Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
One of the curiosities of the New Testament revelation is its focus on Galilee. The region of Galilee was given to Asher, Zebulun, Naphtali, and Issachar, and the events of Judges 4-8 occurred there, so it had some importance in Israelite history. But when the tribe of Ephraim led the…
Numbers 3:40-51 tells us that the Levites were substituted for the firstborn of Israel. The firstborn belonged to God, as stated in Exodus 13:12-13 and 22:29. It is clear that the first group of firstborn claimed by God were those He saved at the first Passover (Ex. 12). These should…
I have lived and worked in Presbyterian circles since I became convinced of the Reformed faith over twenty years ago. Thus, it is easiest and most appropriate for me to issue criticisms and to call for reformation in the Presbyterian churches. Both Scripture and my own experience, and my observation…
And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, and we beheld His glory...(John 1:14) Commentaries on John, discussing the Word or Logos in John 1, routinely turn to Greek philosophy and say that John is using a term and at least part of an idea familiar in the ancient…
John Wenham’s Redating Matthew, Mark & Luke: A Fresh Assault on the Synoptic Problem 1 is an impressively detailed treatment of the "synoptic problem." I lack both the patience and the knowledge to evaluate Wenham’s contribution to that vexing question. My purpose instead is to summarize his conclusions concerning the…
Commentators do not agree on the contents of the Book of Seven Seals (Revelation 5:1). Some see it as the New Covenant; others as the whole Word of God; others as the book of life; and others as the record of the Old Creation that is now being brought to…
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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.…
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.…
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…
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.…
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…
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…
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