Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
In my last essay, we saw how consumer culture has gutted the familial category necessary to understand the church. When a consumer visits a church, he expects another service-provider, such as a hospital or a restaurant. He doesn’t understand the role of men in ministry, and thus, not the role…
First time visitors to our church sometimes express their surprise that children, even the youngest, participate with their parents in the entire worship service. Many congregations created an expectation for the parents (and children) of Sunday School or Child Care being available during the entire worship service or during the…
Quantifying the Love of God “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” ~ John 3:16 This most beloved verse in all the Bible was spoken by the Savior himself to Nicodemus. As…
While The Lord’s Prayer enjoys wide recognition throughout the Church, its richness and depth may be unrealized due to a lesser familiarity with, what I will argue is, its primary inspiration: the Tabernacle. There, Christ’s intent can rightly be discerned. The Prayer’s methodological correction to the Jews and Gentiles wasn’t…
The Consumption of the Covenant Idea of the Church Last time we saw consumerism, having canalized its attitudes in our culture, shapes what the consumer sees when he or she steps into a church. Here, we’ll see how it has eviscerated the covenant and familial ideas necessary to understand the…
The ignoble Jayber Crow can stir your appetite for the noble. It’s the simplicity of a good ol’ Port William boy that builds the charm of the book. In fact, the elitists in Port William receive the harshest blows and severest outcomes, as they should. But before delving into the…
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Paul uses the phrase “elements of the world” several times in his letters. The phrase had an accepted meaning by the first century, referring to the four elements of Greek science—fire, air, water, earth. Paul uses the phrase, but he doesn’t use the phrase in the accepted sense. What conclusions—substantive…
In a 2002 essay in the Andrews University Seminary Studies, Sigve Tonstad reviews the debate over the phrase pistis Christou - faith in Christ v. faith of Christ. The debate is typically confined to Paul’s letters, but Tonstad rightly points out that the last use of the phrase in the…
Several parallels link John fifth-seal vision of martyrs under the altar (Revelation 6:9-11) with the climactic sixth-seal vision of a multitude before the throne (7:9-17). Revelation talks a lot about clothing, and a lot about white clothing in particular. Only three times, however, does the book use the Greek stole…
Douglas Farrow has some wise observations about the same-sex marriage debate in his Touchstone review of Girgis, Anderson, and George, What Is Marriage? He commends the authors’ courage and insight, and is thoroughly in agreement with their effort to defend traditional marriage. But Farrow doesn’t think that the book hits…
Cherubim have four faces: ox, lion, eagle, man. As James Jordan has argued, those four faces are associated with different offices of Israel and phases of Israel’s history: the ox is sacrificial and priestly, the lion is royal, the eagle is prophetic, and Jesus is the man of the new…
When the Lamb appears in heaven, heaven bursts into song (Revelation 5). After the seven trumpets (Revelation 8-11), John sees a long series of visions depicting the dragon’s various attacks on the church. When the saints have all been safely harvested and raised above the firmament, they burst into song…
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