Peter Krol | Knowable Word

Kingdom Tension and Application

May 17, 2024 By Peter Krol

A firm grasp on the tension of living in the kingdom of God will take your application skills to the next level.

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Kingdom Tension

As Jesus began his ministry, the essence of his message was “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). The messianic prophecies of Isaiah were fulfilled “today…in your hearing” at Nazareth (Luke 4:16-21). When the Jews asked Jesus when the kingdom of God would come, he clearly replied: “You see, the kingdom of God is in your midst” (Luke 17:20-21, CSB). Without a doubt, God’s kingdom had come in the person of Jesus Christ.

And yet, Jesus would also declare that “concerning that day and hour, no one knows” (Matt 24:36). “The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom” (Matt 25:1) and like a man going on a journey and entrusting his property to his servants (Matt 25:14-30). At the last supper, Jesus assured his disciples that he would not drink any more wine “until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God” (Mark 14:25).

And of course, the day will come, at the end of all things, when Jesus “delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power” (1 Cor 15:24).

So which is it, Jesus? Did you bring the kingdom here and now, or will you bring it on that final day when you return? And of course, his answer is “Yes, both.”

So those who have trusted in the Messiah Jesus as King of Kings and Lord of Lords have received the full forgiveness of their sins. The age to come has already broken into the present. But we still live in the presence of sin, and we see the effects of its power all around and within us. The present, evil age has not come to an end.

We live in the tension of overlapping ages. The power of the old has been broken, but it’s remnants remain with us. And the glories of the new have broken in, but not yet in their fulness. This is the nature of life under the Lordship of Christ prior to the resurrection and final victory.

The book of Revelation resorts to bizarre word pictures, drawn from the rest of the Bible, to paint this picture for us. We are already sealed and seated in heaven, praising the God to whom belongs all salvation (Rev 7:9-14, Eph 2:4-10)—yet we wait for the day when every hunger and thirst is satisfied and when every tear is wiped dry (Rev 7:15-17). We have seen the ancient serpent defeated and thrown down. We have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony (Rev 12:7-12). Yet that dragon still makes war on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus (Rev 12:17).

In short, though we’ve been saved, we must still be saved. Though we have been rescued, we still require rescue. We are no longer subject to sin’s penalty, but we still wrestle with sin’s power and must consign ourselves to sin’s presence. Until the final day, when sin’s penalty, power, and presence (and death itself) are all thrown together into the lake of fire to die forever.

Help with Application

So how does this doctrine help us to improve at applying the Bible?

In nearly any text, you can ask “kingdom tension” questions with respect to the author’s main point:

How has Jesus taken care of this issue in his death and resurrection?
What hope do we have to overcome the power of sin and misery in our lives?
But what is it like to cohabit with the lingering presence of such sin and misery?
What hope can you draw from the promises of God and the victory of Christ?
And how will those promises and that victory be completed in the age to come?
How does this tension drive your heart toward lament and godly complaint?
In what situations is the cry of your heart simply “How long, O Lord?”
How does the tension between forgiveness and ongoing sanctification increase your dependence on the Lord Jesus?
What hope does it give you to know that Jesus sees you, knows your situation, and cares about it even more than you do?
How can we appropriate the assurance of the age to come into our lives today, to see Jesus’ promises worked out even further?
In what ways will we have to wait until the final day to see these promises fully resolved?
What will help you to live within and endure that tension when it gets painful and complex?

I am intentionally sidestepping matters of creation, gifts, strengths, law, grace, salvation, and hope for the future when I ask these questions. That’s not because such matters are unimportant, but only because the focus of this post is on the tension of living in a kingdom that is both already here and not yet here.

Sometimes, robust reflection on this overlap of the ages will give us ample material to speak into the issues of our age: lament, oppression, injustice, sanctification, maturity, politics, social progress, anxiety, bodily malfunction, illness, personal suffering—to name just a few. Over the years, one of my sons has regularly asked me, “If Jesus died to take my sin away, why do I keep sinning?” Reminding him of the tension of living in an already and not yet kingdom doesn’t always solve his pain, but it fuels our lament and deepens our conviction. May it do the same for you and for those you lead.

Deepen your grasp of the tension of living in overlapping ages, and you’ll take your application skills to the next level.

Need Help to Concentrate on the Bible?

May 15, 2024 By Peter Krol

Apparently some folks at All Nations Church in Ilford, London struggle to concentrate when reading their Bibles. I suspect they are not alone. The church offers some wonderful counsel here, including:

Sharpen your resolve
Keep track of your progress
Start small
Use a paper copy
Plan the place and time to read
Remove distractions
Use a highlighter
Get physically active
Use others

Perhaps some of these suggestions may benefit you as well.

