“In God’s pattern, in God’s glory, glory increases as it descends. In Christ, the one who has descended the furthest, all the glory of the Godhead is revealed” (For a Glory and a Covering, p. 34).
The Need to Cross-Check
How do we know things? How do we confirm things? With regard to any claim that matters enough that we need to check it, the Bible teaches that we look for external corroboration, internal consistency, and a clear willingness for the claim to be falsified. “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every …
Another Difference Between the Two Adams
When the soldier rammed his spear into the side of Jesus, blood and water came out (John 19:34). Though this is affected by the Johannine Comma, John appeared to think this highly significant, the Spirit, water, and blood being three witnesses on the earth (1 John 5:8). In any case, just as the first Adam …
Real Slippy
“He jumped down the hall and slid into the kitchen the way he always did when nobody was home. He wasn’t sure that the apostle Paul would do something like that, but there was no clear prohibition of it anywhere. And besides, his socks were slippy” (Evangellyfish, p. 71).
Marriage Between Man and Woman Defined
“The first is that you must have an explicit covenant surrounding a sexual relationship. Not everyone who is sexually united is married, and not everyone who has exchanged vows is married. The covenant exists when the two elements are there together: covenant vows surrounding a covenant union” (For a Glory and a Covering, p. 33).
Our Central Business
“The primary idea is that the discourse is a development of the text, an explanation, illustration, application of its teachings. Our business is to teach God’s word” (Broadus, Preparation and Delivery, p. 39).
A Strange Race Indeed
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) The Basket Case Chronicles #103 “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain” (1 Cor. 9:24). This verse can only be understood as high paradox. Paul has …
A Lot More of the Old
As I listen to cultural analysts bemoaning the current state of American consumerism, and comparing it (to a disadvantage) to unnamed halcyon days of yore, I am struck by an inability to see the largest and most obvious feature of the whole set-up. The issue is not that Americans uniquely consume like nobody’s business, but …
Debate As a Christian Duty
For many Christians, it seems a reasonable question to ask whether it is profitable for us to engage in public debates at all. Whoever changed his mind because of some public argument? Why wrangle about words? Logomachies just make my head hurt. In contrast to this, I want to argue that such a quietist position …
Some Cautions About Confession
Anybody who has followed our teaching for any length of time knows that we believe that confession of sin is good for the soul. I learned this emphasis from my father, and find it to be preeminently biblical. If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse …