Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The 2002 Auburn Avenue Pastor’s Conference and the Assurance of Grace Recently, there has been some controversy over the presentations of four speakers at the Auburn Avenue Pastor’s Conference. Accusations have been made including a denial of justification by faith alone and something close enough to “baptismal regeneration” that it…
Today, many in the Reformed world view a meritorious covenant of works as essential to a proper understanding of the gospel. These theologians believe that God set up a program in the Garden by which Adam would merit eternal life and blessing by his obedience. These same theologians usually regard…
After I graduated from college in 1989, I spent a summer in the Atlanta area in Georgia learning that I was not cut out for construction work. Then I met George Grant, one of my favorite authors. He was working for a church in South Florida in charge of their…
One meaning of “righteousness” in the Bible is moral uprightness. Perhaps a more basic meaning would be faithfulness. For example, Psalm 96.13 praises God, saying: He will judge the world in righteousness, And the peoples in faithfulness. In Hebrew poetry two lines often say the same thing using different words.…
I once saw “eschatology” defined as the study of edible French snails. But it really means the doctrine of the last things in Christian theology. In American Evangelical culture it is usually reduced to science fiction stories. But for the Apostle Paul it was actually the key to the Christian…
To understand the view of Nicholas Thomas Wright regarding Christ’s work of redemption, one must begin with the centrality of Adam to the plight of the human race. Anyone who has heard Wright’s lectures on Philippians will not be able to forget his haunting appeal to Genesis 5.3 as a…
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When we argue with Arians, our main focus is on the deity of the Son. Arians and their modern heirs reject the Nicene Creed, which was written in response to Arianism, and which claimed that the Son was “God from God, Light from Light, Very God from Very God.” Such…
The tabernacle menorah is made of pure gold, hammered, apparently one piece with base, shaft, and the adornments of the shaft (Exodus 25:31). It’s one of two pure gold items in the tent, the other being the cover of the ark of the covenant, with its cherubim (Exodus 25:17-18). All…
"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” we say at funerals. Why? Dust makes sense. Human beings are dust animated by the breath of God (Gen. 2:7). Since Adam’s fall, we return to the ground: “you will return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; dust you are,…
The instructions for the table of showbread (Exodus 25:23-30) occur in the "third day" section of Exodus 25-30. On "Day 1," Yahweh assembles the materials for building the tabernacle (Exodus 25:1-9). On "Day 2," he prescribes the pattern for the ark of the covenant, a "firmament" that separates and joins…
The ark of the covenant consists of two detachable parts. The lower portion is an acacia wood box, a rectangular chest 2.5 cubits by 1.5 cubits by 1.5 cubits (Exodus 25:10). The wood is overlaid, inside and out, with pure gold (Exodus 25:11). The other part is a pure gold…
Yahweh's initial instruction for the construction of the tabernacle is "take for me a contribution ( terumah ) . . . take a contribution" (Exodus 25:2). Derived from the verb rum , "lift up," terumah has often been translated as "heave offering," which implies that the offering is lifted toward…
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