Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
In the first installment of this essay, I offered the following chiastic outline of 1 Timothy: A. 1:1-2. Paul greets Timothy as a true child of the Faith, and blesses with grace, mercy, and peace. B. 1:3-7. Timothy is urged to command against heresy. C. 1:8-11. The reason the Law…
In the first installment of this essay, I offered the following chiastic outline of 1 Timothy: A. 1:1-2. Paul greets Timothy as a true child of the Faith, and blesses with grace, mercy, and peace. B. 1:3-7. Timothy is urged to command against heresy. C. 1:8-11. The reason the Law…
In the Bible, a memorial is something that brings God's promises and previous actions to mind, so that He can do them again. The rainbow is the model, set in heaven so that Yahweh remembers the covenant He makes with Noah (Genesis 9:13-15). God is light and dwells in a…
The First Epistle to Timothy fits neatly in the context of what King Jesus and the church are doing in the gospels, in Acts, Revelation, and all of the Apostolic Age in between. Paul writes to Timothy to encourage him in his work as a pastor in the “latter days,”…
I have been pastoring Cornerstone Reformed Church in Carbondale, Illinois since 1999. We are members of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC), but have been practicing catholicity for many years, both personally and corporately. I’ve always believed that the Church of Jesus Christ is much more than the local…
Ecumenism is easy to talk about. It’s doing something to promote it that’s the problem. As a pastor in a town with churches of different denominations, all of whom love their doctrinal distinctions and are jealous to defend them whenever they perceive the slightest challenge, how can you be ecumenical…
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The opening statement of Song of Songs 2 is spoken by the Bride, but the Bridegroom chimes in with an enhancement. This is the liturgical structure of conversation, and of life, and of love. When Adam named the animals, he found no one to share in His priestly task in…
Psalm 103:1 is a small chiasm that hints at large anthropological conclusions: A. Bless Yahweh B. O my soul B’. All that is within me A’. [Bless] His holy name. Though the verb “bless” is not repeated in the final clause, it is implied. Yahweh and “holy name” are clearly…
I have often cited this passage from Thomas Oden’s Pastoral Theology: Essentials of Ministry (85), though I long ago forgot it came from Oden. It has some flaws, but it’s a moving statement of the privilege of pastoral vocation: “”There are five incomparable days in the believer’s life. The day…
Expounding on Jesus’ words about adultery in the heart (Matthew 5:27-28), John Paul II notes “a significant convergence” with as well as a “fundamental divergence” from postmodern “masters of suspicion” ( Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology Of The Body , 310-12 ). Nietzsche, Marx, and Freud all…
Edward Vacek ( Spirituality and Moral Theology: Essays from a Pastoral Perspective , 103): says that “Gratitude essentially has a ‘for me’ or ‘for mine’ quality. We can, properly speaking, give thanks only when we or persons whose lives we share have been benefited. We can be happy that a…
Thinking through the dynamics of gift and gratitude, linguistic analogies are useful. A statement or proposal or question is a gift. A response is supposed to be a counter-gift, an act of gratitude, grace returned for the grace given. To keep a conversation going, you need to receive the gift…
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