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Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.

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Ephesians

How we get Ephesians 2 Wrong: Part One: Jews & Gentiles

We assume we understand “chapter two” of Ephesians, and therefore generally get the entire Old Testament wrong. We also misunderstand the evangelism in Acts. Our misunderstandings might have happened without Ephesians 2, but the confusion is mutually reinforcing. This confusion (either cause or effect or both) also extends to a…

by Mark HorneSeptember 8, 2022
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Ecclesiology

The Groaning Church

From the Cucumber to the Cross All creation groans with the pains of childbirth, so the Apostle Paul tells us in his epistle to the Roman church. This is a fact that I believe every living person not only knows, but feels deeply. Something about this world just isn’t quite…

by Zephram FosterSeptember 6, 2022
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Colossians

The Household Code in Colossians

Angela Standhartinger has written about the so-called “house-hold code in Col. 3:18-4:1.” Her introductory paragraph is illuminating. The household code in Col. 3.18-4.1 is the earliest text in the New Testament that calls on women, children and slaves to submit to men, fathers and masters. In many respects this text…

by Ralph Allan SmithAugust 30, 2022
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Proverbs

Danger and Play and Proverbs 31

On the Woman Question Strength and honor are her clothing And she shall rejoice in time to come. There’s been, I’m sorry to say, more Discourse. Primarily though not exclusively on Twitter. About the Woman Question, again. So I figured I’d make things a little worse by highlighting an aspect…

by Susannah Black RobertsAugust 23, 2022
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Biblical Theology

The Murder of the Real (Part 2)

How to Spot a Simulation The smartest way to take over the world is to replace it with a fake one. The smartest way to replace it with a fake one is little by little. Part 2 Part 1 can be found HERE . Dirt or gold Another difference between…

by Mike BullAugust 18, 2022
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Zephaniah

The Murder of the Real

How to Spot a Simulation The smartest way to take over the world is to replace it with a fake one. The smartest way to replace it with a fake one is little by little. Part 1 Deception is the common factor in all of Satan’s schemes, but throughout history…

by Mike BullAugust 16, 2022

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Reformers and Pietists

Bavinck says that, in order to distinguish the “knowledge” that was essential to saving faith from the “assent” of Catholic definitions of faith, the Refoemrs insisted that “the knowledge of saving faith [is] a matter of the heart rather than of the intellect.” On this point, then, Pietists are doing…

April 7, 2009
Literature

Dickens’ baptismal allegory

In a 1994 article in the South Atlantic Review , John Cunningham proposes to read Great Expectations as a baptismal allegory. In the first half of the novel, baptismal imagery is inverted, but as the book progresses everything turns rightside up: ” Great Expectations attains a comic resolution as the…

April 7, 2009

Centered in God

Karl Jaspers summarizes Cusa’s argument for an infinite cosmos: “Because the cosmos is an image, it is infinite, but its infinity is of the imitative kind, which denotes endlessness, the possibility of always going further. In time, eternity is endless duration. In space, the infinite is the endless; in the…

April 6, 2009

Sermon notes, Easter Sunday

INTRODUCTION In Colossians 2-3, Paul unfolds the implications of Jesus’ death and resurrection. We were “buried with Him in baptism” ( 2:12 ), and we have also been raised with Him (3:1). Our participation in Good Friday and Easter determines the shape our lives take. THE TEXT “If then you…

April 6, 2009

Body of the flesh

Paul says that in the circumcision made without hands, the “body of the flesh” is stripped off by the “circumcision of Christ” (Colossians 2:11). I take “circumcision of Christ” to to be a reference to Jesus’ death. He is the seed of Abraham according to flesh, and so He has…

April 5, 2009
Politics

Hauerwas’s challenge

Hauwerwas tells Shortt: “Some think the just war is a series of exceptions to from the general Christian commitment to non-violence, but I think the stronger justification of just war involves claiming that it is what is required if you are to do justice. Accordingly, justice requires punishment; it will…

April 4, 2009

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