Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
In a February blog post for the Theopolis Institute, Benoît Engel offers a thought-provoking challenge to the widely accepted five-discourse structure of Matthew’s Gospel, proposing a sixth discourse in Matthew 21:28–22:14 to reframe the Gospel’s chiastic center. As someone deeply invested in Matthew’s literary design—explored in my book Reading Matthew,…
Avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law, for they are unprofitable and useless. Titus 3:9 Out of a deep love and care for the church, Paul tells Titus and those in the church to avoid four specific things: foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law.…
Theopolis publishes many polemics, especially on the Sacraments. This piece does not necessarily reflect the views of Theopolis, her board, or her editors. -JW Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days.He shall cleanse himself with the water on the third day and on the…
There is in the United States and the Western World some sort of religious revival occurring. Gen Z men—males born between ca 1997 and 2012—are flooding back in to churches. USA Today noted that Gen Z men—and to a lesser degree women—attending churches more than their millennial predecessors and they…
The primary task of many Biblical scholars (as they see it) is to explain how and why the Biblical text acquired its final form—i.e., what source material it used, how that material was expanded/redacted, who expanded/redacted it, why they did so, what the weather was like at the time, etc.…
Galatians 5:5-15 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion is not from…
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Knight again: “In reply to Sanders’s claim that Lutheran talk of representation and substitution is alien to Israelite sacrifice, I suggest that we should see Old Testament talk of atonement of place as a solution, not a problem. If we make a hard distinction between individuals and persons defined by…
Douglas Knight’s The Eschatological Economy is one of the most stimulating works of theology in recent years. It is also one of the densest. The density doesn’t come from difficult prose or lack of clarity, but from the sheer profusion of insights and ideas, and from Knight’s determination to leave…
INTRODUCTION A delegation of Pharisees and scribes comes from Jerusalem to interrogate Jesus about His conformity to tradition. Jesus turns the tables and interrogates them about their conformity to God’s commandments. THE TEXT “Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, ‘ Why do Your…
Another lectionary meditation at the Christian Century : http://www.theolog.org/blog/2008/06/blogging-towa-3.html.
Jesus is worshiped three times in Matthew, at the beginning, middle and end. At the beginning by the wise men, in the middle by the disciples after Jesus has entered the boat and calmed the storm (14:33), and at the end after His resurrection (28:9) and before He commissions the…
In the background of the story of John’s martyrdom is the story of Jacob and Esau. Because Jacob took the birthright from his brother, Esau sought to kill him, and Jacob had to flee. Herod is an Edomite, an Idumean, descended from Esau, but he is in a sense a…
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