The orthodox teaching of the church has always been that Christ is fully God and fully man. Christ was tempted at every point like as we are, but with one exception—unlike us he had no sin nature, and, in fact, did not sin (Heb 4:15): Christ as God could not have...
Recently, I came across a Reddit thread with a provocative title: “The Bible’s God-inspired book of Proverbs is plagiarized from the Egyptian Teachings of Amenemope.” The thread was of interest because I had recently finished working through the section that allegedly...
In this post I resume my series of blogposts on historically/theologically freighted phrases/clauses/mantras that have become cliché in contemporary Christian-speak—lines that are intrinsically innocuous (i.e., the words themselves are unobjectionable) but sometimes...
This post was originally published here on January 21, 2014. Many college and seminary students are either preparing for another semester of school to start or have already begun working on classes. For some, this will be their final semester before graduation. Though...
Church Works Media has a helpful resource for pastors and those who plan worship services: a topical list of hymns In a similar spirit, I wanted to share a list of hymns that we either sang or considered singing in connection to a series I preached on the attributes...
Read Part 1 here, Part 2 here, and Part 3 here. In this series, we have been examining the arguments made by John Hart in Evidence for the Rapture that our Lord Jesus describes the pre-tribulation rapture of his church in Matthew 24:36–44. To review,...
A few weeks ago I was alerted to a criticism raised about an old blog post of mine—a post in which I argued for a universally shared a priori awareness of linguistic laws that make possible the successful reading of Scripture by all image-bearers. We...
Faith-based, multi-season series The Chosen has made a big splash, showcasing an audience of 100 million plus and views, in some form, surpassing 500 million.[1] At the start of production, it held the place of “highest crowdfunded media project of all time.”[2] The...
Ask your average evangelical Protestant what it means to “be saved” and you will likely hear about an event occurring within history, usually in the legal sense of justification, though occasionally incorporating more existential terms of new birth. So something like…...
It is that time of year here in Michigan when you begin to see yard sales cropping up around your neighborhood. When I decide to sell something, I have become more fond of the online methods that eliminate the unpleasant experience of moving things from your yard...
As Peter considers the coming eschatological end of all things, he appeals to his readers to “above all have constant love for one another” (1 Pet 4:8). The statement, “above all” indicates that this is the most important principle out of those he provides in this...
Each spring I teach a section in a third-year pastoral course aimed at helping aspiring pastors deal with change and conflict in churches. I have been doing it for years, but the escalating level of tension in our culture that is seeping into churches and ministries...
Evaluating the credibility of historical revivals is not a new exercise in the history of the Church. We are made aware that the multiplied “awakenings” of early American history are not all of a sort, and that some proved more credible than others. Iain...
We live in a hyper-sexualized and semi-pornographic culture. The problem dominates popular advertising, pervades our entertainment choices, and even weasels its way into our churches. The concept of modesty is no longer a standard for judgment, but an object...
In 2021 Inter-City Baptist Church became a certified training center with ACBC. Because our seminary is a ministry of ICBC, DBTS offers training that results in your ACBC certification. We offer two paths to biblical counseling certification. Path #1: MDiv...
The quotation in the title of this blog post comes from Henry David Thoreau, who more broadly warns that “We should treat our minds, that is, ourselves, as innocent and ingenuous children, whose guardians we are, and be careful what objects and what subjects we thrust...
The other day Pastor Doran, Kyle Dunham, and I were discussing the advent of AI technology. Of course, AI has been around for some time, but its modern uses appear to be multiplying at an astonishing pace. One of the uses has me wondering how others think of the...
Lately, as a result of three factors I’ve been thinking a fair bit about the potential role Joseph plays in biblical typology. First, I recently read Samuel Emadi’s new book From Prisoner to Prince: The Joseph Story in Biblical Theology. Emadi makes a good case for...
Writing after World War I, the British War and Air secretary Winston Churchill avouched his support for Zionism, a movement that afforded in his view a welcome counterpoise to the menace of communism: “Some people like the Jews and some do not; but no thoughtful man...
Anyone who has read, listened to, or studied contemporary leadership theories knows that vision is touted as “the essential ingredient for successful leadership” (Hyatt, The Vision Driven Leader, p. 21). If you are among my older readers you may have endured the...
The death and Resurrection of Christ together represent the pivotal event of the Christian Scriptures. In these two paired incidents are contained the seeds from which the whole Christian Gospel sprouts, and in them are seated the great Christian hope that I am...
There is a lot of talk these days about how the culture is disintegrating and about concerns for whether the next generation of Christians will have the courage and conviction to take the stands for the name of Jesus Christ that will be necessary. There are legitimate...
In the last year I’ve had a few conversations with lost people in which the apparent contradictions of Genesis 1 and 2 were used as examples of errors in the Bible. The accusation was made that the Bible contradicts itself; therefore, it’s a book like any other...
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...
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...
