Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Click HERE for an audio version of this article. For part 1 of this series, click HERE . The New Covenant changes none of this. There is nothing new or odd about Mary’s sitting at Jesus’ feet, nothing strange about various “deaconesses” serving the Incarnate Tabernacle. Paul affirms that in…
An Introduction Despite my rather hectic schedule as a father and pastor, I’ve become more and more concerned that a tract defending God’s sovereignty and fore-ordination of all things would be a helpful tool for the Reformed pastor–one converstational in tone and persuasive in style. I have decided to undertake…
There has been a great deal of controversy in the various conservative Reformed microdenominations in North America. Since I am a pastor in one of these and have been advocating a return to the historic Protestant and Confessional view over again the baptistic mutation that is now prevalent in our…
I have recently written on justification as a covenant status and justification and adoption , understood as joining with Christ and his family at the Lord’s Supper . I write about things like this because it seems quite common in America to denigrate the need for community in one’s commitment…
Samuel Miller was one of the early professors at Princeton Theological Seminary. As a Presbyterian he wrote a book that defended infant baptism . Miller’s book was fine, but his appendix on baptismal regeneration seems problematic. Of course, his initial attack on superstition is quite warranted, but I am speaking…
Awhile back I wrote the following, first quoting from the author of the excellent book, A Baptism That Saves : The sacramental view [of baptism] most accords with the idea of God’s initiating a covenant by his sovereign decree in election–effecting this through effectual calling. This is because, instead of…
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N. T. Wright’s views on Paul and justification will be misconstrued if they are examined outside the context of his views on Israel’s history and Jesus’ role in that history. That is, Wright’s work is of a piece – his historical Jesus studies are essential to a proper understanding of…
To understand EP Sanders’s “revolution” in Pauline studies, it’s helpful to look at Bultmann’s understanding of Paul, against which Sanders and others are explicitly and implicitly reacting. (I’m following the superb summary in Stephen Westerholm’s Perspectives Old and New on Paul.) Bultmann’s starting point is anthropological. As a creature, man…
In his book, The Reign of Chivalry , Richard Barber gives a very fine summary of the courtly love tradition and the romantic tradition that it produced. I reproduce here only some of the main points of his discussion of the lyric love poetry of the troubadours. 1) Courtly love,…
INTRODUCTION Matthew’s gospel is organized to show that Jesus is the True Israel, reliving Israel’s history faithfully. But Matthew also shows that Jesus is Israel’s God, who is rejected by His own people but triumphs over their rejection. THE TEXT “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son…
Early in the Summa theologiae , Thomas defends the fourfold interpretation of the Old Testament Scripture by saying that the words of Scripture refer univocally to things, and that God providentially uses those things to signify later things. In this, he was anticipated by Hugh of St. Victor. In his…
Roch Kereszty asks why, if “Scriptural formulas are the most accurate and the best suited for expressing christological doctrine,” we need “theological speculation.” He answers that theology exists to clarify and explain the Bible: “Systematic theologians . . . will follow the direction given in the New Testament itself (that…
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