Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The Blessing of the Father The narrative of the Exodus makes it clear that Yahweh is Israel’s Father. Moses is told to declare to Pharaoh that “Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, ‘Let my son go that he may serve me’” (Exodus 4:22-23). In contrast to…
When reading the Old Testament, the believer faces two dilemmas. First, there is a seemingly sharp discontinuity between the universal proclamation of the gospel to the whole earth and God’s singling out of the nation of Israel. Second, the New Testament says of Jesus that “there is no other name…
John 17 contains the longest prayer that we have from Jesus, and it shows us the intimate relationship between the Father and the Son in a way that few passages do. The prayer lays out the chiastic pattern noted by Athanasius (God became man so that man could become God),…
The following meditation on the incarnation is paraphrased and quoted from Karl Barth, The Doctrine of Reconciliation (Church Dogmatics, Vol. 4, Part 1) , pp. 185ff. In the incarnation, the eternal Son of God makes His way into a far country, and takes on the form of a servant. “But…
Peter says "baptism saves you" (1 Peter 3:21). Does the New Testament teach that "baptism justifies you"? I think the answer is Yes. That's a controversial answer, and demands some defense and explanation, but first some critical qualifications. No New Testament text states "baptism justifies you," so my argument will…
In his THI article “ Son of David, Son of Abraham ,” Peter Leithart notes that Matthew's genealogy “contains a summary of redemptive history.” This statement is only too true and one that deserves further elucidation. Biblos genese ō s. The first two words of Matthew's Gospel are usually translated…
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Ariel Levy, Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture . New York: Free Press, 2005. 224 pp. “Raunch Culture” involves the mainstreaming of pornography and strip clubs, Howard Stern interviewing topless women, college girls flashing for the camera on Girls Gone Wild videos, skanky fashions marketed to…
2 Kings 16:7: Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, I am your servant and your son. As we’ve seen in the sermon this morning, the changes Ahaz makes to the temple are intended to ingratiate himself to Tiglath-pileser and reflect Ahaz’s chastened sense of his own position…
Easter is about faith, because Easter is about light. Jesus came as Light from the Father of lights into a world darkened by sin and death, and His light shone especially at the resurrection. At His resurrection, His “appearance was like lightning, and His garment as white as snow” (Matt.…
Thanks to Toby Sumpter, Peter Roise, and Joshua Appel for the discussion that led to these observations. How should we take the phrase “because of the king of Assyria” in v. 18? It has sometimes been taken to mean that Tiglath-Pileser forced liturgical changes on Ahaz, but recent studies of…
1 John 1:7 says “if we walk in the light as He is Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” We expect the sequence: If we walk in light, the blood of Jesus cleanses…
2 Kings 16:12 describes Ahaz’s consecration of the altar built from the prototype in Damascus. Three times in that verse he is called “the king,” and in this designation, the author of Kings picks up the technique employed in 1 Kings 13 to describe Jeroboam’s consecration of the altar at…
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