Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Although the events are, of course, not perfectly parallel, Luke in his gospel intends us to connect Jesus’ birth from the womb and His re-birth from the tomb. Luke 1:27 introduces us to Joseph and in verse 30 we learn that his betrothed wife was named Mary. An angel appeared…
The apostle Matthew is also known as Levi son of Alphaeus. While not much is said about this man, the few things that are told us are significant. Matthew in Greek is Matthaios and comes from the Hebrew name Mattithiah, or Mattith-Yah, "Gift of Yah(weh)." Matthew’s other name is Levi,…
Theologians often speak of "special" and "general" revelation, or of "natural" and "supernatural" revelation, or of "word" and "deed" revelation. While there are many worthwhile insights in these discussions, particularly in the discussions in Cornelius Van Til’s Introduction to Systematic Theology , I have not found any that satisfied my…
Ezekiel’s 430 Years In Ezekiel 4, the prophet is told to begin his ministry by setting up a model of Jerusalem and lying on his side and prophesying against it. He is to do this for 430 days, a day for a year. 390 days are against "Israel," and 40…
The Feast of Ingathering in the seventh month of the Sinaitic calendar is also called the Feast of Sukkoth, of Booths, also called Feast of Tabernacles. I have usually called it by that last phrase, and it is the most common today; but there is a problem: A tabernacle is…
The End of Jehoiakim’s Reign We have seen that Jehoiakim rejected Jeremiah’s prophetic warnings at the beginning of his reign. Let us now make a year-by-year survey of his reign down to its end. In the spring of 605 BC, Nebuchadnezzar defeated the Egyptians at Carchemish. In the summer, he…
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Eusebius of Nicomedia, ally of Arius, denied that we can infer anything about God from what has been created.  On one hand “there is God” while on the other “things created by free will.”  The Word is also a creature of the free will of God.  This free will is…
Love is “as strong as the grave” and ardor “as hard as Sheol.”  Both descriptions are arresting because they attribute a kind of violence to love. “Strong” describes the driving wind of the exodus (Exodus 14:21), the raging waters of the sea that swallowed up Pharaoh (Nehemiah 9:11).  It describes…
“Put me like a seal on your heart, like a seal on your arm,” says the Bride in the Song of Songs (8:6). Seals mark something with the name of the owner.  A letter is sealed as proof of its author (1 Kings 21:8).  The high priest’s golden plate is…
Nature and grace has been a key theological problem at least since the middle ages.  But the distinction is often misplaced.  As used in Athanasius, for example, the terms refer not to two different realms within the creation, or two different sorts of capacities of human nature. Rather, nature and…
Late medieval theologians were divided, we’re told, between intellectualists and voluntarists.  The first took God’s intellect to be “prior” to His will, and believed His will conforms to His reason.  The latter put the will in the place of “priority” and said that God’s intellect is as it is because…
Dionysus said that creation is the overflow of the superabundant love of God.  That’s true: Many waters cannot quench Yahweh’s fiery love.  That love is the flame of the Spirit, the uncreated Flash that flickers over the formless earth and is not put out but instead moves water here and…
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