Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The debate over paedocommunion does not seem to have made much headway on either side in recent years. Certainly both sides have made a solid effort to argue for their position. But no resolution seems to be forthcoming in the near future. As a convinced paedocommunionist, I find the church’s…
How do covenant and election relate to one another? There are many issues of semantics that enter into this discussion and many issues of real substance, so we need to be careful. If we oversimplify, we can say that election relates to God’s eternal plan to save a people for…
Shortly after the Last Supper and before his final arrest, Jesus said these words to his remaining eleven faithful disciples: I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit…
Was Caleb saved by faith or works? Caleb is just one of many thousands of Hebrews who entered the Promised Land after spending years in the wilderness being led by Moses. God had delivered the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt and gave them a law at Mount Sinai based on…
For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly (Romans 5.7) So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of…
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (which is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth” (Ephesians 6.1-3). Honor your father and your mother, that your…
Showing page 236 of 309
Showing page 39 of 43
Anything by Ross Douthat is worth reading. In the current issue of First Things , he examines the role of religion in several TV programs - Battlestar Gallactic a, Lost , and The Sopranos . He notes that the island in Lost is a “microcosm of Western modernity (many of…
INTRODUCTION Through the Spirit that comes upon Mary, God enters the creation to renew it. In Jesus, God is with His people to save them from their sins. THE TEXT :Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came…
Matthew 1:17: So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations. Last week, we noticed that Matthew begins his gospel using the title of the first book of…
Twice in his genealogy, Matthew refers to “brothers.” Jacob was the father of “Judah and his brothers,” and at the time of the deportation to Babylon “Jeconiah and his brothers” were born to Josiah. This initiates a theme in Matthew’s gospel, the theme of the church as a brotherhood. Alongside…
In an article from New Testament Studies on the names in Matthew’s genealogy, Karl-Heinrich Ostmeyer suggests that the names in the last section of the genealogy are predominately priestly names. Thus, the genealogy divides into a patriarchal section, a royal section, and a priestly section, which culminates with Jesus. Further,…
Matthew tells us the story of a new Genesis, a new beginnings story. And then he gives a genealogy that includes 6 weeks of generations (14 x 6 = 6 x 7), and announces the beginning of a seventh week. The history of Israel is numerologically shaped on the model…
Showing page 1686 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
