Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The resurrection stories in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are among the strangest stories in all of the literature of the world, even among the strangest stories in the Bible. That is true of each Gospel’s accounts individually, but even more of the collection as a whole. On the one…
As a pastor, I’m interested in discipleship. Christians are called to be disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ. Discipleship has everything to do with the disciplines we walk by in our lives. Things like Bible reading, prayer, and fasting are hallmarks of standard Christian discipleship. The basic thrust is that…
Psalm 1 is justly famous among biblical texts. It opens the Psalter, it’s a paean to the life-giving power of the Law, and it beautifully describes righteous life as a stable, fruitful tree. It subtly weaves the contrasting threads of wickedness and righteousness into a succinct summary of biblical wisdom:…
No book is more quoted in Hebrews than the Psalter: there are quotations and allusions to psalms on virtually every page. And many of the quotations are not passing references but closely considered and repeatedly cited as the author of Hebrews develops his central arguments. Much of Hebrews is exposition…
Howard Bloom is a beautiful hypocrite. The author of books in as different subjects as Mohammed, scientific theory, and the cultural upheaval of the 1960s, he professes to be a “stone cold atheist.” Yet in spite of that profession, Bloom obviously writes as a Jew; that is, he writes with…
There may be some debate about who deserves the title “the King of American literature,” but, at least to my mind, there should be no debate over who deserves to be “the Queen” – let’s give the crown to Flannery O’Connor. She is, however, a very unlikely queen. Unlikely, not…
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The Greek word hilaterion has been one of the most disputed Pauline terms in the past century. Traditionally translate as “propitiation” or “propitiatory sacrifice,” many recent scholars have disputed the notion that Jesus died to appease an angry Father. In a 2000 article in the Tyndale Bulletin , Daniel P.…
My colleague Toby Sumpter offers these additional thoughts on the disciples as “friends of God”: “When Jesus tells His friends about the ‘fire falling.’ it’s hard not to think of Pentecost. Jerusalem is a new Sodom, but this time the judgment falls with even more potential for escape and mercy…
Angels are active in the book of acts, opening prisons (5:19; 12:7-11), directing preachers (8:26), assuring the Roman centurion Cornelius that his prayers are heard (10:3; 11:13). After chapter 12, angels virtually disappear. There are references to angels in 23:8-9, and Paul says that an angel assured him that he…
A student, Kellen Meyer, points out the Abrahamic roots of John 15:14, where Jesus calls the disciples “friends.” Abraham too was called a “friend of God” (2 Chronicles 20:7; Isaiah 41:8). In designating the disciples as “friends,” Jesus is in effect calling them “true sons of Abraham.” As a display…
Pastor Mark Horne shows the pathway into Romans at the Trinity House site.
“Conservatives are fighting a losing battle of moral arithmetic,” writes Arthur Brooks of the American Enterprise Institute. “They hand an argument with virtually 100% public support—care for the vulnerable—to progressives, and focus instead on materialistic concerns and minority moral viewpoints.” He thinks the solution is to “make improving the lives…
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