FAQs
Who is God and who am I?
- God is good, but how good is he?
- Who am I? A son, servant or friend of God?
- Does God give and take away?
- How does God deal with my sin?
- How does the Holy Spirit convict me?
- What pleases the Lord?
- What is the fear of the Lord?
- Is grace a person?
- What does it mean to be one with the Lord?
Questions about the gospel
- There are many gospels – which one is the true gospel?
- What is this hyper-grace gospel I’ve heard about?
- What are some signs that I’m mixing grace with law?
- When is law the best medicine? When is grace?
- Should I do everything Jesus said?
- Did James preach a different gospel from Paul?
- Once saved, always saved?
- Is forgiveness like a debit card?
Questions about the Bible
- What makes the new covenant new?
- What is the law written on our hearts?
- How should we read the words of Jesus?
- What about the commands of Jesus?
- What does it mean to “forsake your first love”?
- What does it mean to “rightly divide” the word of truth?
- Do Christians need to confess their sins to be forgiven?
- Is God’s forgiveness conditional on us forgiving others?
- Am I completely forgiven? Yes or no?
- Is Satan God’s sheepdog?
- Did Jesus put pricetags on forgiveness?
- What about Ananias and Sapphira?
- What about those who say “Lord, Lord” and are sent away?
Questions about church
- How do I recognize a grace church?
- What happens to Christians who stray?
- Can unbelievers take communion?
- How do I recognize a nose-punching preacher?
- I find it hard to get excited about church. Does that mean I’m lukewarm?
- Do grace preachers disregard the words of Jesus?
- Is religion good or bad or both?
Questions about healing
- What is the unforgivable sin?
- Why take communion when you’re sick?
- What makes Jesus sick?
- How can I deal with all this guilt?
- Is persistent prayer the key to breakthrough?
- How do I deal with unanswered prayer?
- Does God give poverty to teach us things?
- What happens to Christians who commit suicide?
- Can divorced people remarry?
- What does it mean to work out your salvation with fear and trembling?
Just for laughs…
For questions on tough scriptures, check out E2R’s Scripture Index.
For questions on tough subjects, check out E2R’s Subject Index.
Updated April 16, 2016.
Hi, is there a link to this topic of ‘once saved forever saved?’ I am caught with this by some friends who challenge on this. Please explain
This is a very big and complicated topic, so let me give you my considered and thought out answer to your question.
Yes.
If you need more you could read this and this.
hai paul, my name is michael, from malaysia, i have been reading joseph prince destined to reign and i am greatly blessed, recently i encounter two particular verse which is very disturbing, the 1st one is hebrews 13:4, and 1 thessalonians 4:3-8, if jesus work was perfect why do we have to b judge by god and perform for our sanctification, didnt jesus perfect work cleanse us once for all, this is my question kindly look into it, i am quite disturb by the verse
Hi Paul, thanks for responding. Ill get roght to the point, we are talking about our identification and position with christ. This would include co-crufixon, co buriel , co ressurection, thus would that not apply to only believers? Or are you saying everyone who ever lived past, present and future was on the cross with christ? My understanding is that those who have placed faith in christ past, present and future the elect of god were with christ 2000 years ago. What is your your view on this?
Andy, I think you meant to post your comment under this post. Please see my comment #10 under that post for a detailed response. Thanks.
If you teach the Mosaic law are you going Hell. Thank you Nancy Very important question a preacher who is dying now thinks he may be going to Hell because of this.
Nobody goes to hell for preaching the law. We are saved by grace through faith alone. Your works (e.g., preaching) don’t come into it.
Hi! One of my friends told me about GOD being Just. DO you have a post regarding this? It’s one of the things we’re interested in knowing what to say to a person if you let him know about God’s new covenant and he will tell you that GOD is just and will punish sins?
Cara, God is indeed just which is very good news for us because it means He will not and cannot punish us for our sins – Jesus has already paid the price! Before I understood the significance of the cross, I used to ask for mercy instead of justice. But now that I better understand what Christ has done and that I am eternally forgiven and righteous, I thank God for justice!
