Like an Angel: The Shining Face of Stephen
“And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel” (Acts 6:15).
The alteration of Stephen’s face was an act of God to make it shine. The purpose for doing so seems to be along the lines of what took place with Moses—just as the shining of Moses’ face indicated to Israel that Moses spoke on behalf of God because he spoke directly to Him, so also the shining of... Continue Reading
Ecclesial Theology
A division between ecclesial theology and academic theology has emerged.
From where I sit, academic theology is theology written to the wider academic community, set within an academic context, and driven by academic concerns and presuppositions. Ecclesial theology, on the other hand, is theological reflection written to the believing community, for the good of the church catholic, and born out of pastoral/ecclesial concerns. Throughout... Continue Reading
What Is the Opposite of Homosexuality?
Why Marriage Is Not My Mission
Two men, two pursuits, two paths. Bill wanted to marry but remains single today. Mark was single and content, but now he’s married to Andrea. Often God’s path is not what we expect or once even wanted. For some, it’s singleness; for others, it’s marriage. Yet the goal for all — single or married, same-sex... Continue Reading
Hell: How Long?
“How bad can anything that we do in this life really be to require that Hell go on forever?”
The longevity of Hell, that eternity of torment, has not so much to do really with us, in the greatness of ourselves as human being, but it has everything to do with the grand holiness of the personal, Triune God against whom we have performed that sin. And any sin unatoned for by the perfect... Continue Reading
How Singing Forms Us
There is a reason that we sing that I believe is often forgotten, overlooked, or ignored, and we see it in Psalm 96 as well.
I want you to notice a couple additional aspects of the development of thought through this psalm. The first is related to what we just explored. The psalm progresses from God’s people singing among the nations in the first stanza to all the families of the earth ascribing him glory in the second stanza. Is... Continue Reading
Canons Of Dort (18): It Was God’s Sovereign Will To Accomplish Complete Salvation For All The Elect
The churches confessed what God intended and what Christ accomplished for and what the Spirit applies to the elect.
As we have surveyed the decisions (Canons) of the Synod of Dort in their historical (social, political) and theological contexts, reading the Canons in light of the Remonstrance in 1610 and the Opinions of the Remonstrance given to Synod in 1618, it has become increasingly clear that there is no tenable position between the Remonstrants... Continue Reading
EFS Redux: Aiming for Closure on the Trinity Debate
I’ve become convinced that there can be no eternal relations of authority and submission ad intra, within the life of the Trinity from eternity.
I was leaning in the non-EFS direction—which is to say, the direction of classic Trinitarian orthodoxy—but I was still ambivalent about it. In the months (and now two and a half years) that followed, though, I’ve landed firmly. And so I thought I’d write a post summarizing my position on the issue. It’s hard... Continue Reading
Hell to Pay
I want to explain what we lose if Jesus wasn't, in fact, forsaken by God when he stood in our place.
“The more we ascribe to Christ’s suffering, the less remains of ours; the more painfully that he suffered, the more fully are we redeemed; the greater his sorrow was, the greater our solace; his dissolution is our consolation, his cross our comfort; his annoy our endless joy; his distress in soul our release, his calamity... Continue Reading
Truly God, Truly Man: The Council of Chalcedon
Chalcedon was trying to settle the aftermath of the Arian controversy in the fourth century.
The council was condemned in the western, Latin-speaking half of the Roman Empire. Pope Leo the Great thundered against it as the “Robber Synod” (and the name stuck). After the death of emperor Theodosius, a new emperor, Marcian, called a new council at Chalcedon (in Asia Minor) in 451. This time, Eutyches and the extreme... Continue Reading
Eschatology Matters
Eschatology, or the doctrine of the last things, is not a mere add-on to our Christian walk.
Neo-Calvinism is especially defective about the nature of the saeculum, which is the age between the advents of Christ. Greenbaggins invoked Vos to explain the peculiar character of the period when the ministry of word and sacrament defines the church, in the words of the Confession of Faith, as “the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the... Continue Reading