In my last post, I gave the analogy of the Torah being like a medical report that diagnoses cancer. As welcomed and vital as that medical report is, only a fool would think that because he has the medical report, that somehow that medical report will cure the cancer. Such is in the same case…
As we move on to Romans 3, we need to remember that Paul is in the process of building an argument. He is ultimately going to get to the question, “How does the righteous person live?” But in order to get to that point, Paul has to first explain what is it that makes that…
After that opening salvo of Romans 1:18-32, one thing would be sure: Paul’s fellow Jews would be saying, “Preach it, brother!” (For that matter, given the topic in Romans 1:18-32, a whole lot of Evangelicals share that very sentiment). After all, what Paul put forth was the standard Jewish view of the Gentile world. Every…
Romans 1:18-32: Paul’s Condemnation of the Pagan World Romans 1:18-32 begins Paul’s actual argument that runs throughout Romans. It cuts to the heart of the Gospel itself, highlights the implications the Gospel has for living together as a community. Simply put, as I ended the last post, Paul isn’t talking about how one gets saved….
Today, I start actually going through Paul’s letter to the Romans. In order to really simplify things, I’m breaking this post into two sections: (A) Paul’s normal “introductory” material he uses in many of his letters (1:1-15); and (B) the “thesis statement” for the entire letter (1:16-17). So get ready to take some notes, we’re…
If you want to even begin to understand anything in the New Testament, be it the gospels or Paul’s letters, you need to make sure you have a handle on what was going on in Judaism in the first century. The Jewish Self-Identity First of all, you have to remember that the Jews viewed themselves…
Over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to turn a corner and focus on something actually biblical. When I was at Regent College in Vancouver, I was fortunate to take classes from Dr. Gordon Fee, one of the foremost experts on the apostle Paul. Since then, I have taught Paul and his letters numerous…
Since I’ve already devoted two posts to my experience at the AiG conference, for your sake and mine, I will keep the rest of Ham’s comments short, with a brief comment after each one. There were a host of other rather disjointed things Ken Ham said during his presentation, but they all fell under the…
Yesterday, I discussed the first part of Ken Ham’s talk to the high school kids at the Answers in Genesis conference this past weekend in the town where I live. Today, I’d like to discuss the second part. Noah’s Ark After making his case that atheism was the same thing as evolution, that evolution was…
This past weekend, Ken Ham came to my hometown for an Answers in Genesis conference at a local church. I knew he was coming as far back as last May, when it was announced to the faculty at my former school that the whole school was going to get to attend the conference. Needless to…