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Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.

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Federal Vision

Whose Legalism? Which Works-Righteousness?

The 2002 Auburn Avenue Pastor’s Conference and the Assurance of Grace Recently, there has been some controversy over the presentations of four speakers at the Auburn Avenue Pastor’s Conference. Accusations have been made including a denial of justification by faith alone and something close enough to “baptismal regeneration” that it…

by Mark HorneMay 28, 2003
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Galatians

The Problem with Moses (It's Not What You Think!)

Today, many in the Reformed world view a meritorious covenant of works as essential to a proper understanding of the gospel. These theologians believe that God set up a program in the Garden by which Adam would merit eternal life and blessing by his obedience. These same theologians usually regard…

by Rich LuskMay 24, 2003
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Theologia

The Gospel = Jesus Is Lord

After I graduated from college in 1989, I spent a summer in the Atlanta area in Georgia learning that I was not cut out for construction work. Then I met George Grant, one of my favorite authors. He was working for a church in South Florida in charge of their…

by Mark HorneMay 24, 2003
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Justification

Righteousness from God

One meaning of “righteousness” in the Bible is moral uprightness. Perhaps a more basic meaning would be faithfulness. For example, Psalm 96.13 praises God, saying: He will judge the world in righteousness, And the peoples in faithfulness. In Hebrew poetry two lines often say the same thing using different words.…

by Mark HorneMay 24, 2003
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Eschatology

Participationist Eschatology

I once saw “eschatology” defined as the study of edible French snails. But it really means the doctrine of the last things in Christian theology. In American Evangelical culture it is usually reduced to science fiction stories. But for the Apostle Paul it was actually the key to the Christian…

by Mark HorneMay 23, 2003
Atonement

N. T. Wright on the Atonement

To understand the view of Nicholas Thomas Wright regarding Christ’s work of redemption, one must begin with the centrality of Adam to the plight of the human race. Anyone who has heard Wright’s lectures on Philippians will not be able to forget his haunting appeal to Genesis 5.3 as a…

by Mark HorneMay 23, 2003

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Caught up to heaven

After they die, the two witnesses are caught up to heaven (Revelation 11:12). As James Jordan points out in his lectures on Revelation , this is not the first time someone is caught up to heaven. Enoch was, so was Elijah. Then Jesus, then the witnesses. Each is a preacher…

February 7, 2013

Trinity House: A Pastor’s Perspective

Throughout the Christian centuries the primary means God has used to form his people as Christ’s inheritance is their gathering to him in worship where they hear his word, rejoice in his grace, revere his Name, and receive his many gifts. For too long now this sacred meeting of man…

February 7, 2013

Evil for Evil?

Darrin Belousek ( Atonement, Justice, and Peace: The Message of the Cross and the Mission of the Church ) wants to disconnect substitutionary atonement from the principle of retribution, the notion that “doing justice in response to crime requires ‘repaying’ the offender his ‘due’ in punishment for the crime and…

February 7, 2013

Qur’an on the Jews

Philip Jenkins argues in Laying Down the Sword: Why We Can’t Ignore the Bible’s Violent Verses that, though “a few passages in the Hadith are venomously anti-Jewish,” none in the Qur’an are. And the anti-Jewish statements in the Qur’an derive, he suggests, from Jewish sources: “Historians have long known that…

February 6, 2013

Shakespeare’s Richard

With the splashy discovery of the supposed remains of Richard III by archaeologists from the University of Leicester, the old question of Shakespeare’s Richard demands review. Sarah Knight and Mary Ann Lund summarize the contemporary testimonies to Richard’s physical appearance, including Shakespeare’s innovations: “If Shakespeare can be absolved of inventing…

February 6, 2013

Drones Unleashed

David Cole offers a chilling analysis of the Justice Department white paper on drones. The news reports have highlighted the fact that the document endorses killing US citizens who are deemed by “an informed, high-level official” to be “an imminent threat” against the US, provided the person cannot be captured…

February 6, 2013

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