Preface. This portion of Romans is especially difficult to exegete. Chapter 5 is probably the most complicated writing in the New Testament. (For instance, in the Greek sentence found in verse 5:18, there are no verbs. I don’t even know what to make of that. For what purpose would Paul...
The most well-known parable of Jesus is “The Prodigal Son”, or so it is commonly called. It is the parable found in the latter part of Luke 15. This chapter has probably been preached more than almost any other chapter in history. It certainly ranks in the top 10. I...
Preface. The word ‘exegesis’ has become very hip. Every pastor worth his weight in words refers to his sermons in the third person as ‘Exegesis’. This is a good thing, at least in principle. The alternative, and the antonym of exegesis is ‘eisegesis’, and that is seriously ‘no bueno’. Eisegesis...
Every poll tells the same story: Traditional Christian culture (A.K.A., Western Civilization and Judeo-Christian culture) is in steep decline. Here in America, where it has held on perhaps the longest, in the last 20 years has dropped off precipitously. Church attendance, which held steady at about 70% since 1937 (when...
Romans chapter ten is one of the most cited passages in all of Scripture. Verse 9 is particularly attractive to evangelicals and forms the climax of the “Romans Road”. Although this verse is almost always excised and exhibited in a hermeneutically sealed enclosure with all the context vacuumed out to...
Enter in through the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and there are many which go in through it: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life, and there are few who find it....
The highest virtue in our postmodern society seems to be what is euphemistically called “open mindedness”. It also goes by the names of “tolerance”, “acceptance”, and “inclusivity”. As is always the case of euphemistic appellations, the name has very little connection to the underlying ideology. A humorous example can be...
I would like to revisit the common accusation brought against the King James translation of it being archaic. To be sure, there is a certain degree of truth to it. That cannot be denied. What is irritating about the accusation is that the majority of those leveling it aren’t clever...
Perhaps the most difficult hurdle for a secularist worldview is how to define and defend morality. Not only do they not have an eternal, sovereign God, but they also, consequently, don’t have an absolute purpose. As an attempt to fill in those gaps and establish a groundwork for moral expectations,...
The tired cliche says, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Or to paraphrase Shakespeare, “disgust makes for strange bedfellows”. There is an informal, unintended, and unacknowledged collaboration between those who we might characterize, without any offense intended, as “ultra-fundamental Christians” and those that are self-professed pagans: They both...
