Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Introduction Isaiah 21 can only be understood in the light of its placement in the architecture of the second “volume” of the prophecy (chapters 13–27). The contents are arranged in twin sevenfold “columns” that represent the great bronze pillars of Solomon’s Temple: Jachin and Boaz, priest and king. The priestly…
A Biblical Reflection on the Purpose of the Constellations The starry heavens hold a place of wonder in the hearts of men. Since man’s creation we have looked up into the heavens and have beheld its glory. This is particularly true of the night sky. The stars, in their shinning…
The case for there being five discourses within the Gospel according to Matthew is a hard one to challenge: surely the closing formula “when Jesus finished these sayings” as found in 8:1, 11:1, 13:53, 19:1, and 26:1 settles it once and for all. And by the five instances of the…
The Long Commission The Great Commission of Matthew 28 has long been a cornerstone of American Evangelicalism. It has formed and fashioned the American church’s missional impulse. Yet when viewed from the wide lens of Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, the Great Commission is revealed as one of the pillars…
I am delighted to see that more and more churches in the Reformed tradition are now recognizing that all baptized children are members of the body of Christ and therefore ought to be communing with the rest of the body at the Lord’s Table. This has been decades in the…
Good leaders have always been rare. In today’s world, they seem extinct. Joe Rigney’s recent book Leadership and Emotional Sabotage digs into the spiritual reasons for the leadership epidemic and recommends cures. Rigney starts with a summary of a book by Edwin Friedman called A Failure of Nerve . Friedman’s…
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Matthew 15:27: She said, Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. We don’t belong at this table. I’m not referring here to the fact that we are all sinners who aren’t worthy to be considered our Lord’s table companions. That’s true,…
Matthew 15:22: A Canaanite woman came out from that region, and began to cry out, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed. What is baptism? What is it for? Why do we baptize infants? There are many answers to that, and throughout…
In Matthew 15:29-31, Jesus moves back from the region of Tyre and Sidon to the sea of Galilee. He goes on a mountain and sits down. He has been on mountains a number of times already to do various things. Most recently, he ascended to a mountain to pray as…
PROVERBS 22:8 Solomon uses agricultural imagery to describe realities of life. Like Paul and Jesus, he says that we reap as we sow. Our actions are always a kind of planting. We are always sowing seed that will come to fruition later on. If we sow righteousness, we will reap…
The iconodules staked their argument on the incarnation, but Besancon notices that after the iconoclast controversy, figures in icons became less carnal rather than more: “In the few primitive icons, which come for the most part from Egypt . . . , Christ or the saints have stocky, thick-set, vigorous,…
In his history of iconoclasm ( The Forbidden Image ), Alain Besancon describes some of the artistic features of Russian iconography: “Nature is stylized in such a way that trees, rocks, and houses defy gravity. The buildings are not represented within a unified space: each floats in its own perspective.…
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