When we have seen the privileges that are already ours, we have every reason to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and persevere in penitential faith until that which is now ours in part becomes ours in whole and forever.   The letter to the Hebrews, as our studies throughout the year have shown, is full... Continue Reading

Christ-centered hope grounds us and keeps us from drifting into the lie that our own efforts will result in a reward for success—or punishment for failure. Jesus has already borne our punishment and he gives us his very life. That’s not a gamble, but a sure thing.   I’m not sure I fully understand the... Continue Reading

If we don’t seek to know the personality and temperaments of our opponents, we will run the risk of dealing with everyone monolithically. This will only further the heat and the contentions that brew on account of either real or perceived, serious or minor, differences.   We love the idea of diversity, until it cuts... Continue Reading

By 1999 Zondervan, IBS, and the CBT were back at it. After pledging just two years earlier “to discontinue all plans to develop a new, gender-neutral version of the NIV,” they hinted at a new “rendition” that would be gender-neutral.    In early 1997 a call came to the Olasky home with a tip: The... Continue Reading

As our society recognises harmful versions of masculinity, it’s good to be reminded that God is also in opposition. God does not condone sinful anger, and neither should the church.    One of the few heresies today is to suggest that there are many if any differences between men and women. We are even at... Continue Reading

Critical Race Theory rightly calls us to recognize that the effects of sin can be magnified throughout the institutions and social structures erected by individuals, leading to social systems that embody unjust racial prejudices. However, by focusing on sin as embodied with or without intent in social systems, proponents of CRT lose sight of what... Continue Reading

DiAngelo treats her own project as if it stands above all racialized worldviews, like the supposedly neutral vantage point of the person who can see the proverbial blind men feeling the elephant. This amounts to what you might call a “meta-worldview”—one that she basically assumes rather than argues for.   Having recently finished reading Robin DiAngelo’s... Continue Reading

Like dogs, we don’t get grace either. We think that God blesses us because we try hard. We deserve His favor and become disgruntled when it’s not forthcoming. Kind of like the older son in the parable of the prodigal.    Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2... Continue Reading

With this formula, Luther was saying, in our justification we are one and the same time righteous or just, and sinners. Now if he would say that we are at the same time and in the same relationship just and sinners that would be a contradiction in terms. But that’s not what he was saying.    Perhaps the... Continue Reading

Jesus Christ denied himself and took up his cross for the joy set before him: to reconcile us to God and be seated with him in glory. We too must take up our cross and endure suffering for the sake of Christ, that we might also partake in his joy.   And calling the crowd... Continue Reading