Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
First, what is going on in Ukraine is not for the European Union or against Russia. It is about the Ukrainian people’s dignity and destiny. They are tired of a corrupt government which acts like a tyrant, robbing and looting from its people, and they hate a judicial system where…
"Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship…
Atheists love to embarrass Christians with a snide reference to the story of Elisha setting two bears upon some helpless children. What nobody, even Christians, seem to get is the “Covenant significance” of all the players in the story, harking back to Moses. The prophets were, after all, God’s “repo…
Preaching is in trouble. The classic models of the preacher as teacher of doctrine or as herald of the gospel are flawed, and don’t hit home in the postmodern world, which is oriented to images and mystery rather than to linear discourse and rationality. Trygve Johnson suggests an alternative that…
The following remarks were given to introduce the first annual Nevin Lectures, February 7, 2014. Trinity House was founded in 2012 to promote the reformation of the church by training pastors, future pastors, and lay people in Scripture and liturgical theology. We believe the church exists for the life of…
We can gain basic insights into the nature and function of the tabernacle by considering the biblical terms and phrases used for that structure. Exodus 25:1-9 begins the lengthy instructions for the construction of the tabernacle, and it uses some of the key terms for understanding the theology of the…
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Finlan ( Paul’s Cultic Atonement Metaphors ) wants to distinguish sharply between sacrifice and the removal ritual of the day of atonement. He is not persuasive. He claims that “Hebrew sacrifice must be performed in the temple, and it is used to cleanse the temple, which is the center and…
Finlan doesn’t think there’s any idea of substitution in the sacrificial rites, though there is in the scapegoat ritual ( Paul’s Cultic Atonement Metaphors , 91). To see a penal substitution in sacrifice, “assumes something that is never stated in Hebrew texts: that the animal is being somehow punished.” He…
Dorothy Sayers once said that the incarnation and atonement prove that, whatever God may be up to with His world, He is determined to play by the rules. Paul would have agreed. Stephen Finlan writes ( Paul’s Cultic Atonement Metaphors , 101), apropos of Paul’s use of cultic terminology in…
Yahweh brought Israel out of Egypt “on eagles’ wings” (Exodus 19:4). John A. Davies argues ( A Royal Priesthood ) that this is no trite metaphor: “Representations of [eagles and vultures] are found in close association with royalty in both Egypt and Mesopotamia. A series of temple scenes in Egypt…
Priests have been despised throughout the modern era, but in Scripture the priest is a foretaste of the destiny of the human race. He is a sign of the restoration of the imago Dei . John Davies explains how ( A Royal Priesthood , 164-5): “Just as the original creation…
Hosea 6:7 has been a Reformed proof text of an Adamic covenant: They broke covenant like Adam. Recent commentary has been skeptical. “Adam” can mean “mankind,” rather than the individual first man. John Davies ( A Royal Priesthood , 202) thinks the older interpretation, however “unfashionable,” has something to commend…
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