Paul M. Smalley
Christ would not be the God-man apart from the power of the Spirit forming his humanity from Mary’s flesh. God’s promises hinge upon this great work.
Jesus’s Love in the Midst of Sexual Sin
The unfailing love of Jesus is unspeakably glorious, sacred, and precious—especially right after sexual sin.
Why Is the Virgin Birth So Important?
The entry and exit miracles carry the same message. First, they confirm that Jesus, though not less than man, was more than man. His earthly life, though fully human, was also divine.
Are Christ's Human Limitations Permanent?
Scripture and church tradition teach that the incarnation is not a temporary act but a permanent one.
Christ in All of Scripture – Isaiah 11:1-5
This series of posts pairs a brief passage of Scripture with associated study notes drawn from the Gospel Transformation Bible.
In a variety of ways, the prophecy of Nahum brings home the gospel and carries along the redemptive story that culminates in Jesus Christ.
Why Did God’s Beautiful Plan of Redemption Involve Something So Ugly?
When we consider carefully what Jesus was doing on that old, rugged cross, we can understand why it was so ugly. To atone for our transgressions, Jesus had to shoulder our guilty sins.
The Final Days of Jesus: Friday, April 3, AD 33
In this video series, well-known New Testament scholars explore the background and significance of the history-shaping events that occurred during Jesus's last week on earth.
When you come to Christ for mercy and love and help in your anguish and perplexity and sinfulness, you are going with the flow of his own deepest wishes, not against them.
Regardless of what you personally think about him, surely we can agree that Jesus is a towering figure in the history of the world.
Discard Christianity, Discard Human Equality
Saying that the Bible undermines the idea of human equality is a bit like saying that England undermines the English language.
When Jesus walked the earth, he wasn’t afraid to touch hurting people. He drew people in close. He met them empty and left them full and turned everything upside down.
Are There Differences between Christ’s Humanity and Ours?
What kind of human nature did Christ assume in the incarnation? Was it the nature of Adam before the fall, a sinless nature but with the potential to disobey God and fall into sin?
The Final Days of Jesus: Wednesday, April 1, AD 33
In this video series, well-known New Testament scholars explore the background and significance of the history-shaping events that occurred during Jesus's last week on earth.
Q&A: Dane Ortlund Answers Your Questions about the Heart of Christ for Sinners
A couple of weeks ago, we asked readers to submit their questions for Dane Ortlund. Many of you sent in questions from around the world.
Christ in All of Scripture – 2 Corinthians 3:7-18
This series of posts pairs a brief passage of Scripture with associated study notes drawn from the Gospel Transformation Bible.
The Final Days of Jesus: Thursday, April 2, AD 33
In this video series, well-known New Testament scholars explore the background and significance of the history-shaping events that occurred during Jesus's last week on earth.
The Life and Death of Jesus: A Theophany
Jesus's life brings to fulfillment the entire spectrum of theophanies of God in the Old Testament.
3 Illustrations That Help Us Understand What It Is to Be “in Christ”
Scripture often unpacks our union with Christ using illustrations of more familiar things. Sometimes being told what something is like is a good way to begin understanding what that something is.
Why should we endeavor to obey Christ comprehensively? Why should we serve him in every area of life?
The Final Days of Jesus: Tuesday, March 31, AD 33
In this video series, well-known New Testament scholars explore the background and significance of the history-shaping events that occurred during Jesus's last week on earth.
How Is Jesus Able to “Sympathize with Our Weaknesses”?
This truth is hard to believe because it is so wonderful: even though Jesus is now in heaven he is just as open and tender in his embrace of sinners and sufferers as when he was on earth.
Andreas J. Köstenberger, Alexander E. Stewart
Jesus’s unusual supernatural conception, issuing in the virgin birth, served as a fulfillment of Scripture.
A Devotional on the Excellency of Christ Seen in Christmas by Jonathan Edwards
Christ came to subdue the mighty powers of darkness, and make a show of them openly, and so to restore peace on earth.
It is the Spirit’s work to help us see our sin. This drives us to Jesus for forgiveness, and this is very good.
What the Atonement Means for You
In our sin, we—who were created to know, love, and obey the God of all glory—stand guilty and condemned before him; we cannot save ourselves.
Was Jesus a Leader or a Follower?
Joanne J. Jung, Richard Langer
The New Testament leaves no doubt as to the deity of Christ. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. So perhaps it is unsurprising that we forget that Jesus was also a follower.
