Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
If utopia is a perfect place or at least the best possible social arrangement, it must be a very dull place where any change is a change for worse and not for better, where nothing can be new and good at the same time. There can be no conflict in…
Christians, even those who say much about ‘incarnational’ faith, can say surprisingly little about the way that God claims our bodies . Perhaps this is most striking in treatments of baptism, where the intensely bodily character of the rite would especially seem to invite comment. Even if the term ‘baptism’…
Dear Pastor, I believe the locus of the difference between us is your statement here: "There are mothers who choose to risk their lives and even die to preserve the fetus, there are those who wouldn't. There are the circumstances of the individual, family, income, community, illness, risk factors, etc..…
New Year’s resolutions for weight loss are practically on the liturgical calendar of America. Somewhere around the beginning of a new year, people resolve that they will get in better shape. Some are made to feel guilty by the obesity police in our country (whose standards are, many times, very…
Click HERE for Part 1 After sending my letter to the local pastors, I received a long and thoughtful post from one of the local pastors, and it was sent not just to me, but to all of the pastors whom I e-mailed. Unfortunately, I do not feel I can…
Narrative and story have been all the rage in theology for the last few decades. The attractions are obvious. Narrative theologians favor the active, unpredictable, vibrant God of Scripture to the impersonal first principle of philosophical theology. Narrative theologians reject the notion that theologians need to justify their work by…
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Has God rejected Israel? Has Israel stumbled so as to fall? Not at all, Paul says (Roman 11:1, 11). On the contrary, He has preserved a remnant from Israel, as He did during the days of Ahab. Even Israel’s stumbling is directed toward her ultimate restoration, as the Lord’s welcome…
Andrew Wilson is teaching pastor at King’s Church in London, part of the Newfrontiers network. He co-authored Echoes of Exodus with Alastair Roberts, and recently published Spirit and Sacrament , a proposal for “eucharismatic” worship and church life. Wilson’s proposal is two-sided: He wants to deepen Evangelical worship, and to…
Paul introduces the notion of “jealousy” at the end of Romans 10. He has been discussing how Israel stumbles in their pursuit of God’s justice because they pursue it by works. Gentiles attain that justice because they trusted in the faithful One, Jesus. Israel hears, but doesn’t heed. And so…
Matthew Bates argued in Salvation by Allegiance Alone (2017) that “faith” (Greek pistis ) doesn’t merely mean “belief” or even “trust.” It includes those, but connotes loyalty and allegiance. We’re saved by staying loyal to Jesus. In September, Bates published a follow-up, Gospel Allegiance , where he explains in more…
Salvation is of the Jews. For Paul, this doesn’t simply mean Yahweh preserved Israel so the Jewish Messiah might be the Savior of the world. Salvation is of the Jews because the people of Israel is the object of salvation and, redeemed, God’s instrument for saving Gentiles. In short, Jesus…
Paul’s argument in Romans 9 begins from a fact: Israel didn’t receive the Messiah. That fact provokes an anguished question, Is there a scriptural way to make sense of that reality? How can God save through Israel when Israel fails in her mission? Paul begins his answer by noting a…
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