11
Jan
2022
Newsflash: Personal Discipline Is Not Legalism
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I attended Bible College in the 1980s and seminary in the 1990s. The time I spent earning my Master of Divinity at Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary still stands for me as the most grueling four years of my life. But I had accidentally prepared for it for years, under the guidance firstly of hard-working parents,... Read More
4
Jan
2022
Dunham’s Recent Biblica Article: “Political Folly and Royal Wisdom in Eccl 5,7-8”
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Kyle Dunham, our OT professor, has been working on what I think will become the definitive treatment of Ecclesiastes (to be published Evangelical Exegetical Commentary series). One of the fruits of that labor is the production of many good article-length treatments of topics that derive from his study of the book. Most recently, Kyle was... Read More
28
Dec
2021
A review of “Praying in Public” by Pat Quinn
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“But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” Acts 6:4 As the passage quoted above indicates, pastors are called to devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. The first is usually considered outward-facing (preaching), while the latter is considered inward-facing (praying privately). Pat Quinn’s new volume,... Read More
23
Dec
2021
The Virgin Birth and the Immaculate Conception
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In today’s episode of Theologically Driven, Dr. Snoeberger mentions the distinction between the virgin birth of Jesus and the “Immaculate Conception,” a teaching of the Roman Catholic Church about Mary. Dr. Combs, former professor of New Testament at DBTS, wrote a brief explanation and critique of the Immaculate Conception in 2013. We are reposting it... Read More
20
Dec
2021
The Church and the Keys to the Kingdom
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In 1964, George Eldon Ladd argued that the Church functions as “Custodian of the Kingdom” (Presence of the Future, 276). For many, this designation sounds either (1) too Catholic (salvation is found in the organized Church alone) or (2) too Reformed (the Church IS the Kingdom, effectively displacing ethnic Israel). But while both of these concerns... Read More
13
Dec
2021
Should We Counsel an Unbeliever?
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One of the challenging questions that churches and biblical counselors face is, “Should we counsel an unbeliever?” Jay Adams used to call counseling an unbeliever “pre-counseling.” The reason for his clarification was that he defined biblical counseling (or nouthetic counseling as he called it) as loving confrontation out a deep concern for a person in... Read More
2
Dec
2021
Beale on Broader Evangelicalism
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It’s been several years since I have taken time to write anything other than Tweets about Fundamentalism, but a new book and a blog post piqued my interest recently. When I saw that Dr. David Beale, under whose teaching I greatly benefitted as a college student and afterward when he’d come to speak here, had... Read More
22
Nov
2021
Review: “Deeper: Real Change for Real Sinners” by Dane C. Ortlund
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Three things excited me about this book. First, it deals with sanctification, a topic central to the Christian life. Second, it is in a series of books called Union, which is edited by Michael Reeves. I reviewed one of the titles in this series before (Rejoice and Tremble: The Surprising Good News of the Fear... Read More
15
Nov
2021
The Devil (and God) is in the Details
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This article is adapted from Bryan Murawski’s book, “Preaching Difficult Texts of the Old Testament” (Hendrickson, 2021). Someone once said, “The devil is in the details.” This trite idiom encourages you not to underestimate the details in a certain task. What at first appears simple and straightforward may contain difficulties you never saw coming. The saying may have... Read More
2
Nov
2021
Jesus, Friend of Sinners and Sovereign Ruler
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When we think of Jesus, what comes to mind? My thoughts immediately turn to His sacrificial love for me on the cross. I think of hymns and texts of Scripture that talk about Jesus being a friend. Hymns like: What a Friend we have in Jesus Jesus, Savior, blessed friend I’ve Found a Friend in... Read More