God Is Enough: A Theology of the Book of Job
The book of Job has rightly earned a place among the great works of classical literature. For over two millennia its dramatic language, powerful metaphors, elegant poetry, lofty ethics, and profound ideas have intrigued philosophers, theologians, and laymen alike. Yet the Book of Job is more than a great piece of human literature. As part of the canon of Scripture, the book constitutes divine revelation. Read more
Abram’s Response to God’s Call: Trust and Obey or Doubt and Delay?
The Bible often compares the Christian life to a marathon race. But if the Biblical writers lived in modern times, they might have chosen a slightly different metaphor to describe the Christian life. I suspect that they might have likened the Christian life to competing in the Decathlon. A Decathlon is a modern type of marathon race that involves ten different competitive events that are performed over a two-day period. The winner is traditionally called, “The World’s Greatest Athlete.” Read more 
Good But Not (Yet) Tame: A Theodicy for Animal Death Before the Fall
All Bible scholars agree that plant life was subject to “death” before the Fall since it was to serve as food for man and beast (Gen 1:29-30). Moreover, most conservative scholars trace the origin of human death to God’s judicial curse upon the human race as a result of the Fall (Gen 3:17-19). However, the Bible nowhere explicitly links the origin of all animal death to Adam’s sin. This leaves open the possibility that some of the creatures alluded to in Genesis 1 were carnivorous. If so, we should view the phenomenon of animal predation as creational rather than as curse. Yet, a challenge remains. How can we reconcile a world “red in tooth and claw” with a created world that God assessed as “very good” (Gen 1:31)? Read more
A Brief Theology of Human Death
The Bible portrays death as the consequence of human sin. Death was the sanction that God tied to the Garden of Eden stipulation: “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:16-17). And God’s expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden on account of their covenant breach and treason demonstrated that His threats were not empty. Death became the lot of Adam and his posterity. To borrow the apostle Paul’s language in Romans 6:23: “The wages of sin [became] death.” Read more
Judgment Begins at the House of God: A Theology of Malachi
Several decades have passed since the temple was rebuilt and the worship of Yahweh restored under the preaching of Haggai and Zechariah. The promised King, however, had not yet come (Zech. 9:9), nor had God’s promised glory filled the temple (Hag. 2:6-9). As a result, true worship devolved into dead religion. From Israel’s perspective, God existed solely to grant his people health and material prosperity as a merited blessing. Read more
The Baptist Confession on the Gospel
This chapter on “the gospel” is not found in the Westminster Confession. The Congregationalists added this chapter to the Savoy Declaration, and the Baptists incorporated it into their Confession. The Congregationalists call attention to this addition in their preface to the Savoy Declaration: Read more
The God-Centeredness of Christ’s Birth: A Christmas Sermon
Many people view Christmas as a time for joy and celebration. Some are aware that it has some religious significance. But few in our day really appreciate the true significance of Christ’s birth. Even Christians can lose sight of the real significance of the Christmas event. In light of the confusion and distraction of this season, I’d like to reorient our minds to the great meaning of Christ’s birth. Read more
The Covenant Context of the Fall, Part 6: Its Practical Ramifications
An appreciation of the covenantal context of the fall not only has important ramifications for our covenant theology; it also helps to preserve a biblical theology of sin and God’s redemptive work through Christ. Below are three practical implications from our study.
Rightly Rendering Ruach: The Semantic Range of רוח in the Old Testament
The Hebrew noun רוּחַ occurs 387 times in the Old Testament and is most commonly translated “spirit.” Whereas the English word “spirit” is limited to the immaterial aspect or psychical faculties of living beings, the Hebrew term may also refer to such natural phenomena as “wind” or “breath.” As the subject of transitive and intransitive verbs of motion, רוּחַ, in its most basic sense, refers either to the intangible cause or to the phenomenal effect of movement, animation, or empowerment. Read more
Faults of Our Fathers: The Sins of the Patriarchs & the Grace of God
The Book of Genesis is often divided into two parts: primeval history (1–11) and patriarchal history (12–50). Most Bible scholars agree that the themes of human sin and divine judgment predominate in primeval history. But the spread of sin and curse fall off the radar of most scholars when they analyze patriarchal history. For example, one leading commentator divides the Genesis narrative as follows: Generation (1–2), Degeneration (3–11), and Regeneration (12–50). Read more
