Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Matthew 8-9 records three clusters of miracles, interspersed with snatches of Jesus’ teaching about various aspects of discipleship. Just as the Sermon on the Mount displays the authority of Jesus’ Word in teaching, these chapters display the authority of Jesus’ Word over sickness, uncleanness, the creation, demons, and death. In…
Since the early 1980s, several of the conservative Reformed Churches have debated and wrestled with the issue of paedocommunion (infant communion). The PCA and the OPC assigned study committees to examine the question, both of which produced useful reports both in support of and against the position. Though the debate…
(This issue of Biblical Chronology concludes a discussion of the Biblical and Assyrian chronologies, begun in previous posts. Click on the category link of "Biblical Chronology" above to see previous issues. Did Shalmaneser Know Jehu? Allis writes: "The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser contains, in addition to brief accounts of the…
Movies Movies as an art form have a powerful impact because they take place in a dark room, on a large screen, with no distractions, and because they entail many of the arts: music, acting, choreography, design and color, etc. A movie can be an overwhelming experience for a young…
The Hebrew word translated as "grain offering" or "cereal offering" is minchah . Like the translation of `olah as "burnt offering," the translation of minchah as "grain offering" is somewhat deceiving, since minchah does not refer to grain or cereal. In liturgical contexts outside of Leviticus, in fact, the word…
"He shall then skin the burnt offering and cut it into its pieces" (Leviticus 1:6). The normal word ( `olah ) that is translated as "burnt offering" and "whole burnt offering" has nothing to do with either burning or wholeness. It is the noun form of a verb meaning "to…
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A wedding sermon from October 11: At the beginning of his letter to the Romans, Paul describes himself as a “bond-servant of Jesus Christ, called an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.” By the last phrase “gospel of God,” Paul was not merely saying that the gospel originates…
Luke 10 moves from the story of the Good Samaritan to the story of Mary and Martha. Though different themes come up, they are closely related issues. First, the Good Samaritan is contrasted with two liturgical specialists, a priest and a Levite, and his ministry to the wounded man suggests…
Robert Gagnon, who has written what has been described as the book on the Bible and homosexuality (still unread by me), offers these illuminating comments on the ancient views of homosexuality in an open letter to ECUSA Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold:<blockquote>First, there were many theories in the Greco-Roman world that…
Sermon outline for October 12: Toward Jerusalem and the Cross, Luke 10:1-42 INTRODUCTION Jesus has embarked on His “way” toward Jerusalem (9:51). Like the angel of Yahweh who went before Israel into the land (Exodus 23:23), so Jesus sends “messengers” before His face as He travels (Luke 10:1). Along the…
Bill Kristol is very concerned for the Bush administration. In the lead editorial in this week’s Weekly Standard , he says that the administration is internally at war, a war that has come to public view in the furor over the leak concerning a CIA agent. There’s no doubt that…
During a literature exam today, one of my students exclaimed (in some frustration) that the Greeks never got over the Trojan War. That’s exactly right. Homer wrote about it, some time after the event. Centuries later, tragedians like Aeschylus (Oresteian trilogy), Sophocles ( Electra ), and Euripides ( Andromache ,…
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