Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt…
Part 5: Laying New Foundations in a Dying World As I mentioned above, the history of Israel involved several centuries as a church-without-a-culture, and then several centuries as a culture-without-a-city. To be sure, there was an informal culture around the church of the Patriarchs, but the civilization of free farmers…
In the Reformation Tradition we baptize both professing believers and their children. In the case of infants it is now commonly insisted that this is done because the children are already in covenant with God. Baptism is a sign and seal of a previously existing reality. Despite the popularity of…
Concerning Sex & the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the loaf of bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one loaf, we who are many…
Protestant-Catholic debates about the sacraments have usually taken the form of debates about sacramental efficacy. Protestants claim that Catholics believe that sacraments work ex opere operato, virtually a magical view of the sacraments. A priest goes through the motions and says the mumbo-jumbo and — presto! — the sacraments confer…
In 27.2, the Westminster Confession says that because of the “spiritual relation” between sacraments and the things they represent, “the names and effects of the one are attributed to the other.” Applied to baptism, this means that when the Bible says that we are baptized into Christ (Rom. 6), it…
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Michio Kaku’s Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100 is a breathless book. In the next hundred years, we’ll approach godlikeness and transcend human limits: “we will be able to manipulate objects with the power of our minds. Computers,…
Exodus 33:13: Moses said, Consider too that this nation is Your people. When Israel breaks covenant by making and worshiping a golden calf, Yahweh is ready to start over. He warns Moses to stand aside, and at the same time promises to make Moses a new Abraham, the father of…
When Moses comes down from Sinai, he puts a veil over his shining face. The people couldn’t look at God’s glory, Paul tells us, because their hearts were hard. That was then. Paul himself is in a very different place. He speaks openly, without a veil. He doesn’t hide the…
John Hendershot sends the following in response to my essay on gift and gratitude at firstthings.com today. The rest of this post is from Mr Hendershot. Your article this morning in First Things reminded me of an incident in my childhood. The culture of gift giving is not unknown in…
Barth has been charged with modalism, partly because he chose to use the phrase “mode of existence” rather than the term “person” to describe the three in God. The charge doesn’t stick, mainly because Barth clearly understands what modalism is, and claims that it amounts to atheism and a denial…
I offer reflections on the problems of political gratitude this morning at http://www.firstthings.com/ .
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