Law & Gospel: What’s the Difference?
The biblical teaching on “the law” and “the gospel” is massive. And contrary to what some may think, these concepts are fairly complex. They can’t be reduced to a plaque on the wall with the Ten Commandments or a paper tract with Four Easy Steps on how to become a Christian. Instead, law and gospel each have a fairly expansive range of meaning. For this reason, I’d like to begin by examining these concepts more broadly. Then we’ll narrow our focus. Finally, I’d like to highlight a few practical implications from our study. Read more
The Great Debate: Does God Exist? Bahnsen vs. Stein
In 1985 at the University of California in Irvine, Dr. Greg Bahnsen, a Christian theist, debated Dr Gordon Stein, an atheist, on the question of whether God exists. “The Great Debate,” as it was titled, provides a good example of presuppositional apologetics and the use of the transcendental argument for the existence of God or “the impossibility of the contrary.” Namely, one must assume the existence of the God of Scripture in order to make sense of reality (metaphysics), to justify truth claims (epistemology), or to have any cogent basis for morality (ethics). The YouTube video below provides the audio and text of the debate which lasts just under two hours. Enjoy! Read more 
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
Ancient Near Eastern Religion and the Old Testament
The discovery and publication of ancient Near Eastern literature has shed much light upon the religious beliefs and practices of earliest civilization. It has also generated much discussion about the relationship of Mesopotamian and Egyptian religion to that of the Old Testament. Indeed, many scholars view the similarities in cosmogonies, flood accounts, cultic ritual, legal texts, wisdom literature, and belief in the afterlife as proof that the Old Testament writers borrowed from or adapted the literary corpus of Israel’s Near Eastern neighbors. As a result, Old Testament religion is treated as essentially one more primitive religion among many, Read more
Communication That Connects: God Accommodates and So Must We
Why should we endeavor to communicate gospel truth in a way that’s clear and intelligible to our target audience? Below I’d like to provide two biblical arguments to support the idea of contextualized communication. The first highlights God’s own manner of communicating to humans. The second underscores the biblical mandate that obligates us to follow our heavenly Father’s example.1 Read more
- Further support is offered in my series “Contextualization & Church Ministry.” [↩]
Communication That Connects: Defined and Described
In an earlier post, I stressed the importance of presenting the truth gospel to our target audience in a way that’s clear and intelligible. I referred to this as “communication that connects.” But what precisely do I mean by that phrase? Below I’ll attempt to offer a definition and a description of what such accommodated communication looks like. In subsequent posts, I’ll adduce some biblical arguments and suggest some practical applications for church ministry. Read more
Is God’s Love Like a Hurricane?
The first line of John Mark McMillan’s song “How He Loves” compares God’s love to “a hurricane” and the believer as “bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy.” But hurricanes are overpowering forces that bring destruction, suffering, and, in some cases, death. Not surprisingly, the apparent dissonance of the metaphor and the glorious truth it’s meant to portray has left some people wondering whether a hurricane is an appropriate metaphor for God’s love. Read more
Communication That Connects: Making the Gospel Intelligible
A few years ago I had the opportunity to present the ministry of Reformed Baptist Seminary to a local church. I opened up for questions at the end of the presentation, and one brother asked how the seminary assesses a man’s preaching and teaching ability. I told him that we require our divinity students to preach and/or teach at least four times in the presence of one or more of their pastors, and we ask their pastor(s) to give them constructive feedback on the content, structure, and presentation of the message. Read more
The Baptist Confession on Oaths and Vows
In the 17th century, certain sects of Christendom, such as the Quakers and Anabaptists, denied the legitimacy of taking oaths or making vows. The teaching of this chapter 23 of the 1689 Baptist Confession was designed to clarify the meaning and confirm the lawfulness of oaths and vows when properly used. The 1689 Baptist Confession retains the substance of the Westminster Confession, but it abbreviates the form. Below we’ll use the Confession as a guide to examine the Bible’s teaching on oaths and vows. Then we’ll draw some practical lessons. Read more
Contextualization & Church Ministry: The Basic Idea
At its most basic level the verb “to contextualize” means to put into context, and it’s usually referring to some mode or form of communication, whether a speech or text. In theological discourse “contextualization” is defined as “the attempt to adapt the expression of theology [i.e., the message of the Bible] to a given time, place, culture or audience.”1 Read more
- Millard Erickson, Concise Dictionary of Christian Theology, 36. [↩]