What Can We Learn about God’s Anger from Jesus?
When Jesus is angry, he is right to be angry; the cause of his anger is right, and he expresses his anger rightly.
What Does Jesus Want This Christmas?
What does Jesus want this Christmas? We can see the answer in his prayers.
9 Questions about Christ Our Redeemer
Because our Redeemer is truly God and truly human and died for us, our sins can be forgiven.
The Promise Jesus Offers to Those Who Leave Everything Behind
Jesus is always honest, even blunt, about the cost of discipleship. He never buries suffering in the small print. He wants us to know that following him will be hard.
Jesus Prayed for Your Sanctification
On the night of Jesus’s betrayal, before he prayed for himself, he prayed for his own.
Matthew Y. Emerson, Brandon D. Smith
The eternal communion of Father, Son, and Spirit is the grounds for our communion with him and one another. Our triune God, simple and perfect for all of eternity, has always been the one God.
Hopelessness Leads Us to the True Hope of Christmas
God created our lives to be propelled and directed by hope, and he meant our capacity for hope to drive us to him.
For explaining the cross, the New Testament uses many images, many categories, many modes of thought blended together.
For the Joy before Him, Christ Came
When you come to Christ for mercy and love and help in your anguish and perplexity and sinfulness, you are going with the flow of his own deepest wishes, not against them.
Since the cross was a monstrous symbol of death and defeat in the first century, it is no wonder that early Christians were mocked for worshiping a crucified Savior.
Black, Reformed, but Foremost Christian
We have solid, historical, and biblical grounds upon which to stand as we seek to be an instrument of God in spreading his righteousness, peace, and joy throughout the world.
10 Things You Should Know about Jesus’s Final Days on Earth
Jesus clearly explains the message of the Scriptures “concerning himself” in Luke 24; he also provides a model for faithful Bible reading.
How Old Testament Kings Bear Witness about Jesus
The book of 1 Kings tells the story of fourteen “kings of the Jews,” framed by King Solomon—and this story foretells the coming of the Messiah.
“Why Have You Forsaken Me?” Understanding Jesus’s Cry on the Cross
Matthew Y. Emerson, Brandon D. Smith
The crucifixion is a good case study in showing how a careful Trinitarian framework can help work through thorny issues related to the Trinity and salvation.
Life is a war for glory. Even those of us who have rested in Jesus to bring an end to our battle for glory still fight skirmishes in which we feel our reputations are at risk.
3 Questions about Christ’s Sinlessness
Temptation cannot be defined in terms of the capacity of the one tempted to succumb. Temptation is enticement to sin from whatever source.
On the side of God’s infinity, there is a complete chasm between God on one side and man, the animal, the flower, and the machine on the other. On the side of God’s infinity, He stands alone.
To know the attributes of God is to not only know God, but to know what God is like. To know what God is like is to know what God is toward us. More pointedly, to know God is to know Christ.
However baptism is conducted, we go under the water as a picture of our death with Christ and we rise up from the water as a picture of our resurrection with Christ.
The Most Shocking Story We've Ever Heard
You will never find anything so shocking, so strange, so weird and spellbinding as the story of the incarnation of the Son of God.
How Can I Be Ready to Defend the Hope I Have?
If one is to be adequately prepared to give an answer for one’s Christian faith, the lordship of Christ must be a solid and unwavering commitment of one’s heart.
Are you too foolish and slow of heart to understand why life sometimes doesn’t make sense?
Can Jesus Pray “Imprecatory” Prayers?
There is a great difference between letting loose a curse against someone and praying for God to execute his just judgment on them.
What Did Jesus Teach about Himself?
Jesus taught on a variety of topics, from family, to money, to discipleship, and more. But there is one subject that is central to all his other teachings—himself.
The Ethics of Jesus: What Do the Four Gospels Reveal?
Gregory Goswell, Andreas J. Köstenberger
Within the overall ethical teaching of the Gospels, each Evangelist focuses on a particular aspect of Jesus’s ethical instruction.
Today it is considered good form to weep discretely, dab tears and turn away, to be quiet and subdued. But in Jewish culture in the first century, that was simply not the way it was.
We Need Spiritual Sight to Read about Jesus
The disciples’ journey with Jesus on the road to Emmaus poignantly illustrates the fact that we need spiritual sight to recognize Jesus’s true identity as revealed in the Scriptures.
