I am reading through John Owen's Of the Mortification of Sin in Believer's, Etc in Vol VI of his Works with a brother here in our church. One passage caused me to stop and think of how I view my own sins and to be renewed in fighting them, for, as Owen said, "be...
With this entry, I will finish my previous post on "America's Violation of "You Shall Not Murder." Having looked at the Bible's teaching on the sanctity of life, the next question we must ask is this: What does the Bible teach concerning the inception of human life? A...
In my previous post I described the announcement of a papyrus fragment that Harvard professor Karen L. King titled "The Gospel of Jesus Wife" because it apparently contains the phrase "Jesus said to them, 'My wife....'" I suggested then some scholars had already...
Dave Doran talks about the Mid-America Conference on Preaching occurring next week at Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary. He provides a little history regarding the conference, explains the theme "The Mystery of Christ: God's Glory among the Gentiles," and...
One of the benefits of attending the Mid-America Conference on Preaching each year is the opportunity it affords for catching up with DBTS alumni. Last fall, I found myself sitting next to alumnus Matt Ortega in a workshop session. Both of our families have grown...
The intersection of common grace with special grace is on my mind today, but not for a particularly "spiritual" reason. Bow season has begun here in Michigan and I'm anticipating the pleasure of taking one of my boys out this afternoon to see if one of us can woo a...
Last week John Aloisi posted an informative entry on "Abortion and the Early Church." With this post, and another to follow, I would like to focus on the Bible's view of abortion. The thesis of this post and the next is that an induced abortion violates the sixth...
In 1 Tim 3:2 Paul lists one of the requirements for the man who would aspire to the pastoral office: he must be "able to teach." What exactly does that mean? Dr. Mark Snoeberger, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at DBTS, unpacks the idea by expounding 2 Tim...
This is the second part of a two-part post on the importance of history and historical work—like the quest for the historical Jesus—for studying and proclaiming the Gospels. For the first part, see “Why Christians Need History.” Since history matters, since it’s...
In this post, I’m going to address two misconceptions that people often hold concerning abortion. First, many people assume that elective abortions are a fairly recent phenomenon—something made possible only by modern medicine. And second, oftentimes people view...
Did Jesus have a wife? No, of course not! Though, as you may remember, that was what Dan Brown’s controversial novel The Da Vinci Code claimed. The internet has been abuzz the last 24 hours about a small papyrus fragment written in Coptic that professor Karen L. King...
In Proverbs 26:4 we are commanded not to answer a fool, but in the very next verse we’re commanded to answer a fool. On the surface I am in a quagmire since both commands seem to be in conflict with each other. So do I or do I not answer a fool? This raises a larger...
The new 28th edition of the Nestle-Aland text that we mentioned previously is apparently now becoming available (at least in Europe). Christian Askeland interviews Prof. Dr. Holger Strutwolf of the Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung about the new edition.
The relationship between the Old and New Testaments has been debated (sometimes hotly) since the book of Acts! This makes sense since so much hangs in the balance of properly understanding this issue—What role does the Law have in a NT believer's life? Is the Church a...
Recently I saw on MSNBC’s “Today’s Entertainment” a blog post titled “Bill Nye the Science Guy asks parents not to raise creationist kids.” Nye’s title, “the Science Guy,” comes from his popular science program for children, “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” that ran from...
When I have preached on a psalm in a church, some people have mentioned to me that they were familiar with a verse from the psalm but they had not thought about the passage's overall message. I have often wondered if believers have a good reading strategy for getting...
I was just informed that iTunes is offering an electronic version of Coming to Grips with Genesis for the special low price of $2.99. This special is good for the month of August only. This collection includes a number of scholarly essays on the book of Genesis from...
If you ever take a tour of Jerusalem (or if you have already done so) with an evangelical group, you will undoubtedly stop at the Garden Tomb near Gordon's Calvary. Wayne Stiles has a helpful post entitled "The Garden Tomb-Contemplating the Resurrection of Jesus,"...
One of the great things about attending a smaller seminary is the fact that you are able to get to know most of the other students. Jason Parker and I were in a number of classes together during our MDiv work at DBTS. I recently had the opportunity to ask Jason about...
I have cried out with these words from Psalm 13:1a on a few occasions. How do I know that it is legitimate to apply this verse to my life? And what about other psalms? While there are many ways to determine this, one is to consider a psalm's historical setting. In...
When people think of Detroit, a few things may come to mind: Motown music, the auto industry, blue-collar workers, crime, poverty, etc. It’s unlikely that soccer (or futbol) would be one of the first items on anyone’s list. Yet the Detroit City Futbol League has...
We just read through John 5 in our Greek refresher course. After working through the miracle story at the beginning of the chapter—the one where Jesus heals the lame man at the pool—I spent some time trying to figure out what it is that John wants us to take away from...
The Olympic Games are with us again. Of course, the ancient games originated in 776 B.C. in Olympia, Greece, and were held in honor of Zeus. Even the the Apostle Paul seems to reference Olympic sports in 1 Cor 9:24–26, "Do you not know that in a race all the runners...
We here at DBTS are absolutely committed to six-day creationism and a young earth. I had gotten the impression that a few years ago R. C. Sproul had converted to that viewpoint. Well, not exactly. In an interview with Tim Challies, Sproul clarifies his view: Have you...
