Mordecai’s words to Esther, in the Jew’s moment of existential threat, are apt for our present cultural crisis: For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time [kairos] as this?” Esther 4:14 Israel was … [Read more...]
Radical Witness in Hostile Times: A Eucharistic Prayer
“For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes” 1 Corinthians 11:26 This Easter we consider the radical nature of this covenantal meal, particularly in a culture that is increasingly hostile to the Christian witness. Even though many national governments have decreed "lock-down" because of COVID-19, the kingdom of God is … [Read more...]
Romans: Covenant Predestined, Part 6a
EXPOSITION: Chapter 9:1-29 9:1-5—Introduction: The Tension Between God’s Promises and Israel’s Plight 1 I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit—2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of … [Read more...]
Romans: Disobedience & Dispossession—Covenant Administered, Part 6
EXPOSITION: Chapter 9:1-11:36 Chapters 9-11 follow fast on the heels of ch. 8—of Paul’s declaration of God’s predestined purpose for history. We have seen that God, in his sovereignty, has purposed to fill the earth with his glory through the unveiling of his mature sons, the corporate Christ, and thereby liberate creation from its corruption. The apostle now, in these … [Read more...]
The Nativity of Christ: Its Historical Context and Cultural Implications
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage … [Read more...]
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