The Final Days of Jesus: Saturday, April 4, AD 33
In this video series, well-known New Testament scholars explore the background and significance of the history-shaping events that occurred during Jesus's last week on earth.
The Significance of God Taking on Flesh
Jesus knew that everything about his earthly life, including the body he inhabited, was to fulfill God’s intended purpose.
What Does Perfect Anger Look Like?
Christ got angry and still gets angry, for he is the perfect human, who loves too much to remain indifferent. And this righteous anger reflects his heart, his tender compassion.
Christ in all of Scripture – Luke 2:8-14
This series of posts pairs a brief passage of Scripture with associated study notes drawn from the Gospel Transformation Bible.
5 Practical Implications of Your Union with Christ
We are all born by nature into Adam. We can only be reborn into Christ. Our standing before God, our inner nature, and our eternal destiny all flow from which of these two men is our representative.
How Was the Resurrection of Lazarus Different than the Resurrection of Jesus?
Lazarus would die again, but Jesus would not. And for all who trust in Christ who are united to him by faith, what is his is now ours.
Was Christ’s Coming the End of the Law? (Romans 10)
Christ is the termination of the law in the sense that he ushers in a new age— both continuous with and different from the former age.
Our craving for love is good, for we were made to be known intimately and loved faithfully. However, when misplaced, this craving becomes deeply destructive.
Christ in All of Scripture – Judges 2:16-19
This series of posts pairs a brief passage of Scripture with associated study notes drawn from the Gospel Transformation Bible.
Rather than dispensing grace to us from on high, Jesus gets down with us, he puts his arm around us, he deals with us in the way that is just what we need.
Podcast: What You Believe about God's Sovereignty Matters for Real Life (Paul Tripp)
Paul Tripp discusses what the Bible actually teaches about the extent of God’s sovereignty, the purpose of evil and suffering, and the idea of free will.
Christmas is about the coming of Christ into the world.
It takes a lot of sermons and a lot of suffering to believe that God’s deepest heart is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger.”
There is no greater need for the church today than to think rightly about Jesus, biblically and theologically.
Advent Is for Looking Forward and Looking Back
During Advent we look back, thinking how it must have been, waiting for the promised salvation of God, and we look ahead, preparing ourselves to meet Jesus at his Second Coming.
Is Jesus Worth Following at Any Cost?
Are you ready to receive him and believe in him as your supreme treasure, even if it costs you the loss of your family and your life?
Church, State, and the Authority of Jesus
Imperium means supreme power or absolute dominion, and it gets at the idea of where the buck stops in a society.
The Hope of the Gospel Is Someone, Not Something
The hope of the gospel is Christ. The Father has accomplished our redemption and reconciliation through his Son in order to present us blameless at the final judgment.
Christ in All of Scripture – Habakkuk 3:16-19
This series of posts pairs a brief passage of Scripture with associated study notes drawn from the Gospel Transformation Bible.
When Jesus, the Clean One, touched an unclean sinner, Christ did not become unclean. The sinner became clean.
Christ in All of Scripture – Psalm 23
This series of posts pairs a brief passage of Scripture with associated study notes drawn from the Gospel Transformation Bible.
How We Learn to See the Face of Jesus
Experiencing the reassuring, transformative, and hope-giving power of God’s gracious gaze in Christ means we must practice seeing Christ’s glory.
If God sent his own Son to walk through the valley of condemnation, rejection, and hell, you can trust him as you walk through your own valleys on your way to heaven.
It is in “our weaknesses” that Jesus sympathizes with us. His is a love that cannot be held back when he sees his people in pain.
The cross is not just about Christ’s priestly work; it also stands at the heart of his prophetic ministry. The cross preaches to us. The cross is Christ’s pulpit.
Christ in All of Scripture - Matthew 26:26-29
This series of posts pairs a brief passage of Scripture with associated study notes drawn from the Gospel Transformation Bible.
Jesus is king. Jesus obeys. How do we hold those two truths together? And what does it teach us about any authority we’ve been personally given?
Why did Jesus send his disciples into that storm? He did it for the same reason he sometimes sends you into storms—because he knows that sometimes you need the storm in order to be able to see the glory.
2 Questions about the Doctrine of Christ
To explore the wonder of who Christ is and stir our hearts to worship him, let us consider two questions about who he is.
Nancy Guthrie investigates what the creed means when it says that Jesus "descended into hell".
Does the Old Testament Really Point to Jesus? Jesus Thought So
Does the Old Testament really point to Jesus? To answer that question, we should ask an expert. The leading authority on all things spiritual is Jesus himself.
