I never tire of trying to persuade people that the University of Kentucky has the greatest basketball tradition in the history of collegiate basketball. Whenever the subject comes up, I repeat, without hesitation, the necessary arguments to make my case. Are you persuaded? Over the years, I’ve gotten pretty good at making all those arguments…
Last year at the Evangelical Theological Society meeting in Denver, Reformed theologian J. V. Fesko offered a historical-theological critique of John Piper’s book, What is Saving Faith? (You can watch the debate here or read it here. Denny Burk offers a short summary here). Fesko argues that Piper fails to understand how the Reformed tradition…
When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy…
According to the Bible, humanity is clearly responsible to exercise Spirit-wrought faith in Jesus. When sinners willing place their faith in Jesus, God responds by justifying the sinner for their good and his glory. However, before we talk about the necessity of man acting in faith, we should first remember that justification is by grace.…
Historically, in the Western Christian tradition, the good news of the saving message of Jesus Christ has been linked closely to the doctrine of justification by faith alone.[1] In short, according to the Reformed tradition, upon the exercise of faith, a person is united to Christ by the powerful working of the Spirit. Having been…
“After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is…
Redemptive history is an amazing thing. You can see God’s goodness and grace run through the pages of Holy Scripture. Goodness and grace are inescapable realities. You’d think God’s people would respond with gratefulness and thankfulness. And yet, God’s people, the very recipients of God’s goodness and grace, are all-too-often ungrateful, unthankful, and down-right rebellious.…
This weekend, pastors and preachers around the world will exert significant effort to explain the good news of Jesus (i.e. the gospel). They’ll do so knowing that a lot of people in the pews have never believed the gospel and may not hear the gospel again until next Christmas or Easter when they return to…
Good paintings tell stories. Think of the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci. It tells the story of Jesus and his disciples sitting down for the final meal before the crucifixion. Jesus would drink the Passover cup before being sacrificed as the Passover lamb. The good news of Jesus is more than a story. But it’s not…
Recently my family and I used an Applebee’s gift card someone had given us for Pastor Appreciation Month. As we sat down, I started to think about my Sunday sermon and the title. The title contained the word renovation. This word makes me think about those people who go into older or established houses and…
Theology Along the Way 