Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
In the first installment of this essay, I offered the following chiastic outline of 1 Timothy: A. 1:1-2. Paul greets Timothy as a true child of the Faith, and blesses with grace, mercy, and peace. B. 1:3-7. Timothy is urged to command against heresy. C. 1:8-11. The reason the Law…
In the first installment of this essay, I offered the following chiastic outline of 1 Timothy: A. 1:1-2. Paul greets Timothy as a true child of the Faith, and blesses with grace, mercy, and peace. B. 1:3-7. Timothy is urged to command against heresy. C. 1:8-11. The reason the Law…
In the Bible, a memorial is something that brings God's promises and previous actions to mind, so that He can do them again. The rainbow is the model, set in heaven so that Yahweh remembers the covenant He makes with Noah (Genesis 9:13-15). God is light and dwells in a…
The First Epistle to Timothy fits neatly in the context of what King Jesus and the church are doing in the gospels, in Acts, Revelation, and all of the Apostolic Age in between. Paul writes to Timothy to encourage him in his work as a pastor in the “latter days,”…
I have been pastoring Cornerstone Reformed Church in Carbondale, Illinois since 1999. We are members of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC), but have been practicing catholicity for many years, both personally and corporately. I’ve always believed that the Church of Jesus Christ is much more than the local…
Ecumenism is easy to talk about. It’s doing something to promote it that’s the problem. As a pastor in a town with churches of different denominations, all of whom love their doctrinal distinctions and are jealous to defend them whenever they perceive the slightest challenge, how can you be ecumenical…
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A rabbinic text ( Avot de Rabbi Natan , 6) reads: Once, as Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai was coming forth from Jerusalem, Rabbi Joshua followed him and beheld the temple in ruins. “Woe unto us,” Rabbi Joshua cried, “that this, the place where the iniquities of Israel were atoned for,…
In an article on temple Christology in John , Mark S. Kinzer devotes a few illuminating pages to Jesus’ discussion with Nicodemus. Citing Raymond Brown, he points out that the dialog is set in the middle of a chiasm that includes extensive treatment of Jesus as the temple: A. First…
Francis Moloney ( Signs and Shadows , 147-8) has this nice comment on Jesus’ conflict with the Jews during the feast of rededication (John 10): “Jesus, who stands before ‘the Jews’ in the portico of Solomon in the Temple, points to himself and claims that he is the visible presence…
In a brilliant paragraph ( The Mystery of the Temple ), Congar summarizes the synoptic indications that Jesus is Himself the Presence. “When two or three gather, I am in the midst” (Matthew 18:20) attributes to Jesus the place and role Jews assigned to the Shekinah. At the transfiguration, a…
A friend and former student, Katy Cummings, writes with some thoughts on how to take Christmas music back from the sentimentalists. The rest of this post is from Katy. Part of the problem with Christmas carols is that, as the kerygma of Linus has testified, Luke 2 has become the…
It took 46 years to build this temple, the Jews object to Jesus. And you’ll raise it up in three days? Clearly, the 46-year period refers to the building. Or maybe not. In his Commentary on John , Aquinas summarizes the view of Augustine who says in his Book of…
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