Posts Tagged From Obedience To Freedom
“The Divine Saviour in the Dark Light of Modern Critical and Sceptical Scholarship” coming soon
Posted by simon peter sutherland in Biblical archaeology, Biblical Scholarship, Theology on March 21, 2026
“Over the last two thousand years or so, the Christian faith has had more than its fair share of enemies.” I write “When Jesus was born, whatever date that may have been, Herod sought to have the Christ-child put to death. In the Gospels, the authors record how many attempts were made on Jesus’ life, only one was granted. All Four Gospels agree that Jesus was crucified and died. From the human perspective, Jesus had been executed for proclaiming Himself King. All other accusations against Him failed. In Jerusalem, at an ancient execution site outside the city walls, Jesus of Nazareth was nailed to a cross and died. This is historical fact.
To all intents and purposes, the story should have ended there, but it didn’t. The Gospels claim that Jesus came alive again and remained on earth for a period of forty days.”
The above words are a quote from my new upcoming book “The Divine Saviour in the Dark Light of Modern Critical and Sceptical Scholarship” a book that objects to the many speculative criticisms made by sceptical scholars over recent years. For those who do not know, sceptical and critical scholars are those who doubt the authenticity of the Bible and are often very vocal about it.
In my book I explore the history of the Bible and offer proofs in defence of the historicity of the Scriptures and I believe the work can be a valuable resource for many Christians who believe in the infallibility of the divine word.
Now that I have completed my documentary series on St Paul and the Greek Islands, “The Divine Saviour in the Dark Light of Modern Critical and Sceptical Scholarship” will be available soon.
“From Obedience To Freedom” Out Now!
Posted by simon peter sutherland in Church of England, Reform, The Bible, Theology on June 12, 2025
In my previous post I write about my new book on the Ten Commandments. In this book I explore the topic of the Ten Commandments from a New Testament perspective asking questions such as these: Have the Ten Commandments been abolished by the coming of Christ? Or are the two tablets mentioned in Exodus 20 the same as those found in Matthew 22: 37-40? If the answer is yes then there is no Biblical evidence to reject these commandments as irrelevant to the holy living of the Christian man.
In an original edition of this thesis, dating back to 2007, I had originally been inspired by an old Puritan book called The Ten Commandments by Thomas Watson. I loved reading the puritans back then.
Thomas Watson (1620-1686) was one of the most popular English preachers in London during the puritan era. I was certainly intrigued by this book during my earlier years of theological study. Since then however time moves on and my book has changed. It has gone through revision upon revision until I finally reached a point where I was ready to publish.
Obviously the topic is controversial on all sides. For some Christians there should be given no place whatsoever for any aspect of law in the Christian life. I disagree with that. Yet if that concept was true, then what are we left with in Christianity? Outright lawlessness or a life governed by obedience to Christ in faith. Surely there is nothing within any of the Ten Commandments to contradict what the New Testament says about holy living.
When I originally began to write this book I was much younger and I was very convicted within my soul and daily I yearned for more of Christ. My soul eagerly awaited the presence of my dear Lord and that passion can be caught within the pages of the book. However much has changed since then and I’m older. Nowadays I read Puritan books much less, however I have retained my passion for the writings of Richard Baxter. likewise the King James Bible remains my favourite translation. For this reason, I have continued to use the AV within the book and perhaps I’ll save the reasons why for some other post.
But in the meantime, I hope the Lord uses my book and that it inspires many believers to do right in the eyes of the Lord. We must love the commandments of our Lord and live them by faith in Christ. When we do this we will find inner freedom within the divine legislation.
I have experienced this freedom many times.
However, I am presently in the Church of England (in some sense) and I feel a continuous burden for the apostacy that is crippling it. Will I remain, and for how long I do not know? All I can say is that if there was ever a time for the Law of the Lord to be remembered and loved, that time is now.
My new book on the Ten Commandments
Posted by simon peter sutherland in Christianity, The Bible, Theology on May 10, 2025
For many years I have been writing a number of books and wanting to release them. Books can take a long time to put together and they won’t write or publish themselves, so I have decided it is now time to put them out there.
As a Christian I have very deep convictions about holy living and obedience to Scripture and I am constantly writing about them. Some of these writings are reflections and others are yet to be published. One of these books includes my present discourse on the Ten Commandments and their relationship to the Christian life. This work began many years ago and I have rewritten and revised it many times. When I first wrote it, the book began as a somewhat puritanical discourse and over time, I have improved the book while remaining true to the original concept.
In “From Obedience To Freedom” I have used the King James Version and I argue there is a place of freedom in obeying the Ten Commandments in simplicity and in faith.
In our world we are caught up in society and day to day life, in doing the law of man. Our culture is constantly trying to remove us further and further away from Christ and closer to the world. Sin is forever trying to cause the Christian to obey it. But no Christian is obliged to obey the laws of sin and for this reason the Ten Commandments are very helpful in bringing us closer to God. I argue there is much more to the Ten Commandments than mere rules and regulations, there is a place of inner freedom where the human soul can find liberty in law and within ourselves.
In Christ and His commandments we can be free from this world and that freedom can be found in obedience to our Lord. This is what my book is essentially about and I have now released it through Amazon and I hope my readers find it helpful.
Simon Peter Sutherland
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Simon Peter Sutherland 