Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
In the first installment of this essay, I offered the following chiastic outline of 1 Timothy: A. 1:1-2. Paul greets Timothy as a true child of the Faith, and blesses with grace, mercy, and peace. B. 1:3-7. Timothy is urged to command against heresy. C. 1:8-11. The reason the Law…
In the first installment of this essay, I offered the following chiastic outline of 1 Timothy: A. 1:1-2. Paul greets Timothy as a true child of the Faith, and blesses with grace, mercy, and peace. B. 1:3-7. Timothy is urged to command against heresy. C. 1:8-11. The reason the Law…
In the Bible, a memorial is something that brings God's promises and previous actions to mind, so that He can do them again. The rainbow is the model, set in heaven so that Yahweh remembers the covenant He makes with Noah (Genesis 9:13-15). God is light and dwells in a…
The First Epistle to Timothy fits neatly in the context of what King Jesus and the church are doing in the gospels, in Acts, Revelation, and all of the Apostolic Age in between. Paul writes to Timothy to encourage him in his work as a pastor in the “latter days,”…
I have been pastoring Cornerstone Reformed Church in Carbondale, Illinois since 1999. We are members of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC), but have been practicing catholicity for many years, both personally and corporately. I’ve always believed that the Church of Jesus Christ is much more than the local…
Ecumenism is easy to talk about. It’s doing something to promote it that’s the problem. As a pastor in a town with churches of different denominations, all of whom love their doctrinal distinctions and are jealous to defend them whenever they perceive the slightest challenge, how can you be ecumenical…
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John sees 144,000 assembles with the Lamb on Zion. He hears music, a fourfold voice from heaven - like the voice of waters, the voice of thunder, the voice of harpists harping harps (Revelation 14:2). As James Jordan has pointed out, the three descriptions match the three things before which…
One of the central virtues of Lector Ludens , Michael Scham's study of games and play in Cervantes, is Scham's thorough review of the early modern literature on play, games, and leisure. Scham is not innocent of cultural theory, but instead of imposing a contemporary framework on his subject, he…
Trevor Hart ( Between the Image and the Word , 62-74) describes the de-sacramentalizing shift in Barth's theology. He traces the shift to the work of Barth's son Markus, who convinced his father that the notion of “sacrament” isn't a biblical one. In his later work, Barth argued that the…
Music has profound effects on our moods and minds. If we believe the ancient wisdom, this is because the harmonies, movements, and melodies of music move and mold the soul. Music can ravish or terrify us, and a constant died of music terror will leave us skittish as rabbits. Technology…
The 144,000 from the 12 tribes are sealed in Revelation 7, but we don't learn the contents of the seal until they reappear in 14:1. There we're told that they are sealed with “His Name” and the “Name of His Father.” In the Great Commission (Matthew 28), the singular “Name”…
Gary Cross and Robert Proctor describe the changes in technology, marketing, consumption, and habits that followed the packaging revolution. In Packaged Pleasures , they examine how our tastes have been affected by the replacement of fruits and vegetables with packaged candy bars; by the packaging of cigarettes; by the packaging…
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