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Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.

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Biblical Horizons

Schizophrenia?

> Dave, > Jason > > I am surprised this is so hard for me to communicate effectively. Prosecuting Leithart while inwardly struggling with my questions was easy, because the issue was NEVER “Whose views are correct?” In a Reformed denomination we all operate under the supposition that our doctrinal…

by Richard BledsoeJune 8, 2012
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Biblical Horizons

The Onesiphorus Nonsense

Discussions on the catholicity of the church have led one RC advocate to write to me that according to 2 Timothy 1:16-18, Paul is clearly and unmistakably praying for a dead person. He points to a couple of Protestant writers who had agreed with this, though they are in a…

by James B. JordanJune 7, 2012
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Biblical Horizons

Schaff on Praying to Saints

The great True Catholic historian, Philip Schaff, points out as regards the beginning of prayers to the saints in the post-Nicene Church: Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church (Volume III, Nicene and Post-Nicene Christianity A.D. 311-390, P. 409-427). In the first three centuries the veneration of the martyrs in…

by James B. JordanMay 31, 2012
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Biblical Horizons

One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church

The Nicene Creed states that the Holy Spirit “spoke through the prophets in (or into) one holy, catholic, and apostolic church.” Contrary to usual translations, neither the Greek nor the Latin originals say “ I believe in one holy, catholic, and apostolic church.” As written, the thought of the authors…

by James B. JordanMay 25, 2012
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Biblical Horizons

Family Disintegrated Worship

One of the latest sectarian movements to arise around the fringes of the Christian religion is something called “family integrated churches.” What this seems to mean, depending on the advocate, is that youth groups are bad, age-segregated Sunday Schools are bad, families need to sit together in church, and even…

by James B. JordanFebruary 2, 2012
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Biblical Studies

Biblical Theology Basics: Part 8

This series of post were originally published at the Biblical Horizons blog. The entire paper can be downloaded HERE . 8. Comments on The Covenantal Gospel by Cornelis van der Waal This is an excellent book, and every Bible student should read and master it. Cornelis van der Waal was…

by James B. JordanSeptember 22, 2011

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David’s return

When Absalom took over Israel, David fled east, over the Kidron and up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went (2 Samuel 15:30). He had two donkeys with him (2 Samuel 16:1-4). David returns to Israel, and to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 20:3), but it was hardly a triumphal return.…

February 1, 2009

Fulfilling Scripture, again

Matthew doesn’t know where to put his “fulfillment formulae.” In chapter 2, he quotes Hosea when Jesus is leaving Israel; in chapter 21, he quotes Zechariah 9 before Jesus has climbed aboard the double-donkey mount. Jesus gives instructions to His disciples (vv. 2-3, then there’s a quotation from Zechariah (vv.…

February 1, 2009

Fulfilling Scripture

The verb “fulfill” is used some 18 times in Matthew’s gospel, and 14 of those uses describe Jesus’ fulfllment of something spoken by the prophets or by “Scripture.” A double of the number of creation, Jesus brings a new creation; God spoke over seven days to create, and His spoken…

January 31, 2009

Jane in limbo

To the right of this page is an icon of a book cover for a biography of Jane Austen. I wrote that book. Really, I did. But you can’t have it, not yet. The publisher, Cumberland House, has been forced to sell out, and the buyer didn’t buy my book.…

January 30, 2009
Politics

Panic and politics

The Commerce Department tells us this morning that the GDP grew during 2008, though at the slowest pace since 2001. It shrank faster during the fourth quarter than at any time since 1982. Funny, nobody in Congress is raising the spectre of 1982 to describe our economic woes. It’s always…

January 30, 2009

Murder and oppression

Do we murder the poor when we abuse them? James thinks so. At the beginning of chapter 5, he sharply rebukes the rich, reminding them that they have not paid the laborers who mowed their fields (v. 3). Like Abel’s blood, the laborers “cry out against you, and the outcry…

January 30, 2009

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