What do you know about Satan?

If we are not careful, it is easy to be duped into adopting the world’s caricature of Satan — he is a mischievous cartoonish red character with a pitchfork, horns, and a spiked tail who desires us to do wrong, but probably shouldn’t be considered as wholly evil. He is someone to be laughed at […]

What are angels?

This post is part of a series of posts on the basics of systematic theology. Why do we need theology, and what are the essential truths to know about each doctrine? All the posts are archived under the category “Theology 101.” If you peruse any greeting card rack — particularly in early February — you […]

Who Are the Sons of God and Daughters of Men in Genesis 6:1-5?

The meaning of Genesis 6:1-5 is much debated. R. C. Sproul, Jr. provides as clear and simple an explanation as I’ve seen in a while: There are several competing theories on this admittedly peculiar text, a few of them fantastic, at least one of them rather pedestrian, ordinary. Some suggest, for instance, that what is […]

Thinking about angels and sin

Go into virtually any Christian bookstore and you will find them gracing the fronts of greeting cards, serving as ornamental fixtures for shelves, and maybe even offering help as holders of candles or potpourri. They are chunky cherubs — sweet and innocent and harmlessly-winged little helpers. Yet Scripture views them as anything but that. It […]

What angels know

One of the things we talked about in the Systematic Theology class a few weeks ago was angels, including what they are, how they function, and what they know and don’t know. Writing about good angels in today’s blog, John Piper notes that it is clear angels are not omniscient — that they are always […]

A few more thoughts about angels…again

I’ve still been mulling over our discussion the other day about angels. My thoughts have been centered around the old slogan created by Flip Wilson, “the Devil made me do it.” Now I don’t think that too many have problems with the idea that the devil might provoke and stimulate unbelievers to particular modes of […]

A few more thoughts about angels (and Jude 9)

Last night we digressed ever so briefly into a discussion about Michael, Satan, and Moses’ body. This morning, I consulted my favorite commentator, and he had this to say on the passage in question: “Michael,” whose name means “Who is like God?” is one of only two angels whose names the Bible reveals; the other […]