Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
In the previous part of this series , we showed how the serpent, through Adam’s failure to protect his bride and her subsequent deception, alienated man from woman. It’s difficult to overstate the consequences of man’s disobedience: disregarding God's commands begins to break down the order which He created. God…
In the first part of this series , we showed that God declared that the division between man and woman would be “not good.” There was a division between heaven and earth, which, in contrast to the rest of the creation account, is conspicuously not described as “good,” and there…
The evangelical community is caught in a controversy between one of its most influential members, pastor John MacArthur, and one of its rising stars, Beth Moore. For those who haven’t been following this fight, here’s the summary: Beth Moore is a well-known public teacher and author on the Bible. MacArthur,…
When one of the most famous personalities of the “young, restless, reformed” world starts sounding like an emissary from Vatican City, #BigEva social media takes note. That’s what happened this week when a sermon clip surfaced of Francis Chan hinting at his evolving view of the eucharist: “I didn't know…
All of the Gospels have a story about a fig tree. Not just parables, actually. There are those, too, when Jesus uses illustrations having to do with fig trees. But there are accounts of actual events having to do with fig trees in all four Gospels. Matthew has given the…
I. Introduction With the final installment of the sequel trilogy complete, it’s fair to say that Star Wars fans are, and evermore will be, a house divided. The sequels have split opinion since they were announced. The chief accusation has perhaps been that they amount to little more than nostalgia—not…
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McGrath notes that Augustine interpreted the genitive in the phrase “righteousness of God” in Rom 1 objectively, so that it was understood as the righteousness that God gives in saving sinners (in “making” them righteous). Ambrosiaster, as I pointed out in an earliet post, interpreted the genitive subjectively - the…
Ambrosiaster writes, “Iustitia est Dei, quia quod promisit dedit, ideo credens hoc esse se consecutum quod promiserat Deus per prophetas suos, iustum Deum probat et testis est iustitiae eius” (PL, 17.56b). McGrath explains: “God, having promised to give salvation, subsequently gives it, and as a result is deemed to be…
Nevin wrote: “There is more a great deal in Christianity, I firmly believe, more in the idea of hte Holy Catholic Church, than has yet been attained, either in the way of knowledge or in the way of life, by the Protestant Reformation.”
There was a consensus among the theologians of Trent, McGrath argues, that justification was “factitive,” a view that excluded that “a sinner may be justified solely as a matter of reputation or imputation, while remaining a sinner in fact.” But of course that raises the question, What exactly is a…
McGrath traces the odd development in Lutheran Orthodoxy of the notion that regeneration and faith precede justification in such a way that “where Luther had understood justification to concern the unbelieving sinner, orthodoxy revised this view, referring justification to the believing sinner.” This takes Lutheran Orthodoxy back in the direction…
McGrath notes, “While justification was universally understood to involve the regeneration of humanity, the opinion that an ontological change is thereby effected within humans is particularly associated with the period of High Scholasticism and the development of the concept of created grace. The earlier medieval theologians expressed the change effected…
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