The concept of the faithfulness of God (Gr. dikaiosyne theou) in Paul is a hot topic for the New Perspective vs. Old Perspective dialogue. The New Perspective argues (quite strongly) that Paul never talks about the faithfulness of of God in...
What does it mean to be “saved” according to the Bible? This is a tricky question for a number of reasons. To start, the Bible is a complex book. It has countless characters, historical contexts, and theological motifs. After all, full...
The moment of the cross is not only the moment of penal substation.The cross is (among many things) also the moment of covenant fulfillment and creation. Through Jesus’ death God both fulfills his covenant promises to Abraham and even begins a...
It’s risky business to talk about the cross in ways that mainstream protestant-evangelicals aren’t used to. Fortunately (or unfortunately), I do this quite often. There are several dimensions of the cross and salvation (soteriology and...
At first blush, the Synoptic Gospels (Matt, Mark, and Luke) are so different from the gospel according to John. Two of the three Synoptics start with the genealogy of Jesus (Matt and Luke). Mark jumps right into the story with John’s ministry...
The Old Testament prophets always seem to be so angry with God’s people. One time I was leading a BIble study when someone said, “I don’t read the prophetic literature because it’s so full of anger, judgment and wrath. I...
I mentioned in my last post that Jesus’ teaching was subtle. I chalked this up to the vastness of his teaching. I said that the reason he was so subtle is because what he was saying was so multi-faceted that one cannot grasp it all at first glance...
There’s a popular Christian video out right now called “The Gospel in Four Minutes”. I admit that it’s interesting, creative, and even quite sound theologically. However, there is one thing I wish to take up with it. I...
It is generally accepted that we tend to overlook the things with which we are familiar. I find that when we pause for a moment and lend our attention to the familiar that it is the fundamental things, the things that we take for granted, that are...
The Bible is very clear on the fact that sinning isn’t the problem. Rather, the sin nature is the problem. Martin Luther described the sin nature by describing the individual as being “curved inward upon itself” (Latin, incurvates in se). Curved...