Check it out!

Substitution and Application

May 10, 2024 By Peter Krol

A firm grasp on Jesus, the Lamb of God, will take your application skills to the next level.

Substitution

The Bible paints a glorious portrait of Jesus as one who “in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb 4:15). Jesus is the one who “knew no sin” (2 Cor 5:21). “He committed no sin” (1 Peter 2:22), and “in him there is no sin” (1 John 3:5).

When Jesus began his ministry, John the Baptist called him “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). As the Lamb of God, Jesus fulfilled the role of the Old Testament sacrifices, especially the Passover lamb, which involved offering a lamb “without blemish, a male a year old” (ex 12:5) and whose blood would be displayed so judgment could pass the people by.

Those with the courage to attribute all hope of salvation to the enthroned Father and to the Lamb (Rev 7:10) will find their clothes washed white in the Lamb’s blood (Rev 7:14). God “made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21).

The New Testament regularly portrays Jesus as trading places with sinners to grant them new life. The leper who could not enter towns gets to speak to the priest, while Jesus is no longer able to enter the town (Mark 1:40-45). The Rich One becomes poor so the poor might by his poverty become rich (2 Cor 8:9). The Wise One became as a fool so fools might become wise in him (1 Cor 1:20-31). The Righteous One became sin so sinner could become righteous in him (2 Cor 5:21). Jesus died so others could have life (Matt 27:50-54).

Help with Application

So how does this doctrine help us to improve at applying the Bible?

In nearly any text, you can ask “substitution” questions with respect to the author’s main point:

How has Jesus obeyed this text perfectly, and how do we fall short in our obedience?
What hope does it give you to know that Jesus has obeyed God in this area?
How does Jesus’ obedience free you up from trying to be perfect yourself?
Now that God already sees you as righteous through Christ, how does that motivate you to make progress in obedience yourself?
How can you set aside your fear and/or self-righteousness in this area?
How does the grace of Christ motivate you to be more gracious toward others?
How can you put Jesus on display, testifying about him for the world to see?
What sort of God would rescue sinners and grant them such free forgiveness? How does this inspire you to praise and serve him?
How has Jesus removed the stigma and pressure of the law, freeing you to obey without fear?
How does this text inflame your love for Jesus and your embrace of his work on your behalf?
How can you behold Jesus in his perfect obedience and free forgiveness?

I am intentionally sidestepping matters of creation, gifts, strengths, law, and hope for the future when I ask these questions. That’s not because such matters are unimportant, but only because the focus of this post is on the substitution of Jesus Christ for sinners.

Sometimes, robust reflection on Christ’s substitution for sinners will give us ample material to speak into the issues of our age: grace, patience, shame, identity, self-esteem, fear, anxiety, discouragement, depression—to name just a few.

Deepen your grasp of Jesus Christ’s substitution for sinners, and you’ll take your application skills to the next level.

It Doesn’t Matter How Much Time You Have

May 8, 2024 By Peter Krol

Kristen Wetherell makes a fabulous point: You can study the Bible in 5, 15, or 30 minutes (or more). It doesn’t matter how much time you have. There is no perfect way to conduct a quiet time. Just start where you are, take what you have, and do what you can.

We need to intentionally provide our souls with a meal that nourishes us with truth. We often call this meal “quiet time”—and feel like we’ve failed if it doesn’t look a certain way.

But God isn’t prescriptive about this in his Word (Deut. 6:5–6; Phil. 2:16; John 15:4). He wants us to prioritize meeting with him through Scripture, however it looks. He wants us to hunger for him, the Bread of Life, not a formula. He wants us to pursue our perfect Savior Jesus, not a perfect quiet time, as if there were such a thing (John 5:39–40).

Check it out!

The Law’s Misuse and Application

May 3, 2024 By Peter Krol

A firm grasp on the most common misuses of God’s law will take your application skills to the next level.

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The Misuse of the Law

People tend to misuse the law of God in one of two ways. I’ve written about these misuses before as opponents of heart application. Now I’d like to identify the benefits of recognizing these common misuses when asking questions for application.

The first misuse is legalism, which flows from a belief that law keeping makes us right with God. And from a desire to be or remain right with God, we add rules that God has not given to our lives. So though the Lord Jesus commands us to abide in his word (John 8:31), he does not command the practice of a daily quiet time. And the New Testament commands believers to pray (1 Thess 5:17), but it does not command attendance at Wednesday night prayer meetings. Prayer meetings and quiet times are very good and helpful things to do, in the right circumstances. But we must be careful not to elevate them to the status of divine commands.

