Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
WHAT IS THE OT PRECURSOR OF THE NT OFFICE OF PASTOR? HOW DOES THE FORMER ILLUMINATE THE LATTER? The first problem to address is: how do we know that there is an office of pastor in the New Testament? 1 Perhaps the way the question is put may permit me…
[This essay was originally published in December, 1981, in The Biblical Educator , a publication of the Institute for Christian Economics, and again with slight revisions in Contra Mundum 7 (Spring, 1993). It is reprinted here as a supplement to my book Creation in Six Days .] In 1979, Dr.…
Anyone seeking to reverse the meaning of this promise needs to come to grips not only with the phrase "God was with the lad" later on, but also with Hagar’s response in 16:13. She worships Yahweh, putting her trust in Him and obeying Him. In fact, Hagar is at the…
Ishmael is the narrator of Melville’s fantasy-romance Moby Dick. Melville takes up the traditional view of Ishmael as a wayward son of Abraham, driven out solely because of the Divine "caprice" of election, an angry man with his hand raised against all other men. He is a fitting "anti-hero," or…
There were five cities at the center of the Canaanite culture in the circle of the Jordan, a place like the Garden of Eden, like the land of Egypt, before it became the Dead Sea at the destruction of the cities (Genesis 13:10). Genesis 14:2 tells us their names: Sodom,…
Meditations by James B. Jordan Genesis 19, the destruction of Sodom and the rescue of Lot, is part two of a story that begins in Genesis 18. These two chapters happen in one 24-hour period: noon and evening in Mamre, and midnight and daybreak in Sodom. God and two angels…
Showing page 244 of 309
Showing page 35 of 43
The New Testament makes clear that the church is one and should manifest that unity. But given our current state of institutional division, how does one proceed? Especially, how is a local pastor to proceed? Seven modest suggestions: 1) Start local, stay local. Large-scale ecumenical efforts have born fruit, some…
In his introduction to Apocalyptic and the Future of Theology , Joshua Davis traces the travail of modern theology to Kant: “Seated at the heart of modern theology, and especially of modern Protestant theology, is the existing and still unresolved problem of the relation between knowledge ( Wissen ) and…
The Protestant consensus that American churches long relied on no longer exists. The effect is similar to the effect of disestablishment in Europe. We never had an official national establishment, but we have enjoyed a strong unofficial generic Protestant establishment. There is no traditional religious replacement for the loss of…
John hears a loud voice from heaven, described in elaborate terms (Revelation 14:2). It is like the voice of many waters, of great thunder, like the voice of harpists harping their harps. This is a wonderful little overloaded description of the sound of the singers who are singing from heaven.…
Check out the Theopolis Institute YouTube channel for Robert Louis Wilken's 2015 Nevin Lectures on the “Catholic Roots of Religious Freedom.” Visit the Theopolis web site for a report on the event.
In his recent study, Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory , Jerry Walls argues that “hell is possible precisely because God is love.” Citing several passages from John's gospel, he points out that “for God to live with us, we must love and obey him. . . . The obedience God wants…
Showing page 454 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
