I trust you are enjoying this Visual Theology series of infographics as much as I am. The series has now visited the ordo salutis, the attributes of God, the books of the Bible, Philippians 4:8, the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Trinity, Philippians 2:5-11, the Old Testament tabernacle, the fruit of the Spirit and Reformed Theology. Today it continues with a look at the “one another” passages of Scripture.

The New Testament contains at least 40 passages that contain the words “one another” and each one points to a way that Christians are to treat, or are not to treat, each other. This graphic seeks to display the whole lot of them.

(Click on the thumbnail image below to see the complete infographic)

If you are after a high-res version, you can have it here in JPG format (9 MB). Please feel free to download, copy, email, share, or print the graphic; I just ask that you don’t sell it.

If you have other ideas for theological infographics, please feel free to leave a comment. Several more are already in development.

A few days ago I shared John Bunyan’s wisdom on why some who profess faith in Christ eventually backslide. Today I want to follow him a little bit farther. Having covered the why, I’ve now drawn from Pilgrim’s Progress instruction on the how. In each case I’ve given my short summary followed by Bunyan’s own words. Here is how to backslide in nine easy steps:

1. Stop meditating on the gospel. “They draw off their thoughts, all that they may, from the remembrance of God, death, and judgment to come.”
2. Neglect your devotions and stop battling sin. “Then they cast off by degrees private duties, as closet prayer, curbing their lusts, watching, sorrow for sin, and the like.”
3. Isolate yourself from Christian fellowship. “Then they shun the company of lively and warm Christians.”
4. Stop going to church. “After that, they grow cold to public duty, as hearing, reading, godly conference, and the like.”
5. Determine that Christians are hypocrites because they continue to sin. “They then begin to pick holes, as we say, in the coats of some of the godly, and that devilishly, that they may have a seeming color to throw religion (for the sake of some infirmities they have espied in them) behind their backs.”
6. Trade Christian community for distinctly unChristian company. “Then they begin to adhere to, and associate themselves with, carnal, loose, and wanton men.”
7. Pursue rebellious conversation and fellowship. “Then they give way to carnal and wanton discourses in secret; and glad are they if they can see such things in any that are counted honest, that they may the more boldly do it through their example.”
8. Allow yourself to enjoy some small, sinful pleasures. “After this they begin to play with little sins openly.”
9. Admit what you are and prepare yourself for everlasting torment. “And then, being hardened, they show themselves as they are. Thus, being launched again into the gulf of misery, unless a miracle of grace prevent it, they everlastingly perish in their own deceivings.”

This is the fourth installment in a series on theological terms. You can see the previous posts on the terms theology, Trinity, and creation. Today the series moves to man.

Surprisingly, attempting to define man in simple terms is not an easy task. There are many things that could be included in the definition and a line has to be drawn somewhere. I’ve chosen to define man according the very first use of the term in the Bible.

In Genesis 1 we find at least four defining characteristics that teach us what man is:

1) As most English Bibles make clear in their footnotes, the term man in Hebrew (adam) is very closely related to the Hebrew word for earth or ground (adama). This is an intentional and ongoing reminder that God formed man “from the dust of the ground” (Genesis 2:7), which teaches us that man is an integrated, natural member of God’s created world.

2) Man is created “in the image of God” (Genesis 1:27); which means that, along with being a natural member of God’s creation, he is also a supernatural being. Having been made in the image of God, he carries the imprint of the supernatural Creator, the God who exists and operates in ways that exceed the natural order he has created. James 3:9 affirms that this divine image has not been removed even after man’s fall from his original state of sinlessness.

3) Man has dominion over creation. God makes this clear in his original mandate to man: “let them have dominion over [everything else I’ve created]” (Genesis 1:26). One of the main implications of being created in God’s image is that we share in his dominion over other created things. But note how our first point affects this: since we are also a member of creation, we serve ourselves best when we steward the rest of creation well.

