Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
One of the main characters of That Hideous Strength by C. S. Lewis is Mark Studdock, who was a sociologist but his true passion was being a part of the so called “inner circle.” He wanted to belong to the elite that would bestow glory and power. On the other…
The first Pentecost meant many things, fulfilling many types, shadows, and prophecies from the Old Testament. Pentecost marked the beginning of a new creation, and a new humanity. Just as the Spirit hovered over the waters of the original formless and void creation to shape and fill it, so the…
Clint Hail has had an exciting, varied life. A West Point graduate and a former infantry officer, he now serves as Community Transformation Director in Costa Rica for e3 Partners Ministries. Clint has also attended two Theopolis Institute courses. Clint recently told Theopolis about his experiences in the military, his…
Before the summer is out, the US Supreme Court will hand down a decision in Obergefell v. Hodges , the same-sex marriage case. Every other week, ISIS releases a new video of masked fighters beheading Christians, and the rest of the Middle East is in chaos. Boko Haram terrorizes parts…
The Theopolis Institute Board added three new Board members at its semi-annual Board meeting on May 16: Dr. Roy Atwood, Pastor Uri Brito, and Rod Olps, Jr. Formerly President of New Saint Andrews College in Moscow, Idaho, Atwood was recently appointed Abraham Kuyper Distinguished Professor of Classics at Morthland College…
The kingdom of God has come upon us, Jesus said. The justice of God is revealed in the gospel, Paul said. Whoever is in Christ, there is new creation. Isaiah's visions of lions and lambs and a peaceable kingdom are visions about the effect of the Messiah's first advent. If…
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INTRODUCTION Jesus opens His sermon pronouncing blessings. The Beatitudes imply certain attitudes and kinds of behavior, which are spelled out in the rest of the sermon. Above all, the Beatitudes are promises. As the one anointed by the Spirit, Jesus announces that God is working to turn the world right…
Matthew 5:20: I say to you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven. I’ve suggested in the sermon that Jesus is giving His disciples and the crowds instructions in redemptive righteousness. He is telling them and us how…
“I say to you,” Jesus said, “unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.” It’s easy to soften the force of this. Don’t. Jesus is not talking about His own personal righteousness imputed to us. He’s not talking about a…
In a 2003 article in JBL, Glen Stassen of Fuller Seminary examines what he describes as fourteen triads in the sermon on the mount. Along the way, he challenges the almost universal assumption that 5:17-48 is a collection of “antitheses,” arguing that Jesus’ instructions are not dyadic (as “antithesis” suggests)…
In a 1987 article and a 2005 revision (published in his Studies in Matthew ), Dale Allison offers a careful treatment of the structure of the sermon on the mount. To begin with, there are multiple verbal parallels between 4:25-5:2 and 7:28-8:1: “great crowds followed him” (4:25; 8:1); “the crowds”…
Jesus teaches the disciples on the mountain, we’re told in 5:1. Jesus sees multitudes, sits down, and the disciples come to Him. On the mountain, there is a circle within the circle. This is a new Sinai. Around Sinai, and around the tabernacle, there was a circle of priests and…
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