Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Having spent time in a number of different kinds of churches/denominations over the years, it has been my observation that in every group there are those with a healthy catholic attitude toward other Christians and also those with a proud and condescending attitude toward others who call themselves Christians. If…
The BHrethren might be interested in this post I wrote on my personal blog which disagrees with John Gerstner’s understanding on the Church . Amid all the discussion of eschatology and hypercalvinism and how the visible church may properly be called the body of Christ, I completely overlooked how Gerstner’s…
How does one become a true judge? There are two trees in the Garden. One must first eat of the Tree of Life, which is purely a tree of grace, a gift. This is a tree that one has done nothing to deserve, and one must eat perhaps for a…
I just put up that first essay (#29 in a series) because I’d made some math goofs in the version mailed out, and I thought some other people would be interested. If this kind of study does not interest you, that’s fine. The Kingdom is a big place. Also, as…
. . . and the whole thing gets muddled. The words we traditionally use to translate Hebrew terms in the “sacrificial” system are confusing and often convey the wrong ideas. If we are going to understand Leviticus and the old world system of sacrifices and offerings, the first thing we…
I’ll start things off here. This year I’m preaching through the Gospel according to St. Luke. Over the past ten years I’ve preached through the Gospel according to St. Mark, St. John, and St. Matthew (in that order) in our morning services at Providence. It’s been eye-opening for me; and…
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Barth offers these wise words about the purpose of dogmatics (which consists, for Barth, of the correction, clarification, and criticism of church proclamation by measuring proclamation against the Word of God in the Bible): “Repetitive exposition according to the intentions of the theologians named will, of course, be indispensable for…
And it was according to the finishing of Shlomoh to build the house of Yahweh And the house of the king And all the desire of Shlomoh which he took pleasure to do. And appeared Yahweh to Shlomoh a second time According as he appeared to him in Gibeon. And…
Ask any church planter, and he’ll tell you that one of the dangers of starting a new work is that it tends to attract all the people who are disaffected and discontented from the churches of the surrounding area. They have made an utter nuisance of themselves in their own…
As noted in my sermon outline earlier this week, there is an intriguing reversal going on with Solomon and Pharaoh in 1 Kings 9. Solomon does not wipe out the Canaanites (v. 20-21), but Pharaoh does (v. 16). On the other hand, Solomon is acting like a Pharaoh, not only…
Yahweh’s “Name” must be His personal presence. He “consecrates” the temple by setting His name in the house (1 Ki 9:3, 7), and consecration is accomplished by the presence of Yahweh, particularly the presence of His glory (Ex 29:43). Name and glory must be coordinate if not identical realities. The…
Though resting a theological case on a linguistic “accident” would be a mistake, it is intriguing that the Hebrew word for “convert” is the same as the Hebrew word for “go apostate.” The word in both cases is SHUB, “turn,” which means “turn away” or “turn toward” or “turn back”…
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