4) Man is male and female. “In the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). This verse teaches us that a central component of what God intended when he made man is that we would exist as two intentionally distinct sexes.

In summary, then, Genesis 1 teaches us that man is the one creature made male and female, from the earth, in the image of God, with dominion over the rest of creation.

The Apostle Paul had a lot to say about preaching, but I think the majority of it can be grouped under six main headings or ideas. You could, of course, extract specific teaching points from each one, but I think there’s value in looking at them in a broad sense. Here is what Paul says about the preaching of God’s Word:

1) Preaching Is Not Grand Oratory

• For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles. (1 Corinthians 1:21-23)

2) Preaching Is God’s Appointed Means of Saving His People

• How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (Romans 10:14-15)
• Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. (1 Corinthians 15:11)

3) Preaching Exists Because of the Gospel and For the Gospel

• And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:14)
• For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! (1 Corinthians 9:16)
• But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:8-9)

4) Being a Preacher Does Not Make You a Christian (or a Great Christian)

• Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry (Philippians 1:15)
• But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9:27)

5) Faithful Preaching Is Hard Work, and Many Won’t Value It

• I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (1 Timothy 4:1-4)

6) Faithful Preachers Should Be Honored and Compensated

• Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.” (1 Timothy 5:17-18)

Simply stated, creation refers to everything that exists that has not always existed. It refers to all that God has brought into existence, which is everything apart from God himself—including angels and, eventually, Satan and his demons—since God is the one and only thing that has never been created.

There are a variety of ways to understand how creation happened—or at least how it has come to look like it does now. While these views can differ slightly or substantially, all Bible-believing Christians will agree on the following points:

1) God created it by, through, and for Christ.

• For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. (Colossians 1:16)

2) God created it by his word and out of nothing.

• By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. (Hebrews 11:3)
• And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. (Genesis 1:3)

3) It was corrupted through man’s sin.

• For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. (Romans 8:20-21)
• And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life … ” (Genesis 3:17)

4) It will be replaced with a glorious, new creation when Christ returns.

• For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. (Isaiah 65:17)
• Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. (Revelation 21:1)

My understanding of Scripture leads me to believe that the world was created in a literal six days, putting me squarely in the traditional 24-hour calendar day view.

This is the third installment in a series on theological terms. See previous posts on the terms theology and Trinity.

I’ve been at this blogging thing for quite a long time now—a bit over 9 years. I’ve been at the daily blogging thing for almost as long. This means that I’ve got an extensive backlist of articles from years gone by. I thought it might be fun to pull out some of the articles I wrote in previous Mays, stretching all the way back to 2004.

2011

Letting Herself Go - I guess the fact that there were 277 comments before we shut them down tells you something about this article!

Pursuing Relationship - This article looked at the relational aspect of pursuing God. Looking back, I can see that at times I’ve done well with this and at times not so well.

2010

Ten Great Biographies - This was simply a list of ten of my favorite biographies.

Joel Osteen or Fortune Cookie? - I enjoyed putting this one together. Todd Friel used it on his radio show which was probably a more natural place for it.

2009

Soul-Winning Made Easy - If you haven’t ever seen the book Soul-Winning Made Easy, then you need to check out this article.

Ashamed of Shame Itself - This is an article about the death of shame.

Welcome to May! To ring in the new month I’ve got a couple of great new desktop wallpapers for you to download. This month’s wallpapers were created by Anna Cirlot.

A few notes: Your desktop or laptop may take any of the sizes, depending on your monitor size and a host of other considerations. If you’re not sure of the size, just find one that looks like it would be pretty much the same size as your screen. Generally you set one of these are your wallpaper by clicking on the link to the image, then right-clicking on the image (once it’s open) and selecting “Set as Background,” “Set as Desktop Background,” or something similar. If you aren’t sure, post a comment and we’ll try to help you figure it out.