Paul (the apostle) cautions believers to walk ‘circumspect fully’ because our adversary, the Devil, goes around like a roaring loin seeking who he may devour. Should believers ‘self-evaluate’, looking for sin to bring to Jesus? (not for the reason of getting forgiven or even a feeling of getting closer). In regard to keeping a vigilant eye on sin in your personal life, do you ‘just fogetaboutit’ and trust Jesus to bring to mind what is needful or do you take a more proactive approach? I believe the ‘power of sin’ is still active and looking victims.
Hi Marsh,
Peter exhorts us to be sober and vigilant because our adversary, who is a defeated enemy, fancies himself as a lion on the hunt. There is nothing in the context of 1 Pet 5:8 that suggests “sober and vigilant” should be interpreted as self-examination for Peter is a preacher of the new covenant, not the old. We resist the devil by standing firm in the faith, which means, not agreeing with the devil’s baseless accusations and lies. The devil will point to your sin and say “How dare you call yourself a Christian” but faith will point to the cross and say “I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.”
Peter and James say almost the same thing – we resist the devil by submitting to God (1 Pet 5:6; Jas 4:7). They both preach true humility, which comes from seeing oneself through the lens of the finished work, and not false humility which comes through self-righteous, self-examination.
I agree that sin is active and destructive and has desires and lusts. But my old life that lived susceptible to sin was crucified with Christ and no longer lives (Gal 2:20). I am a new creation, as are all in Christ. Sin is not part of our vocab which may be why Peter never mentions our sin once, in either of his letters, except in a passing reference to our “past sins” in 2 Pet 1:9.
Hi Paul
You may have answered this elsewhere on your site so apologies if I am repeating something here. I am really, really blessed by your site, you know I was praying for God to help me understand stuff especially around 1 John 1:9 which I have been bogged down for years, many people treat that verse as relational/parental forgiveness but that always troubled me, you are either forgiven or you aren’t hey?..anyway back to my point..How do you see the the section of scripture that says Gods discipline is a sign of his love??..The whole concept of god disciplining us as father???
Hi Matt,
Like most “problem” verses, the problem stems from a difference in meaning between the English and Greek words. Look up the word for discipline (paideuo) in a lexicon and you will see that it means training and educating. Like any good father, “the Lord trains up and educates those he loves.”
Hi Paul,
How do you understand the words ‘Jesus is Lord’, in the context of Romans 10:9?
I hear so much at the minute about accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and saviour that I don’t know if I need to see Jesus as more than my God, saviour and friend…hope you can point me in the right direction!
Thanks again for everything you’ve put up on here, and your book; its been life changing.
(P.S. is that a tiny smile in the very bottom left hand side of the screen? Brilliant :-D)
It’s a question of kingship. Just as Adam had to choose a king (himself or God), so do you and I. Will we trust ourselves or him? The word for Lord means supreme ruler. It means Jesus is on the throne. The Bible says that every knee will bow in acknowledgement of his kingship. Some bow now out of love; others will bow later out of regret and terror.
hai paul, my name is michael, from malaysia, i have been reading joseph prince destined to reign and i am greatly blessed, recently i encounter two particular verse which is very disturbing, the 1st one is hebrews 13:4, and 1 thessalonians 4:3-8, if jesus work was perfect why do we have to b judge by god and perform for our sanctification, didnt jesus perfect work cleanse us once for all, this is my question kindly look into it, i am quite disturb by the verse
I was struck by a thought. “what made or (why did) God introduce the 10 commandments” after reading exodus 19, I began to have some clarity but I would like to know what is your perspective on this.
I have read that God’s wrath at sin has been fully appeased or satisfied in the blood of Christ, but can anyone on this planet tell me how this can possibly fit in with eschatology (The End Of The Age). HEEEEEELP!!!! I am really having a hard time with this…. (:-(
Romans tells us that God condemned sin in the flesh (ie: on the cross). Sin is no longer the problem. But his wrath is being revealed, and will be revealed, against ungodliness (Rom 1:18), ie: those things that are opposed to him. Light and dark cannot coexist.
