Benjamin Lamp

Few passages in Scripture are as consequential as Genesis 3:1–7. Up to this point in the biblical narrative, God has pronounced His creation “very good” (Gen. 1:31). Humanity enjoys fellowship with its Maker, and sin has not yet entered the human story. Then the serpent appears, tempting Eve to doubt what God has said and ultimately to defy His command. Adam willingly joins the rebellion, and alienation, death, and sin follow. The effects of this moment in the garden are felt throughout the...

Human beings have wrestled with specific ideas and viewpoints since the dawn of time, and because people wrestle with these questions, they inevitably come out on different sides. Some of the topics people wrestle with are not cosmic in nature but involve small decisions that primarily affect individual lives, such as a career path or what to name a baby. Other topics, however, break through the walls of individuality and have an immense impact on society as a whole. One of these topics is...

Justification has always stood at the center of Christian theology because it answers the most serious question a human being can ask: how can a sinner be made right before a holy and just God? Within the Protestant and especially the Reformed tradition, the answer to that question is clear and direct. Sinners are justified by faith alone on the basis of Christ’s righteousness alone. During the sixteenth century Reformation, this conviction became the dividing line between Protestant...