This semester Dr. John Aloisi and I are co-teaching a class called "Great Books." We are working our way through various books that have had a significant impact for one reason or another. Recently we read a healthy portion of Spurgeon's Lectures to My Students. If...
In 2009, I pastored at a church north of Detroit. Because I had intended to be there for a long time, I made a goal to preach through the entire Bible. One of the last books that I planned to preach through was Revelation, because as you can imagine, I thought, “It...
For as long as I can remember, there have been waves of concern within conservative Protestantism about antinomianism, roughly one per decade. For instance, we have seen movements such as… Norm Shepherd and the movement that bears his name John MacArthur and “Lordship...
This is a review of the book, The Saints of Zion: An Introduction to Mormon Theology Are Mormons Christians? If you don’t know the answer to that question, or if you know the answer but don’t know why your answer is right, then this book is written for you. The...
Not long ago, I was able to attend a conference, where Dr. Mark Snoeberger presented on the question of what may rightly be said about the death of God in the death of Christ. This paper, published in The Journal for Baptist Theology and Ministry, is a written form of...
A few weeks ago, I suggested that we should read larger portions of Scripture at a time. In this post, I want to consider a few questions pertaining to the issue: 1) why does it seem unnatural to read like this and 2) how, practically, can I read larger portions. On...
In his classic work on preaching originally published in 1870, On the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons, John Broadus spends some time noting the importance of persuasion in the application of preaching. “The chief part of what is commonly called application is...
A number of years ago I stumbled on the following chart in Boa and Bowman’s book, Faith Has its Reasons.[1] The representation below has been modified in a few minor ways from its original depiction. And while the chart is not perfect (some belief systems hold to more...
The title of this post is exactly the same as a recent article on the Gospel Coalition web site. The author of the article explains the issue more fully in his first sentence. “It’s an understandable question: If we’re justified by faith and forgiven all our...
I have recently been interested in the relationship between the Septuagint (LXX, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament) and the New Testament. Most commentators recognize that NT authors cite from the LXX more frequently than from the Hebrew. I believe the...
Last week the satirical news site Babylon Bee made the national news with a post distasteful to some, mocking a health-and-wealth guru after she proved herself a fraud by dying. While that story was making the headlines, a less popular post titled “Conservative...
As the baby boomer generation continues to age, the percentage of Americans at retirement age is expected to explode, with about 9000 reaching age 65 each day. “Forty-eight million Americans were age 65 and older in 2015, 18 percent more than just five years earlier....
After the shooting at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood last Friday, several have placed blame on pro-life advocates who have been campaigning against Planned Parenthood. Their campaign has become more aggressive since undercover videos revealing Planned...
Over the past several years we have had several posts about a papyrus fragment of the Gospel of Mark discovered several years ago that preliminarily dates from the 1st century A.D. This would make it the earliest copy of the New Testament known to exist and the only...
As a conservative instructor at a conservative school, I occasionally meet with surprise that I use and love my NIV Bible. Classed by most as coming from the “functionally equivalent” school of Bible translation, the NIV has long been viewed with skepticism by many in...
During his lifetime, C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) received thousands of letters from young fans who had read the Chronicles of Narnia and wanted to connect with the author. One such fan was an American girl named Joan Lancaster, who wrote to Lewis in June of 1956. We don’t...
“OK, men, everyone gather around, and let’s get this football season under way,” Coach Paul deTarsus bellowed out. As the young recruits swaggered over, jostling each other manfully, Coach deTarsus continued gruffly, “This year the school steering committee has asked...
Michael Kruger makes some excellent points on this subject over at his blog, Canon Fodder. He notes: But, there is a second assumption behind the “take your medicine” approach to the biblical languages. Many students assume that the study of the languages is useless...
In a previous post I noted the publication of the latest edition of the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament, NA28. An excellent review of the new 28th edition has been produced by Peter Williams, Warden of Tyndale House. The textual changes come in the Catholic or...
This is the title of a somewhat technical article by Harvey Minkoff over at Bible History Daily in which he discusses the nature of the Hebrew language, how matres lectionis and later, vowel points were added to the text, and how all this can affect translation and...
Allan Bevere has some interesting observations about grade expectations by students: When I was in college and graduate school many years ago, most students, I think, had no assumptions about what grade they deserved on an assignment for a class. There were exceptions...
As you may remember, up until chapter 13 Paul is known in Acts by his other name, Saul. Acts 13 records the start of Paul's first missionary journey. Barnabas and Saul have traveled to the island of Cyprus, where they are attempting to preach the gospel to the Roman...
Yes. I suppose I should qualify that answer. A church should not switch from (abandon) the KJV to another version of the Bible if it would truly be harmful to the well-being of the church. But it is difficult to imagine there are many instances where this would be the...
The Federalist Papers are a series of 85 essays supporting the ratification of the United States Constitution, written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. Madison himself is commonly known as the Father of the Constitution. Federal judges, when...