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

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Biblical Studies

A Daughter of Abraham

Some of the key ways Biblical writers draw attention to important details in their stories are by the use of key words, repetition, and structural devices like chiasms and parallel constructions. The Bible sounds different, even odd, to us sometimes because of the use of these and similar literary conventions.…

by Ralph Allan SmithApril 16, 2019
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Autonomy

Rehabilitating Autonomy

It is pretty standard in conservative Christian circles to condemn unbelief for pretensions of “autonomy.” Cornelius Van Til famously (at least among those of us who knows who he is) said that “There is no alternative but that of theonomy and autonomy.” Greg Bahnsen appealed to this quotation by labeling…

by Mark HorneApril 9, 2019
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John

Jesus: Preacher of Paradox

Jesus was the greatest teacher who ever taught — the Light of the World, whose pure Truth brought sight to the blind (John 9). Almost no one — even those who speak openly against Him — disputes His reputation as a wise and good teacher of the way of love.…

by Ralph Allan SmithApril 2, 2019
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Esther

The Book of Esther in Covenant History

It is clear that the events in Esther are an integral part of the history of the formation of the Restoration Covenant Era. Amalek attacks. Amalek is spoiled. The spoils are used to build the Temple, in the sense that the crude Temple of Zerubbabel can now be glorified with…

by James B. JordanMarch 28, 2019
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How to Worship

A Positive View of Music

It is not coincidental that John Calvin speaks most strongly in defense of vernacular language just after his defense of singing in church. "From this also it plainly appears that public prayers must be couched not in Greek among the Latins, nor in Latin among the French or English, as…

by John AhernMarch 26, 2019
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Biblical Theology

The Reopened Wounds of Jacob

In A Voyage Around the World , George Anson recounts the effects of scurvy upon an unfortunate man: But a most extraordinary circumstance, and what would be scarcely credible upon any single evidence, is, that the scars of wounds which had been for many years healed, were forced open again…

by Alastair RobertsMarch 19, 2019

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Eucharistic meditation, Last Sunday of Epiphany

2 John 1, 3: The elder to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth . . . Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. In the sermon, we…

February 18, 2007

Baptism exhortation

2 John 4: I was glad to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we have received commandment to do from the Father. As we saw in the sermon this morning, John addresses this second epistle to a church that he calls the “chosen Lady.” This Lady…

February 18, 2007

Exhortation, Last Sunday of Epiphany

This Wednesday is “Ash Wednesday,” the beginning of the traditional church season of Lent. Lent is a fast season, traditionally set aside as a time of penitence and abstinence, a forty-day period of self-denial and meditation on the cross. How depressing, we might think, to spend forty days every year…

February 18, 2007

Horse flies

Why did God make horse flies? In 1728, William Byrd of Virginia had a guess: God made horseflies “that men should exercise their wits and industry to guard themselves against them.”

February 18, 2007

Proverbs 17:1-7

INTRODUCTION The opening verses of Proverbs 17 continue a section begun in 16:31. 16:31 refers to the “crown of glory” of gray hair, and that matches the “crown of old men” and “glory” referred to in 17:6. These verses form a frame around the section and set up the themes…

February 17, 2007

Toward a Biblical View of Obscenity

Elsewhere on the Web, a number of people have taken issue, vigorous issue, with a few posts on this site where I quote other writers using vulgar words. I intend to write something more specific in response to that, but for the moment I’ll simply post an article I wrote…

February 16, 2007

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