Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
In a recent article in Biblical Horizons , I argued that the imagery of James 1:21 alludes to baptism, and particularly to baptism as an ordination and incorporation into the holy priesthood. This understanding of baptism as ordination to priesthood is not, I have since discovered, original, but in fact…
He will be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace will be between the two of them (Zechariah 6:13b). A prime difficulty in the interpretation of this verse is the antecedent of the pronoun "them." A number of alternatives have been offered. Some suggest that the "two"…
Like certain kinds of music, the unchanging rhythm of Aquinas's Summa gets into your bones. Read a few sections and it begins to run through your head. You start drumming your fingers, humming, swaying gently to the rhythm of Videtur-Sed Contra-Responsio, Videtur-Sed Contra-Responsio, “It seems-On the contrary-I answer.” The only…
The Book of Revelation is a gold mine of liturgical information. The various hymns and exclamations in Revelation have always been used in Christian worship. As I have been studying Revelation this year, it occurred to me that make a complete hymn out of the various hymns in the book.…
In the book of Revelation we find a triad of Strong Angels, and another triad of Other Angels. The purpose of this essay is to explore the Biblical background of these two sets, and thus fill out their meaning. The first triad of angels we encounter in the Bible comes…
In Revelation, the term aggelos means messenger, of course, but with a special emphasis on messenger as covenant administrator. This is immediately obvious from the fact that the angels are constantly acting to enforce the covenant one way or another: sealing people, bringing judgment, calling for repentance, etc. They are…
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Many object to typology because it seems to lack control, but one obvious control is historical context. Consider this piece of poetry: Jack-booted waves march down a silent street, Cross the thresholds of besieged homes, Batter doors, and smother all in brown. Think about how the imagery works if the…
“Figure of speech” is a figure of speech.
Are imprecatory prayers inconsistent with the biblical demand to love our enemies? On the surface it seems so, but since the Bible contains both imprecations and commands to love our enemy and since Scripture is internally consistent, they cannot be contradictory. Far from being contradictory, in fact, they are mutually…
In his 1946 essay, “Politics and the English Language,” George Orwell cites this from Harold Laski: “I am not, indeed, sure whether it is not true to say that the Milton who once seemed not unlike a seventeenth-century Shelley had not become, out of an experience ever more bitter in…
Joshua 10:26-27: Afterward Joshua struck them and put them to death, and he hanged them on five trees; and they hung on the trees until evening. And it came about at sunset that Joshua commanded, and they took them down from the trees and threw them into the cave where…
In today’s sermon, we’ll learn about Joshua’s zeal for fighting the enemies of Yahweh in order to conquer the land of promise. While he is fighting five kings, the sun begins to go down. He could easily have said, “Enough for today. We can take care of them tomorrow.” Instead,…
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