Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
In our first essay in this series ( part 1 ), we saw that Proverbs 30 opens with a puzzle, a cryptic sentence that challenges the reader to search out a matter in order to gain understanding. "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory…
The story of Hezekiah’s illness and recovery is familiar to every child who has attended Sunday School. Informed that he would die, faithful King Hezekiah pleaded in tears for a longer life. God heard his prayers and saw his tears, and promised fifteen more years. As a sign that He…
1. The Blessed Hope "Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus." Titus 2:13 I was recently asked how I as a postmillennialist would preach on "The Blessed Hope." This is often a sticky question, because postmillennialists believe that…
1. Jeroboam and Ahab After Solomon died, the people came to his son, King Rehoboam, and asked for tax relief. Rehoboam refused to give it, and indeed told the people that he was going to tax them even more severely than his father had. At that point, with the blessing…
One aspect of truth is unity. It was Truth Incarnate who prayed for the unity of His people in John 17, which certainly makes unity a priority for them as well. In one sense, we know by faith that the Church is always invisibly unified in Christ, but there is…
Mr. Paul Miller of Vancouver writes that he is not persuaded by my remarks on Luke 4 on " The Son of Joseph ." He calls attention to Mark 6:1-6, where Jesus came "to His own part of the country," taught in the synagogue, and astonished many. The people said,…
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Paul’s discussion of Adam and Christ (Romans 5) is chiastically arranged: A. Sin enters the world and death through sin, vv 12 B. Sin before Law, but sin not imputed where there is no law, v 13 C. Transgression of Adam v free gift vv 14-16 D. Death reigned/reign in…
Romans 4 has been a central text in historic debates about justification. Naturally so, since here Abraham is presented as the model believer, who is reckoned righteous because he believes God’s promises. That’s accurate. Despite some denials from New Perspective commentators, Romans 4 does speak of Abraham as a model…
In a brief discussion of Genesis 1 in his Reading Genesis Well , C. John Collins summarizes the "illocution or rhetorical force" of the passage. What's the author trying to persuade his readers about? The narrative, he says, "shapes for Israel their vision of the good human life, as participating…
Alessandra Bocchi writes about the fate of Hong Kong's Christians at FirstThings.com . The freedom struggle there is about Hong Kong's independence. It's also a struggle for the freedom of the churches. Bocchi writes that "Hong Kong citizens fear that this extradition bill would give the Chinese government power to…
In Romans 3:21-22, Paul writes, "But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe." Paul has already mentioned the righteousness of God. It's…
David French writes that the civil rights movement should give beleaguered Evangelicals hope in the current cultural malaise. He's partly right, partly wrong. He's right that white Christians have much to learn from the history of African American Christianity. Once Protestants formed the American elite. Nowadays, though theologically conservative Protestants…
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