In this fallen world, we have to anticipate what happens whenever a covenant is broken. When men and women marry, they exchange vows in public, promising to forsake all others. Why is this necessary? The answer is that we are a race of sinners, and we cannot assume that people will do what they say …
Adultery
We may all agree that adultery is not a good thing, but our opinions here sometimes appear to be a mud fence we have built to withstand an incoming tsunami. Something more, we feel, may be necessary. In the modern church, a pastor can commit adultery, and get caught. It is at least possible that, …
The Loss of Poetry
The causes are not easy to identify, but poetry has fallen on hard times. Poetry today huddles in its prescribed little ghettoes – the sentimentalism of greeting cards and cupboard poetry, the small clutch of arcane poetry journals with a circulation of thirteen, self-absorbed adolescents scribbling pages of navel-gazing free verse, nationally-ignored poet laureates, and …
The Body of Christ
When we refer to the body of Christ, there are at least three different senses in which we use the phrase. The first, of course, refers to the body which was crucified for us, was raised in the power of the Spirit, and which ascended into heaven. That body is the body of a true …
Widows Indeed (1 Tim. 5:1-16)
INTRODUCTION The Christian faith does not encourage us to have romantic or sentimental views of human nature—as this passage amply demonstrates. But as we learn to live as God would have us live, we find that the results are often quite remarkable. The instructions here are primarily about women—and the expectations are, oddly, both low …
Evangeliberals
Of course, modern evangelicalism and liberalism are not identical. They have differing histories, traditions, customs, and so forth. As movements, they have compromised with worldliness in very different ways, and oddly enough, that particular difference reveals their internal similarities. Whatever the external distinctions, compromise driven by unbelief always ends up looking and smelling the same. …
The Conversion of Saul
We have all heard about the conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus. But what exactly was he converted from? The answer to this question is highly significant, and we need to get it right if we are to understand the rest of this epistle. For ye have heard of my conversation in time …
Jess and Natali
The Scriptures are full of metaphors that describe the glory of fulfilled longing. That longing, the kind of thing that is frequently no fun at all, is nevertheless the basis for one of the deepest kinds of joy. One illustration used for fulfilled longing is the imagery of “return from exile.” Psalm 126 puts it …
Away from the Judgment — and Back to the Sin
We too often have a simplistic understanding of sin and judgment. This understanding is true as far as it goes, and is consistent with the teaching of Scripture that a man reaps what he sows. This is obviously true, but Scripture also encourages us to think past this point. It is also true that a …
Go Figure
“Far from being seen as the mortal enemy of the causes that progressive opinion holds so dear, such as sexual freedom or equal rights for women and homosexuals, the Islamic jihad has turned into the armed wing of the British left” (Melanie Phillips, Londonistan, pp. 117).