Introduction: In order to make applications from the text of Scripture to our own lives—which is an essential part of Christian living—it is necessary to identify what features of the biblical narrative or instruction are constant and what features change according to time and circumstance. If you are fighting devils with two horns in one …
The Foundation of Free Government
The foundation of every form of free government—whether in the family, or in civil affairs, or in the government of the church—is self-government. If the people do not have self-control, then you may depend upon it that they will be controlled by outside forces. It is easy to lament despotism when it pinches, when the …
Dealing With the Dullness
The spiritual realm is the realm of ultimate realities. The material realm that you see and experience around you is certainly real materially, but it draws its ultimate being and reality from the will of God the Father, and this God must be known in spirit and in truth. This means that matter is the …
A Polecat in a Hollow Tree
Originally published January 22, 2010 As many of you know, the most recent issue of Tabletalk is devoted to N.T. Wright and the New Perspective. My intention in this space is to blog through this issue, article by article. My anticipation is that I will like some of the articles very much, and others, not …
Surveying the Text: 2 & 3 John
Introduction: These two epistles are quite distinct, but being from the same author, and being so short, we will consider them together. As it happens, some of the issues raised are intertwined in some interesting ways. The Text: “If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, …
Authority and Power
Introduction: We always mark and commemorate what we believe to be important. From birthdays to anniversaries, from independence days to holidays, we will take note. The issue, therefore, is what we find to be important. Attempts to banish this reality will only have the effect of selecting the wrong things to commemorate. The Text: When …
Hard-Headed, Tender-Hearted
A number of wonderful things are said about love in 1 Cor. 13, but we too often let the words flow over us soothingly, rather than letting them do what they do best, which is to arrest us, bring us up short, make us think hard about our responses to others. Among other things, love …
Slaying on the Way Down
We partake of the Lord’s Supper—on the physical level—by means of our mouths and throats. As we do this, we want to make sure we are not highlighting any radical inconsistency. Mouths and throats are used in other ways. “Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of …
Surveying the Text: 1 John
Introduction: All passages of Scripture must be understood in context, but some by their nature require more contextualization than others. First John is one such book. Without an understanding of the errors it was written to refute, the necessary result is always going to be more error. The Text: “That which was from the beginning, …
Garments and Salvation
Introduction: The imagery of clothes in the Bible can scarcely be overestimated. This strikes us as alien on two counts. First, our clothing styles are very different from other cultures (which is nothing new), but secondly, we have adopted a notion of clothing which is entirely unscriptural and unnatural. Our problem is not that our …