The word hamartano is used once by Luke in Acts, where it is rendered as offend (Acts 25:8). The apostle Paul was defending himself against Festus, and says that he has not offended in any way — whether against the law of the Jews, or against the temple, or against Caesar. He was not standing …
Don’t Preach Like a Specimen of the Third Sex
“‘Rustic coarseness’ is quite refreshing after one has been wearied with inane primness. Well did Cicero exhort orators to adopt their gestures rather from the camp or the wrestling ring than from the dancers with their effeminate niceties. Manliness must never be sacrificed to elegance” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 299).
Reverse Dehumanization
“If we look at the villains instead of the victims — the police, politicians, social workers, businessmen — we find that the humanitarians have given them free will. They do not speak about the industrialist’s tyrannical father, the loan shark’s miserable childhood in an orphan home, the politician’s neurotic mother. Those people are responsible for …
Like Contrasting Walking with Legs
Green Baggins has put up another post, this one working through a short article I wrote on pp. 7-8 of the FV issue of Credenda. Given the subject matter, this post will be very brief. Well, maybe not very brief, but comparatively brief. Man, look at it grow . . . Just two issues. The …
Just Seething With Latent Hostilities
We really need a substantive, book-length response to N.T. Wright on these global justice issues. Given his position of influence, because of his significant theological stature, because he grounds his proposals in the glorious basics of the gospel, and because of the real passion he brings to the issue, this matter is now squarely on …
A More Excellent Way
INTRODUCTION: We are continuing to consider the problems posed by desire, envy, competition, and ambition. We have now come to competition, something dear to the heart of most Americans. But because of this we must guard our step. You have heard many times that we must repent of our virtues, and this subject is a …
Like Jesse James Robbing a Train
So this response should finish up my reactions to Lane’s first critique of the first article in the FV issue of Credenda. And in this last installment, I do have a few things to say, even though I don’t believe there is a great deal of disagreement at this point. On the question of introspection, …
First, Do No Harm
Rob Hadding poses a reasonable question here. My apologies for the techglitch (which we have not been able to solve yet) that keeps Rob from visiting us directly. The short form is that Rob is not sure Wright deserves the “bludgeoning” for those global justice pages that he sees me trying to administer. “Shouldn’t we …
Down Hill
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 137 “The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender” (Prov. 22:7). And things fall down when you drop them. This proverb is simply an observation on the way things are. We do not here …
Sin and Sins
The Johannine use of hamartano and hamartia is straightforward. After Jesus had healed the lame man at Bethesda, He told him to go and sin no more (hamartano), lest a worse fate befall him (5:14). He does something similar, but with a very different tone, with the woman caught in the act of adultery (8:11). …