Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
It is commonly held in Reformed thought that the Noahic Covenant is given to all men equally. The Noahic Covenant concerns "man," not simply "church," and establishes civil government as an institution among "mankind" — that is the theory. Sometimes the Noahic Covenant is regarded as a "covenant of common…
The Fall of Jerusalem we have dated (provisionally) at 3426 Anno Mundi. In current B.C. dates this is 586 B.C. From this point forward in Biblical chronology we are required to make use of prophetic numbers rather than historical ones. Jeremiah prophesied that the captivity would last 70 years, but…
Evangelicals have in recent years become more interested in looking into their Bibles for wisdom to deal with modern problems. This is undoubtedly a welcome development, after many years of neglect. But there are dangers and costs as well. One of these is the tendency to fall into a modern…
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). The famous definition of faith with which the eleventh chapter of Hebrews opens has received a number of different interpretations. The crux of the problem is the interpretation of the words translated in…
15. The leech has two daughters, "Give," "Give." There are three things that will not be satisfied, Four that will not say, "Enough": 16. Sheol, And the barren womb, Earth, that is never satisfied with water, And fire that never says, "Enough." We are assuming, at least for the purposes…
As we have seen in previous installments in this series, the Old Testament is quite concerned with chronology, and carefully records chronological data for our use. For this reason, we can assume when we come to the chronology of the kings of Judah and Israel that the writers of the…
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In the current issue of Pro Ecclesia (Spring 2014) Todd Billings offers what he describes as a “Catholic-Reformed” alternative to Moral Therapeutic Deism and to contemporary “correlationist” approaches to contemporary theology. He finds “correlationist” instincts operating not only in latter-day Tillichian efforts to catch the wave of postmodernity, but also…
The Spurs are back in the finals against the formidable Heat, and of course Spurs fans everywhere are jittery (there are at least 3 outside San Antonio, perhaps more). It’s a good time to steel oneself against the possibility of tragedy and turn philosophical about sports. Or, to be philosophical,…
Ramses III was not the only ancient conqueror who castrated his conquered enemies (see Niehaus, Ancient Near Eastern Themes in Biblical Theology , 143). He destroyed the household of the conquered enemy by making it impossible for the household to reproduce. They were made eunuchs for the kingdom of Ramses.…
In a recent post , I presented a case for seeing the sacrificial system of Leviticus as a continuous wedding feast. The portions of the animal placed on the altar were considered “bridal” food for Yahweh the divine husband. I was drawing on the work of James Jordan, and Jordan…
John Walton observes that there are no real parallels to the imprecatory Psalms in Ancient Near Eastern hymnody ( Ancient Israelite Literature in its Cultural Context , 147). That is no accident: “In the monotheism of Israel, the suffering of the righteous constituted a much more serious problem than it…
It was suggested long ago by Origen that the canonical arrangement of the three books of wisdom - Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song - is deliberate. It represents the progress of wisdom. Origen saw it the trajectory as one from the principles of “moral knowledge” through the recognition of the…
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