Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
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…
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…
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…
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.…
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…
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…
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Explaining the first article of the creed, Luther’s small catechism says taht “I believe that God made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members . . . also clothing and shoes . . . .” Is there a…
Oberman says that Luther moved toward his reformation insights by exploring what he described as the “theological grammar” of Scripture, which involved letting God define his own terms, on the assumption that nomina sunt ad pacitum Dei . Through this, he realized that the God of Scripture was the “bonding…
In response to Hezekiah’s query, Isaiah promises that the Lord will “put a spirit” in the Assyrian king and that Sennacherib will “hear a rumor and return to his own land” (2 Kings 19:7). The following verse tells us that Sennacherib had gone from Lachish to Libnah, perhaps upon hearing…
Because of Hezekiah’s prayer (2 Kings 19:14-19), the Lord delivers Jerusalem, kills 185,000 Assyrians, and sends Sennacherib packing back to Nineveh. That’s what one calls an effective prayer. What made it so effective? Among other things, it is firmly based on the promise and word of God. He makes explicit…
Because of Hezekiah’s prayer (2 Kings 19:14-19), the Lord delivers Jerusalem, kills 185,000 Assyrians, and sends Sennacherib packing back to Nineveh. That’s what one calls an effective prayer. What made it so effective? Among other things, it is firmly based on the promise and word of God. He makes explicit…
According to Oberman, Luther’s great discovery regarding Scripture was not that Scripture alone can be trusted without question and is the final judge of controversy: “the maxim of sola scriptura . . . was the fundamental principle of the entire scholastic disputation tradition.” What Luther discovered instead was that “the…
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