Grace

The first Psalm sets the stage for the entire Psalter. Its attention on the covenant God and covenant blessing and cursing, as well as its preoccupation with God’s Word as the source for our understanding, focus the entire Psalter. In fact, as scholars like O. Palmer Robertson have contended,...

This week on Theology on the Go, our host, Dr. Jonathan Master is joined by the Rev. Dr. Gregory K. Beale (PhD, Cambridge), the J. Gresham Machen Chair of New Testament and professor of New Testament and biblical theology at Westminster Theological Seminary. Jonathan interviews Dr. Beale on the...

I am a Presbyterian minister. Having served in the courts of the church now for 14 years, I have come to the uncomfortable conclusion that Proverb s 29:25 speaks to every presbyter: The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe. [i] Presbyteries in my denomination have the...

Some words are difficult to like. Do you know what I mean? Maybe I am not being clear. There are various reasons why we may not like this word or that. Some may be on unfriendly terms with a word because it is difficult to spell (think handkerchief - good thing for auto spell!). A few may avoid a...

Men and women were created in the image of God. [i] The image of God consists of true knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. [ii] In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had true knowledge. Their minds could understand the mind of God expressed in creation. They walked and talked with God thereby they...

In this final post (see part 1 and part 2 of this series), I would like to raise three challenges to the dominance of the extrovert and entrepreneurial ideals for pastoral ministry in the American church. First, the present culture is at best ignorant of the history and tradition of pastoral...

For the less adventurous among us who don’t like to take many risks, especially big ones, how handy it would be if God would give us a clear, detailed roadmap for our life and a smartphone app that guarantees we won’t take a wrong turn through a bad decision! If that resonates with you or that’s...

Adoption ism is an early Christian heresy regarding the person and work of Jesus Christ. This false teaching advanced the view that God the Father came upon an already-existing man called Jesus of Nazareth and adopted him as his “son” after the fact of his birth and maturation (perhaps adopting him...

“Anybody else discouraged today by the pastoral blueprint in the ‘church growth’ movement?” writes Jared Wilson, a pastor from New Hampshire. “The most ‘successful’ types of pastors today,” he continues, “are more of the entrepreneurial type than the pastoral. They are speakers, CEOs, innovators,...

I love photography and, although I’m not a great photographer, I have learned some of the secrets of capturing a scene or portrait effectively: the most important being to choose angles that allow the details to stand out clearly. When it comes to understanding the cross of Christ, the Gospel...