Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
This was a newspaper column that I wrote for the Minco Millennium back in January of 2000 when I had first moved to Minco, Oklahoma to pastor First Reformed Presbyterian Church. I wasn’t able to catch the recent performance of the musical, Godspell , in Oklahoma City. However, my dad…
Awhile back, there was a big debate among Evangelicals as to whether one had to trust Jesus “as Lord” as well as “as savior. Some claimed that one could be saved by Jesus through a faith that did not involve submission to him as Lord. Others claimed that one must…
I originally wrote this a few weeks ago in April 2002 as a column in the local newspaper, The Minco Millennium under the title “Faith & Follow-Through.” Several passages in the book of Hebrews are difficult for Protestants to swallow. The author affirms the once-and-for-all work of Christ and yet…
N. T. Wright’s commentary on Romans is destined to be a classic. The introduction alone is worth the hefty price of the book — but the exegesis itself is, well, priceless. I will not attempt a full review — these are just miscellaneous thoughts and random reflections — but I…
At an inn in the town of Lystra three men sat around a corner table. All three were well-known disciples of Joshua Messiah, members of what the town called a new cult, the Way. The short gray-haired man with the enormous beard was clearly restless. “This is taking too long,”…
Recently there has been some surprising debate in some circles over where Paul summarizes his Gospel. I say “surprising” because many Evangelical Bible scholars have held, for quite some time, that Paul’s Gospel is encapsulated in Romans chapter 1, verse 3 and 4. Here is the passage in context: Paul,…
Showing page 228 of 309
Showing page 1 of 43
INTRODUCTION The world is divided into two great families. On the one hand, there are those who are “called children of God” (3:1), while on the other hand are the “children of the devil” (3:10). The main distinguishing mark is conduct: Children of the devil practice sin, while children of…
The good folks at First Things have posted an article of mine on their web site. You can see it at http://www.firstthings.com.
1 John 2:20: You have an anointing from the Holy One. As I said in the sermon, John uses the word “anointing” to refer to the Spirit. We are led into truth, and enabled to persevere in the truth, because the Spirit has been poured out. But John uses this…
“You have no need for anyone to teach you,” John writes, since “His anointing teaches you about all things.” Whatever this means, it certainly doesn’t mean that Christians don’t need any teachers. That would make John’s statement contradictory, since he’s teaching his readers they don’t need teachers. Besides, the New…
It is almost universally believed among evangelicals that Jesus is coming soon. This conviction is obvious among those who think that Jacques Chirac or Vladimir Putin might be the Antichrist. But even evangelicals saner eschatologies cling to the belief that Jesus could be returning any day. In his excellent commentary…
Berman offers this very sharp summary of Foucault’s work, whom he says is “about the only writer of the past decade who has had anything substantial to say about modernity” (Berman is writing in 1982). Then: “what he has to say is an endless, excruciating series of variations on the…
Showing page 1770 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
