Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Rounding Out the Traditional Doctrine of Justification Justification and the Church The traditional Protestant doctrine of justification fails to fully hold together the soteriological (forgiveness of sins) and the ecclesiological (covenant membership). This is part of a larger problem, of course, namely, the dichotomizing of church and salvation. Biblically and…
John Piper’s book, Counted Righteous in Christ: Should We Abandon the Imputation of Christ’s Righteousness (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2002) is, from any perspective, a passionate work. Nevertheless, I find I need to disagree with parts of it. The reason I do this is not because John Piper’s book does…
What follows is a handout for a Sunday School class I have taught recently at my church . Presbyterian doctrine teaches what the Bible says about God sovereign control over history and his unconditional choice (election) to bring some people to everlasting glory while allowing others to remain in unbelief…
“Covenantal Nomism” sounds like a description of tiny contract-loving creatures who live underground. But it is actually a recent term used to describe the pattern of religious belief and practice in first-century Palestinian Judaism. The idea is that God graciously establishes a structured relationship based on promises, a “covenant,” with…
What follows deals primarily with two essays, one by Dr. Douglas Kelly and the other by The Rev. Richard Phillips . My reason for writing this essay is that many people are confidently saying things about N. T. Wright that I believe are contrary to fact. I choose Dr. Kelly…
The Bible is often treated as a book of rules with directions for living. To some extent, that is true; but it is neither the whole truth nor the most important truth about the book. Ultimately, the Bible is a story about God and man and their reconciliation in Christ.…
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I published this review in 2017 when my blog was housed at Patheos. It's been buried on the Theopolis site, and it seemed a good time to exhume it. I made some additions and edits. R ichard Rothstein's Color of Law demonstrates that “until the last quarter of the twentieth…
I wrote the following essay in 2013, just after the Supreme Court's decision in Windsor. With the GOP capitulating (as I predicted ) on gay marriage, it's worth running again . Sudden as it seems to some, the Supreme Court’s endorsement of gay marriage in Windsor was a long time…
According to a common narrative, the Frankfurt School of critical theory, which flourished in the first half of the 20 th century, is the source of today’s cultural Marxism. Having failed to win over the proletariat, the story goes, the revisionary Marxists of Frankfurt – Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Walter…
The first twelve chapters of Isaiah form a chiasm: A. Lord’s opposition to Judah, 1:1-31 B. High things cut; Jerusalem restored, 2:1-4:6 C. Parable of Vineyard and woes, 5:1-30 D. Isaiah and Ahaz, 6:1-9:7 C’. “Hand stretched out”; woe, 9:8-10:4 B’. Woe to Assyrian axe, 10:5-32 A’. Restoration of Judah,…
1. “Shepherds” are royal , not priestly figures (Psalm 80:1). Moses, Joshua, and David are called shepherds, but not Aaron (Exodus 32:34 with Psalm 23:3; Numbers 27:17; Psalm 78:71-72; cf. Psalm 77:20). The Good Shepherd’s rod is iron (Revelation 2:27; 12:5; 19:15; cf. Psalm 2:7-9). 2. “Pastor” = “shepherd.” In…
Perry Marshall’s Evolution 2.0 is a devastating critique of Evolution 1.0, the neo-Darwinian theory Marshall summarizes in the equation, “Random mutation + natural selection + time = Evolution.” His critique focuses primarily on the “random mutation” factor. Scientists have experimented on fruit flies for decades. By causing mutations through radiation,…
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