Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
A Study in Biblical and Practical Theology Sunday School Notes / Epiphany 2004 Introductory Note: January 6 is Epiphany in the traditional church calendar. Though Epiphany is often treated as a single day, with the Sundays following counted as “Sundays after Epiphany,” we will treat Epiphany as an extended season.…
Imagine someone from another world trying to learn to live in our society according to our customs. What if someone gave him a check for a hundred dollars for his birthday–the first check he had ever seen in his life? Would he immediately understand how a check was used? Perhaps…
According to Presbyterian doctrine, as articulated in the Westminster Confession of Faith, baptism is a baptized person’s “admission… into the visible church.” By referring to the “visible church,” the document makes clear it is referring to the present institutional Church with all her imperfections, as opposed to the future Church…
N. T. Wright claims that in the Apostle Paul’s writings “righteousness,” as it predicated of humans, denotes “covenant membership.” When he wrote this in the New Bible Dictionary edited by Sinclair Ferguson, J. I. Packer, and David Wright, no one thought this was too big a deal. However, when he…
It seems almost human nature to think that we can find something to do for God that will make Him do us favors. If we live more virtuously, or cut down on a vice or two, then God will have to reward us. But the problem with this notion is…
The First Commandment teaches us to trust in Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life. The First Commandment reads (I’m using NASB throughout): “You shall have no other gods before Me.” Obviously, trusting in someone or something else (even one’s own good works) for justification, sanctification, and eternal life”…
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Andrzej Toczyski's The "Geometrics" of the Rahab Story offers an insightful, multi-layered close reading of Joshua 2. His syntactical analysis of the chapter examines the features of the text that steer the reader's involvement in the story. His aim is to show how Joshua has been and is a "vehicle…
David Goldman is a conservative and a patriot, and is not given to hyperbole. But he describes the current US attitude toward Chinas a "xenophobic" and "ugly," and accuses fellow conservative Victor Davis Hanson of "crazy talk" about China. In response to Trump's tariffs on Chinese goods, "Chinese officials are…
Haley Goranson Jacob's Conformed to the Image of His Son is an exploration of Paul's theology of glory. Jacob's focus is on the meaning of the phrase in her title, drawn from Romans 8. She finds the several common interpretations of the phrase wanting: Conformity to the Son isn't physical…
The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries witnessed, Charles Taylor argues, the development of the "nova." At that time, "the alternatives open to unbelief are multiplied and enriched." After World War II, these options are diffused to the whole of Western societies, and this produces a "super-nova" ( A Secular…
In his contribution to The Future of Hope , John Milbank offers a description of postmodernity and suggests ways for the church to respond. Postmodernism may be a thing of the past; we're supposed to be in post-postmodernity nowadays. Still, much of what Milbank describes is still with us, and…
The Third Word assumes that we carry the Lord’s name. What it prohibits is bearing, carrying, or lifting that name “in vain” or “emptily.” The word can mean “false,” and bearing the name “falsely” is one of the sins that the Lord prohibits here. That does involve speech. This phrasing…
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