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1 John

A Proposal to Read 1 John Considering Genesis 1-6 | Part 2

Part 2: Parallels Between Genesis 3, 1 John, and Revelation 2 Following part 1 that delineated the connectivity between 1 John 1-4 and Genesis 1-5, more evidence for the parallel between Genesis 3 and 1 John is found in the book’s parallel to the message to Ephesus in Revelation 2.…

by Matthew TibudanOctober 6, 2022
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1 John

A Proposal to Read 1 John Considering Genesis 1-6

Part 1: Proposal to Read 1 John Considering Genesis 1-6 Introduction Many authors have recognized that the prologue of 1 John is related to the same author's Gospel and to the first line of Genesis. However, commentators have not noticed that John alludes to the themes in Genesis 1-6. The…

by Matthew TibudanOctober 4, 2022
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Colossians

Children in the Lord: Colossians 3:20

I should begin by declaring my bias: I believe that the book of Colossians was written by the apostle Paul around AD 60, during the Roman imprisonment recorded in Acts 28. Douglas Moo offers a detailed defense of Pauline authorship, including dating the book in AD 60 during Paul’s Roman…

by Ralph Allan SmithSeptember 27, 2022
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Pastoral Ministry

Don’t Feed the Play-Preachers

There’s a rule of on-line life: don’t feed the trolls. There’s a kind of person on social media who is desperate for attention and so provokes arguments just so he can be at the center of the fray. He’s called a “troll.” The common advice: don’t feed the trolls. Don’t…

by John CarpenterSeptember 20, 2022
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Ephesians

How We Get Ephesians 2 Wrong | Part Two: Evangelism & Conversion

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—-among whom we all once lived in the passions of…

by Mark HorneSeptember 13, 2022
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Culture

The Death of the Queen and a Christian Understanding of Sovereignty

On Thursday, September 8 th 2022, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II died. She was our longest-reigning monarch; the magnitude of her presence in the United Kingdom’s life defies most superlatives. The first of her fifteen British prime ministers was Winston Churchill; she appointed her final one, Liz Truss—who was born…

by Alastair RobertsSeptember 12, 2022

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Semper reformanda

In his contribution to Denominationalism , Winthrop Hudson suggests that one of the principles of English Independent ecclesiology was the refusal to “make our present judgment and practice a binding law unto ourselves for the future” (25). It's a stance based on a recognition of fallibility and proneness to sin.…

June 10, 2015

Where there's fire...?

The Greek kapnos (“smoke”) appears twelve times in Revelation. Hold that number, because it might be significant. The twelve uses are grouped into six scenes, alternating between smoke having to do with the worship and glory of God and smoke from hell or hell's allies: A. Smoke of incense, 8:4…

June 9, 2015

On Subjects and Objects

“I believe in subjects and objects,” writes David Martin at the outset of his Future of Christianity (4). He illustrates with a sociological example: He believes in “religious visions of the world to come and the objective status of the dynamics of social and political action.” Martin intends to resist…

June 9, 2015

Notes Toward a Johannine Theory of Labor

Jesus tells His disciples that they are being sent into a field to harvest where they had not sown or labored. “One sows, and another reaps” (John 4:35-38). It's a principle of ministry: Ministry starts in the middle. Even in a fresh mission field, the missionary doesn't enter a place…

June 9, 2015

Sources of Schism

In a study of American Protestant schisms between 1890 and 1990, John Sutten and Mark Chaves claim that churches don't divide for purely doctrinal reasons, but rather “in response to attempts by denominational elites to achieve organizational consolidation” (171). The 1848 schism within the Plymouth Brethren, for instance, was about…

June 9, 2015

Owen and Mather on Union

In an essay on “Rules of Walking in Fellowship,” John Owen claimed that “Union is the main aim and most proper fruit of love ; neither is there any thing or duty of the saints in the gospel pressed with more earnestness and vehemency of exhortation than this.” For Owen,…

June 8, 2015

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