The Christian Duty of Self-Denial
Christ’s appeal to his disciples was austere and foreboding: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). Today, we often interpret this in terms of denying ourselves the…
Properly: A Survey of Romans 13:1-14
Author’s note: This blog post is part of an ongoing series about the book of Romans. To see other Romans resources, click here. How do Christians live out the paradigm of spiritual worship? At the beginning of chapter 12, Paul laid…
An Overview of Isaiah 1
Like the narrator of a great tragedy, Isaiah opens his prophetic writings with sweeping vistas of a nation in decline. For five chapters, the prophet paints the picture of a nation visibly prosperous but inwardly rotten; outwardly pious but internally…
Theological Warfare in 8th-Century Judah
The prophets had a significant task: to call people back to the pure worship of Yahweh. Their culture, like all human cultures, were filled with false views of God. In order to understand the prophets, it is helpful to understand…
A Few Notes on Teaching
A few notes that I’ve gathered for myself on how to be interesting when teaching or presenting on a topic: (1) Luther said that every preacher should preach as though to a 12-year-old milkmaid sitting in the audience. This is…