The second misuse is license, which is a belief that grace eliminates the righteous requirement of the law in the life of a believer. In other words, because you are saved by grace alone, you can live however you want to live. This licentious approach may take the form of a refusal to acknowledge the moral authority of biblical imperatives or an aversion to any commands at all. It may sound mature and appropriate to conclude every study with “We can’t do what this text commands, but only Jesus can do it. And he did it for us.” There is truth there, but if we’re not careful, emphasizing that truth over others may end up subverting a biblical author’s intention (if he’s clearly expecting his people to do what he commands, with the help of the Holy Spirit!).

These two misuses are not mutually exclusive, and a person or community may easily bounce back and forth between the two. The New Testament epistles spend tons of time dealing with either or both of these issues, so it should not surprise us to discover how hard it is to grasp how God’s law and God’s grace work together in harmony.

Help with Application

So how does this doctrine help us to improve at applying the Bible?

In nearly any text, you can ask “misuse of the law” questions with respect to the author’s main point:

What has God commanded in this text, and how do you and I measure up to that standard?
How might we be tempted to lower the standard God has set here?
How do you respond when it is difficult to honor God in this way?
How could we lower the standard by adding extra rules to it (rules we believe we can keep)?
How could we lower the standard by using grace as an excuse for our sin?
What resources has God provided to equip and enable his people to obey him?
How can we draw on those resources for assistance with obeying this passage?
What is the difference between a person who obeys this text in order to secure God’s favor, and a person who obeys the text as a response to God’s favor? What might each of those look like?

I am intentionally sidestepping matters of creation, gifts, strengths, grace, and redemption when I ask these questions. That’s not because such matters are unimportant, but only because the focus of this post is on the common misuses of God’s law away from the moral requirements of God for his people.

Sometimes, robust reflection on the potential misuse of God’s law will give us ample material to speak into the issues of our age: grace, patience, shame, identity, ethics, accountability, power—to name just a few.

Deepen your grasp of the potential misuse of the law, and you’ll take your application skills to the next level.

Learning Faith from Habakkuk the Doomer

May 1, 2024 By Peter Krol

As Megan Taylor walks through the argument of the book of Habakkuk, she shows the development of faith in Habakkuk the “doomer.” Here is a taste:

Habakkuk’s dilemma transcends his historical context as we find ourselves struggling against the same frustrations with the state of the world. Like Habakkuk, we too often look through a peephole when we should look into the window of God’s sovereign plan through history. Faith is not believing in a plan we deem best for ourselves, nor is it placing our hope in what we think God should do. Instead, it is the profound conviction that God, as the Master Architect of His grand design, directs all events towards the ultimate good of those who place their trust in Him.

Check it out!

The Law’s End and Application

April 26, 2024 By Peter Krol

A firm grasp on the goal of God’s law will take your application skills to the next level.

The End of the Law

When lamenting his countrymen’s replacement of God’s righteousness with their own, the apostle Paul makes a remarkable statement:

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
Romans 10:4

This phrase—”the end of the law”—does not mean that Jesus has brought the law to end. No, the word “end” here has the connotation of goal or purpose. Paul’s point is not the law’s mortality but its purpose.

According to the argument of Romans 9:30-10:4, Jews have been seeking righteousness before God but have failed to find it. But those who have found it are Gentiles who weren’t seeking it. How can that be? Because by and large, the Jews have sought their own righteousness through works of the law. And many Gentiles found God’s righteousness by trusting in Jesus Christ.

The reason this state has befallen the Jewish people of Paul’s day is because they have failed to understand the law’s purpose. The law of Moses was never given to make people righteous before God but to lead them to faith in Christ. Miss that purpose and you’re bound to misuse the law. In Romans 10:5-13, Paul demonstrates this purpose from the law itself.

So the law is not a bad thing, as long as we recognize its purpose. It cannot make sinners acceptable to God. It cannot vindicate the people of God against the enemies of God. It is a good gift from God to help people come to trust in Jesus. (And, as I showed last week, to show us how life works best.)

Help with Application

So how does this doctrine help us to improve at applying the Bible?

In nearly any text, you can ask “end of the law” questions with respect to the author’s main point:

What has God commanded in this text, and how do you and I measure up to that standard?
What does that command reveal about the character of God and of his Christ?
If we view Jesus as law giver, what does this command show us he cares about? Why?
If we view Jesus as law keeper, what does this command show us about what he came to do? Why?
How does this command expose the need of humanity for a king and savior?
How did Jesus live out or make use of this command in his ministry?
What kind of world would result from the new age Jesus brought, where this command in kept as it ought to be?
What would submission to King Jesus look like according to this passage? How can we make more progress in such submission?

