Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
When someone expounds the way of salvation found in the Westminster Confession and Catechisms and in the easily-accessible writings of the Reformed heritage, he often finds him embroiled in a debates about the covenant of works and the Mosaic Covenant. One is “proven” to be aberrant by allegations that one…
The ultimate condemnation of a position in Reformed circles is to show that it “leads back to Rome.” Indeed, one gets the feeling that Rome is a worse destination for a Presbyterian than even hell itself. The accusation of Rome stings deeply, of course, because it means that all the…
One of the odd features of Michael Horton’s version of Covenant theology is his interpretation of the covenant God made with Abraham 1 in Genesis 15. According to Horton, The very way in which God made the covenant with Abraham (putting him to sleep; walking through the torn animals by…
What was I trying to do, when I wrote my book on Mark’s Gospel ? Fundamentally, I wanted a book that would change readers by making them better readers of the Gospel of Mark. My ideal reader is not someone who goes to the book to use as a resource…
Why do we need sacraments? According to the Westminster Confession, sacraments were instituted by Christ “to confirm our interest in him” (27.1), “to strengthen and increase” the “faith” of those within the Covenant of Grace and “to distinguish them from those that are without” that covenant (Westminster Larger Catechism, #162).…
In Isaiah 5:1-7, we have a typical covenant lawsuit, in which the Lord accuses his people of rejecting his grace and mercy. It is not my intention here to exegete the entire passage, or to look at the way the vineyard image used here serves as a metaphor in other…
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Isaiah 66 includes a terrifying warning to Israel: Yahweh is coming in fire, nose burning in anger, riding on the whirlwind that drives away the wicked like chaff. He’s coming with sword and fire to bring judgment (vv. 15-16). Sword and fire. That’s familiar. There’s the fiery sword of the…
One of the intriguing ideas in Deep Church Rising , written by Andrew G. Walker and Robin Parry, is that the church is currently suffering its “third schism.” The first two are familiar: The schism of East and West during the eleventh century, and the Protestant-Catholic division of the sixteenth.…
The Hebrew word chul means whirl, twist, or writhe, and in some contexts “dance.” In certain settings, it takes on the sense of “travail in labor,” describing a woman who writhes to bring forth a child (cf. Isaiah 26:27-28; 45:10; 51:2; 54:1). The world itself writhes in Yahweh’s presence (1…
“I will extend peace to her like a river,” Yahweh promises Jerusalem (66:12a). How is peace like a river? The parallel line that follows helps explain: “And the glory of nations like an overflowing stream.” Once, the glory of Jerusalem flowed out of Jerusalem to Babylon - the glory of…
Lawrence Buell’s The Dream of the Great American Novel addresses a long-standing question in American letters: Is there such a thing as a GAN, and if so, what is it? In her TLS review , Sarah Graham writes, “Introduced in print by John W. De Forest in January 1868, the…
Martin Bernal ( Black Athena , 1.128) points out the novelty of Christian association with the sign of the fish, which had no purchase in the Old Testament: “Key disciples were fishermen, and fishing images abound. There is the miracle of the two fishes and the five loaves of bread.…
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