Archive for November 2020
What the New Testament Hymns Teach us about Early Christian Worship
A concern of many church leaders is the extent to which Christian worship today reflects the practices, values, and significance of worship in the earliest Christian assemblies. With nearly two millennia separating us from the first followers of Jesus, and living our lives in vastly differently cultural and social settings, it can be hard to…
Read MoreNew Podcast: What hath Greek Philosophy to do with Christianity?
It was the church father Tertullian who famously quipped, “What hath Athens to do with Jerusalem?” Many Christians today have joined Tertullian in pondering this question, and have concluded that the answer must be “nothing.” Greek Philosophy, it is assumed, offers nothing whatever to Christianity, and the Christian faith is obscured and tarnished by direct…
Read MoreWhat hath Greek Philosophy to do with Christianity?
It was the church father Tertullian who famously quipped, “What hath Athens to do with Jerusalem?” Many Christians today have joined Tertullian in pondering this question, and have concluded that the answer must be “nothing.” Greek Philosophy, it is assumed, offers nothing whatever to Christianity, and the Christian faith is obscured and tarnished by the…
Read MoreFinding Clarity in Confusion: Understanding Lloyd-Jones’s 1966 Address
Confusion hung over the crowd of the Second National Assembly of Evangelicals like a cloud of secondhand smoke. Moments earlier, the famed pastor D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones had appealed for the creation of a new evangelical association. He believed an evangelical exodus from mainline denominations would facilitate “a mighty revival and re-awakening.” As he brought his…
Read MoreThe Mystery of Suffering: Reading Job Theologically
Walking along the road one day Jesus and his disciples saw a blind man. “Who sinned,” the disciples asked Jesus, “this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2 CSB). It’s an understandable question from the disciples’ point of view, for they understood sickness and disease to be a consequence of personal…
Read MoreA Theology Worth Embracing
The following is part three of a series written by Randall Greenwald on the Shorter Westminster Catechism. To read part one click: here. To read part two click: here. Recently a member of my church’s staff poked his head into my study to ask me a “quick” question. He had been given money by a…
Read More“Grace to You, and Peace”
The familiar apostolic greeting, “Grace to you, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (or some close variation), marks all of Paul’s epistles (Rom.1:7; 1Cor.1:3; 2Cor.1:2, 13:14; Gal.1:3; Eph.1:2; Phil.1:2; Col.1:2; 1Thes.1:1; 2Thes.1:2; 1Tim.1:2; 2Tim.1:2; Titus 1:4; Phm.3; cf. 1Pet.1:2; 2Pet.1:2; 2Jn.3; Rev.1:4), and it brims with theological implications. Commentators routinely…
Read MoreHow the Invention of the Printing Press Helped Advance the Reformation
Beginning with the very first generation of believers, God’s people have made use of a number of cultural advancements to fulfill the Great Commission or spark new movements. Perhaps at no other time was this more apparent than in the first century when the good news that Jesus was the resurrected Lord began to spread…
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