Words And Things: “Semantic Range” (Part 9)

Linguists have provided significant help to biblical scholars, not the least in the area of lexical semantics. Lexical here means words and phrases and semantics deals with meanings, so that lexical semantics is the study of how words mean. One area of . . . Continue reading →

Words And Things: All About “By” (Part 7)

I once preached through the book of Hebrews. When I arrived at the end of the book, I was very excited about preaching on the benediction in Hebrews 13:20–21. I love benedictions. If you study the “mother of all benedictions,” that of . . . Continue reading →

Comfort in the Chaos: How Psalm 77 Helps Pilgrims on the Way (Part 3) — Their Exodus and Ours

At this point in Psalm 77, Asaph begins to see things in a different light—Yahweh acted to save His people in history, which brought the psalmist comfort in the midst of his present chaos and pain. Specifically, the LORD rescued His people . . . Continue reading →

Words And Things: All About “This” (Part 5)

“This” is not very interesting. In fact, when studying a foreign language “this,” “that,” and “the other” are the kind of words that are easy to overlook and hard to memorize. Like “who,” “what,” or “why?” Why? In isolation, they seem abstract . . . Continue reading →

Comfort in the Chaos: How Psalm 77 Helps Pilgrims on the Way (Part 2)—The Deeds of the LORD

Asaph was desperate, looking to Yahweh for help in his day of trouble. That is how Psalm 77 begins, but in this second installment, we see things begin to change. The psalmist was looking in the right direction: his desperate cries for . . . Continue reading →

Comfort in the Chaos: How Psalm 77 Helps Pilgrims on the Way (Part 1)—The Day of Trouble

“Now what?” It is the question we would rather not ask. We still find ourselves asking it in different contexts, of course. Sometimes we have acquired knowledge but do not know how to put it into practice, or we have finally obtained . . . Continue reading →

Review: The Binding of God: Calvin’s Role in the Development of Covenant Theology by Peter A. Lillback

Whether Calvin was a covenant theologian has been a matter of considerable confusion and controversy in modern Calvin studies. The answer to this question has usually been determined by whether one considers the rise of covenant theology a positive or negative development, . . . Continue reading →

Review: Union with the Resurrected Christ: Eschatological New Creation and New Testament Biblical Theology by G. K. Beale

G. K. Beale is rightly renowned for his skill at biblical theology, especially tracing the redemptive historical theme of creation-new creation. His work on the temple theme has fairly definitively demonstrated the connections between the creation order and the fundamentally religious orientation . . . Continue reading →