Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Click HERE for part 1. III This leads to a further question. I have argued that silence cannot by itself establish a Scriptural principle, but does Scripture’s silence carry any weight in itself? Does the fact that something is unbiblical in a weak sense tell us anything at all? In…
Although nowadays gap theories are associated with dispensationalism, it was not always so. In the nineteenth century, scholars from a variety of backgrounds (Anglican, Reformed, and proto-fundamentalist) seem to have become fascinated by gaps. If you are not familiar with what I am talking about, this newsletter will acquaint you…
If the debate over Operation Rescue has proven anything, it has proven that there is absolutely no consensus among evangelicals in general, or among "reconstructionists" in particular, about how to use the Bible to judge political actions and movements. Each side of the debate claims biblical authority for its position,…
Two things I asked of Thee, Do not refuse me before I die: Keep deception and words of falsehood far from me, Give me neither poverty nor riches, Feed me with the food that it my portion, Lest I be full and deny Thee, And say, "Who is the LORD?"…
Umberto Eco’s "The Name of the Rose" was certainly one of the best literary works of the past decade, though the film version hardly measured up to it. Now Eco has given us a new novel, "Foucault’s Pendulum." Like Rose, Foucault’s Pendulum reflects on the limitations of human knowledge, and…
From time to time people ask me about "interpretive maximalism." They want to know what it is, and sometimes want to know if it represents some departure from the Reformed grammatico-historical, Biblico-theological approach to the Bible. I have something of a problem with these questions, because "interpretive maximalism" is not…
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When John first enters heaven, no altar is visible. He sees an altar for the first time when the fifth seal is broken, and at that point his attention is directed to the base of the altar, where the martyred saints have shed their blood (6:9). The next time we…
Richard Beck points out in Unclean that disgust is “promiscuous”: It “has a degree of plasticity; it is molded to fit a given culture.” In this, disgust differs from other emotions: “The core triggers for happiness, fear, sadness, or anger appear to be fairly stable and consistent across cultures. But…
Ernest Becker wrote: “Excreting is the curse that threatens madness because it shows man in his abject finitude, his physicalness, the likely unreality of his hopes and dreams. But even more immediately, it represents man’s utter bafflement at the sheer non-sense of creation: to fashion the sublime miracle of the…
The worship of the beast in Revelation 13 takes the form of an acclamation of His uniqueness. “Who is like the beast?” they cry. This has several layers of significance. This acclamation echoes the acclamation of Israel in the song of Moses: “Who is like You among the gods, O…
The beast of Revelation 13 initiates a double attack against the saints: first blasphemy, then he “makes war” on them (vv. 6-7). The blasphemies are against God, but they are directed also at the name of God, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven (v. 6). The dragon has…
Polybius wrote, “when a man who has been helped when in danger by another does not show gratitude to his preserver, but even goes to the length of attempting to do him injury, it is clear that those who become aware of it will naturally be displeased and offended by…
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