Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
A Study in Biblical and Practical Theology Sunday School Notes / Epiphany 2004 Introductory Note: January 6 is Epiphany in the traditional church calendar. Though Epiphany is often treated as a single day, with the Sundays following counted as “Sundays after Epiphany,” we will treat Epiphany as an extended season.…
Imagine someone from another world trying to learn to live in our society according to our customs. What if someone gave him a check for a hundred dollars for his birthday–the first check he had ever seen in his life? Would he immediately understand how a check was used? Perhaps…
According to Presbyterian doctrine, as articulated in the Westminster Confession of Faith, baptism is a baptized person’s “admission… into the visible church.” By referring to the “visible church,” the document makes clear it is referring to the present institutional Church with all her imperfections, as opposed to the future Church…
N. T. Wright claims that in the Apostle Paul’s writings “righteousness,” as it predicated of humans, denotes “covenant membership.” When he wrote this in the New Bible Dictionary edited by Sinclair Ferguson, J. I. Packer, and David Wright, no one thought this was too big a deal. However, when he…
It seems almost human nature to think that we can find something to do for God that will make Him do us favors. If we live more virtuously, or cut down on a vice or two, then God will have to reward us. But the problem with this notion is…
The First Commandment teaches us to trust in Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life. The First Commandment reads (I’m using NASB throughout): “You shall have no other gods before Me.” Obviously, trusting in someone or something else (even one’s own good works) for justification, sanctification, and eternal life”…
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The following is an excerpt from my The Baptized Body (Canon, 2007). Protestants have always emphasized that salvation comes through faith, yet most Protestants have baptized babies. How can these two things hold together? Luther and Calvin held together their insistence on faith with infant baptism by claiming that infants…
Last week, I summarized Thomas Aquinas's argument to the effect that human beings do not create. As Thomas would have expected, there's another side to the story - a sed contra - neatly outlined by Robert Miner in his Truth in the Making . Miner agrees that Thomas denies the…
Stuart Schwartz knows that his All Can Be Saved "goes against the grain in many ways. First of all, it is an examination of attitudes of tolerance among common folk, not philosophers or theologians. Second, it deals with both the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking worlds, which are normally treated apart" (8).…
Writing at The American Conservative , Bonnie Kristian explains why the "few bad apples" defense of American policing doesn't work. She offers seven lines of evidence to show that police brutality is systematic rather than occasional. For instance: "Only one out of every three accused cops are convicted nationwide, while…
Fintan O'Toole highlights the "border issue" that may undo Brexit. He's referring to "the question of whether a hard customs and immigration border is to be imposed between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic." It's not merely a technical question of "borders and customs, of tariffs and passports." It's fiendishly…
David Lachterman ( Ethics of Geometry ) suggests that the specific novelty of the modern age is that it doesn't regard itself as a period of history. It's instead "consummate," in two senses: "as the 'final' period which brings to a permanent close all prior epochs by exposing their imperfections…
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