Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Timon Cline wrote recently that “theonomists” didn’t run Puritan New England. 1 He is correct, in his major thesis, that the claim that “Puritanism and the natural law tradition are antithetical” is “wildly ahistorical.” Mr. Cline demonstrates that Puritans repeatedly extolled natural law. Besides the Puritan sources Mr. Cline mustered,…
The Church is the land of the walking trees. In Mark’s Gospel, the identity of Jesus is slowly and progressively revealed. Though St. Mark announces at the beginning of his narrative that Jesus Christ is “the Son of God” (1:1), this is a reality that must be spoon-fed to His…
All Scripture is of ultimate significance as the word of God, but it may be helpful to think about what makes a book (in this case, a letter) possibly unique within the canon. In this case, the “general” nature of Ephesians should stand out, but it often is not recognized…
Where do we draw the lines between what is right and wrong? This question is fundamental to civilization, fundamental to a free society. To put this question in the bluntest and most offense terms: if there is a time to kill — which Solomon says there is — whom shall…
This article was originally posted in May of 1994. We speak of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The early Church tended to speak of Him as Father, Word, and Spirit. In this short essay, I want to suggest some other ways to think of the Trinity, ways that…
Jonah’s Home The story of JONAH belongs in the book of KINGS. JONAH balances the story of the unnamed Judean prophet (1K13) in KINGS’ literary structure. Each story describes a journeying prophet that crosses land or sea to confront a wayward king. The two stories are located during the reigns…
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A few quotations on Adam’s “natural” capacities culled from Heppe: Polanus: “The original wisdom in man’s soul was that excellence and perfection of knowledge, by which unimpaired man rightly knew God and God’s work and himself and wisely understood all things unifold, singular, and universal, and rightly compounded or divided…
Barth (CD, 4.1) offers this challenging evaluation of the Protestant Orthodox notion of a Trinitarian covenant: “For God to be gracious to sinful man, was there any need of a special decree to establish the unity of righteousness and mercy of God in relation to man, of a special intertrinitarian…
Thanks to Joel Garver for pointing me to a couple of passages in Turretin’s Institutes where he explicitly discusses and rejects the idea of “pure nature.” A brief summary follows of Turretin’s discussion from the Fifth Topic, Question 9 follows: 1) Turretin offers several definitions of “natural,” and the relevant…
Modern-day Arians have answers to the standard NT texts on the deity of Christ. They aren’t good answers, but they have answers. What they don’t have are answers to the many texts that demonstrate the deity of Christ through intertextual echoes. Paul says in Philippians 2 that Christ existed in…
INTRODUCTION Hezekiah is a new David, Manasseh an idolatrous Solomon. Josiah reverses the sins of Jeroboam by bringing an end to Jeroboam’s liturgical experiments. Great as he is, he cannot save Judah from destruction. Huldah prophesies that Jerusalem, Judah, and the temple are doomed (22:16-20), and the narrator confirms that…
Luke 2219: Jesus said, This is My body, which is given for you; do this as My memorial. We saw in the sermon this morning that the name “Manasseh” means “Forgetful” or even “Causing to forget.” Judah went into exile because of her forgetfulness, because King Forgetful made her forget…
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