Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
G.K. Chesterton assumes a surprising and memorable perspective from which to view the events of Palm Sunday (Matthew 21:1-11) The Donkey by: G.K. Chesterton When fishes flew and forests walked And figs grew upon thorn, Some moment when the moon was blood Then surely I was born. With monstrous head…
There is a common biblical principle: you must give back what you steal. In the Bible, restitution is repayment with interest. If you rob someone of their money, you have to pay back double what you stole. A thief must pay back fourfold if he steals a sheep, and if…
Identifying Isaiah’s suffering servant with the promised Messiah is unthinkable for a Jew because it combines the offices of humble priest and victorious king. While it is frustrating that Jews refuse to see the sufferings of Christ in Isaiah 53, the reluctance of Christians to interpret the passage in its…
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Psalm 150:6 (ESV) The command to praise God is pervasive throughout Scripture. In the verse above the Spirit calls all things with breath to praise the Lord. Song is also clearly featured all throughout Scripture and is a featured…
“Gender is a social construct.” That’s shocking to people who have assumed that gender and sex were synonyms but at least since I was in college, in the ‘80s, we were taught that “gender” refers to the forms, the customs, the traditions that our culture teaches us to define what…
In Genesis 49, Jacob prophesies about (blesses and curses?) his twelve sons. The first three of them don’t fare well. Jacob recalls Reuben’s offense of taking his concubine (Genesis 35:22) and the murderous violence of Simeon’s and Levi against the Canaanite inhabitants of the city of Shechem (Genesis 34). He…
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P aul encourages the Romans to endure because the sufferings they endure pale in comparison to the glory that will be revealed “into” them. Paul’s language suggests that glory will not merely be shown to the sons of God, but that it will be bestowed on us (Romans 8). The…
“Y ou are My witnesses,” Yahweh says to Israel (Isaiah 43:1). Then again, “You are my witnesses” (43:12) And a third time, “You are my witnesses” (44:8). Israel is Yahweh’s Servant, and as Servant a witness. Israel's history provides a witness in Yahweh's defense against the accusations of the nations…
T homas Hamilton writes to challenge last week's essay on Putin, nationalism, and globalism. He doesn't think that I fairly captured why American conservatives are partial to Putin: I didn't think your article on Putin and the American right quite represented what many paleoconservatives (including myself) see in Putin. Buchanan,…
R omans 8:31–39 is better sung than commented upon. It’s a thrilling, ecstatic hymn of boisterous assurance that God’s purposes will be accomplished. Yet, I will attempt to comment on them. If we sing Paul’s hymn, let’s make sure we sing with understanding. Given the character of these verses, it’s…
T wo weeks after watching, I'm still thinking about Paterson the film and the poem . A few notes: 1) Internal rhymes thicken the fabric of the film. Paterson meets several sets of twins (reflections of Paterson the driver and Paterson the city?). When his bus breaks down, several people…
I n his book, The Silent Revolution and the Making of Victorian England , Herbert Schlossberg sums up the career of the Cambridge Evangelical leader, Charles Simeon. He emphasizes Simeon's role as trustee of “Simeon's Trust,” a project that depended on “the peculiar nature of the right to appoint church…
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