Dr. Cottrell states in the preface, "I consider the doctrine of baptism to be one of the most important Biblical doctrines for consideration by the Christian world today. This is true not just because baptism is one of the New Covenant conditions for receiving salvation from sin, but because it is almost universally misunderstood throughout Christendom in our time. The misunderstanding of the form of baptism (i.e., immersion) began as early as the mid-second century of the Christian era, in the Christian writing known as The Didache (or, The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles). The subjects of...

"You will remember that Volume 1 covered the first eight chapters of Romans, and you will notice that this volume covers the last eight chapters. The dividing point between chapters eight and nine is very convenient from the publishing point of view (i.e., two fairly even volumes), but it is also logically and theologically appropriate. In a real sense, the first eight chapters of Romans could form a stand-alone theological unit. It is a wonderful essay on the essential doctrine of grace.The last eight chapters, however, could not very well stand alone. In several ways they grow out of the ...

Part one of this book is a series of 10 lessons I call “Grace Distinctions”. This description comes from my 60 years of studying and teaching theology, during which I have come to think of theology as “the art of making distinctions”. I have especially found that a proper understanding of grace requires making some very important distinctions. When I was teaching grace in the seminary, I came to the point where my beginning lectures for the course were an exposition of these distinctions.

Calvinist theology has been debated and promoted for centuries. But is it a theology that should last? Roger Olson suggests that Calvinism, also commonly known as Reformed theology, holds an unwarranted place in our list of accepted theologies. In Against Calvinism, readers will find scholarly arguments explaining why Calvinist theology is incorrect and how it affects God's reputation.

In addition to my 49 years of teaching theology at the graduate level at The Cincinnati Bible Seminary (now Cincinnati Christian University), I have spent even more years than that as a preacher and teacher in local churches. I have taught hundreds and hundreds of Bible lessons, mostly for adult Bible classes. Some of my lesson series have been topical; some have been based on Bible books. Here, for the first time, I have decided to present one of the latter series in written form for public consumption. This book of lessons is not intended to be a scholarly commentary on the text of First ...