The tragedy that occurred on Friday the 14th at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, CT, has left many families grieving this Christmas. Though the event would create incredible heartache at any time, its proximity to Christmas must only heighten the loss for the...
The problem of worldliness is an ever present issue for the church. While it is important to warn individual believers against worldliness, it is also vital for local churches to avoid this danger. Why do local churches so often blend in with the world? Local churches...
In the latest ed. of the Master’s Seminary Journal (avail. free online), Michael Vlach of The Master’s Seminary reviews Wellum & Gentry’s biblical theology Kingdom through Covenant (KtC). It’s one of the more thorough reviews of the book I’ve seen lately (see...
A couple of weeks ago I suggested that believers would benefit from occasionally reading older books. However, just because a work was written in a previous era does not mean that it’s necessarily worth reading today. In fact, far more old books exist that any one...
When John the Baptist, firstly, and then Jesus began announcing that the kingdom of heaven was “at hand” (Matt 3:2; 4:17, 23) they were announcing that the anticipated Israelite kingdom of OT prophecy was being immediately offered to Israel, and that their...
Despite many advances over the last century in archaeology and biblical backgrounds, together with a growing field of studies in biblical theology, consensus concerning ancient Israel’s perspective of the afterlife remains elusive. The view that conscious life...
These things happened to them as examples, and they were written as a warning to us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. So says the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:11. The statement caps a rapid-fire sequence of references to the Old Testament in a timeless...
On October 31, 1517, a monk named Martin Luther (1483–1546) posted a list of topics for academic debate at the local university. With this relatively harmless act, Luther unwittingly launched a movement that would rend the religious fabric of Europe and would...
I’ve been reading, recently and with great interest, a blog series defending what is sometimes called the “traditional view” of Christian decision-making—the view that (1) God has an “individual will” for believers and (2) that it can be “discovered.” My intent in...
Christmas is associated with giving, and many organizations take advantage of the season to urge people to donate. Sometimes the giving is encouraged because it is the end of the year and the final chance to give for tax purposes. Often, though, the push to give is...
Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood—Acts 20:28 What does Paul mean in his speech in Acts 20 when he says that God purchased the church with...
It is common today to hear people talk about a God of love, often connected with the idea that all religions teach about a God of love. In a recent panel Q&A, I was asked “Can we call Allah a God of love?” My brief answer was no, since he is not portrayed that way...
Recent decades have provided Christians with an increasing evaluation of and interaction with various world religions. The growth of immigration from non-Christian nations combined with a greater global awareness through travel and communication have confronted...
John Rhoads argues in a recent article that it was Josephus, not Luke, who misdated Quirinius’s census. The gist of his piece is that the Judas whom Josephus associates with a tax revolt in A.D. 6 (Ant. 18.4–23) is the same Judas whom Josephus says was killed a decade...
In an earlier post I began to explore the notion of a “missionary mandate” for Israel in the Old Testament. In this and the next post I look at the background for this idea, namely, God’s concern for the nations in the OT. This post reflects the perspective of the...
When one thinks of the more egregious sins in our world today, we tend to think of sins like murder, assault, sexual sins, idolatry, and the like. Very few, I think, would place the sin of ingratitude high on this list. The Apostle Paul, however, does not share our...
The question of a pastoral “call to ministry,” reminiscent of God’s call of biblical prophets and apostles, has long been a issue with which ordination councils have been concerned. Many operate on the assumption that no one aspiring to the ministry may proceed...
The point indicated in the title to this post is ably defended by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15. There, Paul indicates that if there is no resurrection, then Jesus is not raised, and if Jesus is not raised, then we are still in our sins. Such an argument makes little sense...
With Valentine’s Day just behind us, lingering questions remain about the concept of love. What is it? Is it a choice? An emotion? Some combination of the two? Or something else? My thesis today is that this perpetual debate continues because we have lost the salient...
The question of the absence or presence of the indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament is a relatively new question in theology. Prior to the twentieth century, the question is almost entirely absent from the literature. In fact, one is hard...
In the past few weeks, a number of significant new commentaries have been released, and several more are on the immediate horizon. Below are a few of the more interesting additions. Douglas Moo, Romans, 2nd ed., NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2018) Originally...
In the Gospels Christ several times promises that the Spirit will supply appropriate words to his disciples in seasons of persecution (Matt 10:19–20; Mark 13:11; Luke 12:11) and will “remind” them of what Christ had told them (John 14:25–26; 15:26–27). Do these...
The fact that Christ speaks regularly and with vivid imagery of faith as having dimension (it can be little or great and can grow) and even as having material properties (it can be the size of a grain of mustard) leaves some imagining that faith by its nature is an...
I have been reading quite a bit about John’s Gospel recently. My reading has spanned the spectrum from conservatives to fairly progressive scholars (sometimes called "critical" scholars, but since a conservative can be critical in his engagement with Scripture, I have...
