Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Optimism is “an inclination to put the most favorable construction upon actions and events or to anticipate the best possible outcome.” 1 On the other hand, pessimism is “an inclination to emphasize adverse aspects, conditions, and possibilities or to expect the worst possible outcome.” We can see that optimism and…
If we wish to understand the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, we must begin with seeing them as a part of the creational order. Trees, along with plants and seed-bearing things, come to life by the word of God as part of…
“I chant slips and irreversible disasters, wiltings, failures, scars, the little disappointments and the large, blue streaks down a world that wishes it was only suncolors.” Paul J. Pastor from Kintsugi Song I recently lost something very valuable. Something I’d had for years and used every day. But, it wasn’t…
In his eponymous book, Jonah follows an exodus pattern. He travels through the waves and east of the city into the wilderness. On a first reading, it looks like another use of this common literary shape in the Old Testament: salvation through the waters of death and the wilderness of…
“Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” The unknowing master of ceremonies didn’t know how right he was. We see this play out in John’s apocalypse. The end is like the beginning,…
Read in isolation, The Test of Adultery (Num 5:11-31) presents the reader with a seemingly bizarre ritual, conjuring up ideas bordering on the Salem Witch Trials. Beyond this, pressing questions linger—such as, “Why is the woman in particular singled out, while no test is provided for the husband of a…
Showing page 23 of 309
Showing page 5 of 43
John 5:30: ?I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.?E Jesus comes to do the Father?s will, and this means that the Father?s will…
This morning I want to address the students in the congregation ?Enot merely the college students but all other students we well. During the Christmas holidays, you will probably spend much more of your time at home than you have over the past few months. This could be a great…
Here’s a methodological oddity in some treatments of justification: On the one hand, justification is taken as a sum of the gospel. On the other hand, virtually the ONLY discussion of justification in the OT is philological ?Ethe meaning of the terms ?Eand often even this is limited to a…
Some additional notes on John 5, largely indebted to Gary Burge’s NIV Application commentary. It has been said that the synoptic gospels ?EMatthew, Mark, and Luke ?Eare essentially passion narratives with long introductions. That is not really a fair way to describe what goes on in the synoptics, and this…
In John 5, Jesus claims that His authority to pass judgment and His power and raise the dead both come from the Father. How are these two prerogatives related? Are they identical? Does Jesus give life and condemn to death in passing judgment? It seems that this is possible: 1)…
A few thoughts after listening to student presentations on feminist theology all morning. (I know, BTW, that there are all sorts and conditions of feminist theology.) 1) Rosemary Reuther says that Jesus’ maleness is an “accident,” on par with the accident of His Jewishness or the fact that he was…
Showing page 2028 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
