Herman Bavinck on Scripture’s Fuller Sense
In volume 1 of his Reformed Dogmatics, Herman Bavinck reflects on the multiple ways in which the New Testament authors use and apply the Old Testament. In the discussions that swirl today on this...
View Article4Gospels for You
How many gospels are there? One… Four… More? A new website hosted by Peter Williams, Simon Gathercole, and other Cambridge scholars looks at this question and other gospel-related subjects in their...
View ArticleJohn Bright on Biblical Intertextuality
John Bright, in his book The Kingdom of God, offers a very historically-enriching and theologically-astute presentation of the kingdom which unifies the entire Bible. I have benefitted much from...
View ArticleThe Bible Doesn’t Say ‘Join a Church,’ So Why Should I?
I have a friend who has been attending church regularly but is unconvinced about the need for church membership? He challenges, “Show me where it says in the Bible, ‘ Thou shalt become a church...
View ArticleThrough the Bible in 2010: Evidence of God’s Grace
How important is Bible reading and interpretation? Consider this: On the day that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead–arguably the most significant day in world history–Jesus spent 1/8, maybe 1/6, of...
View ArticleSermon Notes: Christ’s Consecration is Our Confidence (NT)
Picking up where we left off, the New Testament comes in looking backward, looking at God’s covenantal promises, and then it begins to show how Christ fulfills them all. So we move from prophetic...
View ArticleSermon Notes: The Sweet-Smelling Aroma of Prayer (NT)
Not only does the New Testament develop general themes of Christ’s fulfillment of the tabernacle. It also picks up more specific details, like that of the golden altar of incense. Yesterday, we...
View ArticleGeorge Smeaton on Christ’s Own System of Hermeneutics
Ever wonder how the apostle’s developed their particular brand of Christ-centered hermeneutics? This has been a frequently-discussed and hotly-debated subject over the last few years. Numerous books...
View ArticleThe ‘Heart’: A Biblical-Theological Sketch
The Bible regularly refers to the human heart. Jesus says that the greatest commandment is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And to love your neighbor as...
View ArticleFood for Thought: The Fear of the Lord
Should we still fear the Lord? First John 4:18 is a beautiful passage. Speaking of the Day of the Lord, John writes: ‘There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with...
View ArticleTypology: What It Is and Why We Need It
What is typology? In yesterday’s sermon on Numbers 20, we ran into something known as typology. As it has been variously defined in church history, typology occurs in the Bible when an historical...
View ArticleWhat does the New Testament say about elders?
“Elder” (presbuteros) is not a very Baptist word. Or at least, it hasn’t been readily in our vocabulary since the nineteenth century, when the likes of J. L. Reynolds, pastor of the Second Baptist...
View ArticleSeven Things to Know About Elders
Earlier this week, I highlighted three things about elders in the New Testament: (1) the term ‘elder’ is interchangeable with pastor and overseer; (2) elders function as a plurality of leaders in the...
View ArticleConfronting Falsehood in the Church
It is striking how often Jesus’ apostles warn the church about false teachers and divisive persons. In the Pastoral Epistles Paul calls Titus and Timothy to beware of false teachers in Crete and...
View ArticleFour Reasons You Should Read and Preach the Old Testament
“Long ago, at many time and in many ways, God spoke to our father by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through who also he...
View ArticleAll the One Anothers: Streams of Light from the Prism of Christ’s Love
On Sunday I preached on Psalm 133, emphasizing how the local church is one body in Christ and individually members one of another (cf. Rom 12:5). While not using the words “one another,” Psalm 133...
View ArticleFirst Corinthians in 16 ‘Tweets’
Sunday our church begins a new series in the letter of 1 Corinthians. To help get my mind around this book, I decided to summarize it in 16 tweets, the number of chapters later assigned to Paul’s...
View ArticleWill the Real Elijah Please Stand Up? Learning from Jesus How to Read the...
5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers,...
View ArticleGospel-Motivated Giving
The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me. — Exodus 25:1–2 — But who...
View ArticleAn Ecclesiology of Churches: Why the Universal Church Is Best Regarded as a...
To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their...
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