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Baptism

Jesus' Baptism: The Fount of Life

A Study in Biblical and Practical Theology Sunday School Notes / Epiphany 2004 Introductory Note: January 6 is Epiphany in the traditional church calendar. Though Epiphany is often treated as a single day, with the Sundays following counted as “Sundays after Epiphany,” we will treat Epiphany as an extended season.…

by Rich LuskJune 1, 2004
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Baptism

Baptism, Symbols, and Faith

Imagine someone from another world trying to learn to live in our society according to our customs. What if someone gave him a check for a hundred dollars for his birthday–the first check he had ever seen in his life? Would he immediately understand how a check was used? Perhaps…

by Mark HorneMay 29, 2004
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Baptism

Admission into the Church: Biblical Theology & Baptism

According to Presbyterian doctrine, as articulated in the Westminster Confession of Faith, baptism is a baptized person’s “admission… into the visible church.” By referring to the “visible church,” the document makes clear it is referring to the present institutional Church with all her imperfections, as opposed to the future Church…

by Mark HorneMay 29, 2004
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Covenant

Some thoughts on NT Wright, Righteousness & Covenant Status

N. T. Wright claims that in the Apostle Paul’s writings “righteousness,” as it predicated of humans, denotes “covenant membership.” When he wrote this in the New Bible Dictionary edited by Sinclair Ferguson, J. I. Packer, and David Wright, no one thought this was too big a deal. However, when he…

by Mark HorneMay 29, 2004
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Theologia

The God of Grace

It seems almost human nature to think that we can find something to do for God that will make Him do us favors. If we live more virtuously, or cut down on a vice or two, then God will have to reward us. But the problem with this notion is…

by Mark HorneMay 24, 2004
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Justification

The Moral Law Commands Faith in Christ Alone

The First Commandment teaches us to trust in Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life. The First Commandment reads (I’m using NASB throughout): “You shall have no other gods before Me.” Obviously, trusting in someone or something else (even one’s own good works) for justification, sanctification, and eternal life”…

by Mark HorneMay 22, 2004

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Atonement and Theology

In his recent Atonement, Law, and Justice , Adonis Vidu examines historical atonement theories in relation to accepted notions of law and justice that were current in the world of the theologians who produced the theories. His book is “an interdisciplinary reading of the development of atonement theory from the…

September 30, 2014

Eat an Almond, Kill a Bee

James Hamblin reports on new research that shows almonds are even better for us than we thought. Eating an ounce of almonds a day is associated with lower rates of heart disease, prevention of diabetes and arthritis, lower changes of Alzehimer’s. No wonder the almond has overtaken the peanut as…

September 29, 2014

Was Jesus A Pauper?

David Fiensy tries to avoid “polar opposites” in the essays collected in Christian Origins and the Ancient Economy . He doesn’t think Jesus was “desperately poor” or that Galileans in general were “half-starving.” Galilee wasn’t a “boom center” but it wasn’t famine-ridden either. On Jesus in particular, Fiensy explores the…

September 29, 2014

Mediated Immediacy

At the Paradosis conference at John Brown University, Edith Humphrey remarked briefly on the paradox of mediation and presence. Her point was that, though God’s presence to us is mediated, that mediation is embedded in or infused by an immediacy of presence. This must be so if we are going…

September 29, 2014

Wall Street Temptations

In an insightful piece at BloombergView , Michael Lewis analyzes the ways Wall Street affects the character of the eager young graduates who come to make their fortunes. Some of the temptations, he says, are obvious - emphasizing short-term gains or using financial success as a cover for moral laziness…

September 29, 2014

Animal Grammar

The first installment of a review of Naphtali Meshel’s The “Grammar” of Sacrifice at the Trinity House site .

September 29, 2014

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