Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Misunderstanding “Galatianism” has caused several problems in the Reformed church. Because circumcision is at issue in the Galatian epistle, some have fallen into thinking that ritual per se, rather than anything uniquely Mosaic or Jewish, is the object of Paul’s critique. Likewise, his polemic against “works of the law” is…
Many texts in the NT become more perspicuous if we keep in mind the possibility — and indeed ubiquity — of Gentile God-fearers in the Old Covenant. After the special covenant with Israel is set up, Gentiles are not altogether excluded from the hope of salvation. Israel’s special status in…
I was once trying to get a sermon out of Ephesians 1.12-14 and it seemed obvious that I should look for two parallel statements both ending with the phrase, “to the praise of his glory.” Paul here begins talking about two groups of people (“you” and “we”), and he later…
WHY A DENOMINATION WITH SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN ROOTS SHOULD CAREFULLY CONSIDER THE “NEW PERSPECTIVE ON PAUL” In my denomination, the PCA, we are continually haunted by the sins of our racist Southern past. It has become an annual rite at General Assembly for the issue to be addressed one way or…
Recent debates over whether or not, “justification is central” to Paul’s theology have reminded me of a sermon I once heard by a Presbyterian seminary student. This African American student challenged his audience on the sin of racism and the ways it might manifest itself among us. Like any good…
In Charles Hodge’s 1853 article, “Idea of the Church,” his stated aim is to analyze the idea of the Church proposed in the Apostles’ Creed, in which, “the Church is declared to be “the Communion of the Saints.” He writes: The conception of the Church as the communion of saints…
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Auden distinguished Christian and pagan tragedy: “Greek tragedy is the tragedy of necessity, i.e., the felling aroused in the spectators is ‘What a pity it had to be this way’: Christian tragedy is the tragedy of possibility, ‘What a pity it was this way when it might have been otherwise.’”
Critics of John’s gospel commonly claim that it is closer to something from the Orphic mysteries than from Judaism. One wonders if these critics have ever read the gospel, which mentions the Jews over sixty times, shows Jesus attending all manner of Jewish feasts, focuses its attention on the conflicts…
Rosenstock-Huessy does not especially like Calvin’s doctrine of double predestination, but at the same time he argues that the doctrine preserves necessary within Calvin’s theology. (This from an essay entitled “Generations of Faith,” in Volume 1 of his Collected Papers.) His discussion begins with the claim that “our school children…
INTRODUCTION This week, we start a brief topical series on the family. This being Lent, we want to look at family life from the perspective of the cross. THE TEXT “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also…
INTRODUCTION This week, we start a brief topical series on the family. This being Lent, we want to look at family life from the perspective of the cross. THE TEXT “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also…
3 John 5-6: Beloved, you are acting faithfully in whatever you accomplish for the brethren, and especially when they are strangers; and they bear witness to your love before the church; and you will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. The conflict…
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