Month: January 2014

Bible Discomfort

Bible reading can make a reader uncomfortable. This morning, for instance, I came to Zephaniah 1:12. “At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are complacent, those who say in their hearts, ‘The LORD will not do good, nor will he do ill.’” [ESV] The marginal reading …

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In Christ

What does it mean to be “in Christ”? I recently surveyed a book about Paul’s use of the theme in the New Testament. His regular references to believers as people in Christ help explain what union with Christ represents. The book was meant for an academic audience—tracing complex Greek grammatical issues in the underlying text—yet …

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The Magnet Parable

This post is also offered on the Cor Deo site: please post any responses there rather than here. Thanks! Let me offer a magnet parable. A man bought an industrial grade mobile magnet—a smaller version of what one sees in the auto crushing business. He was proud of himself for being both noble and practical. …

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Spiritually Minded

Jonathan Edwards, 18th century pastor and scholar, made two points about Romans 8:6—“To be spiritually minded is life and peace”—in his “Treatise on Grace” (Works, Yale ed., 21.178): “(1) That this divine principle in the heart is not called spiritual, because it has its seat in the soul or spiritual part of man, and not …

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