Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The doctrine of justification is precious among Protestants. And it should be. The fact that God has declared our sins forgiven and that we have a righteous standing in the sight of God united to Christ is comforting and brings great joy. Unfortunately, the biblical teaching on justification is, many…
The Old Testament priests were given a number of seemingly disparate duties. As everyone knows, the priests led the sacrificial worship of Israel; only the priests could sprinkle blood on the altar or within the tabernacle, and only they could approach the altar to turn sacrificial animals into smoke. But…
M issional ecclesiology is all the rage these days, but for many being “missional” means downplaying or even eliminating concern for the “internal” life of the church, particularly its liturgical life. Missional and liturgical, mission and communio , are locked in zero-sum combat. That cannot be right. The liturgy is…
An old friend of mine, now passed into Heaven, started to say this in relationship to his sometimes troubled family, in the last quarter of his life, "I just had to take responsibility for the whole thing..." That was the seed for a new reading of the Gospel for me,…
She departed the port, dressed in her best ceremonial regalia, with tassels and flags fluttering from her mast and rigging. She stood tall, robed in mist, crowned in white, and backlit by the rising sun. There she sat, shimmering and spotless; with a perfect ragtop, and a full tank of…
John the Baptist is presented in the gospels as the fulfillment of the Old Testament promise that God would send His messenger to prepare the way for the coming of the glory of the Lord (Is. 40), and the promise to send Elijah before Him to turn the people to…
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Matthew 26:31-75 is organized mainly as a series of small chiasms The first is in verses 31-35: A. Jesus predicts the fall of the disciples, based on Scripture, vv 31-32 B. Peter protests, v 33 C. Jesus predicts Peter’s triple denial, v 34 B’. Peter protests again, v 35a A’.…
Responding to Sinclair Ferguson’s defense of infant baptism in Baptism: Three Views , Anthony Lane attacks the use of “sign and seal” as the “controlling framework” for one’s theology of baptism.  He points out that for Ferguson the “proper” function of baptism is to “display and portray God’s grace,” and…
The notion that salvation is illumination is often criticized for being too intellectualist.  Jaroslav Pelikan sums up the criticisms of Athanasius’ use of this image by saying “the impression was almost unavoidable that the enlightenment given in salvation applied primarily to the mind and the intellect” and his language sometimes…
Why the incarnation?  The eternal Son enters humanity to stretch it to its limits, and beyond.  By becoming flesh and living and dying and rising in flesh, the Son makes it big enough for God to dwell in. More precisely, the Spirit: The Son stretches out the flesh He assumes,…
Every word we speak, Derrida argues, wanders off on its own, and we can’t protect or control it. True enough with regard to human words.  But God’s Word is a living Person, the eternal Son, a Word equal to the speaker with the resources to fend for Himself.  This Word,…
In the previous post, Jim Rogers asked what can morally be done about enemies who use innocents are human shields?  That’s a difficult question, but I’ve found Daniel Bell’s discussion helpful ( Just War as Christian Discipleship: Recentering the Tradition in the Church rather than the State ). Bell takes…
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