Hi Paul, would you mind sharing which translation/version of the Bible you find to be the most useful in the walk of the spirit? I just read your post on guilt, and about how certain translations add words like “guilt”. I completely understand no Bible is a bad Bible, but I was just curious as to your view on this! (I would have asked this question on the guilt post, but I was not sure if this might be off topic for that one!) Thank you, or anyone else who has an opinion!
The best translation is the one you actually read. For some it’s the KJV, for others it’s the GNB. Both choices are fine. I talk about my preferences here.
Paul, I am reading through your book “The Gospel in Tewnty Questions.” It is fantastic. I really needed this at this point in my walk. I have read so much over the past couple of years it feels as if I have so many different commentaries swirling around. What you write about the character of God is awesome. I love how when met with a seemingly contradictory nature of God in the OT and Jesus, you remind us to lean on the scriptues about Jesus being the full revelation, and complete imprssion of God. However, there was a comment/note on one of the chapters that said you need to recognize that God will fight for His family if their mistreated. Does this square with your reasoning that ….in general…if we dont see something being a part of Jesus’ character than it really is not God’s character? For example, Jesus never destroyed whole cities, etc. I know God doesn’t change, but the way he relates to and deals with us might change. However, it is conceivable that there is a set of circumstances that would present themselves where God felt His family was being mostreated and would act appropriately. Thoughts? Thanks for all your work and writings, they are a real treasure to me and I am sharing them with my kids.
Something is wrong with your subject index links. Whenever I click a link it opens up my podcast app but doesn’t access the posts under that subject. This happens on my iPad. I thought I’d report that to you.
That’s interesting, since there are no podcasts here. You will need a RSS feed reader from the app store to read this. I’m not an iPad user. Perhaps someone else would like to recommend a feed reader for the iPad.
Hi Paul, what do you do when passing through a wilderness experience where it seems as if nothing is working and God is not saying anything about a particular situation you have been praying for a while?
As a famous preacher once said – was it Spurgeon? – if you’re going through hell, keep going! Haha.
I’m reluctant to comment on your specific situation because I don’t know it, but sometimes God’s apparent silences can be significant.
Can you eloborate on that
Feedly (free, iOS and Android), Reeder 2 (iOS, not free), and gReader Pro (Android, not free).
Thanks Doug.
Hello Paul,
I recently had a thought that kind of puzzles me.
Here is my basic understanding of God’s laws (The Ten Commandments).
Please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.
These laws were meant for the Hebrew people only and simply because
that is what they chose instead of having a relationship with God himself.
The laws were not meant for today’s believers of Jesus. Jesus came to fulfill the requirements of the law and setting the human race free from our inability
to live up to this absolute perfect and holy standard.I do believe That God’s
desire for us is to be in a perfect personal relationship with him.After saying
all of that, why did he forbid Adam from eating from the tree of knowledge of
good and evil? I understand that it would and has brought death and corruption, but would that be a form of having to live under a law? Was it simply to show that man was free to decide?
Steven
I have been reading your blog and really enjoy your teaching. Could you ease explain 1 Corinthians 5? It doesn’t make sense when I read it with my grace glasses on. I know there must be church discipline, but….
Thank you!
Paul,
I don’t see anywhere (so far) on E2R your understanding (or definition) of grace.
My understanding (from Jim Richards) is: God’s power, ability, and strength, which enables us to live in righteousness, that works through the heart, and comes by unmerited favor. I think I should add that, God’s grace is accessed or flows through faith.
Obviously grace is very misunderstood and abused by many and it would be awesome to find out your understanding of grace. Faith is also a very misused and misunderstood word by most of the Bride.
Blessings,
Warren (South Carolina)
Try this post.
You mentioned in your one blog post how the Holy spirit stopped you from marrying the wrong woman. How did He do this?
I’m racking my brain. Can you remember which post that was?