Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
This was a newspaper column that I wrote for the Minco Millennium back in January of 2000 when I had first moved to Minco, Oklahoma to pastor First Reformed Presbyterian Church. I wasn’t able to catch the recent performance of the musical, Godspell , in Oklahoma City. However, my dad…
Awhile back, there was a big debate among Evangelicals as to whether one had to trust Jesus “as Lord” as well as “as savior. Some claimed that one could be saved by Jesus through a faith that did not involve submission to him as Lord. Others claimed that one must…
I originally wrote this a few weeks ago in April 2002 as a column in the local newspaper, The Minco Millennium under the title “Faith & Follow-Through.” Several passages in the book of Hebrews are difficult for Protestants to swallow. The author affirms the once-and-for-all work of Christ and yet…
N. T. Wright’s commentary on Romans is destined to be a classic. The introduction alone is worth the hefty price of the book — but the exegesis itself is, well, priceless. I will not attempt a full review — these are just miscellaneous thoughts and random reflections — but I…
At an inn in the town of Lystra three men sat around a corner table. All three were well-known disciples of Joshua Messiah, members of what the town called a new cult, the Way. The short gray-haired man with the enormous beard was clearly restless. “This is taking too long,”…
Recently there has been some surprising debate in some circles over where Paul summarizes his Gospel. I say “surprising” because many Evangelical Bible scholars have held, for quite some time, that Paul’s Gospel is encapsulated in Romans chapter 1, verse 3 and 4. Here is the passage in context: Paul,…
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INTRODUCTION Jesus’ ministry is linked to John’s. When John is arrested, Jesus moves to Galilee and settles in Capernaum (4:12-13), and later John’s death leads to another withdrawal (14:13). Jesus removes Himself from harm’s way so that the kingdom of God can get its first foothold in Galilee. THE TEXT…
According to American literary critic Harry Levin, the modern novel is born from a war against artifice. The problem is, How is a novelist to create an appearance of life-like realism? The answer, from Cervantes on, is to reject “that air of bookishness in which any book is inevitably wrapped.”…
A reader, John Halton, writes in response to my comments on Tintin in the Congo : “I think the reason why Tintin in the Congo has ‘suddenly become controversial’ is fairly simple: a new paperback edition of the book has just been released in the UK. “As long as I…
Published in 1931, Tintin in the Congo has suddenly become controversial. The British Commission for Racial Equality urges that this volume of “racist claptrap” be removed from bookshops everywhere; “It beggars belief in this day and age that any shop would think it acceptable to sell and display Tintin in…
Matthew 4:2: After Jesus had fasted forty days and forty night, He afterward became hungry. Jesus goes into the wilderness as the Last Adam and as the true Israelite. And like Adam and Israel, He is tested regarding food. He finds Himself surrounded by the stones of the desert, and…
Much of the following depends on Austin Farrer’s discussion in The Triple Victory . Why was Jesus tempted in the particular ways He was tempted? The best answer to that question is typological. Jesus is the true Israel, and He is faced with the same series of temptations that Israel…
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