The author of Hebrews is seeking to show his Jewish readers that Christ’s supremacy includes supremacy over every angelic being. An undue regard for angels was common among the Jews of this period, and the author of Hebrews is taking care to lift the name of Christ above every name. He accomplishes this through a …
Just Breathtaking
Last night the new Moscow city council met for the first time, and after they were all sworn in, nice and tidy like, a new council member (Aaron Ament) made a motion to have a moratorium placed on all “conditional-use permit applications for all educational institutions and commerical schools in the downtown sector” The Lewiston …
The Root of Affectation
“Sir Henry Savile (one of the scholars who prepared the King James Version of the Bible) read the indictment, almost four centuries ago” ‘Vanity,’ he said, ‘is the sin, and affectation is the punishment: the first may be called the root of self-love, the other the fruit. Vanity is never at its full growth till …
Paideia Central
[Speaking of ancient Greek civilization] “Further, the point of paideia was to bring that culture about. To find a word of comparable importance to them, we would have to hunt around for a word like ‘philosophy.’ To find a word of comparable importance in our culture, we would have to point to something like ‘democracy.’ …
Paul and James
Not that I want to beat a dead horse or anything, but I would be interested in feedback from any critics of Auburn Avenue stuff on the following statement. Would you all be comfortable with this expression of the relationship of faith and works, Paul and James? What are we to do with James’ apparent …
The Glory of Christ
In a very real way, the tragedy of modern worship is that we have become like the Samaritans — we worship what they do not know. The grief of our era is that the Church has fallen into the worship of a tiny Christ. And a good portion of our remedy is to be found …
Service in the Supper
The Lord Jesus, as He established the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, taught His disciples about another kind of authority, one that does not depend upon who shall be reputed the greatest. He also taught that it did not depend upon how people might flatter the one who holds to carnal power – when someone …
Gladness in the Sanctuary
In this time of exhortation, it is easy to dwell on the things we are doing wrong, or might do wrong, as we approach the Father in worship. And to a point, this is actually as it should be — sinners must never become presumptive about anything. At the same time, one of the things …
Trusting in Mammon
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 72 “He that trusteth in his riches shall fall: but the righteous shall flourish as a branch” (Prov. 11:28). One of the oldest temptations in this fallen world is that of trusting in the security provided (or so it is …
So Much Genius, So Little Talent
“Reputations born of hyperbole must gather ever more hyperbolic hyperbole unto themselves, else they die (and take their fabricators with them). The problem, of course, is that there is a point above which a reputation cannot rise: once a writer has become the most important writer of the day, he or she has nowhere to …