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Proverbs

Advice From a Sojourner, Part 6

10. Do not slander [tattle on] a slave to his master, Lest he curse [denounce] you and you be found guilty. The Sojourner of Proverbs 30 is a humble man. He makes this clear in verses 2-4, where he says that he is stupider than anyone else on earth, but…

by James B. JordanMay 2, 1990
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Biblical Horizons

An Old Debate Revisited

In retrospect and at first glance, many of the issues that have plagued and divided the Church seem incredibly trivial. The Quartodecimians were branded as heretics for celebrating Easter on 14 Nisan. One of the issues that divided the Eastern and Western Churches in 1054 was the kind of bread…

by Peter LeithartApril 13, 1990
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Advent

Gold, Incense, and Myrrh

The gifts of the wise men have been commonly interpreted as royal gifts to the infant King of the Jews. Each of the three gifts is, indeed, connected with kings and kingship in Scripture. The Lord’s anointed is pictured wearing a crown of gold in Psalm 21:3, and the gold…

by Peter LeithartApril 13, 1990
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Biblical Studies

Why Should I Join A Church?

The Church is not in good shape. Nearly every week we hear about another prominent Christian leader who has fallen into scandalous sin. Many shepherds feed their flocks a diet of baby food, if not outright poison. Few Churches celebrate the Lord’s Supper regularly, and few Christians appreciate its importance.…

by Peter LeithartApril 13, 1990
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Proverbs

Advice From a Sojourner, Part 5

Two things I asked of Thee, Do not refuse me before I die: Keep deception and words of falsehood far from me, Give me neither poverty nor riches, Feed me with the food that it my portion, Lest I be full and deny Thee, And say, "Who is the LORD?"…

by James B. JordanApril 2, 1990
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Biblical Studies

Joseph, the Righteous Husband

During the Middle Ages, Joseph, the husband of Mary, was the butt of many jokes. Medieval theater and art often depicted him as something of a buffoon, decidedly marginal to the gospel story. In part, this was the unfortunate obverse of the exaltation of Mary; any man would suffer by…

by Peter LeithartMarch 13, 1990

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History

Repetition

Whitehead said, “Everything of importance has been said before by someone who did not discover it.” I know Whitehead said this because J. Samuel Preus quotes him in an article about Spinoza. That’s not quite right, though: Preus doesn’t quote Whitehead, but quotes a quotation from Whitehead in a book…

May 13, 2008
History

Dutch liberty

J. Samuel Preus recounts this incident to illustrate the freedom Jews enjoyed in the 17th-century Netherlands: “A Jew is mugged and stabbed by a German, who then runs off. The victim gets up and chases him. Christians help him catch the perpetrator, who is summarily tried and executed. The Jew…

May 13, 2008

Great reversal

Pneumatology was at the heart of what George Marsden describes as the “Great Reversal” in American fundamentalism. A stress on the significance of Pentecost as the beginning of a new dispensation hardened the contrast between old and new covenants, and the contrast of Spirit and law also worked to undermine…

May 12, 2008

Pentecost Homily

Revelation 1:4: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne. What do we have when we have the Spirit? We have everything. This is no exaggeration. He is the sevenfold Spirit…

May 11, 2008

Eucharistic meditation, Pentecost

John 7:37-39: Now on the last day of the feast, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If any man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, from his innermost being shall flow rivers…

May 11, 2008

Exhortation, Pentecost

Pentecost is culturally invisible. There are no Whitsunday sales at the department stores, no gift-exchanges around lighted trees, no jolly elf, no crèches, no heart-warming Hollywood holiday films with Jimmy Stewart, no Bing Crosby crooning about rushing mighty winds. There are no eggs or bunnies either, no jelly beans or…

May 11, 2008

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