Embracing a God-centered view of salvation means welcoming the Bible’s teaching of God’s sovereign election in place of our finite and fallen logical leaps.

One of the dangers of close Bible reading is that we would become so fascinated with the puzzle of the text that we lose all love for the one it’s talking about. How do we avoid this?

Unconditional election is a glorious truth that gives us ground for assurance, fruitful prayer, evangelism, missions, and more.

Though the sorrows of this world seem overwhelming, they will not overcome God’s sovereign plan to draw his people into eternal happiness — he has already begun.

There’s only one reason you’ll wake up with faith tomorrow. It’s not because you’re strong enough or solid enough or determined enough to persevere — but because God will keep you.

John Piper begins his study of Ephesians by asking, “What does the ‘will’ of God mean?” giving an example of the close reading that helps us get as much as we can from the Bible.

Everything that a lifeless corpse could contribute to coming alive, you could do to come to faith. God did it all, so that all our boasting would be in him. This is good news.

Jesus is the only Lord of all peoples, races, and ethnicities. This means that there is not a person on the planet that cannot be happy.

Every possible blessing that heaven has to give — most notably, God himself — belongs to those who are united to him by faith.

The mystery of God, revealed in Christ’s death and resurrection, is the redemption of a people to fill creation as rulers in him.

Reading the Bible rightly, we can know more about God’s eternal purposes than any of even the wisest saints of the Old Testament. So it matters very much how we read.

John Piper answers questions to conclude the Look at the Book live seminar on Ephesians 1–2.