Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
In a February blog post for the Theopolis Institute, Benoît Engel offers a thought-provoking challenge to the widely accepted five-discourse structure of Matthew’s Gospel, proposing a sixth discourse in Matthew 21:28–22:14 to reframe the Gospel’s chiastic center. As someone deeply invested in Matthew’s literary design—explored in my book Reading Matthew,…
Avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law, for they are unprofitable and useless. Titus 3:9 Out of a deep love and care for the church, Paul tells Titus and those in the church to avoid four specific things: foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law.…
Theopolis publishes many polemics, especially on the Sacraments. This piece does not necessarily reflect the views of Theopolis, her board, or her editors. -JW Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days.He shall cleanse himself with the water on the third day and on the…
There is in the United States and the Western World some sort of religious revival occurring. Gen Z men—males born between ca 1997 and 2012—are flooding back in to churches. USA Today noted that Gen Z men—and to a lesser degree women—attending churches more than their millennial predecessors and they…
The primary task of many Biblical scholars (as they see it) is to explain how and why the Biblical text acquired its final form—i.e., what source material it used, how that material was expanded/redacted, who expanded/redacted it, why they did so, what the weather was like at the time, etc.…
Galatians 5:5-15 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion is not from…
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The rhetorical and metaphorical shift between Westminster Confession 25.1 and 25.2 is dramatic. The invisible church is described in terms of their intimacy with Christ and with one another: They are gathered “into one” under “Christ the Head; the invisible church is the beloved “spouse” of Jesus, and His “body”;…
The following summarizes the argument of David W. Noble in The Eternal Adam and the New World Garden . In Redburn , Melville wrote, “We are the heirs of all time, and with all nations we divide our inheritance. On this Western Hemisphere all tribes and peoples are forming into…
Some notes from a lecture on Melville’s Billy Budd. Billy Budd was written in the last few years of Melville’s life, and was not published until three decades after his death. It has been common to interpret the novel as a final testament that indicates a shift in Melville’s outlook.…
INTRODUCTION John’s entire message depends on Jesus being the Son of God, the child “begotten” from the eternal Father. Those who believe, love; and those who love and believe overcome the world (v. 5). THE TEXT “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who…
1 John 4:18: Perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. One of the earliest Trinitarian heresies is called “modalism.” It taught that the “persons” of the Trinity are not distinct persons, but only masks or roles that the…
Love is a necessary expression of new life and knowledge of God. If we are born of God and know God, we will love one another, and this love must be expressed in our actual behavior. John is blunt about the alternative: Whoever does not love does not know God.…
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