Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Because of sin, the arts sometimes do not serve to glorify but to debase. Sinful men make their environments ugly, and create ugly art to “enhance” their ugly words. But since all men are still God’s images, no men are able to live with such ugliness all the time. Thus,…
Arts and literature reviews in most evangelical Christian publications generally approach their subjects in terms of ideology. We are told whether or not the film or book is acceptable in terms of morals, sexual graphicness, and theological accuracy. While there is definitely a place for such reviews, I fear that…
We speak of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The early Church tended to speak of Him as Father, Word, and Spirit. In this short essay, I want to suggest some other ways to think of the Trinity, ways that I have found pastorally helpful in my own life…
I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and fourth of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and guard My commandments (Ex. 20:5-6). The Second Word forbids acts of ceremonial…
8. The Table of Nations If we assume births every two years, and about 30 years between generations (cp. Gen. 11:12-24), we can come up with an approximate series of dates for the generations recorded in Genesis 10. We shall assume that all three of Noah’s sons had their firstborn…
Zechariah’s first prophecy (Zech. 1:1-6) was delivered in the eighth month of the second year of Darius. The notation of this date serves a number of purposes. Most obviously, it relates Zechariah’s prophecies to those of Haggai. By the time Zechariah delivered his first prophecy, Haggai had already chided the…
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In his contribution to Denominationalism , Winthrop Hudson suggests that one of the principles of English Independent ecclesiology was the refusal to “make our present judgment and practice a binding law unto ourselves for the future” (25). It's a stance based on a recognition of fallibility and proneness to sin.…
The Greek kapnos (“smoke”) appears twelve times in Revelation. Hold that number, because it might be significant. The twelve uses are grouped into six scenes, alternating between smoke having to do with the worship and glory of God and smoke from hell or hell's allies: A. Smoke of incense, 8:4…
“I believe in subjects and objects,” writes David Martin at the outset of his Future of Christianity (4). He illustrates with a sociological example: He believes in “religious visions of the world to come and the objective status of the dynamics of social and political action.” Martin intends to resist…
Jesus tells His disciples that they are being sent into a field to harvest where they had not sown or labored. “One sows, and another reaps” (John 4:35-38). It's a principle of ministry: Ministry starts in the middle. Even in a fresh mission field, the missionary doesn't enter a place…
In a study of American Protestant schisms between 1890 and 1990, John Sutten and Mark Chaves claim that churches don't divide for purely doctrinal reasons, but rather “in response to attempts by denominational elites to achieve organizational consolidation” (171). The 1848 schism within the Plymouth Brethren, for instance, was about…
In an essay on “Rules of Walking in Fellowship,” John Owen claimed that “Union is the main aim and most proper fruit of love ; neither is there any thing or duty of the saints in the gospel pressed with more earnestness and vehemency of exhortation than this.” For Owen,…
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