Gospel e-Letter

What shall we say regarding the paintings and statues that depict our Lord Jesus Christ? While one may acknowledge their artistic merit, we must speak honestly and humbly: such images are the imaginative renderings of artists and sculptors. They are not faithful representations of our Saviour. What does Holy Scripture reveal on this matter? As Christians, we affirm with joy that in the incarnation, the eternal Son of God took on human flesh. He walked among his contemporaries—seen, touched, and heard by them. This, however, is not our present experience. Yet the Bible does offer us a glimpse, however veiled, into the appearance of the Messiah during his passion: “His appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance... He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him” (Is. 52:14; 53:2) – a sorrowful image that speaks to the depth of what our Lord endured for the redemption of his people. It is no wonder, then, that the Church longs for her Be...

Who was it that gave Jesus to be crucified? Was it Judas, who betrayed Him—for money? The Jewish leaders who plotted against Him—out of envy? Or Pilate, who condemned Him—out of fear?
 No! It was God the Father.
He gave His Son—out of love.
Love for us… sinners. “For God so loved the world,[a] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
“He did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all.” Beyond the betrayal, the envy, the injustice—the cross is the exhibition of the deep love of the Father for us. And so, my friend, if you trust in Jesus for salvation, you can confidently say: For God so loved me,
that He gave His only Son for me,
so that I, believing in Him,
I shall not perish,
I have eternal life.

On the 27th October 2011, the Vatican organized a ‘Day of reflection, dialogue and prayer for peace and justice in the world’ to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the historic gathering in Assisi, Italy, in 1986. This year’s event was led by Pope Benedict and included representatives from several Christian denominations, non-Christian religions, including Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists, as well as non-religious people. The event included talks, a pilgrimage to the Basilica of Saint Francis and prayers. God’s people are called in Scripture to pray for peace. Moreover, Christians have a message of hope and peace to proclaim to the world, for we are ambassadors of the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ our Lord. Why should there be so much trouble and injustice in the world? The Bible tells us plainly. Sin is the underlying cause of war and strife between nations, in our communities, in our families and even in our hearts. Sin is the root of all human misery for it separates us from God. T...

The authority of the Roman Catholic Church depends on the apostolic succession of the Pope. The Pope should be obeyed as the universal and infallible ruler, the Catholic teaching insists, because his authority has been transmitted over the centuries from the apostle Peter in an unbroken lineage of Popes. Let us then briefly examine this claim from a historical and biblical perspective. It is not particularly edifying to go through all the filth and corruption of papal history. A few examples should suffice. Pope Honorius was condemned as a heretic by the Sixth Ecumenical Council. Pope Christopher became pope by forcibly dethroning his predecessor, Leo V, and putting him into prison. He was then driven from the chair by his successor, Sergius III. Pope John XII was a coarse, immoral man, whose life was such that the Lateran was spoken of as a house of prostitution, and the moral corruption in Rome became the subject of general odium. Pope Benedict IX sold the papacy to Pope Gregory VI...

The crowd gathered at St Peter’s Square cheered at the announcement of a new Pope, ‘Habemus papam!’ Catholics around the world welcomed Pope Francis with joy. His friendly and humble personality endeared him with Catholic and non-Catholic people alike. While we do not have any qualms about the person of the Pope, the issues that beset the office of the papacy continue unabated to this day. Is the Bishop of Rome the supreme head and focus of unity of all the churches? Is he the infallible teacher of divine truth? Catholic dogma asserts that the Pope is the pastor of the universal church on earth, and that he has full and supreme power of jurisdiction over the whole church. Indeed the church of Jesus Christ is identified as the church governed by ‘the successor of Peter’ and the bishops in communion with him. Christians who do not acknowledge the Pope’s authority over them are considered to be separated from the unity of the church. Moreover, it is also claimed that the Pope is infal...

Most of us, both Catholics and evangelicals, have read Jesus’ declaration in Matthew 16: ‘You are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church.’ As a Catholic, you may wonder why many evangelical Christians still won’t believe that the church is built upon the apostle Peter. They are being obstinate, you may think, for Jesus’ words are plain and easy to understand. But is this verse really that simple? The controversy centres on the exact meaning of ‘this rock’? Is it a reference to Peter, as Catholics insist, or to Peter’s confession (‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’), as many evangelicals say? Those of us who were raised in the Catholic Church had been trained since childhood to understand the rock as a reference to the apostle Peter because his name means ‘a rock’. This interpretation is absolutely necessary, though by no means sufficient, for the Catholic argument for the Papacy. If it cannot be established conclusively that ‘this rock’ must be the apostle P...

The idea of a priest is central to the Bible, but to understand who the priest is in the church today, we need to look at the whole story of Scripture. A priest is someone who stands before God on behalf of others, offering sacrifices and prayers. We need a priest because we are sinners and cannot come to God on our own. The priest’s duty is to offer a sacrifice for sins and to represent the people before God (Hebrews 5:1). In the Old Testament, God appointed many priests to serve in the tabernacle and later in the temple. These priests offered different types of sacrifices—some were for sin (Leviticus 4), and others were offerings of thanks and worship (Leviticus 7:11–15). However, these sacrifices had to be repeated over and over, and the priests themselves were sinners too. In the New Testament, everything changes. Jesus becomes our great high priest. He did not offer animals as sacrifices—he offered himself. “He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by th...