Christ in All of Scripture – Exodus 3:13-16
This series of posts pairs a brief passage of Scripture with associated study notes drawn from the Gospel Transformation Bible.
The 2 Battles Every Minister Fights
In ministry, there will be a war in which you’re called to come and lay down your life as Christ laid down his life.
Only the Greatest Humility Accepts the Lowest Place
A proud person would protest that some low position was “beneath” him or her. Jesus displayed his humility by not regarding anything as beneath him.
Podcast: Sourdough Starters, Daily Bread, and the Goodness of Jesus (Abigail Dodds)
A discussion with Abigail Dodds about what the mixture of flour, water, and yeast can teach us about God, the Bible, and what it really means to be satisfied by our Savior.
The Cosmic Effect of Resurrection
The resurrection is the guarantee that the wrath of God has been appeased by the sacrifice of Jesus.
The Sympathetic Heart of Our Lord Jesus
The emotion that we should naturally expect to find most frequently attributed to that Jesus whose whole life was a mission of mercy, and whose ministry was so marked by deeds of beneficence, is compassion.
How Did Jesus’s Stories Get Passed On?
Some seek to explain how the stories were passed from Jesus into the Gospels, but that question, though tending to get primacy in academic discussion, is actually secondary.
Out of chaos, Christ came. In spite of, and out of, the pandemonium, Christ came.
When the Sun Rose, the Son Rose
In some ways the exodus is a death and resurrection story, but in many other ways the death and resurrection of Jesus is an exodus story.
John Piper’s Favorite Christmas Text
Jesus wasn’t humble for the same reasons we are (or should be). So how can looking at Jesus’s Christmas humility help us?
Christmas marked the beginning of God’s most successful setback.
For all his resplendent glory and dazzling holiness, his supreme uniqueness and otherness, no one in human history has ever been more approachable than Jesus Christ.
The Prayers of Jesus: A 5-Day Devotional
Jesus’s ministry on earth as a human was marked by a devotion to prayer. Through his prayer life, we see what it means to truly depend on God.
Christ in All of Scripture – Zephaniah 1:7-16
This series of posts pairs a brief passage of Scripture with associated study notes drawn from the Gospel Transformation Bible.
Christ in All of Scripture – Psalm 107:1-3
This series of posts pairs a brief passage of Scripture with associated study notes drawn from the Gospel Transformation Bible.
4 Challenges to Christ's Deity
Crossway lists four specific challenges to the deity of Christ that we tend to face today.
A Friend Who Will Never Fail You
We can be assured of Christ's love for us because he gave his life to save us. He is a trustworthy friend.
The doctrine of the atonement reassures us with what Christ has done in the past, the doctrine of his intercession reassures us with what he is doing in the present.
Podcast: Can Affectionless Faith Be Genuine? (John Piper)
John Piper discusses how he came to saving faith in Jesus and how his view of that faith has changed over the years.
The atoning work of the Son, decreed by the Father and applied by the Spirit, ensures that we are safe eternally.
Podcast: Why Union with Christ Is More Amazing Than You Think (Marcus Johnson)
What is the doctrine of union with Christ, and why is it so misunderstood today?
Why There Is No Righteousness Like Christian Righteousness
But this most excellent righteousness—that of faith, God imputes to us through Christ.
Do not minimize your sin or excuse it away. Raise no defense. Simply take it to the one who is already at the right hand of the Father, advocating for you on the basis of his own wounds.
Andreas J. Köstenberger, Alexander E. Stewart
The Bible is God’s story, recounting the Creator’s involvement with his creation.
The Lord has a storehouse of blessing and honor for his people—the question is, are we humble enough to enter as unworthy characters in his story, humble enough to beg for crumbs?
Experiencing Gospel Transformation in 2017
Paul teaches that the very resurrection life of Christ dwells in those who have been united to this risen Lord.
All our human friendships have a limit to what they can withstand. But what if there were a friend with no limit?
Do You Long for Truth and Meaning in Life? Read Hebrews
Hebrews is a rich treasury of life-transforming truth and heart-sustaining encouragement. Do you long to know Jesus? Hebrews introduces him as the eternal Son who radiates the glory of God.
The Family Photo of God’s Family Is a Little Surprising
Imagine if we gathered together all of the believers throughout history and lined them up for a massive family photo. Whom would we see? What kinds of people would be there?
