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Sacramental Theology

The Gospel according to the Sacraments (Part 3): One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism

In the first post of this series, I proposed that the sacraments of baptism and communion are the nexus point for the evangelical and ecumenical movements. In the following post , I proposed a new orientation for ecumenism – a conciliarity of the cross – with the necessary confession of…

by Michael SpalioneJanuary 2, 2018
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Baptism

Christian Mission and Cultural Transformation

“Contextualization” is now, and has been for a long time, the buzzword for the day. 1 Missionary effort in non-Western countries is all about “contextualization” — making our communication of the Gospel, if not the Gospel itself, fit into the culture to whom we from the West speak. 2 There…

by Ralph Allan SmithDecember 28, 2017
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Sacramental Theology

The Gospel According to the Sacraments, Part 2

In my previous post , I highlighted the sacraments as the point of convergence between evangelicalism and ecumenism arguing that baptism and communion are presented in the New Testament as signs of the gospel that simultaneously enact and remember union with Christ and the unity of Christ’s body. I concluded…

by Michael SpalioneDecember 27, 2017
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Baptism

Baptism and Contextualization: Part 2

Click HERE for Part I of this series. What does baptism have to do with culture? As I said in the previous essay, the short answer is “everything!” To begin with, baptism is baptism into Jesus’ death (Romans 6:3). Paul explains this as the crucifixion of the “old man” (“old…

by Ralph Allan SmithDecember 21, 2017
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Advent

Twin Nativities

In the accounts of our Lord’s nativity and early childhood, so familiar to us from many years of Advent and Christmas services, we often fail to recognize in them the gentle intimations of a greater nativity that is yet to come. The attentive ear, however, can discover in these passages…

by Alastair RobertsDecember 19, 2017
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Advent

Daughters of Zion

Isaiah warns that Yahweh is coming to remove Judah’s leaders in every area of social, economic and political life so completely that there will be no one left to lead besides children (3:4) and women (v. 12). As Isaiah goes on, however, it becomes clear that the women of Judah…

by Peter LeithartDecember 14, 2017

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Basil on diversity

Basil of Caesarea has this to say about the variety of plant life: “What a variety in the disposition of their several parts. And yet, how difficult is it to find the distinctive property of each of them, and to grasp the difference which separates them from other species. Some…

November 9, 2005
Biblical Studies

Far As The Curse Is Found

Michael Williams of Covenant Seminary provides a serviceable introduction to a covenantal/biblical-theological reading of the Bible in his recent book from P&R, entitled Far As The Curse Is Found . Williams’s interpretations are judicious and one of his fundamental themes is that salvation restores rather than cancels creation, a theme…

November 8, 2005

Sermon Outline, November 13

INTRODUCTION The Omride dynasty ends in a bloodbath, and will shortly see the Baal temple in Samaria destroyed. This is a warning for the house of David: Omri’s house began with a David-like hero, and ended disastrously. David’s house too will end in blood and Jerusalem’s temple will be destroyed.…

November 7, 2005

Communion Meditation, November 6

2 Kings 8:6: So the king appointed for her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers and all the produce of the field from the day that she left the land even until now. Israel’s land was a land flowing with milk and honey, but it’s surprising how…

November 6, 2005

Baptismal meditation, November 6

Galatians 3:26-29: For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all…

November 6, 2005

Exhortation, November 6

We often put our minds into automatic pilot when reading the “boring bits” of the Bible. The details of sacrificial ritual in Leviticus, the rules of uncleanness, genealogies, the repetitive accounts of kings – these are not the juiciest bits of Scripture, and we tend to skim over them without…

November 6, 2005

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