Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Matthew’s gospel is a replay of Israel’s history, and this replay occurs at two different levels. On the one hand, Jesus relives Israel’s history and does it faithfully. He is the Son, the true Israel, called out of Egypt, baptized in the sea, tempted in the wilderness. He is the…
Trinity House President Peter Leithart will deliver two lectures at the Eighth Day Institute annual conference in Wichita, Kansas, January 16-18. The conference theme is "Constantine, Christendom, and Christian Renewal," and Dr. Leithart will be lecturing on Constantine. Dr. Leithart will preach on Sunday, January 19, at Trinity Covenant Church…
In the previous article, we considered the life of Abraham up to the birth of Isaac and the way in which his life up to that point foreshadows later redemptive history. Our reason for this consideration was at the Gospel of Matthew's behest. He pointed us in that direction. He…
The Spirit of Speech The last period in Israel’s history arrives almost from nowhere. The prophets appear unannounced, give short, but earth-shattering messages and then are whisked away by the Spirit (1 Kings 18:12). They do not hold high positions in Israel, but their words give them great political sway.…
Trinity House Institute is delighted to announce our first annual series of Nevin Lectures. Timothy George, Dean and Professor of Church History at Beeson Divinity School, will deliver four lectures on “Sacramental Theology from a Baptist Perspective” on February 7-8, 2014 at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama. More information...…
Revelation 1: 7 states the theme of Revelation. It is a self-standing verse, beginning and ending with “Amen” (the “Amen” at the end of verse 6 should be taken as the beginning of the statement in verse 7). A double Amen as a double witness, and it becomes a threefold…
Showing page 181 of 309
Showing page 1 of 43
McGrath notes that Augustine interpreted the genitive in the phrase “righteousness of God” in Rom 1 objectively, so that it was understood as the righteousness that God gives in saving sinners (in “making” them righteous). Ambrosiaster, as I pointed out in an earliet post, interpreted the genitive subjectively - the…
Ambrosiaster writes, “Iustitia est Dei, quia quod promisit dedit, ideo credens hoc esse se consecutum quod promiserat Deus per prophetas suos, iustum Deum probat et testis est iustitiae eius” (PL, 17.56b). McGrath explains: “God, having promised to give salvation, subsequently gives it, and as a result is deemed to be…
Nevin wrote: “There is more a great deal in Christianity, I firmly believe, more in the idea of hte Holy Catholic Church, than has yet been attained, either in the way of knowledge or in the way of life, by the Protestant Reformation.”
There was a consensus among the theologians of Trent, McGrath argues, that justification was “factitive,” a view that excluded that “a sinner may be justified solely as a matter of reputation or imputation, while remaining a sinner in fact.” But of course that raises the question, What exactly is a…
McGrath traces the odd development in Lutheran Orthodoxy of the notion that regeneration and faith precede justification in such a way that “where Luther had understood justification to concern the unbelieving sinner, orthodoxy revised this view, referring justification to the believing sinner.” This takes Lutheran Orthodoxy back in the direction…
McGrath notes, “While justification was universally understood to involve the regeneration of humanity, the opinion that an ontological change is thereby effected within humans is particularly associated with the period of High Scholasticism and the development of the concept of created grace. The earlier medieval theologians expressed the change effected…
Showing page 1854 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