The whole reason we care about sound doctrine is for the sake of preserving God’s beauty,
Christ in All of Scripture – Jonah 2:9-10
This series of posts pairs a brief passage of Scripture with associated study notes drawn from the Gospel Transformation Bible.
Jesus' Death Should Lead to Your Own Daily Dying
The death of Jesus is not just what cleanses you of guilt, but it is also the means by which you experience transformation.
Podcast: How to Explain the Hypostatic Union to a Fifth Grader (Stephen Wellum)
Stephen Wellum explains where we see the hypostatic union taught in Scripture and highlights why all Christians would benefit from taking time to think carefully about Jesus being fully God and fully man.
Just as we can hardly fathom the divine ferocity awaiting those out of Christ, it is equally true that we can hardly fathom the divine tenderness already resting now on those in Christ.
God’s word and his holiness ought to bring us to our knees in fear, reverence, and obedience. And they ought to make us ask for a mediator—someone to act as a go-between for us and God.
Beware of This Blindspot in the Christian Life
Why do some Christians—maybe why do many Christians—fail to experience a good life in the present?
Podcast: Debunking Myths about Jesus (Stephen Wellum)
Stephen Wellum discusses myths and misconceptions about Jesus that obscure his true significance—for history and for our own lives.
We’re All Writing the Stories of Our Lives, but We’re All Failed Authors
We’re all writing the stories of our lives, and we’ve all failed to write and publish the book we wanted. Some of us failed at the beginning, some of us fear failed endings, all of us have failed chapters.
While the chief priests were arguing over the wording of the sign, the soldiers were preparing Jesus for crucifixion.
Elyse Fitzpatrick reflects on the humanity of Christ at Christmas.
How Grace Lets You Have It All
The more you understand the magnitude of God’s grace, the more accurate will be your view of the depth of your unrighteousness; and the more you understand the depth of your unrighteousness, the more you will appreciate the magnitude of God’s gift of grace.
How Christians Evidence Christ’s Victory
Between the victory on the cross and the present day, and on to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, did God intend that there should be any evidence of the reality of the victory of the cross?
What the Book of Hebrews Teaches Us about Jesus
In this video, pastor Matt Capps discusses the unique contribution that the book of Hebrews makes to the New Testament.
Podcast: Do You Know That Jesus Is Praying for You? (Joel Beeke)
Joel Beeke discusses the doctrine of Christ's ongoing intercession in heaven and why it's more important and spiritually edifying than you may realize.
The Resurrection: This Changes Everything
Jesus’ resurrection does not only change us by saving our souls, making us holy, and filling us with power to live.
Christ in All of Scripture – John 5:36–40
This series of posts pairs a brief passage of Scripture with associated study notes drawn from the Gospel Transformation Bible.
One day the ruler—the King of kings and Lord of lords—will return and make peace a reality.
It is God’s intent that every person who comes into a relationship with him through Jesus Christ eventually will grow up into maturity. And maturity looks like Jesus.
Christ in All of Scripture – Esther 6:1–4
This series of posts pairs a brief passage of Scripture with associated study notes drawn from the Gospel Transformation Bible.
Christ in All of Scripture – Ruth 4:18-22
This series of posts pairs a brief passage of Scripture with associated study notes drawn from the Gospel Transformation Bible.
Jesus Was More Than a Storyteller
What if the great storyteller also lived a perfect life? What if he came from God? What if he was the long-anticipated Jewish Messiah?
Look at the Jesus of the Bible. Look at him. Don’t close your eyes and hope for a word of confirmation. Keep your eyes open and fill them with the full portrait of Jesus provided in the Bible.
Christ in All of Scripture – 1 Peter 1:3–9
This series of posts pairs a brief passage of Scripture with associated study notes drawn from the Gospel Transformation Bible.
Christ in All of Scripture - Revelation 1:4-8
This series of posts pairs a brief passage of Scripture with associated study notes drawn from the Gospel Transformation Bible.
How Is It Possible That Jesus Would Delight in Me?
Is it true? Does Jesus really want to be friends with me? Does he delight in me? How could that possibly be?
Christ in All of Scripture – Proverbs 31
This series of posts pairs a brief passage of Scripture with associated study notes drawn from the Gospel Transformation Bible.
Christ in All of Scripture – Job 42:10–17
This series of posts pairs a brief passage of Scripture with associated study notes drawn from the Gospel Transformation Bible.
