Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
My good friend, Jason Ewert, recently posted a review of Pastor Douglas Wilson’s book, Against the Church . Jason correctly notes that Pastor Wilson’s main pastoral motivation in writing this book is to combat dead orthodoxy. Dead orthodoxy is a real problem in Reformed churches that celebrate the primacy of…
At the church I pastor, we have four servers who distribute the communion elements to the congregation, and I distribute the elements to those in the foyer and nursery. The servers and I do not partake of the bread and wine until the congregation is served first. As this has…
We at Trinity House believe that the church ought to raise and train her future pastors. Part of that training may be carried out by specialized institutions like Trinity House, but the church and her leaders are ultimately responsible for that training. To encourage churches to assume that responsibility, Trinity…
Sandra Jacobs's The Body as Property examines the role of physical disfigurement in the Hebrew Bible, with focus on the Torah, and more specifically on the (fictitious) Priestly document, P. After an introduction laying out a rationale for the comparative method that guides her research, she explores circumcision, the use…
Yahweh saves. That’s what Isaiah’s name means, and that’s what Isaiah’s prophecy is about. Yah saves Judah when Aram and Israel pressure her. He saves Jerusalem from the Assyrian siege. He brings Judah back from the grave of Babylonian exile. But this triumphant message of Isaiah fizzles. The last few…
Are apostasy and assurance mutually exclusive? Some seem to think so. But let’s consider this a bit: No Reformed man would ever say that a man who is “saved” today will be safe forever no matter what . Rather we say, “your sins are forgiven, now, walk faithfully, glorify the…
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This is an old essay from Biblical Horizons, which is not currently available on the BH site. Jude 9 raises several difficulties (though not insuperable difficulties) for conservative commentators. The event that Jude recounts does not seem to be drawn from the Old Testament, and most scholars claim, based on…
INTRODUCTION Jesus promises rest to the weary who come to Him (11:28-30). Next thing we know, He’s in conflict with the Pharisees over the Sabbath (12:1-14). Jesus’ Sabbath-keeping stands in sharp contrast to the Sabbath-keeping of the Pharisees. The response of Israel’s leaders is becoming more defined: They want to…
Matthew 11:25, 27: At that time Jesus answered and said, I praise Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent and didst reveal them to babes . . . . All things have been handed over to Me by…
In our sermon text, Jesus speaks of the Father who hides and reveals things. We like the idea of a God who reveals things, but a God who hides things is disturbing. Jesus is not the first to talk about the hiding and hidden God. Isaiah said, “You are a…
In her recent book on the temple origins of Christian worship (T&T Clark, 2007), Margaret Barker notes the various meanings attached to baptism in the NT. She disputes Paul Bradshaw’s conclusion that this variety means “the process of becoming a Christian was interpreted and expressed in a variety of ways,”…
When we speak of “clock time” we tend to mean the natural movement of moments. But of course, the clock is a mechanical device, and its measurements of moments is purely conventional. It ignores natural seasonal variations in the length of daylight and night and generally, as Barbara Adam notes,…
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