No one is able to keep all of the laws of the Old Testament - all of the time, not even the holy men of the Old Testament - Moses, King David and others. Jesus himself said that even if you only look at a woman lustfully you have already committed adultery in your heart. Priests and those in leadership within the Church have often been guilty of misusing the laws of Moses by teaching and demanding strict, literal or even excessive conformity to the Old Testament Law. Such practice puts one under the law, and even places the law above the gospel. In his letter to the Galatians Paul teaches that to be a Christian you do not need to be circumcised and that an over emphasis on keeping the laws, including keeping the Sabbath results in legalism and ultimately brings God's Wrath. The opposite of legalism is license - doing whatever you want whenever you want and that you are only responsible to yourself rather than a higher authority. This also brings God's wrath. In this book David Pawson explains how through Christ's death and resurrection, we have been released from the legalism of the Old Testament Laws (which no one is able to keep all of the time), not to do the opposite which will result in sin by doing whatever we please, whenever we want, but through Christ we have been given true liberty ...the liberty to choose not to sin, by walking in the Spirit.

An Eternity 1988 Book of the Year! Since its publication, the New Dictionary of Theology has rapidly established itself as a standard, authoritative reference work in systematic and historical theology. More than 630 articles cover a variety of theological themes, thinkers and movements: from creation to the millennium from Abelard to Zwingli from Third World liberation theology to South African Dutch Reformed theology Firmly anchored in the evangelical tradition, the NDOT is nevertheless wide-ranging in its scope. Over 200 contributors, experts in their individual fields, offer both Western and international perspective. Concise and comprehensive, biblically grounded and historically informed, even-handed and free from unduly technical language, this dictionary has been praised by general readers, pastors and scholars.

What beliefs are core to the Christian faith? This book is here to help you understand the reason for your hope as a Christian so that you can see it with fresh sight and invite others into the conversation. A lot of Christians take their story—the narratives that give rise to their beliefs—for granted. They pray, go to church, perhaps even read their Bible. But they might be stuck if a stranger asked them to explain what they believe and why they believe it. Author, pastor, and theologian Mike Horton unpacks the essential and basic beliefs that all Christians share in a way that is easy to understand and applicable to our lives today. And in a way that will make you excited to be a Christian! Core Christianity covers topics like: Jesus as both fully God and fully man. The doctrine of the Trinity. The goodness of God despite a broken world. The ways God speaks. The meaning of salvation. What is the Christian calling? Includes discussion questions for individual or group use. This introduction to the basic doctrines of Christianity is perfect for those who are new to the faith, as well as those who have an interest in deepening their understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

From one of the leading historians of Christianity comes this sweeping reassessment of religious freedom, from the church fathers to John Locke In the ancient world Christian apologists wrote in defense of their right to practice their faith in the cities of the Roman Empire. They argued that religious faith is an inward disposition of the mind and heart and cannot be coerced by external force, laying a foundation on which later generations would build. Chronicling the history of the struggle for religious freedom from the early Christian movement through the seventeenth century, Robert Louis Wilken shows that the origins of religious freedom and liberty of conscience are religious, not political, in origin. They took form before the Enlightenment through the labors of men and women of faith who believed there could be no justice in society without liberty in the things of God. This provocative book, drawing on writings from the early Church as well as the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, reminds us of how "the meditations of the past were fitted to affairs of a later day."