Sermon given to Sovereign Grace Fellowship, Boscawen, NH, on June 7, 2020 Our text is 1 Cor 13:8-13 NLT; Paul emphasizes what we have now and what we will have them - Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and... Continue Reading →
What if Jesus were in your small group Bible study?
When I was in Israel, we got on the bus and went west from Jerusalem, and in a short while the guide said, “By the way, there is the location of Emmaus.” Today it’s just a stop on the highway outside our bus window. In fact, one of my favorite Bible passages is from Luke... Continue Reading →
The New Testament doctrine of election
I was fresh out of university when the editors of the Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary asked me to write the article on election. My starting point is exegesis of texts, not systematic theology. You can read the original article in volume 2:441–444; the following is slightly paraphrased. The nature of this article is a panoramic... Continue Reading →
Did David Wilkerson predict Coronavirus in 1973? Or in 1986? Or, was it only last Wednesday? Or did Jim Bakker predict 9-11, but only mentioned it 6 years after the fact?
Beware of those who are trying to resurrect David Wilkerson's The Vision, where in 1973 he supposedly predicted the plague that we now call Coronavirus. He did not, not by a long shot. What he ACTUALLY said was quite different. Most of his "vision" was utterly generic and rambling and could be true for any... Continue Reading →
Greek Brainteaser
Not everyone can read the biblical languages. Some of us can read them at a decently intermediate level, a few people at a higher level. But there is an entire army out there with little to no Greek, who claim to be able to reinterpret the Bible from the original language, usually based on the... Continue Reading →
Coronavirus! Do we offer the Lord’s Supper, even when 2 or 3 are NOT gathered? Oh, yes!
I will share my conclusion up front: of course we do! And if we are able to settle that, the main issue now becomes one of logistics, not of theology. First some background. Churches are offering online worship services: Bible studies; small groups. A Mennonite church in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is offering drive-through prayer: the... Continue Reading →
ME?? Stay at home because of a VIRUS!?
As someone who does an average of 50%+ of his work from his own office, being obligated to stay at home or work full-time from home is not a chore. However, I do appreciate that many will find it boring and bewildering, and for some, it will lead to emotional turmoil or even depression or... Continue Reading →
The Critical Text of the New Testament versus the Majority Text
I am committed to using the very best edition of the Greek New Testament. At this moment, I accept as best the Nestle-Aland 28th edition (NA-28; I do not say this to put down the SBL or the Tyndale House New Testaments, but that is an issue for another day). Thus I am dumbfounded by... Continue Reading →
“No, but wait…MY pastor doesn’t tell us how to vote!”
"My pastor doesn’t tell us how to vote! What he does is give out a score card that describes what the issues are [remember that phrase!] and then shows what each candidate stands for. But then he tells us to make up our own minds!" Anyway, that's the word on the street. Let’s look at two... Continue Reading →
Give to the Lord, even when it DOESN’T hurt!
I love to write, and since I just yesterday finished drafting out a new book - and having a great time doing so! - a comment by C. S. Lewis reminded me that I should not claim to be doing some great act of self-surrender whenever I crank up the laptop. To paraphrase Plutarch from... Continue Reading →