Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt…
Part 5: Laying New Foundations in a Dying World As I mentioned above, the history of Israel involved several centuries as a church-without-a-culture, and then several centuries as a culture-without-a-city. To be sure, there was an informal culture around the church of the Patriarchs, but the civilization of free farmers…
In the Reformation Tradition we baptize both professing believers and their children. In the case of infants it is now commonly insisted that this is done because the children are already in covenant with God. Baptism is a sign and seal of a previously existing reality. Despite the popularity of…
Concerning Sex & the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the loaf of bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one loaf, we who are many…
Protestant-Catholic debates about the sacraments have usually taken the form of debates about sacramental efficacy. Protestants claim that Catholics believe that sacraments work ex opere operato, virtually a magical view of the sacraments. A priest goes through the motions and says the mumbo-jumbo and — presto! — the sacraments confer…
In 27.2, the Westminster Confession says that because of the “spiritual relation” between sacraments and the things they represent, “the names and effects of the one are attributed to the other.” Applied to baptism, this means that when the Bible says that we are baptized into Christ (Rom. 6), it…
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In the final panel discussion at the LA Theological Conference, Alan Torrance offered this arresting interpretation of Peter’s confession in Matthew 16: Peter rightly confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, and Jesus responds by telling him “flesh and blood did not reveal this to you but My Father”…
Some reflections on bodies and the gospel at First Things this morning.
Shestov on Socrates: “How painful it is to read Plato’s account of the last conversations of Socrates! The days, even the hours of the old man are numbered, and yet he talks, talks, talks . . . . Crito comes to him in the early morning and tells him that…
More from Shestov: He finds an allegory of metaphysics in Anderson’s tale of the emperor’s new clothes and the child who declares the king naked. Children are always the obstacle in keeping up the charade about the emperor’s clothes. What’s to be done about the children? Shestov says, “With them…
Lev Shestov has some very funny critiques of metaphysics in All Things are Possible . In one section, he compares the differences between metaphysics and positivism to styles of painting: “In each there is the same horizon, but the composition and colouring are different. Positivism chooses grey, colorless paint and…
As a Pastor I feel the Lord’s pleasure when I preach His Word. It is a deep joy to be called and commissioed to open the Word of the Triune God for the people of God. For most of us we thought we were opening that Word faithfully and fully.…
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