Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Whatever else the 2016 Presidential cycle has accomplished, it has brought the chasm between nationalism and globalism into sharp relief. Many see this divide as the issue of the campaign (Robert Merry) or of the century (Pat Buchanan). It seems to be a choice we have to make. Christians must…
Salvation is a gift. The righteousness of justification (Romans 5:17) and eternal life (Romans 6:23) are gifts freely offered. According to Risto Saarinen ( God and the Gift ), “God is directly called the giver 104 times [in Scripture], of which 42 are in John’s Gospel and John’s Letters. In…
In the last 40 odd years of studying the Bible, I have read more essays and commentaries on Deuteronomy 6:4 than I can recall. I have also more than twice changed my view on what should be the correct translation of Israel’s central confession. What is so complicated? After the…
Satan is currently bound from gathering the nations in kingly rebellion so that Jesus might gather them in priestly unity. Everything which Scripture records for us, no matter how mundane or mysterious, exists as part of a process of growth to maturity. This transformation is achieved through relationships established by…
God’s people are a missionary people, and this is not true only of the New Testament church. God called Abraham to bless the Gentiles through him, and one of Israel’s recurring sins was her failure to carry out this mission. Israel was supposed evoke praise from the Gentiles, but instead…
Are you ready for the New Year? Are you ready to follow Jesus wherever He takes you this year? Are you read to follow Him into the garden? Are you ready to stay at His side to be arrested, interrogated, tortured, crucified, buried? Are you ready to follow Jesus wherever…
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Luther writes (Commentary on Gal 2:20), “Christ and I must be joined together so that He lives in me and I in Him - and what a wonderful way of speaking that is. For because He lives in me, whatever there is in me of grace, righteousness, life, peace, salvation…
Calvin uses “regeneration” to describe the process of mortification and vivification by which the sinner is renewed in the image of God. This differs from the sense the word has in later Reformed writers. Melanchthon ( Apology for the Augsburg Confession ) uses the word in yet another sense: “we…
Robert Preus has a refreshingly unreconstructed chapter on divergent views on grace in his 1997 Justification and Rome . He asks why recent Catholic-Protestant dialogues have not addressed the issue of grace more directly, and claims that the affirmation that “justification is by grace” has quite a different meaning in…
There’s a fascinating review of Richard Rhodes’ recent biography of Audubon in the Dec 6 issue of The Weekly Standard . The reviewer has this to say about the “pervasive strangeness ” of Audubon’s art: “Audubon’s most powerful compositions (with few exceptions, such as the regal wild turkey cock and…
Martin Chemnitz provides an intriguing discussion of Abraham’s justification in his classic Examination of the Council of Trent . He pinpoints the debate between Protestant and “papalist” as follows: The issue is whether the ground of our justification is found in our post-regeneration works or in an alien righteousness of…
INTRODUCTION According to Jesus?Econsistent testimony, the Father sent Jesus into the world (John 3:34; 5:24, 30; 7:28-29; 15:21; 16:5; 17:3). Jesus didn?t come to protect us from an overbearing and hostile Father. He came in obedience to the Father?s commission. In fact, everything Jesus did manifests the Father (John 5:19-20),…
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