I am intentionally sidestepping matters of creation, gifts, strengths, grace, and redemption when I ask these questions. That’s not because such matters are unimportant, but only because the focus of this post is on the purpose of God’s law to show us Christ and his righteousness.

Sometimes, robust reflection on the end or purpose of God’s law will give us ample material to speak into the issues of our age: politics, leadership, authority, liberty, influence—to name just a few.

Deepen your grasp of the proper purpose of the law, and you’ll take your application skills to the next level.

Advice for Discouraged Bible Readers

April 24, 2024 By Peter Krol

Cindy Matson has some great advice “To the New and Nervous Scripture Reader.” She wants you to:

Expect obstacles
Don’t get discouraged
Play the long game
Don’t let resources replace your own direct reading

Here is a taste of her great advice:

Hi Friend,

I heard you set a goal for the new year to read Scripture more faithfully. That’s great! But I was also told that now you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed. You want to be in the Word, but you’re just not quite sure how that’s going to work. I get it; and if I could, I’d like to offer you a couple of pieces of advice. I’m sure I won’t answer every question, and I’m not even going to try to tell you what or how much to read. Instead, let me try to anticipate some problems, assuage some worries, and add a word of caution.

Check it out!

God’s Law and Application

April 19, 2024 By Peter Krol

A firm grasp on the proper use of God’s law will take your application skills to the next level.

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Use of the Law

In some Christian circles, the word “law”—or more specifically, the phrases “God’s law” or “law of Moses”—is a dirty word. Something to be avoided. We certainly don’t want to be guilty of enslaving people under law do we (Rom 6:14, Gal 3:23)?

However, if the law is nothing but a slave master to be thrown off in Christ, our friends the Gideons should stop including Psalms and Proverbs in their pocket New Testaments:

Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation al the day.
Psalm 119:97

The one who keeps the law is a son with understanding, but a companion of gluttons shames his father
Proverbs 28:7

The problem, you see, was never with God’s law but with the way people try to use it. If we use to attain righteousness before God, then Christ died for no purpose (Gal 2:21). Those who use the law to become righteous will, in the end, lose not only righteousness but also the very benefits of the law (Rom 9:30-32).

So what is the proper use of the law? The Bible gives a few of them, but I’ll highlight just two of them relevant to the skill of Bible application.

First, the law of God provides knowledge of sin (Rom 3:20, 7:7-12). The law of God reveals God’s standards of right and wrong, true and false, moral and immoral. If you get rid of God’s law, you must invent some other standard by which to define good and evil, right and wrong. And a cursory glance at contemporary western culture ought to be enough to show what a failure such an experiment has been. We need the law to define sin and righteousness for us so we might become aware of how far we fall short. In this way, the law is like a mentor to lead us to find grace and mercy in Christ Jesus (Gal 3:23-4:7).

Second, the law of God shows us how life works best (Rom 13:9-10, Eph 6:2-3, James 2:8-13). While the law of God cannot make a sinner righteous, it can make any society a far more pleasant place to live. God made the world to work, such that keeping his law would result in great blessings and breaking his law would result in miserable curses. God is pleased when his people honor his law in submission to his appointed king, Jesus, the Son of David. The New Testament regularly roots its ethical instruction in the revealed law of God. Paul goes as far as to call it a “debt” or “obligation” to obey God through the empowering of God’s adopting Spirit (Rom 8:12).

Help with Application

So how does this doctrine help us to improve at applying the Bible?

In nearly any text, you can ask “use of the law” questions with respect to the author’s main point:

What has God commanded in this text, and how do you and I measure up to that standard?
How does God define truth and falsehood, right and wrong? How does our society define these things (with respect to the topic of the text)? How do you tend to define these things?
How have others violated this command of God in the way they have treated you? How does that help you to distinguish between your responsibility and their responsibility in that situation?
If we got rid of the standard of God’s law as highlighted in this text, what other standard might we invent to deal with these sorts of issues? What are some pseudo-standards that have been invented by our society?
What would your life look like if you obeyed what this text commands? What would our church look like if it obeyed what this text commands? What would society look like if everyone obeyed what this text commands?
What would submission to King Jesus look like according to this passage? How can we make more progress in such submission?

Sometimes, robust reflection on the proper use of God’s law will give us ample material to speak into the issues of our age: ethical dilemmas, attention to the environment, abortion, marriage, transgenderism, care for the poor, euthanasia, sexuality and sexual identity, greed, taxation—to name just a few.

Deepen your grasp of the proper use of the law, and you’ll take your application skills to the next level.