Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Part 1 We do not understand the role of women in ministry because we do not understand the role of men in ministry. We do not understand the role of men in ministry because we do not understand the church. We do not understand the church because the consumer culture…
1. One structure The Creation account (G1:1-2:4) conspicuously conveys meaning using the literary shape of the text. The narrative is told with formulaic patterns, repetitions, and parallelism. The Garden account is different. It is viewed as a separate text, with its own author, employing its own structure. This second account’s…
I was reading James Jordan’s Creation in Six Days while also preparing for Trinity Sunday in which the gospel reading is John 3:1-15. As providence would have it Jordan dropped an easter egg for me along the lines of baptism. In chapter 5 he points out, “ On the second…
It's true. There is no verse in the New Testament that commands or records an infant baptism. This poses a problem for some Christians. Those who only look for explicit commands, or those whose theology is limited to the New Testament, will conclude that infant baptism is not biblical and…
1. Goal This paper’s goal is to identify and describe a literary strategy employed by scripture, namely using two episodes that cover similar territory or themes using details drawn from opposite ends of a number of spectrums. Once described the reader may recognize numerous other instances of this strategy in…
Numbers 14 records the tragic story of Israel’s decision to rebel against Yahweh and Moses. Twelve spies had been sent into the land to bring back a report to Israel. All twelve spies agreed: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey”…
Showing page 30 of 309
Showing page 37 of 43
INTRODUCTION The man of God from Judah and the old prophet both prophesied against Jeroboam?s idolatries. In this passage, a third prophet, Ahijah of Shiloh, prophesies the end of Jeroboam?s house. When Jeroboam?s son dies, Jeroboam and his house have no future. THE TEXT ?At that time Abijah the son…
1 Kings 13:31: ?And it came about after he had buried him, that the old prophet spoke to his sons, saying, ?When I die, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones.?? One of the fascinating things about this…
The writers of Scripture conclude prayers, letters, and praise with ?Amen.?EBut ?Amen?Eis not just an ancient way of saying ?The End?Eor ?We?re finished with that now.?EThe word is from the Hebrew word for ?believe?Eor ?prove faithful,?Eand when used at the end of a prayer or praise, it is an oath…
1 Kings 12:25-13:34 hangs together as a single unit. The chapter break is very bad. There is a clear inclusion between 12:25-31:3 and 13:33-34. The oracle of the prophet of Bethel in 13:32 brings up the altar in Bethel and the ?houses of the high places?Ethat were mentioned in 12:31,…
Is the begetting of the Son an act of God’s will or nature. Barth, with the tradition, says that it is not an act of God’s will if will means the freedom to be thus or not to be thus. “God cannot not be God,” and Barth is correct that…
Gavin Menzies, 1421: The Year China Discovered America (New York: William Morrow, 2002), 552 pp. Pursuing his passion for medieval cartography, Gavin Menzies, a veteran of the British Royal Navy, discovered a 1424 Venetian map that showed four strangely named islands. He concluded that two of them ?Eidentified by the…
Showing page 2018 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