OK, so I am finally getting through the stack of reading that accumulated during the school year, and finally read a book that was all the buzz about five months ago. The good news is that you can finally get it at your local library, and the price is already dropping...
In yesterday's post I noted that a familiarity with the basic genres of the Psalms can be a real aid in reading and understanding them. Today I will cover the last three categories. 4. Kingship and covenant psalms celebrate and affirm loyalty to God as King, the...
An aid in reading the Psalms is to be able to arrange them in literary categories or genres. Based on thematic elements that are shared between psalms and literary features, we can more precisely classify the lyric poems of the Psalms. While some of the following...
"I’m going to be gone soon. Don’t be sad. I’m not afraid of death.... Mother, we are all going to die someday. Don’t be discouraged by my death. Continue in your faith."... After a final public condemnation meeting, the militiamen shot him by the roadside and dumped...
If you love Jesus, you will love His Church, plain and simple. If you have put Him at the center of your life, you will put the center of His work in this age, The Church—particularly your local church—right there as well. You will find time to go. You will find...
Dr. James Montgomery Boice was the longtime pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadephia (1968–2000). He was well known for his expository preaching through books of the Bible—Romans in five years, for example. He was diagnosed with liver cancer in 2000 and died...
Since the Bible's sufficiency means that the Bible speaks to (though not necessarily about) everything, then it follows that our theology speaks to (though not necessarily about) healthcare. Please note that this is not an analysis of the theological rightness or...
While the Psalms are familiar to many Christians, understanding them is often difficult. Part of this difficulty relates to the poetic nature of the Psalms. With this entry I will describe the type of poetry found in the Psalms. Approximately one-third of the Bible is...
It is difficult for us Baptists to always understand the various Presbyterian denominations. One of the largest evangelical groups is the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). Dr. Richard Phillips, the senior minister of the Second Presbyterian Church in Greenville,...
Anne-Marie Slaughter kicked the hornet’s nest two weeks back when she published an article with that title in The Atlantic. In it she explained why the feminist ideal—women can have it all, a family and a fulfilling career at the same time, just like men—is still...
The title may be a question you have not considered before. With all of our good focus on learning life skills—whether they be vocational, athletic, musical, or academic-—we sometimes fail to cultivate some of the skills which will profit us most in life and in the...
I recently came across an interesting quote from Martin Luther about the prospect of social reform. He wrote, To be sure, the world sees evil acts, nay, it is amazed at them and complains about the great wickedness of people; but it does not know how it happens. It...
Most, if not all, Christians would answer that question with an unqualified "Yes." But in a recent couple of blog posts, well-known Arminian theologian Roger Olson says "No." In his own words: "In a recent post I said Arminians should not pray for God to save their...
The answer to that question might seem to be "Yes," if we look at what Paul says in Rom 1:11, "I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong." The idea of imparting a spiritual gift is found in most translations (ESV, HCSB, KJV,...
Baptist churches are by definition autonomous in their polity. It's one of the "distinctives" by which they are known. This does not mean, however, that they are obliged to eschew all confessional, conciliar, or associational relationships with other churches. The...
We discussed the Nicodemus narrative in my Greek refresher course last Friday. While I was preparing for the class, I was struck by John 3:16. It’s such a clear statement about Jesus’ mission and God’s character. Sometimes it just takes reading a passage in a...
Recently much of the country was captivated by a six-year-old girl who became the youngest speller to aspire to the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Of course, not everyone was impressed. Some predictably rolled their eyes. Most of these did so because they can't spell...
Who was John Stott? It’s been nearly a year since Stott died and his legacy is still taking shape. I suspect that for many of us he’ll be remembered as the author of one or two books on our shelves—probably The Cross of Christ and/or Basic Christianity—or as the name...
On May 30, a group of Southern Baptist leaders issued a document titled “A Statement of the Traditional Southern Baptist Understanding of God’s Plan of Salvation.” I initially ignored this statement as just another anti-Calvinist diatribe published by individuals whom...
I appreciate Erik over at JC Ryle Quotes, who shares a quote from J.C. Ryle, a 19th century pastor, every day. This one on how to spot a false teacher certainly helped me think more clearly about false teachers: “What more common than to hear it said of some false...
An argument often raised against the regular practice of church discipline detailed in Matthew 18:15–18 is Peter's comment in 1 Peter 4:8 that "love covers a multitude of sins." In so opining, Peter seems to be suggesting that church members should prefer covering to...
One of the best-known lines from St. Paul is found at the beginning of his letter to the Philippians where he says, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (1:21). I think this was my life verse for at least a few years. In fact, I’m pretty sure I put the...
Some time ago I was asked in a conversation whether I ever drank beverage alcohol and I replied “No.” Upon hearing my answer, my interlocutor quickly and harshly reprimanded me for being a legalist. Then, after I pressed him for an explanation, he made a calculated...
One of the inevitabilities of working in a seminary community is that you’re likely to lose quite a few dear friends over the course of your tenure. It’s not because seminaries require vows of friendlessness, alongside those of poverty and humility. Rather, it’s...
I realize that resurrection Sunday may feel a bit like last week’s news. After all, it’s done. We’ve celebrated. Now we’ve moved on to what’s next, whether that’s Pentecost or something (slightly) less noble like the pennant race. We’ll be happy to do it all again...