Millions of people each year participate in short-term ministry trips, with many now preparing for trips this summer. I have the privilege of leading a team from our church to Zambia this summer. We will be visiting a missionary couple sent from our church with the...
There have been two subtle but significant developments in our society in recent years in our response to people and ideas. The first is a growing inability to distinguish between ideas and the people who espouse them. Rather, debates about the merits of a particular...
It might seem as though traditional Christians are the only people who are being challenged by the sexual revolution occurring in the West. But other religious traditions are being forced to address this shift as well. A recent article highlights the experience of...
A common tactic used in discussions about God and His actions is to claim that the other person is limiting God. It comes up in questions about creation (“I don’t limit God to just six days for creation like you do. I think He could use evolutionary processes and take...
Valentine's Day is this weekend (in case you have not been out of your house in weeks and missed all of the promotional reminders to show your love by spending money). In honor of this one day of love each year, I'd like to consider what love really is. A variety of...
One of the issues that still needs clarification in Christianity is how to weigh doctrines. Christians have historically recognized that certain truths are fundamental or essential to Christianity, while others have less importance. But how do we know which doctrines...
Earlier this summer I had a chance to read and review a new and increasingly-influential book on Hebrews by David Moffitt, assistant professor of NT at Campbell University Divinity School. The review’s slotted to be published in the Fall edition of Trinity Journal....
The suffering of Jesus Christ on the cross is at the center of Christianity. In Righteous Riches: The Word of Faith Movement in Contemporary African American Religion (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), Milmon Harrison notes that the prosperity and well-being...
We’ve all heard it, and most of us have either thought it or even prayed it. “God, if You [do this thing I currently want], then I’ll [do something I probably should do but haven’t].” We find ourselves in a situation we don’t like or lacking something we crave, yet we...
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 some may have already determined the next step, others are...
Hebrews says “yes.” But, I’m not yet sure this means Christian Jews (Israel) won’t have their own special zip code in the new creation. That’s a possible inference from Hebrews, but it’s not clearly a necessary one. Quite a lot, of course, depends on what is meant by...
Did Christ exist before he was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary? And if he did, in what sense did he exist before his incarnation? In the early fourth century, a church leader named Arius came into conflict with Alexander (bishop in Alexandria, Egypt) over...
In Gal 3:10–4:7 Paul gives two reasons why works will not justify. One the one hand, he says that justification by works would change the terms of God’s covenant with Abraham. And, Paul adds, one simply isn’t allowed to do that sort of thing with an established...
Though summer is not officially over until September 22, the summer break has ended for schools and students are back in classes. Some are beginning their first year of college or seminary, excited for the journey ahead and overwhelmed by the amount of work each class...
If one aim of biblical theology is to describe how the Bible hangs together, then one useful place to begin is with Judaism & Christianity’s various summaries of Israel’s story, which “function as abbreviated commentaries on the story of Israel, and each passage...
I have become [the church’s] servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness—26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people”—Col 1:25–26 (NIV) Here I’ll make three...
Often reason and experience are pitted against each other in discussions of Christianity. Some Christians accuse others of merely intellectual Christianity, while others retort back about an overly emotional worship. Recently, I finished a classic work that, while...
Sometime earlier in the semester I happened across a piece by Bruce Longenecker titled “The Narrative Approach to Paul: An Early Retrospective.” Like many of you, I’d been seeing all sorts of books and articles with some combination of “Paul” and “narrative” in their...
Christian media outlets have a lot to say these days about the idea of shame, mostly trying to convince us that shame is bad. And in many circumstances, they are right. For instance, (1) we need not be ashamed before God for sins committed in our pre-conversion past:...
The Bible teaches that Christians ought to pray for healing and that God routinely answers such prayers (Jas 5:14–15 et al.). But what exactly should we expect from God when we pray to him for healing? As I see it, there are basically five discernable responses to...
There it was in my Facebook feed. One of those ubiquitous memes from well-meaning fellow believers: God does not want you to try harder, he wants you to trust him deeper. Stop trying. Start trusting. But is it true? Does God really not want us to “try hard” to become...
Have you ever read one of the Gospels in one sitting? I believe many Christians have not. Have you ever read Romans in one sitting? How would such a reading change your perspective on the book? I require my students to read the Bible in large portions. For instance,...
A message from Dr. Doran: Dear Friend of DBTS, Happy Thanksgiving! God has been gracious to us and is worthy of every bit of thanks, and more, that He receives. I am looking forward to a fun and refreshing time with family and friends on Thanksgiving Day, then...
It is with great pleasure that we announce the release of the 2018 Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal, now in its 23rd year of publication. This year’s selections give attention to a thorny question in Zechariah, the curiosity of Paul’s reticence to directly cite the...
…so said the late R. C. Sproul in a timely and succinct blog post just last year. Sproul was a master of theological summary, and it is only fitting that we remember him for this service to the Christian Church in the wake of his recent departure. Despite Sproul’s...