Joshua JensenGenesis 3:8 is a familiar verse in a familiar story: Adam and Eve have sinned, and now, in the cool of the day, they hear the sound of the Lord God walking in the Garden. Afraid, they hide among the trees.
Jason S. DeRouchieThe Bible is explicit that God revealed ten Words to his people at Sinai and it stands to reason that we should know how to number them, especially given the unique status these Words bear in Scripture.
Sigurd GrindheimWhen he speaks of the kingdom of God, Jesus simultaneously captures our greatest dreams and summarizes the drama of salvation history. The idea of God’s own kingdom is evocative: the ideal society, utopia, paradise. A kingdom in which all citizens...
Mark BriansIf we wish to understand the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, we must begin with seeing them as a part of the creational order. Trees, along with plants and seed-bearing things, come to life by the word of God as part of...
Donald C. McIntyreWhat does the Bible say about sexual immorality? How does God, through Scripture, comfort the sexually struggling, engage the skeptic, and provide a template for those exasperated by their attempts to live a holy sexual life? Common ethical systems...
Ken CasillasYou probably don’t use the word defiled in everyday conversation. But if the synonyms dirty or unclean come to mind, you’re on your way to understanding the key Old Testament theme of defilement. It’s just that in Scripture, defilement isn’t limited...
Zach KeeleWhat, exactly, is the future Christian hope? What are we supposed to be looking forward to? We long for heaven, of course—and Scripture definitely exhorts us along these lines: Paul tells us to set our minds on things above (Col 3:2).
Jason StoneNavigating life at the crossroads of science, faith, and philosophy is challenging. Lydia Jaeger, a seasoned navigator in these realms, has gifted us with her work, Ordinary Splendor: Living in God’s Creation. I thoroughly enjoyed my recent...
Michael F. BirdAmong the divine attributes, none is so mysterious and sublime as that of divine holiness. In systematic theology, the divine attributes—aspects of God’s character and being—are normally divided into two categories: the incommunicable and the...
Matthew StanleyThe apostle Paul uses the seemingly paradoxical phrase “spiritual body” in 1 Corinthians 15 when explaining what will happen to believers’ bodies at the resurrection. In this same discourse, he also claims that there are many kinds of flesh...
James-Michael SmithAs a kid growing up in Georgia, my school used to take field trips every year to the Savannah Science Museum. I loved it! We’d run through a two-story replica of the human heart, peer into terrariums of exotic snakes, and lift massive weights using...
John Mark YeatsIf we are honest, theological education has a persistent PR problem. Some pastors may even discourage a potential seminarian from attending a school because of their own difficult journey. But there’s a reason seminary has long been a standard...
Kelly CrossThe Bible opens by describing a universe that is formless and void. The Creator breaks the silence by speaking a word of power into the nothingness. And then light is introduced, thus marking the first day of creation. Throughout the subsequent five...
Blake AdamsExegetical ambiguity occurs when a word or passage from Scripture can support more than one interpretation. Exegetical ambiguity can spur a deeper engagement with the text, but it can also frustrate or even cause despair. But it may relieve us to...
Timothy BergChristians debate creation and evolution as sharply as any other issue. All Christians believe that in or at the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (Gen 1:1). Nicene Christians confess the Father as Maker of heaven and earth, and of...
George HillmanGrowing up, my family had a weekend farm just north of the town where we lived. As a kid, it was a great place to explore nature and learn many life skills. It was on that farm, for example, where I learned how to drive a manual transmission even...
Timothy RuckerJesus says to Peter in Matthew 16:18, You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. Few passages have been as foundational and encouraging for the church as Matthew 16:18. For example, at the...
Thomas S. KiddIn the years since the 2016 election of President Donald Trump, evangelicals have become arguably the most controversial religious group in America. Almost all mainstream news coverage of evangelicals relates to politics—or to scandals, such as the...
Constantine CampbellI like to say to students that, in ancient Greek, verbs are where the action is. It’s a tongue-in-cheek acknowledgement that, of course, verbs are doing words, but also that verbs are centrally significant for the way that ancient Greek functions...
Kyle HughesThis article will provide a brief introduction to pneumatology by answering a few key questions: What do the biblical terms ruach and pneuma have to do with the Holy Spirit? How did early Christians go about the task of reflecting on the person and...
Revolutions are by their very nature destructive and disruptive. Revolutions bring old things down and erect new institutions and networks in their place. Revolutions bring conflict. They trample down things once thought sacred and raise up new...
All Christians must reckon with spiritual gifts in their Bibles. Lists in 1 Corinthins 12:7–10, 1 Corinthians 12:28, Romans 12:6–8, and 1 Peter 4:10–11 name various gifts while passages throughout the New Testament depict them at work. What are...
JoAnna HoytSaint Photini, so named in the Orthodox tradition, was an especially blessed woman. You may know her simply as “the woman at the well” from John 4. Her story tends to be remembered for two reasons: her shockingly high number of marriages, and Jesus’...
Sam WaldronI have watched with great interest, growing understanding, and deepening concern the debate between classical theism and—for lack of a better descriptor—Framean biblical personalism.
Alexander StewartIn Revelation 1:4–5, John gives what appears to be a Trinitarian greeting from God, the Spirit, and Jesus; but in place of the Spirit he highlights the “seven spirits before his throne.” John: To the seven churches in Asia. Grace and peace to you...
Ruth SutcliffeRegarding the two “sides” in the fifth-century Christological controversies, R. V. Sellers observed, So intent was each upon securing for itself the victory, that it would not stop to enquire whether its opponents did not after all believe what they...
Leopoldo SánchezIn her article, “The Holy Spirit: Lutheran Perspectives,” Cheryl Peterson observes that, due to their historic emphasis on the doctrine of justification by faith on account of Christ as the chief article of Christian teaching, Lutherans are...
Veli-Matti KärkkäinenFor a long time considered to be the stepchild—or, daringly, the Cinderella—of theology, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit (pneumatology) has in recent times risen to the center of attention. Never before in the history of Christian doctrine has there...
Gregg AllisonWithout the Holy Spirit and his mighty works, we would be missing absolutely everything. So, what are those mighty works? What does the Holy Spirit do?
Gerald BrayThe Filioque clause in the Nicene Creed is the name given to an insertion that was made in the Latin version of the creed sometime in the late-sixth century, almost certainly in Spain. The creed itself was originally composed in Greek, most probably...