Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God…
With the surprising discovery of the Nelda Boswell scroll historians have deciphered its contents and concluded that the apostle Paul returned to the region of Galatia shortly after he wrote the letter that we call Galatians. The evidence suggests that a number of local pastors, elders, and deacons, along with…
Second Temple Judaism was a form of covenantal nomism, according to E. P. Sanders’ terminology. This means that Torah-observance was a way of expressing loyalty to the Lord of the covenant who had graciously elected Israel. I think Sanders’ view (taken up in bits and pieces and with some modifications…
We often hear that the key to Christian obedience is thankfulness for what God has done. But the Bible stresses faith and hope much more than gratitude. The Baptist pastor and author John Piper has written, “Nowhere in the Bible is gratitude connected explicitly with obedience as a motivation. We…
One of the questions that is commonly asked about Tom Wright regards his teaching about how Paul uses the term “the righteousness of God.” Since Wright’s interpretation of the term in Paul’s epistles is commonly mentioned in passing but rarely analyzed, it seems like a good idea to explicitly spell…
If God promised a certain land to the seed of Abraham, saying that it would be theirs “forever” (Gen. 13:15), why do Reformed churches teach that the Jews permanently lost their right to the land? What about all these Old Testament “forever” promises and prophesies made to the Jews? How…
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In 325, Constantine wrote a letter announcing the deposition of Eusebius of Nicomedia. As Timothy Barnes points out, it exemplifies the “pattern of respect tempered with frustration” that characterized Constantine’s relations with the bishops. One passage is reminiscent of Paul’s rebuke of the Galatians: “it was truly worthy of wonder…
2 Chronicles 3:1: Solomon began to build the house of Yahweh in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. Naomi gives Ruth specific instructions for her approach to Boaz:…
Ruth 3 begins and ends with “rest.” Naomi seeks “rest” for Ruth (v. 1), and after Ruth meets Boaz on the threshing floor, Naomi assures her daughter-in-law and Boaz will not “rest” until he has finished the task. That’s his job as a redeemer: To bring rest. Redeemers buy brothers…
Fenn quotes Daniel Bell’s complaints that liturgies “drain” energies that should belong to useful institutions like political parties and comments “On this view, the genuine public sphere is outside the church, which becomes the sphere of private self-absorption and self-celebration.” By contrast, “to the believer, it is the liturgy that…
Fenn again: Liturgy is the public work of the people and thus “to be a person . . . meant [for the Greeks] precisely to have a role in the public work of the community.” Thus, “to take part in the Christian liturgy is to take on one’s role in…
Richard Fenn writes, “In secularized Western societies . . . many individuals are caught in a double-bind. On the one hand, they take seriously the role of the credible witness, and seek, on grounds of their own testimony, to be taken seriously, whether they are reporting what they saw on…
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