Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God…
With the surprising discovery of the Nelda Boswell scroll historians have deciphered its contents and concluded that the apostle Paul returned to the region of Galatia shortly after he wrote the letter that we call Galatians. The evidence suggests that a number of local pastors, elders, and deacons, along with…
Second Temple Judaism was a form of covenantal nomism, according to E. P. Sanders’ terminology. This means that Torah-observance was a way of expressing loyalty to the Lord of the covenant who had graciously elected Israel. I think Sanders’ view (taken up in bits and pieces and with some modifications…
We often hear that the key to Christian obedience is thankfulness for what God has done. But the Bible stresses faith and hope much more than gratitude. The Baptist pastor and author John Piper has written, “Nowhere in the Bible is gratitude connected explicitly with obedience as a motivation. We…
One of the questions that is commonly asked about Tom Wright regards his teaching about how Paul uses the term “the righteousness of God.” Since Wright’s interpretation of the term in Paul’s epistles is commonly mentioned in passing but rarely analyzed, it seems like a good idea to explicitly spell…
If God promised a certain land to the seed of Abraham, saying that it would be theirs “forever” (Gen. 13:15), why do Reformed churches teach that the Jews permanently lost their right to the land? What about all these Old Testament “forever” promises and prophesies made to the Jews? How…
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Milbank argues that, given its ontology of violence, paganism can only respond to violence with a counter-violence of its own. Political and social thus do not rest on peaceful donation or harmony but on the threat and actual practice of violence. This view could be refined by introducing redemptive history.…
Robert Louis Wilken has a very fine piece on the “church’s way of speaking” in the Aug/Sept issue of First Things. He points out that the church’s faith is not merely “doctrinal propositions, creedal affirmations, and moral codes” but “a world of discourse that comes to us in language of…
Kierkegaard: “Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close . . . We would be sunk if it were not for Christian scholarship! Priase be to everyone who works…
Ephesians 1:7, 13-14: “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace . . . In Him you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in Him…
Almost from the beginning of the university in the late Middle Ages, students have formed a community of their own, set off from the surrounding community. Sometimes this division of town and gown erupted in literal battles. As recently as the late 1960s, students in various universities in Europe and…
This comment comes from Burke’s “Letter to a Noble Lord,” addressed to the Duke of Bedford and the Earl of Lauderdale. He is warning that “the rude inroad of Gallic tumult” will turn on any English nobles who support it: “With them insurrection is the most sacred of revolutionary duties…
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