Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
First John 5.16-17: If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life–to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for…
A few years back I read Lesslie Newbigin’s little book Truth and Authority in Modernity . 1 I was particularly impressed with his argument in chapter 2 “The Mediation of Divine Authority.” Now, maybe this is old hat to many of you, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard it…
Baptism is not Christian circumcision. There’s a lot of loose talk to that effect in Presbyterian circles; but it’s not accurate. The old world rite of circumcision was fulfilled in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Baptism unites us to Christ and therefore makes us participate in the circumcision of…
In recent years I’ve observed a number of Reformed-type churches trying to institute corporate handraising in certain sung parts of worship. This often does not seem to work very well. Some people don’t do it. Some do it half-way. Some do it with one hand. Some dramatically stretch to the…
Most modern scholars recognize that behind Arius’s campaign to differentiate Jesus from God was the Hellenistic theological conviction that the high God cannot suffer. Rowan Williams argues that Arius had the right idea about divine suffering, but the wrong idea of God, which “puts the unavoidable question of what the…
Charismatics have been much maligned for constantly “praising the Lord.” They would say if you hit your finger with a hammer, you should instantly say, “Thank you Jesus that You let me hit my finger…” This of course, as we all know, is stupid. There was once a lady who…
Showing page 217 of 309
Showing page 1 of 43
Why did the Reformation happen? Luther once said, “God threw the cards on the table and refused to play the game any longer.”
Some good friends, who happen to agree with the substance of my arguments about vulgar speech, suggested that the arguments would be more effective if I didn’t use the obscenities in their full form in the post. I have made the suggested changes on the previous post “On Vulgar Language”…
Victor Wilson points out that the story of Jesus and the woman at the well is arranged in a series of six exchanges between Jesus as the woman (vv. 7b-9; 10-12; 13-15; 16-17a; 17b-20; 21-25), and ends with Jesus speaking and the woman answering by action instead of words (26-27).…
I have been taken to task elsewhere on the web for a few posts on my site that included obscene and vulgar words. It’s been argued that my posts violate biblical standards for speech and writing. That’s the issue I want to address in this post. One of the most…
Here is another older piece, first published in the Chalcedon Report in 1988 (hence the dated bibliography and references), on the question of how Christians should talk about sex. Part of the point is that even non-obscene terms can be used in ways that undermine Christian sexual morals. Asterisking f-words…
INTRODUCTION John is a true apostolic pastor. His letters address the universal church (1 John), a particular congregation, the “chosen Lady” (2 John), and an individual Christian, Gaius (3 John). 3 John is full of names: Gaius (v. 1), Diotrephes (v. 9), Demetrius (v. 12). John is not content with…
Showing page 1715 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
