With each passing beatitude in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, it becomes more and more clear that a person cannot be a genuine Christian without have their attitudes and actions completely and radically transformed from the inside…
Since its inauguration in 1974, the Philadelphia Conference of Reformed Theology has hosted some of the most gifted and trustworthy pastors, theologians and speakers from around the world in order to teach God’s word and sound doctrine. Among the celebrated…
Among the litany of important and under-treated subjects that the Apostle Paul touches upon in his first letter to the Corinthians, John Calvin reflected on those concerning one believer taking another believer to court over personal or public injuries (1…
The problem (so to speak) with Christianity is that it places creaturely identity in the hands of the Creator rather than the creature. In other words, it holds that the identity of every human being–and, for that matter, every created…
In Psalm 38, David feels the overwhelming burden of his sin and the corresponding displeasure of YHWH. He feels as if he is a cursed sin-bearer. 1. Awareness of your sin and God’s hatred of it The psalmist is quite…
The very root and beginning of all theological study is known as theology proper or the doctrine of God. Within this field, the existence, being, and attributes of God are considered and his character is defined within the limitations common…
Humans are amazing pattern finders. We detect patterns everywhere in the world around us: contorted faces in the wood grain, mythical creatures in the clouds, phantom ailments in our aches and pains–there’s no end to the patterns our vibrant and…
For the better part of my Christian life, I’ve had a visceral reaction–driven by internal disapproval–whenever I’ve heard someone describe the hardships he or she experienced in life in the following ways: “It was like hell on earth,” or “I…
Lois Lowry tells a story about how a utopian state required that all of the community’s memories going back through the generations be committed to a single person, a receiver. The elders engineered a society where no one but the…
Lois Lowry tells a story about how a utopian state required that all of the community’s memories going back through the generations be committed to a single person, a receiver. The elders engineered a society where no one but the…
