Theology That Bites Back
Job tells us that man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward (Job 5:7). But there are different kinds of trouble, different kinds of adversity, different kinds of affliction. First there is the kind that we pull down onto our own heads. “For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: And …
Introduction: One of the central features of the new covenant is the glorious reality of forgiveness of sins. In Hebrews 8, Jeremiah’s prophecy of the new covenant is quoted at some length (Heb. 8:8-12). But several chapters later, it is quoted again, but this time in abbreviated form. This abbreviation shows what aspects of the …
Introduction: So we have now come to the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. What I want to do is briefly remind you of certain key elements in that Reformation, and then address the meaning of time and anniversaries. What are we doing when we commemorate things like this? Recall that 500 …
Worship and praise are not the same thing. Worship is actually the foundation of praise. “Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.” (Deut. 6:13). “Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him …
Introduction: So as we approach the 500th anniversary of the commencement of the Protestant Reformation, it is fitting that we have now come to this phrase in the Creed — why do we, stout Protestants that we are, confess that we believe in the holy catholic Church. Maybe in addition to being stout Protestants, we …
Introduction: The fact that the Holy Spirit is mentioned by name late in the Creed does not make Him an afterthought. He is not present here as a postscript. When we begin the Creed with the words I believe, this is only possible because the Holy Spirit has been at work. He is the one …
Introduction: We believe that there was a time when the world was not. God spoke, and all of it came into being out of nothing. We believe that there will be a time when the world (as it is now) will cease to be. That will come about in the same way—God will say the …
Introduction: In the creation of Adam as pictured on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, God the Father has a right hand. But the God of the Bible is Spirit, and has no right hand—for He has no body at all. At the same time, with few exceptions (e.g. Acts 7:55), the Scriptures repeatedly tell us that …
A common question concerns why Paul allowed the circumcision of Timothy. Not only did he allow it, he is the one who oversaw it. He is the one who did it. “Him would Paul have to go forth with him; and took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters: for …
Introduction: The intersection of heaven and earth, the boundary between the two, is not the same kind of boundary that we might find between two countries. If you were not on a marked road, crossing between countries is not necessarily something you would even notice. But crossing between earth and heaven necessitates a qualitative difference …