On the Wings of the Morning

Anna says: “This photo taken by photographer Jessica Preskitt reminds me of the place we recently baptized two believers a couple of Sundays ago.  I can’t help but think about this verse whenever I see the sun rise along the marsh.  It’s beautiful to know God is always near.”

With Calendar: 1024x768, 1280x800, 1280x1024, 1366x768, 1440x900, 1680x1050, 1920x1080, 2560x1440

Without Calendar: 1024x768, 1280x800, 1280x1024, 1366x768, 1440x900, 1680x1050, 1920x1080, 2560x1440

Redeemed

With Calendar: 1024x768, 1280x800, 1280x1024, 1366x768, 1440x900, 1680x1050, 1920x1080, 2560x1440

Without Calendar: 1024x768, 1280x800, 1280x1024, 1366x768, 1440x900, 1680x1050, 1920x1080, 2560x1440

I hope you are enjoying this Visual Theology series of infographics as much as I am. The series has now visited the ordo salutis, the attributes of God, the books of the Bible, Philippians 4:8, the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Trinity, Philippians 2:5-11, the Old Testament tabernacle and the fruit of the Spirit. Today it continues with a look at Reformed theology, focusing on the five pillars and the five points of theology that emerged from the Reformation.

(Click on the thumbnail image below to see the complete infographic)

If you are after a high-res version, you can have it here in JPG format (8 MB). Please feel free to download, copy, email, share, or print the graphic; I just ask that you don’t sell it.

If you have other ideas for theological infographics, please feel free to leave a comment. Several more are already in development.

It occurred to me recently that I own several books dedicated to the topics of humility and pride (and, I’m sure, many more that deal with them in passing). I began to wonder how each of the authors define their terms and, with a little bit of research, here is what I came up with. You will see that all define humility but not all so clearly define pride.

William Farley (Gospel-Powered Humility)

Humility is the capacity to see myself in God’s light, in the context of his holiness and my sinfulness.

Pride is spiritual blindness, a delusional, inflated view of self. It is unreality on steriods.

Let me also include a worthy quote: “Here is the great paradox: the proud man thinks he is humble, but the humble man thinks he is proud. The humble man sees his arrogance. He sees it clearly, and as a result he aggressively pursues a life of humility, but he doesn’t think of himself as humble. The proud man is completely unaware of his pride. Of all men he is most convinced that he is humble.”

C.J. Mahaney (Humility: True Greatness)

Humility is honestly assessing ourselves in light of God’s holiness and our sinfulness.

Pride is when sinful human beings aspire to the status and position of God and refuse to acknowledge their dependence upon him.

Wayne Mack (Humilty: The Forgotten Virtue)

Humility consists in an attitude wherein we recognize our own insignificance and unworthiness before God and attribute to Him the supreme honor, praise, prerogatives, rights, privileges, worship, devotion, authority, submission, and obedience that He alone deserves. It also involves a natural, habitual tendency to think and behave in a manner that appropriately expresses this attitude.

Andrew Murray (Humility)

Humility is not so much a grace or virtue along with others; it is the root of all, because it alone takes the right attitude before God, and allows Him as God to do all.

Conclusions

Based on these definitions, it seems that the key to pride is the desire to elevate myself so I can have God’s position and status for myself. It effectively lowers God as it elevates self. Humility, on the other hand, is simply a right assessment of myself that takes into account the infinitely vast gulf between Him and me. Put in those terms it hardly seems like it should be the lifelong battle it is for each of us. And yet we feel its pull every day.

Here are seven ways that you can pray about your prayer life. These are seven items you can add to your prayer list as you consider your own prayer life or another person’s.

1) Pray that your prayers would be the expressions of a humble heart.

And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (Matthew 6:5-6)

2) Pray that God would remind you that he doesn’t want or need your eloquent prayers.

And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Matthew 6:7-8)

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. (Romans 8:26)

3) Pray that you would remember what the really important requests are.

Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.”
(Matthew 6:9-13)