Podcast: Are You Ashamed of Yourself? Jesus Isn't (Erik Raymond)
Erik Raymond talks about why nothing in our lives is a surprise to our Savior because Jesus’s heart is bent toward those who have an embarrassing history, feel far from God, or struggle with sin.
Podcast: Was Jesus a Pacifist? (Tom Schreiner)
Did Jesus teach a form of pacifism? How should we square Jesus’s command to love our enemies with the way that God’s people were commanded to conquer their enemies?
Christ in All of Scripture - Psalm 105
This series of posts pairs a brief passage of Scripture with associated study notes drawn from the Gospel Transformation Bible.
Christ in All of Scripture - Nehemiah 8:1-6
This series of posts pairs a brief passage of Scripture with associated study notes drawn from the Gospel Transformation Bible.
Christ in All of Scripture – Proverbs 29:23
This series of posts pairs a brief passage of Scripture with associated study notes drawn from the Gospel Transformation Bible.
The Greatest Example of Courage in the Bible
It was joy that animated Jesus in the face of hardship, and therefore, he is the greatest example of courage.
Christ in all of Scripture – Luke 1:67-79
This series of posts pairs a brief passage of Scripture with associated study notes drawn from the Gospel Transformation Bible.
Christ in All of Scripture – Nehemiah 1:4-9
This series of posts pairs a brief passage of Scripture with associated study notes drawn from the Gospel Transformation Bible.
Podcast: How Does Life Change If God Is Actually My Friend? (Mike McKinley)
Mike McKinley talks about what it means for us as Christians to be friends of God, about the friendship that Jesus had on earth, and about what it looks like for us to lean into our friendship with God.
7 Ways the Particularity of Scripture Underlines the Exclusivity of Christ
My suspicion is that many affix the "Co-exist" bumper sticker on their cars to preach the gospel of philosophical pluralism. In such a context, it is hard for many to hear the bold words of Jesus.
Podcast: Why You Can't Put Jesus in a Box (Rebecca McLaughlin)
Rebecca McLaughlin discusses a number of unbiblical misconceptions that we may have about Jesus and offers encouragement for those with questions about who Jesus is.
Christ in All of Scripture – Romans 5:1–5
This series of posts pairs a brief passage of Scripture with associated study notes drawn from the Gospel Transformation Bible.
The Imperfection of Artistic Expression is a Mere Glimpse of the Perfection of Christ
We (here at Crossway) had the opportunity to hear an exclusive behind-the-art perspective on The Four Holy Gospels from Makoto Fujimura during chapel on Friday, January 21.
Christ in All of Scripture – Hebrews 4:14-16
This series of posts pairs a brief passage of Scripture with associated study notes drawn from the Gospel Transformation Bible.
Christ in All of Scripture – Mark 4:35-41
This series of posts pairs a brief passage of Scripture with associated study notes drawn from the Gospel Transformation Bible.
Podcast: There’s More to the Christmas Story Than You Think (Benjamin L. Gladd)
Benjamin Gladd talks about how the Gospel of Luke draws on the riches of the Old Testament to reveal truly amazing things about the identity of Jesus, Old Testament prophecy, and the real meaning of Christmas.
Podcast: A Closer Look at One of the Most Famous Chapters of the Bible (David Gibson)
David Gibson unpacks the images in Psalm 23 that have become so familiar to us (maybe overfamiliar), showing us what it truly means when the psalm describes the Lord as our shepherd.
Podcast: An Attribute of Jesus That You’ve Probably Never Noticed (Peter Williams)
Peter Williams uses the famous story of the prodigal son to unpack how Jesus was a genius in the way that he taught during his earthly ministry.
Podcast: How Does Jesus Really Feel about Me? (Dane Ortlund)
Dane Ortlund reflects on what God has continued to teach him about the heart of Jesus and why he's more passionate than ever about this life-changing message.
Podcast: Have We Domesticated the Cross? (Jeremy Treat)
Jeremy Treat talks about how the doctrine of atonement is often misunderstood by believers and unbelievers alike and about the impact that it should make on our day to day lives as followers of Christ.
Andrew Young on Power in Weakness in Acts (Season 2, Episode 7)
Join Nancy Guthrie as she talks with pastor Andrew Young about a framework for understanding both divine power and human weakness on display throughout the book of Acts.
Podcast: What Was the Trinity Doing on Christmas Day? (Matthew Emerson and Brandon Smith)
Matt Emerson and Brandon Smith explain what the doctrine known as the inseparable operations of the Trinity is all about.