Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
John the Baptist says, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me . . . will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire (Mt. 3:11).” Much debate surrounds the nature of this statement and what exactly it prophesies. Sacramental, baptistic, and charismatic Christians…
First Corinthians is not considered one of the Pastoral Epistles, but there is much to learn from Paul about pastoring a congregation by the way he writes to the Corinthians. Briefly, 1 Corinthians is an exposition of the cross and resurrection. In the first fourteen chapters, Paul gives an exposition…
Fredrik Hagglund ( Isaiah 53 in the Light of Homecoming After Exile (Forschungen Zum Alten Testament) ) argues against the common notion that Isaiah 53 is about the atoning suffering of Yahweh’s Servant. The Servant’s suffering is vicarious (i.e., he suffers for the sins of others) but it is not…
With the inheritance of Canaan and the dividing up of this priestly territory among the tribes, Israel became a microcosm of the nations of the world. This division between Israel and the nations as a substitutionary “land and sea” would prevent another global rebellion, and thus another global judgment. ((For…
One of the more revealing aspects of Paul and James’ soteriology is the different ways they both use Genesis 15:6 (“And Abraham believed God and it was counted for him as righteousness,”) as a proof text to defend their comments about the gospel. The key observation to make is that…
The disintegration of the EU is not the end of the world. It is a sign that the end of the world is anything but nigh. Western culture as we know it is dying at the hands of usurpers, traitors and prodigals. Even the worst rulers throughout Christian history at…
Showing page 127 of 309
Showing page 39 of 43
What Esther Meeks calls the "defective epistemic default" of modernity infects and paralyzes biblical interpretation. In this default, knowledge is defined as information. This can only produce puzzlement about the details of the Bible. They aren't symbols; they aren't clues; they text isn't pregnant with meaning. The details are there…
Jesus turned water to wine at the wedding to Cana. It's the first sign, John tells us (John 2:11). It's an epiphany of the Word made flesh. Of what is it a sign? The wedding takes place on the "third day" (2:1), which is the seventh day in the sequence…
For our culture, real knowledge is the bits of data we accumulate by observation and experiment to store in our brains. Once harvested, knowledge is an impersonal and atemporal heap of information. In the Bible, knowing isn’t so simple. The Bible forces us to ask, When? How? and Who? God…
Adults in the Room , Yanis Varoufakis's account of his brief time as the finance minister of Greece, has all qualities of a tragedy. It is, Varoufakis writes, "the story of what happens when human beings find themselves at the mercy of cruel circumstances that have been generated by an…
A couple of excellent passages from Paul Tyson's De-Fragmenting Modernity . First, this on how modernity's "immanent frame" (Charles Taylor) not only prevents governments from addressing social problems, but actually creates conditions that cultivate the problem in the first place (2-3): "At a policy level, we are more or less…
Yahweh speaks the Ten Words to his son, Israel . The Words are ultimately pointing to the Son, who takes flesh to become true Israel. The Ten Words speak of Jesus, and Jesus is the final interpretation of their demands. "Honor your father and your mother," the Lord says, and…
Showing page 62 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
