Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
“And it shall be in those days when you are multiplied and increased in the land,” declares the Lord, “they shall say no more, ‘The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord.’ And it shall not come to mind, nor shall they remember it, nor shall they miss it, nor…
Elsewhere, I have argued that there is grace in the so-called covenant of works (see, e.g., my colloquium essay, “A Response to ‘The Biblical Plan of Salvation,’” in The Auburn Avenue Theology: Pros and Cons , edited by Calvin Beisner (pages 118-148). It may be equally surprising to find justice…
Years ago, as a layman, I had the privilege of attending a Bible study led by a gifted teacher. His story was interesting: back when he was a student he had been severely sanctioned for affirming that one must repent in order to be saved, that one must trust Jesus…
Believing that God really exists Defining “faith” is sometimes made too complicated. The theologian, Louis Berkhof, for example, distinguishes “faith in general” from “faith in the religious sense and particularly saving faith.” Berkhof’s core definition of saving faith is not so bad. He says that it is “a certain conviction,…
It is generally acknowledged that when Paul wrote letters to churches, he expected his letters to be read in the worship service to the congregation. It is interesting, then, that when Paul wrote letters to a congregation he could feel free to address children and tell them to obey their…
Book 4 of Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion is a classic work of ecclesiology. This book is the longest section of the Institutes , showing Calvin’s deep interest in and love for the church. Among its many salutary features is a full scale exposition of those ecclesiastical leaders Calvin…
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her bandanna blue through the cattails by the pond in the green pasture in the pond morning clouds and sun flecks of moonlight like fireflies ?E the ripples of the pond across her chair shafts of sunlight through the lace curtain
Trinity Reformed Church is large enough that it is difficult to know everyone in the church. And now we have been around long enough that it is awkward and embarrassing for us to meet each other. When you introduce yourself and say something like ?Are you visiting??Ethe response might well…
Leviticus 22:10-16 In the sermon today, I addressed the some of the challenges and temptations of young adulthood, the priestly stage of life. It is biblically appropriate, as I tried to show, to describe young adulthood in these terms. But we should not let this perspective obscure the more fundamental…
Lee Harris has some fascinating comments on how the liberal West constructed the Islamic threat in his recent book, Civilization and Its Enemies . Harris points out that the early modern state developed in a kind of Darwinian political world, where only the powerful states could survive. A state was…
Freedman comments, “It may be pure coincidence that the Book of Genesis begins with the words beresit . . . elohim , ‘In the beginning, . . . God . . . ,’ while the book of Ezra-Nehemiah ends with the words elohay letoba , ‘ . . . my…
David Noel Freedman suggests in his book on the unity of the Hebrew Bible a reason for the repetition of the decree of Cyrus at the end of 2 Chron and the beginning of Ezra. He points to certain manuscripts in which Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah enclose the Writings: Chronicles at…
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