Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Christians get sex wrong when we start from the wrong end. We start from human desires, passions, biological drives and “needs.” These are treated as givens, as the base-line natural reality of human sexuality. Then we come to the Bible and find, to our surprise, that God places all kinds…
Why isn't Proverbs better known as the Bible's book on "manliness"? I use quotation marks because the term almost seems archaic in our present culture, along with "manhood." Perhaps the Church is too embarrassed to admit the Bible addresses that much attention to the topic. But another reason can be…
In certain evangelical Christian churches it is the tradition to exalt preaching above the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Ever since the rise of Revivalist preachers pushing for conversions, the practice has cast doubt upon the possibility of Baptism or the Lord’s Supper being a “means of grace”…
Perhaps one of the most stimulating sections of Yoram Hazony’s The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture addresses the question of how we are to discern the meaning of biblical narratives, especially how biblical narratives might present arguments of a more general nature. Hazony quotes John Barton’s remarks about the difficulty of…
In this slender volume, Joseph Minich (Ph.D. student at the University of Dallas) attempts to answer some of the deepest questions of human existence. With his honesty, his probing questioning, his wide reading, and his ability to plunge beneath superficial answers, he provides a helpful source of reflection for fellow…
A Closer Look at Noah’s Post-Flood Humiliation In Genesis 9:20-27 My wife is currently leading a Bible study through Genesis for a group of insatiable Bible students. Because she is a deep thinker and has a high view of inspiration, there is no passage she is unwilling to face head…
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Treatments of Romans 7:7-25 are commonly massive exercises in missing the point. Readers pose questions that the text isn’t intended to answer, in particular: “Is the ‘I’ regenerate or unregenerate?” The passage isn’t about that. It’s about the law, and has two main aims: First, to vindicate Torah (vv. 7-13);…
Last week, I posted a critical response to David Bentley Hart's recent That All Shall Be Saved . Below, David responds. Well, Peter, let me give you credit for what you have not done. To this point, no reviewer who has written a negative piece on my book has actually…
There's a revealing moment in the "Second Meditation" of David Bentley Hart's That All Shall Be Saved . He opens the chapter with the comment that Christians must not make "any theological pronouncements in total abstraction from or contradiction of scripture" (92). He concedes "a certain presumptive authority" to the…
Romans 5-8 is arranged chiastically: A. 5:1-11: The justified have hope for glory in midst of tribulation B. 5:12-21: Adam and Christ: Adam's sin reversed C. 6:1-14: Death in baptism, deliverance from dominance of sin D. 6:15-23: Members as weapons of righteousness E. 7:1-6: Death to the law D'. 7:7-25:…
"What shall we say?" Paul asks at the beginning of Romans 6. "Shall we continue in sin that grace might increase?" This is typically taken as an "antinomian" objection. Paul emphasizes free grace. He's just said that grace abounds where sin abounds. He's heading off the false inference that we…
Ron Sider ( If Jesus Is Lord ) doesn't think the New Testament episodes about soldiers tell us anything much about the Christian ethics of war. He acknowledges that John doesn't tell the soldiers who come to him that they have to abandon their profession. BUt that doesn't matter, since…
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