One of the more interesting questions we face each semester arises when we get to the Shepherd of Hermas, which was a wildly popular but almost certainly heretical text from (probably) the mid to late-second century A.D., is why it was so . . . Continue reading →
Hermeneutics
A Gospel-Double-Decker Not A Law-Sandwich
We were walking out of chapel after our weekly prayer group and a student said to me, about a sermon he had recently heard, “It was a law-sandwich.” That might not have been the first time I had ever heard that expression . . . Continue reading →
Hermeneutics Matter: Law And Gospel In Luke 18:18–30
And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do . . . Continue reading →
The Old Testament Is Like A Mystery Story
Despite how we know we should feel, even Christians who deeply love the Bible often feel a bit less than enthused if the preacher uses an obscure portion of the Old Testament as his sermon text. Some Old Testament books seem so . . . Continue reading →
The Main Purpose Of The ‘Rule Of Faith’ Is to Help Readers Identify Jesus As The One To Whom The Scriptures Point
Jesus Christ is not the solution to a puzzle, whether that solution is derived by means of a sophisticated homiletical method or a sophisticated hermeneutical method. Jesus Christ is God the Son in person. Someone, not something, is the central subject matter and scope of Scripture. Someone, not something, should be the central subject matter and scope of Christian preaching. Continue reading →
Review: Five Things Theologians Wish Biblical Scholars Knew
Hans Boersma, Five Things Theologians Wish Biblical Scholars Knew (Downers Grove, IL, InterVarsityPress, 2021). Introduction The idea behind this book is good. The author is right to say that no one approaches the biblical text without a prior commitment to metaphysics. Nevertheless, . . . Continue reading →
A Guide To Interpreting Scripture: All Scripture Has Two Authors
It is common to hear admonishments to read the Bible and interpret it in context; that is, that we ought to avoid detaching a particular verse, story, or portion of Scripture from the immediate and original context in which it was written. . . . Continue reading →
Upside Down Hermeneutics
To say that 1 Timothy 2:12 is “difficult” Continue reading
Augustine Contra Biblicism
Or if anyone should think this is untrue, I am not going to quarrel about it. After all, I am clearly dealing with Christians, who rejoice over their knowing the holy Scriptures without human guidance; and if that is the case, it . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours With Sujin Pak On Calvin’s Hermeneutics And More
Few Bible interpreters in the history of the church have been as prolific and influential as John Calvin (1509–64). Love or hate him, one cannot ignore him. He wrote commentaries upon much of Scripture. As a humanist, he was a careful, sensitive, . . . Continue reading →
What The Reformed Can Learn From A 1532 Synod: God Should Be Preached Only As He Is Known In Christ
How disgraceful it is for a servant of Christ not to know the command of His Lord, and to pursue some other, useless preoccupation, and fail to take an interest in the things which concern His Lord, who is our everlasting blessedness! . . . Continue reading →
New Resource Page: On Dispensationalism
Dispensationalism describes a way of reading the Bible and a system of theology the nearest roots of which are in the 19th century. There have been premillennial (traditionally known as “chiliastic) movements, including some Reformed theologians, since the early church but most . . . Continue reading →
One Important Difference Between The Reformed And Some Particular Baptists: God The Son Was In, With, And Under The Types And Shadows
In reading Particular Baptist sources from the classical period of Particular Baptist theology, piety, and practice and from modern proponents of that tradition I have become more deeply impressed with how superficial my understanding was and how great the differences are in . . . Continue reading →
Is Abraham “Our Father” Or “A Father”?
Abounding Grace Radio exists to make known the riches of God’s grace to sinners in Christ. We confess the great Protestant doctrines of salvation sola gratia (by grace alone), sola fide (through faith alone). With the ancient Christian fathers Barnabas (AD 120), Justin . . . Continue reading →
Is Abraham Our Father Or A Father?
The Reformed Churches confess the great Protestant doctrines of salvation sola gratia (by grace alone), sola fide (through faith alone). With the ancient Christian fathers Barnabas (AD 120), Justin Martyr (AD 150), and Irenaeus (AD 170), and the Reformed theologians and churches of . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast Series: I Will Be A God To You And To Your Children
The question of baptism, who should be baptized and why, is not just a question about the sacraments. It is a question that is integrally connected to the way we read the Scriptures (hermeneutics), the way we understand redemptive history, the way . . . Continue reading →
Resources For A Redemptive-Historical Reading Of Scripture
The latest Theocast episode is a basic introduction to reading the Bible redemptive-historically. The Theocast guys were all educated in strongly Dispensational schools and they have been chronicling their journey toward Reformed theology on the podcast. They are justifiably excited about what . . . Continue reading →
The Israel Of God
At the center of the debate is the question of “the Israel of God” (Gal 6.16). Of course, this is not a new question. During our Lord’s earthly ministry and after his resurrection and before his ascension, the disciples asked him repeatedly, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1.6). Continue reading →
The USA Is Not Old Testament Israel
Theonomy (or, more broadly Christian Reconstructionism) is one of the tollbooths through which pilgrims from traveling from Münster to Geneva, as it were, often seem to pass. I encountered it almost as soon as I came into contact with the Reformed churches. . . . Continue reading →
Resources On The Role Of Abraham In Redemptive History
Moses Was Not Abraham Abraham Was Not Moses Is Abraham “A” Father Or “Our” Father? (1) Is Abraham “A” Father Or “Our” Father? (2) Is Abraham “A” Father Or “Our” Father? (3) Abraham Was A Spiritual, Gracious Covenant The Abrahamic Covenant Unifies . . . Continue reading →