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Theopolis News

2015 Biblical Horizons Conference

This year’s Biblical Horizons conference was another great success and we would like to thank all those who were involved by helping out with the catering or opening up their homes to attendees and speakers. The talks, open-ended as they were, offered a fresh perspective and food for thought on…

by Abi KayJuly 30, 2015
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Children

Training Tools

I find myself often rehearsing conversations with my children. When the house is quiet in the late evening, and I'm standing in front of a pile of soapy dishes, I think about what I am going to say to them in certain situations. When I am driving in the car,…

by Lindsey TollefsonJuly 30, 2015
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Biblical Studies

Cosmic Language, (Part 1)

In Matthew 24:29 , Jesus employs “cosmic language,” signs in the sun, moon and stars, to predict the imminent end of the Old Covenant. His first-century audience would have recognized His allusion to the prophecy against Babylon in Isaiah 13 and understood His discourse as a condemnation of Jerusalem as…

by Mike BullJuly 28, 2015
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Revelation

Triune God of Israel

The Enthroned One speaks to John (Revelation 21:6): “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.” It's a little theology proper. For starters, there's the Greek version of…

by Peter LeithartJuly 23, 2015
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Homosexuality

Stealing a Page from Our Playbook

In reading about how we got into this mess, I came across a very interesting couple of paragraphs that I think the church could learn from if we are going to counter the Obergefell ruling. Prior to 2009, same sex “marriage” had gone to the ballot box thirty-one times in…

by Rich LuskJuly 21, 2015
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Literature

From Garden to Gate of Hell

In my previous essay on Macbeth , I pointed out that Shakespeare rewrote Scottish history to construct a play which points to Adam’s Fall — a man and a woman tempted by devils to steal the throne and become like gods. It is hard to imagine anyone in Shakespeare’s day…

by Ralph Allan SmithJuly 16, 2015

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Biblical Studies

The Bible in the Ancient East

Jeffrey J. Niehaus’s Ancient Near Eastern Themes in Biblical Theology is a superb introduction to the subject. In a brief 180 pages, he examines the parallels between Israel and the surrounding Gentiles in their conceptions of God and kinship; their notions of covenant, law and conquest; their views on the…

September 30, 2020
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Apostle Paul

Paul as Type

Paul provides a key to understanding his life experience in 1 Timothy 1:16: Though a blasphemer and violent persecutor, he found mercy, so he could be a type ( hypotyposis , which includes the root typos ) for those who believe. Paul’s experience is a type. Of what? In his…

September 29, 2020
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American CultureEducation

A New Economy of Honor?

The University of Maryland reported recently that it’s cutting $292 million from its budget this year. Anyone making over $150,000 will take a pay cut. It’s not an isolated case. In their current form, universities are hugely expensive to run, and many were financially troubled even before the pandemic. This…

September 23, 2020
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Exodus

Priestly Sacrifices

At the beginning, Cain and Abel both brought “tribute offerings” ( minchah ) to the gate of Eden (Genesis 4:3-4). After the flood, Noah offers the first “ascension offering” ( ‘olah ; Genesis 8:20). At Sinai, Israel offers “peace offerings” ( shelem ) for the first time (Exodus 20:24). At…

September 21, 2020
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BaptismExodus

Priesting Aaron and His Sons

Exodus 29 gives instructions about how Aaron and his sons are to be consecrated ( qadash ) in order to “priest” ( kahan ) before Yahweh (29:1). Like the tabernacle and its furnishings, Aaron and his sons will be consecrated. They will become part of the holy house, so they…

September 16, 2020
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Covenant

Covenanted Hope

"Without a concept of the covenant," writes Douglas Knight ( Covenant and Hope , 217-220), "we are left with man baffled by the world and by his neighbor, and unwilling to commit himself to the disciplines by which he could develop relationships with him." Every society requires two intra-human covenants,…

September 14, 2020

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