Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Misunderstanding “Galatianism” has caused several problems in the Reformed church. Because circumcision is at issue in the Galatian epistle, some have fallen into thinking that ritual per se, rather than anything uniquely Mosaic or Jewish, is the object of Paul’s critique. Likewise, his polemic against “works of the law” is…
Many texts in the NT become more perspicuous if we keep in mind the possibility — and indeed ubiquity — of Gentile God-fearers in the Old Covenant. After the special covenant with Israel is set up, Gentiles are not altogether excluded from the hope of salvation. Israel’s special status in…
I was once trying to get a sermon out of Ephesians 1.12-14 and it seemed obvious that I should look for two parallel statements both ending with the phrase, “to the praise of his glory.” Paul here begins talking about two groups of people (“you” and “we”), and he later…
WHY A DENOMINATION WITH SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN ROOTS SHOULD CAREFULLY CONSIDER THE “NEW PERSPECTIVE ON PAUL” In my denomination, the PCA, we are continually haunted by the sins of our racist Southern past. It has become an annual rite at General Assembly for the issue to be addressed one way or…
Recent debates over whether or not, “justification is central” to Paul’s theology have reminded me of a sermon I once heard by a Presbyterian seminary student. This African American student challenged his audience on the sin of racism and the ways it might manifest itself among us. Like any good…
In Charles Hodge’s 1853 article, “Idea of the Church,” his stated aim is to analyze the idea of the Church proposed in the Apostles’ Creed, in which, “the Church is declared to be “the Communion of the Saints.” He writes: The conception of the Church as the communion of saints…
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1 Chronicles 2 begins with a list of the sons of Israel, organized not in birth order but by mother. It is chiastically arranged to place Rachel's sons at the center: A. 6 sons of Leah B. 1 son of Bihah, Rachel's maid (Dan) C. 2 sons of Rachel (Joseph,…
Camille Paglia nails the reason for the unlikely rise of Bernie-mania. It's a strike against the “soulless juggernaut”: “A vote for Bernie Sanders is a vote against the machine, the obscenely money-mad and soulless juggernaut that the Democratic Party has become. Perhaps there was a time, during the Hubert Humphrey…
In Heroes and Hero-Worship , Thomas Carlyle argues that hero-worship is the source of all religion, including Christianity, the form of all loyalty and faith, the foundation of human society. All ranks, he says, “are what we may call a Hero archy (Government of Heroes)—or a Hierarchy, for it is…
In his typological reading of the exodus (1 Corinthians 10), Paul warns the Corinthians not to commit the sins that their fathers committed in the wilderness, specifically idolatry and sexual immorality. By these, and by their grumbling, the Israelites tested the Lord and provoked His anger. These are the same…
Tyranny is a constant in human history, argues Waller Newell in his forthcoming Tyrants . But the character of tyranny is not constant. Newell analyzes three forms of tyranny. The first is the “garden-variety” tyrant, most common in the ancient world: “These are basically men who dispose of an entire…
During February and March of 1974, science fiction writer Philip K. Dick experienced a series of mystical revelations. The source was an entity known as “Zebra,” which revealed that time had stopped back in the mid first-century and that all time since had been an illusion. Guided by Zebra, Dick…
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