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Writing

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American Culture

The Affections of Asbury

Over the past few days, quite the event has developed at Asbury University down in Wilmore, Kentucky. University students have appeared at the Hughes Auditorium to worship and sing praises to God, which has continued for over 90 hours at the time of this writing. There is recent reporting that…

by Charles JacobiFebruary 16, 2023
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Apostle Paul

Paul and Nero

It is well-enough known that Nero was emperor from AD 54 when he was just 16 until his death as a young man of 30 in AD 68, just 14 years later. Paul ministered during most of those 14 years (we are not sure which year he died), accomplishing 3…

by Ralph Allan SmithFebruary 14, 2023
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Apostle Paul

For Me to Live is Christ!

When the apostle Paul says, “For me to live is Christ!” (Philippians 1:21), we do not find it difficult to understand. Paul had been a faithful servant of Christ from the time that Christ confronted him on the road to Damascus (AD 30) and through Ananias told Paul that he…

by Ralph Allan SmithFebruary 9, 2023
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Song of Songs

Bridal Song

I think there’s a layer to the Song of Songs which has been largely unexamined. The Song is about Christ and his church, Yahweh and Israel, the nature of the marriage covenant, and the marriage of the couple in the Song. But while the Song is “of Solomon” (or to…

by Daniel StanleyFebruary 8, 2023
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Biblical Studies

Paul and the Praetorian Guard

In Philippians 1:12-13, Paul informs his beloved brothers in Philippi that his Roman imprisonment — which one would naturally think hindered his ministry and the preaching of the Gospel — actually resulted in the surprising and wonderful progress of the Gospel. Of course, from our perspective 2000 years later and…

by Ralph Allan SmithFebruary 2, 2023
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Biblical Theology

Abraham’s Seed: Heavens, Earth, and Sea Made New

In a recent post , I explored the threefold order of creation—heavens, earth, and sea—and suggested that in Genesis 1 God stamps heaven’s order, his own threefold nature, on the creation, giving earth a trinitarian shape. So what happens to the three-level architecture of creation after Genesis 1? We don’t…

by Josh JensenFebruary 1, 2023

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Covenant: Legal or Filial?

Is the covenant between God and His people more or less strictly legal, a contractual relationship of Lord to servant? Or does it describe an ordered relationship of filial love, a relationship of Father and Son? The parable of the “prodigal son” sheds some light. Brendan Byrne points out that…

February 21, 2005

Adam and the Tree of Knowledge

Would Adam have been admitted to eat from the tree of knowledge if he had kept the probation in the garden? Jim Jordan has argued from hints in Genesis 1-3 that the answer is Yes. Perhaps there’s also some further hint in Matthew 4:1-11. Jesus goes into the wilderness, and…

February 21, 2005

Eucharistic Meditation, February 20

?Then Elijah said to them, ?Seize the prophets of Baal; do not let one of them escape.?ESo they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there. Now Elijah said to Ahab, ?Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of a…

February 20, 2005

Exhortation, February 20

We are in the second week of the traditional season of Lent. Lent covers the forty days prior to Easter, and is a fast in preparation for the feast of the resurrection. In some of the earliest churches, baptismal candidates prepared during these forty days for their baptism at Easter.…

February 20, 2005

A Walk Through the Trinity Liturgy, 4

INTRODUCTION In Jesus?Eparables, the evangelistic invitation is often an invitation to a feast, a royal banquet (?the kingdom of heaven is like a king who gave a wedding feast . . . .?E. Christian liturgy is an enactment of that invitation and our response to it. In the call to…

February 19, 2005
Philosophy

Westphal on Onto-theology

Merold Westphal offers this helpful definition of “onto-theology” in an article found here : “The term is often used by assistant professors who have appointed themselves campus terrorists and, alas, by senior scholars who should be more careful, as a kind of sci-fi conceptual zapper. You aim it at any…

February 19, 2005

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