…That three things are recorded as created, namely, the heaven, the water, and the earth; and these three received their form from the three days’ work of distinction, so that heaven was formed on the first day; on the second day the . . . Continue reading →
Creation
Shattering Creaturely Independence In The Presence Of The Creator
To come into the presence of our Creator shatters any illusion of creaturely independence and self-sufficiency. We are not our own and are undone before him. Apart from him we have no existence (Col 1:16-17). It is God who created us, as . . . Continue reading →
In 1949 E. J. Young Was A Framework Man
The work of creation is composed of an hexaemeron, or period of six days, coming to a majestic climax in the resting of the Creator on the seventh day. The length of these days is not stated but a certain correspondence of . . . Continue reading →
Found: One Lost Category
To follow up on the earlier essay on Christ and culture, I want to make a further observation about the importance of creation or nature as a category of thought. When many conservative Christians think of creation, the first thing they think . . . Continue reading →
E. J. Young On Creation Days And Solar Days
The length of the creation days is not stated. What is important is that each of the days is a period of time which may legitimately be denominated יֹ֔ום (“day”). 4. The first three days were not solar days such as we . . . Continue reading →
An Early Orthodox Reformed Theologian On The Role Of Science In Biblical Exegesis And Theology
VII. We shall leave to the students of the physical world the problem of describing the nature of the various creatures [in the creation narrative]. For us, it is sufficient to to list them according to the days of creation. JOHANNES WOLLEBIUS, . . . Continue reading →
It Is Our Fault
British comedian Stephen Fry is in a bit of trouble in Ireland because of his answer to a question about what he would say to God at the gates of heaven. He replied, “How dare you create a world in which there . . . Continue reading →
The Making Of Lawrence Phillips
There must be many ex-football players or ex-athletes and at least a few famous athletes who have ended their athletic careers by committing crimes. Most of those cases simply fall into obscurity but not that of Lawrence Phillips (1975–2016), who was a . . . Continue reading →
Heidelberg 103: The Christian Sabbath (1)
If there was a time when the church needed to stop its business, to rest, to worship, and to set aside time for the care of the poor in their midst, that time is now. At no time in its history has . . . Continue reading →
Creational Laws
And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, . . . Continue reading →
Sabbaths Or Sabbath In Colossians 2:16–17?
Μὴ οὖν τις ὑμᾶς κρινέτω ἐν βρώσει καὶ ἐν πόσει ἢ ἐν μέρει ἑορτῆς ἢ νεομηνίας ἢ σαββάτων· 17 ἅ ἐστιν σκιὰ τῶν μελλόντων, τὸ δὲ σῶμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ (Col 2:16–17) Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of . . . Continue reading →
Bullinger On “Common Grace”
For God in his mercy has permitted the powers of the intellect to remain, though differing greatly from what was in man before the fall. God commands us to cultivate our natural talents, and meanwhile adds both gifts and success. And it . . . Continue reading →
Dad: More Than Outcomes
All of this focus on “outcomes,” such as graduation rates, employment statistics, etc. is BOGUS. It has nothing to do with the value of the relationship. A good child-father relationship has a value beyond measure. Not just for the happiness of the . . . Continue reading →
Creator, Sustainer, Father (1)
One of the most basic impulses of the Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment west has been to get rid of God. The Enlightenment brought a revolution. In Christian antiquity, God was and we were becoming. In Modernity (and late modernity) we are and God . . . Continue reading →
Hermeneutics And The Creation Wars
You have heard by now of the worship wars, i.e., the contest between the competing claims about how we ought to worship. There is another battle stirring in our churches, over the proper interpretation of Genesis 1. One of the most frequently . . . Continue reading →
Geerhardus Vos On The Creation Days
30. To what is appeal made to support the nonliteral interpretation? a) To the fact that sun and moon (or rather the rotation of the earth around its axis in relation to the sun) were not yet present. As we know, the . . . Continue reading →
The Inherent Goodness Of Work
One of the casualties of the West’s cultural shift from Christian theism to Deism, and from that to late modern subjectivism (and neo-paganism) is the death of the Christian work ethic. The act of work has been emptied of its intrinsic value. . . . Continue reading →
Preaching Genesis 1
We’ve been blessed by the ministry of pastor Chris Gordon at Escondido URC. He’s also the proprietor of the Gordian Knot and the host of the Abounding Grace Radio program, currently broadcast in the Pacific Northwest, Phoenix, and San Diego. Recently, he . . . Continue reading →
Recovering Nature
Helping Millennials to Look Beyond the Screen
Until very recently presidents and presidential candidates, even if they didn’t believe it, had to say that they were in favor of marriage as historically understood and opposed to homosexual marriage. Now, they don’t. What changed and how did that change come . . . Continue reading →
Why Equality is the Wrong Category By Which to Analyze Homosexual Marriage
One of the most most rhetorically successful and popular ways to defend homosexual (gay) marriage is the appeal to “marriage equality.” The argument is, in short: if heterosexuals may marry and enjoy the social and civil benefits of the institution then homosexuals, . . . Continue reading →