Sometimes the Bible tells us not to accept certain outrageous things, and we wonder to ourselves, “did churches really need to be told that?” The answer is yes, they did. So do we. For example, Paul once said that no one speaking by the Spirit could say certain things. “Wherefore I give you to understand, …
How the Pinning Works
I want to spend a few moments on why the penal substitution of Christ is the only possible ground of human happiness. My point is not to defend the doctrine here — that has been ably done by others — but rather to show one of the many glorious outworkings of the doctrine. In our …
Seven Reason Why “The Deep Things of God” Is an Important Book
This evening a group of men from Christ Church are meeting at our home to discuss our reading of The Deep Things of God, by Fred Sanders. A month or so ago, when I started reading this book, I wrote to a friend at Crossway to thank him for publishing such an important book. Here …
Freedom From and Freedom To
In a recent post responding to William Cavanaugh, I said a few things about some current misapplications of the Pauline definition of freedom. True freedom is the freedom to obey God, and no one is truly, ultimately free without that freedom. Amen. A slave who has it is Christ’s freedman, and ought not to worry …
A Thumbnail Statement on the Trinity
Just a quick thumbnail statement on the Trinity. As Thomas Adams once said, “It is rashness to search, godliness to believe, safeness to preach, and eternal blessedness to know the Trinity.” A great deal of practical confusion exists concerning our relationship to our Triune God. Of course, Christians believe in the Trinity — but they …
Replacing the Hall of Idols
The Church and the Kingdom are not the same thing, and let me explain why this is important as we continue to address the question of violence. As Peter Leithart shows in his book Against Christianity, the Church is presented to the world, not as an alternative club for religious people meeting on Sundays, but …
The Averted War of Malchus’ Ear
In the early eighteenth century, there was a war between England and Spain called the War of Jenkins’ Ear. In the New Testament, there was almost a conflict called the War of Malchus’ Ear, but it was averted because Jesus put the ear back (Luke 22:51). “Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and …
Justice Is Not Patty-Cake
In his otherwise admirable book on evil, N.T. Wright makes the drastic mistake of leaving the subject of Hell entirely alone. But no matter how many helpful things you say, if you leave the really huge question out, then all you are really displaying is a real loss of proportion. “Well, other than that, how …
Quinquennium Neronis
The infamous Nero actually had a good run initially. He took power in 54 A.D. and until 59 (the same year he had his mother killed), Rome enjoyed a mini-golden age, the best since the time of Augustus. That period of time was one remarkable enough to be named the quinquennium Neronis. But between 59 …
A Few Brisk Ones
In a recent correspondence with a friend who is much more of a Girardian purist than I am, he said something like “all violence is righteous.” He was referring to the Giardian insight that human beings have a deep mimetic propensity to deceive and blind themselves, especially when it comes to matters of violence. The …