Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
It is commonly held in Reformed thought that the Noahic Covenant is given to all men equally. The Noahic Covenant concerns "man," not simply "church," and establishes civil government as an institution among "mankind" — that is the theory. Sometimes the Noahic Covenant is regarded as a "covenant of common…
The Fall of Jerusalem we have dated (provisionally) at 3426 Anno Mundi. In current B.C. dates this is 586 B.C. From this point forward in Biblical chronology we are required to make use of prophetic numbers rather than historical ones. Jeremiah prophesied that the captivity would last 70 years, but…
Evangelicals have in recent years become more interested in looking into their Bibles for wisdom to deal with modern problems. This is undoubtedly a welcome development, after many years of neglect. But there are dangers and costs as well. One of these is the tendency to fall into a modern…
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). The famous definition of faith with which the eleventh chapter of Hebrews opens has received a number of different interpretations. The crux of the problem is the interpretation of the words translated in…
15. The leech has two daughters, "Give," "Give." There are three things that will not be satisfied, Four that will not say, "Enough": 16. Sheol, And the barren womb, Earth, that is never satisfied with water, And fire that never says, "Enough." We are assuming, at least for the purposes…
As we have seen in previous installments in this series, the Old Testament is quite concerned with chronology, and carefully records chronological data for our use. For this reason, we can assume when we come to the chronology of the kings of Judah and Israel that the writers of the…
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It’s terribly hard, Seneca thinks, for a beneficiary to escape the debt of gratitude he owes. The benefactor goes first, and his gift is gratuitous, not a response to a prior gift. The recipient can only catch up if he outstrips the original gift ( On Benefits (The Complete Works…
Christian critics of just war theory sometimes point out that the tradition originates not with Christian thinkers but with pagans, Romans like Cicero. True enough, says James Brundage in his contribution to The Holy War (p. 102), but the Christians who took up the Roman theory modified it. “In Roman…
Joel 2:18: Then the Lord will be zealous for His land, and will have pity on His people. Few books of the Bible portray as bleak a wasteland as Joel. A locust plague leaves the land desolate. A fire consumes everything green: “The land is like the garden of Eden…
Psalm 72:6-7: May he come down like rain upon the mown grass, like showers that water the earth. In his days may the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace till the moon is no more. The Spirit is like water from heaven. Judah is a wasteland “until the Spirit is…
Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Samson, Samuel, John the Baptist – all were sons of barren women. God makes the barren woman a joyful mother of children. But He does more: He makes those born from the barren the best. He does the same with the land. When the patriarchs first enter…
Psalm 49 is a Psalm of wisdom, a parable and riddle (vv. 3-4). Like other wisdom Psalms, it addresses the question of the prosperity of the wicked - the ancient Israelite version of the problem of evil (vv. 5-6). Being wise when you see the wicked prosper means seeing the…
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