Category Archives: Jesus

What the world needs now is hesed, sweet hesed…

family, Jesus, love, Ruth, translation

Matt 5:44-47

I “love” chocolate and I “love” my wife.  Clearly, the word “love” is almost too multivalent to be useful sometimes.

Two days ago, my phone rang at just after 5pm.  It was my youngest son.  He began, “Dad, I’m OK, but….”  My heart sank to my stomach, my pulse quickened, my mind simultaneously imagined possibilities and braced to hear the actual.  He had been rear-ended by a tractor-trailer truck at highway speed on the interstate; his car had rolled and Continue reading What the world needs now is hesed, sweet hesed… →

Hermeneutics, Consistency, and “Christian Values”

church, civil society, discipleship, ethics, imago Dei, interpretation, Jesus, politics, poverty, racism, reconciliation, redemption

The concept of “Christian values” is playing a prominent role in the public arena today, but my Facebook® feed lately suggests very little agreement among those who call themselves Christian concerning the identification of these values or the definition of them individually. No one should wonder that people outside the church view it with suspicion Continue reading Hermeneutics, Consistency, and “Christian Values” →

The Syntax of Discipleship

discipleship, education, Jesus

Matt 28:19

The pendulum swings to and fro in the field of (higher, including theological) education from extreme to extreme, returning briefly to the center only to pass through it again. Early in my teaching career, the watchword was “transformational education.” The primary object of education, according to proponents of the philosophy, involves changing Continue reading The Syntax of Discipleship →

My Confession of Faith

Christian faith, church, covenant, creation, cross, ethics, grace, imago Dei, Jesus, monotheism, redemption, revelation, sin, sovereignty

For Now

In a few weeks, I begin my twentieth-eighth year teaching, my twentieth at BTSR.  The realization has given me occasion to reflect on a number of matters.  How has my thinking changed?  Has my faith deepened? Continue reading My Confession of Faith →

Grace: Transactional or Transformational?

church, covenant, deuteronomy/deuteronomism, grace, Jesus, sin

Exod 2:24; Judg 2:16; Luke 17:12-19

Grace is not transactional.

This time of year means preparation for facing first year students. Most have never engaged in rigorous academic study of the Bible. They come to seminary as I came to my undergraduate religion major, innocently expecting that the Bible says what they have always thought it said and that serious study of it will only confirm what they Continue reading Grace: Transactional or Transformational? →

“Unto the ends of the earth”

Acts, church, Jesus, John, Jonah, racism

Acts 1:8

The story of the early church as told in the book of Acts testifies to the tenacity of tribalism as a major force in human society.  A prominent strand of biblical tradition traceable to the call of Abraham and his descendants to serve as the means for God to bring blessing to all the families of the earth (Gen 12:1-3), through the prophetic call for Israel to shine as light Continue reading “Unto the ends of the earth” →

An Easter Confession

atheism, Christian faith, church, cosmology, creation, cross, free will, imago Dei, Jesus, materialism, monotheism

“Who do you say that I am?” (Mark 8:29 and par.)

Yesterday churches across the world experienced the highest attendance levels that they will experience all year.  Attendance next Sunday, at least in the West, however, will confirm the trends indicated in the surveys about religion and the statistics concerning denominational decline.  For many reasons, some clearly identifiable and others

Continue reading An Easter Confession →

“In whom I am well pleased”

cross, Isaiah, Jesus, Matthew, Messiah, redemption, Suffering Servant

Mark 1:11; Matt 3:17; Luke 3:22

As I write, it is Tuesday of Holy Week and the world seems to be coming apart all around me – terrorism in Belgium, turmoil in American politics, and troubled people on every horizon.  People want political answers to what they perceive to be political threats; they want forceful measures to deal with destructive forces.  People are angry and afraid.  Can

Continue reading “In whom I am well pleased” →

Poor Happens

covenant, deuteronomy/deuteronomism, ethics, Jesus, Job, poverty, sin, wisdom literature

And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?” (John 9:2 NAS)

Poverty is not (proof of) sin.  Poverty is not a character flaw.  Poverty happens to people.

John’s Gospel records an episode in Jesus’ ministry in which his disciples revealed their sadly respectable conventionality.  Two prominent strands of theological tradition running throughout the Old Testament converged in their question concerning the identity of the sinner responsible for an unfortunate man’s blindness.

Continue reading Poor Happens →

The Sovereignty of God and the Sears Catalog

free will, Jesus, sovereignty, , , , ,

On Genesis 17

Some years ago, Dennis came to my office to talk about how his study of the Bible had reshaped his understanding of God.  He related an episode in his life just a few years earlier involving the purchase of a swing set for his young daughter.  His church background had emphasized the sovereignty of God, including the notion that God’s

Continue reading The Sovereignty of God and the Sears Catalog →