Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
WHAT IS THE OT PRECURSOR OF THE NT OFFICE OF PASTOR? HOW DOES THE FORMER ILLUMINATE THE LATTER? The first problem to address is: how do we know that there is an office of pastor in the New Testament? 1 Perhaps the way the question is put may permit me…
[This essay was originally published in December, 1981, in The Biblical Educator , a publication of the Institute for Christian Economics, and again with slight revisions in Contra Mundum 7 (Spring, 1993). It is reprinted here as a supplement to my book Creation in Six Days .] In 1979, Dr.…
Anyone seeking to reverse the meaning of this promise needs to come to grips not only with the phrase "God was with the lad" later on, but also with Hagar’s response in 16:13. She worships Yahweh, putting her trust in Him and obeying Him. In fact, Hagar is at the…
Ishmael is the narrator of Melville’s fantasy-romance Moby Dick. Melville takes up the traditional view of Ishmael as a wayward son of Abraham, driven out solely because of the Divine "caprice" of election, an angry man with his hand raised against all other men. He is a fitting "anti-hero," or…
There were five cities at the center of the Canaanite culture in the circle of the Jordan, a place like the Garden of Eden, like the land of Egypt, before it became the Dead Sea at the destruction of the cities (Genesis 13:10). Genesis 14:2 tells us their names: Sodom,…
Meditations by James B. Jordan Genesis 19, the destruction of Sodom and the rescue of Lot, is part two of a story that begins in Genesis 18. These two chapters happen in one 24-hour period: noon and evening in Mamre, and midnight and daybreak in Sodom. God and two angels…
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When John turns to see who called him, he sees "one like the Son of Man" (Rev 1:13). That is to say, Jesus. As he looks more closely, Jesus begins to resemble someone else. He has hair white as wool and snow (Rev 1:14), like the Ancient of Days (Dan…
The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty One who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. — Zephaniah 3:17 The God who commands song is Himself an exultant Singer. Zephaniah…
The gospel isn't an apolitical message that happens to have political implications. It’s not a message of private salvation with downstream public consequences. Exactly the opposite. The gospel is public and political truth with personal consequences. All the vocabulary of the gospel is political. The Greek word for “gospel” –…
What should Christians do if we discover there are idolaters living down the street? Lots of tangles in the question. For better or worse, the U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of religion. We can debate whether or not the Framers intended the Constitution to protect Hindus and Muslims. In actual legal…
Free speech is a fundamental value of liberal politics, an expression of John Stuart Mill's promise that we can do and say anything , so long as we do no harm. It's a false promise. Absolute free speech was always a ruse. Speech has never been entirely free. It can't…
I watched only snippets of the Charlie Kirk memorial, but I'm overwhelmed with gratitude to God. No living person, I suspect, has seen so many high public officials testify so clearly to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for Tucker Carlson's exhortation to repent, starting with me .…
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