INTRODUCTION: What Christian does not want to live in the will of God? What an admirable aspiration, and what a difficult thing to figure out. Many Christians have needlessly tied themselves up in knots over this issue. THE TEXTS: “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such …
The Law/Gospel Study Bible, Coming Soon
My apologies to Green Baggins for not getting to his latest installment on RINE more promptitudinously. Things have been busy — ministerial conference, presbytery, and a writing deadline all conspired to reinforce the dictum that obligations are like grapes. They come in bunches. Lane reviewed two chapters together (17 and 18), and he didn’t really …
A Commonplace in Proverbs
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 130 “He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man: he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich” (Prov. 21:17). This is a commonplace in the book of Proverbs. Take your pick—luxury and self-indulgence, and poverty with it, …
Kings Who Devour and Kings Who Feed
The incident of feeding the multitudes is recorded in all four Gospels, and is clearly considered by the witnesses of Christ’s ministry to be very important. And as we consider the meaning God has written for us here it is crucial for us to note the context. “And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves …
Aesthetic Exemplar
“We should, however, approach Augustinian aesthetics not in medieval but in Reformation terms, taking account of the important new factor introduced by the Reformation — an overwhelming emphasis on the written word as the embodiment of divine truth. In this milieu the Christian poet is led to relate his work not to ineffable and intuited …
Therefore We Have Spoken
“Our task is not to lecture about Jesus with philosophical detachment. We have become personally involved in Him. His revelation and redemption have changed our lives. Our eyes have been opened to see Him, and our ears unstopped to hear Him, as our Saviour and our Lord. We are witnesses; so we must bear witness” …
Mary and Miriam
“Surah 19:29 . . . claims that Mary, the Mother of Jesus, was a sister of Aaron. Because Surah 66:12 describes Mary as the daughter of Imram (the Amram of Exodus 6:20), it would seem that Muhammad was again confused about the facts. He had evidently mistaken Mary (the mother of Jesus) for Miriam (Moses’ …
Spasms of Self-Righteousness
“There is nothing so absurd, wrote Macaulay in the middle of the nineteenth century, as the spectacle of the British public in one of its periodic fits of morality; but now the spectacle is sinister as well as absurd. To make up for its lack of a moral compass, the British public is prey to …
Away or To?
“Our ability to drive an hour to get to church has more often than not created distance from our next door neighbors, and it has done this without really creating closeness to those we worship with when we are done with our drive. For various reasons, we do more driving away than driving to” (Mother …
Baked Lust
“Eight, further, as they stir up sin so they harden in sin. Fire hardens the clay into a brick. Thus are men’s hearts hardened in evil by our divisions. The hearts of men who heretofore had tender spirits were ready to relent upon any brotherly admonition. Now they are stiff; they stand out sturdily, yea, …