Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Rounding Out the Traditional Doctrine of Justification Justification and the Church The traditional Protestant doctrine of justification fails to fully hold together the soteriological (forgiveness of sins) and the ecclesiological (covenant membership). This is part of a larger problem, of course, namely, the dichotomizing of church and salvation. Biblically and…
John Piper’s book, Counted Righteous in Christ: Should We Abandon the Imputation of Christ’s Righteousness (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2002) is, from any perspective, a passionate work. Nevertheless, I find I need to disagree with parts of it. The reason I do this is not because John Piper’s book does…
What follows is a handout for a Sunday School class I have taught recently at my church . Presbyterian doctrine teaches what the Bible says about God sovereign control over history and his unconditional choice (election) to bring some people to everlasting glory while allowing others to remain in unbelief…
“Covenantal Nomism” sounds like a description of tiny contract-loving creatures who live underground. But it is actually a recent term used to describe the pattern of religious belief and practice in first-century Palestinian Judaism. The idea is that God graciously establishes a structured relationship based on promises, a “covenant,” with…
What follows deals primarily with two essays, one by Dr. Douglas Kelly and the other by The Rev. Richard Phillips . My reason for writing this essay is that many people are confidently saying things about N. T. Wright that I believe are contrary to fact. I choose Dr. Kelly…
The Bible is often treated as a book of rules with directions for living. To some extent, that is true; but it is neither the whole truth nor the most important truth about the book. Ultimately, the Bible is a story about God and man and their reconciliation in Christ.…
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In her God Needs No Passport (89-90), Peggy Levitt reviews some of the recent discussions of cosmopolitanism - from luminaries like Kwame Anthony Appiah, Martha Nussbaum, Amartya Sen. Levitt discovers one notable absence in all of them: Religion plays almost no role. And that absence is due, she argues, to…
In his 1908 treatise on Passing Protestantism and Coming Catholicism , Newman Smyth posed what he considered the decisive question about Protestantism: “to what extent are the Protestant churches losing control of the forces of life? . . . Is it mastering the controlling forces of life?” (13). His answer…
A strong angel takes up a millstone and tosses it into the sea. Just so, he says, Babylon will be thrown down violently and will never be found (Revelation 18:21). How is a millstone like a city? For starters, a millstone is a piece of earth, a rock that is…
Theology students learn everything except the Bible. They learn historical theology and church history, systematics and dogmatics; they master the linguistic and interpretive tools to study the Bible for themselves. Actual study of the Bible is often minimal. Theopolis Bible courses focus on the Scriptures themselves. Under the guidance of…
In a hundred years it may be more important that you are from New York, Shanghai, New Delhi, Johannesburg, or Amsterdam, than that you are from the United States, China, India, South Africa, or Holland. The city is becoming central in new and unique ways. The great institutions of the…
I'm taking a break from the blog for a couple of weeks. Back in mid-July.
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