Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
What About Catholics? (continued) Usually, such people are not seeking graven images, but rather their idolatry is of a broader character. They are seeking a home on earth. Scott Hahn’s book is called Rome Sweet Home . This is the essential sin, for there is no home on earth. The…
Reading the earliest Christian apologists is like watching a movie in which the hero has the means to demolish his opponents in his grasp but never realizes it. The apologists come across as men not altogether aware of the radical character of the gospel they defend. In response to charges…
Then [Elisha] went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up by the way, ne`arim came out from the city and mocked him and said to him, "Go up, you baldhead; go up, you baldhead!" When he looked behind him and saw them, he cursed them in…
Further Numerical Items of Interest Umberto Cassuto points out some other numerical factors in Genesis 5. 1 For one thing, he observes that every number in Genesis 5 is a multiple of 5, sometimes with the addition of 7. We have, in essence, made this point already. He also points…
Prostration God has designed the human body in a marvelous way, and Biblical religion is very physical. We believe in the resurrection of the body, against all pagan ideas of the immortality of the soul. We bury our bodies, not burning them. Human beings in their totality, including our bodies,…
Since Revelation is laid out in serieses of sevens, it is worth investigating to see if there is a series of seven after the seven libation-bowls of chapter 16. I believe there is, and it is the burden of this essay to expose it. The series of sevens, or heptamerous…
Showing page 275 of 309
Showing page 1 of 43
Galatians 4 is clearly about the law’s role as guardian and steward in charge of Israel during her minority. But Paul’s description of Israel applies just as well to Adam. Adam was created a minor son, an infant, but was promised an inheritance. Paul hints at the Adamic dimensions of…
Matthew 21:23-25 (possible 26:16) all takes place on a single day. Jesus comes to the temple a second time, wrangles with the priests and Pharisees, prounounces woes over them, predicts the destruction of the temple and the final review of sheep and goats. This is the “day of Yahweh,” the…
Jesus’ parable of the wedding feast (Matthew 22:1-14) is normally taken as a parable about Jesus’ ministry. The invitees who refuse to come are the Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day, and the people from the streets are the tax gatherers and sinners or the Gentiles. The man cast out is…
Jesus’ parable of the wedding feast seems grotesquely exaggerated. Invitees killing the messenger? A wedding host destroying a city? A poor slob without a tux being thrown into “outer darkness”? In a 1996 JBL article, Richard Bauckham addresses these oddities by highlighting the political dimensions of the parable. The feast…
Daniel Olson ( CBQ 2005) revives JM Duncan Derrett’s suggestion that the parable of the wedding feast in Matthew 22:1-14 is dependent on the LXX of Zephaniah 1. After offering a translation of both passages in parallel, showing verbal links, he adds: “In addition to these highlighted correspondences . .…
INTRODUCTION This section of Proverbs focuses on issues of image, wealth, work, and treatment of employees (vv. 8-12), and ends with two verses that deal again with the use of the tongue (vv. 13-14). The final verses connect this section to the preceding section of this chapter (12:1-7). Thus, the…
Showing page 1416 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
