Who writes here

Hi, I’m Steven vd Merwe, and welcome. I’m a follower of Jesus Christ who loves God’s Word, and I run this site as a hobby – a way of sharing what I’m learning with anyone who wants to know what it really means to be a Christian.

I’m a member of Antioch Bible Church in Honeydew, Johannesburg, where Tim Cantrell is pastor. I’m grateful for a church that opens the Bible verse by verse week after week, and much of what you’ll read here has been shaped by sitting under that preaching. My convictions are Reformed Baptist (in line with the 1689 London Baptist Confession), and I’ve been greatly helped by the ministry of John MacArthur and Grace Community Church.

I’m not a pastor or a theologian. I’m an ordinary Christian who has been helped enormously by faithful preaching, good books and patient friends, and I want to pass on what I’ve been given.

Why this site exists

Many people in South Africa grew up around church, but have never had the Bible explained to them simply and clearly. Others are new believers wondering, “What now?” This site is for both.

The aim is simple: one solid post a week that opens the Bible, explains the gospel, and helps us live it out on a Monday morning, in the traffic on Beyers Naudé, at the braai, and around the kitchen table.

Learn – Grow – Change

  • Learn – what the Bible actually says. Start with the Bible Overview series, which walks through all 66 books and the one big story they tell.
  • Grow – in the knowledge of God and in the habits of the Christian life: reading Scripture, prayer, and the life of the local church.
  • Change – because the gospel doesn’t only inform us, it transforms us. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Corinthians 5:17, NASB 1995).

Scripture on this site is quoted from the New American Standard Bible (NASB 1995) unless another translation (such as the ESV or NKJV) is named.

What we believe (in short)

This site writes from a Reformed Baptist position, broadly summarised in the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith.

  • The Bible is the inspired, inerrant and sufficient Word of God, our final authority for faith and life (2 Timothy 3:16–17).
  • God is one God in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
  • Creation and the fall – God made all things good; through Adam’s sin all people are sinners under God’s judgment.
  • The gospel – salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, who died in the place of sinners and rose bodily from the dead.
  • The doctrines of grace – God sovereignly saves sinners, from first to last.
  • Baptism is for believers, by immersion, as a public confession of faith in Christ.
  • The local church is led by qualified elders, and every Christian belongs in one.
  • Men and women are equal in worth and dignity, with complementary roles in the home and the church.
  • The gifts – we believe the miraculous, revelatory gifts of the apostolic age have ceased, and that Scripture is complete and sufficient.
  • Christ will return bodily to judge the living and the dead and make all things new.

Disclaimer

This is a personal hobby blog. I am a member of Antioch Bible Church, but this site does not speak for Antioch Bible Church, its elders, or its pastor, and it does not speak for, and is not connected with, Grace Community Church or Grace to You. Any mistakes are mine. Where I link to sermons or resources, I do so because they have helped me; please test everything by Scripture (Acts 17:11).