Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Keeping the Law Paul states just as emphatically as James that the doers of the law will be justified (Rom. 2:13; James 2:14ff). But who are these doers of the law? Is Paul speaking hypothetically of a class of sinless people who do not really exist? Or does he have…
I have entitled this super-condensed piece to capture interest, but the fact is it sets forth what I have believed and taught long before I had ever heard of the so-called “new perspective.” For example, one can look at my paper on Ephesians 2.15 , written before I had ever…
N. T. Wright and other “New Perspective on Paul” (NPP) theologians have been criticized and condemned for speaking of justification in various “tenses.” In fact, Wright typically begins discussions of justification with future justification and works his way back to the present. But this is hardly a novelty. While the…
A doctrine of “faith alone” must be explicated and lived out in the light of the larger story of faithfulness, a story that reaches its climax in Jesus, the faithful Messiah. Indeed, the idea of “faith alone,” and even Paul’s use of the OT in service of that idea, makes…
In every city in the United States there are at least a couple of Christian radio stations which broadcast preaching around the clock, seven days a week. Many areas have a Christian television station or two which broadcast worship services several hours a day. Almost any bookstore will have a…
The queston has been discussed: which is prior, faith or repentance? It is an unnecessary question and the insistence that one is prior to the other is futile. There is no priority. The faith that is unto salvation is a penitent faith and the repentance that is unto life is…
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A t a recent Theopolis Institute course on Leviticus, James Jordan argued that the skin disease described in Leviticus 13-14 is a “touch of affliction” (the word translated as “mark” is nega' , from a verb for “touch”). It describes a touch from God, and skin disease defiles when the…
“C hicken Fried” by the Zac Brown Band is a paean to everything a Southern man loves—cold beer on a Friday night, jeans that fit just right, the radio turned up, sunrise, the “touch of a precious child,” Moma's love, and, of course, chicken. Near the end, the song turns…
T he list of Benjamites who come to David at Ziklag (1 Chronicles 12:3-7) is punctuated by names of men identified by their hometown or clan (Sara Japhet, 1 & 2 Chronicles , 261): 1. Ahiezer, Joash, sons of Shemaah the Gibeathite (3 names). 2. Jeziel, Pelet, sons of Azmaveth,…
M any critiques of technology are technological critiques of technology. That is, they weigh technology by technological standards and find it wanting. So argues Antonio Lopez in an essay in Retrieving Origins and the Claim of Multiculturalism . Lopez spies a technological mindset behind the question: “ what do we…
I n Leviticus 18 and 20, the one specific sexual sin that is described as an “abomination” is “lying with a male as lying-with a woman,” that is, male homosexual acts. An abomination is an act that makes the land sick so that it drives Israel into exile. At the…
L eviticus 18:23 describes male or female bestiality as tebel , a noun related to the verb balal , the word used to describe the confusion of languages at Babel. Tebel is often translated as “confusion.” That makes sense; bestiality crosses created boundaries between animals and human beings. It is…
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