Recent posts

Who are the Gentiles who have the work of the Law written on their hearts?
There is a group of Gentiles in Paul’s eschatological narrative who do not have the Law of Moses, who nevertheless do the work of the Law, and who “will be justified” on a day of judgment and earn “glory and honour and peace” (Rom. 2:12-16). The question of the religious or rhetorical status of… ( | 11 comments)
Nearly 10 essential things to know about Paul’s letter to the Romans
Very reluctantly, I am going to take issue with Peter Enns here. In a recent “Bible for Normal People” podcast he advocates what is basically a New Perspective reading of Paul’s letter to the Romans.It’s not about individuals but it’s about a collective. If I can put that a little bit… ( | 9 comments)
The tongue is set on fire by Gehenna
By way of an addendum to the previous piece on Jesus’ subversion of the Jewish Gehenna, I want to look briefly at James 3:5b-6, which is the only place in the New Testament outside the Synoptic Gospels where the word geenna occurs. The verse reads (my translation): Behold, how small… ( | 7 comments)
The subversion of the Jewish “hell” in the teaching of Jesus
A major part of my argument against the traditional doctrine of “hell” is that in Jesus’ teaching “Gehenna” is not a place of unending conscious torment after death but a symbol for the devastation and loss of life that Israel would suffer as a consequence of the war against Rome. I think that… ( | 32 comments)
Yet another attempt to persuade the world that Tim Keller is wrong about hell
Steve Jacob found my post on annihilationism very interesting and wants to know whether I think “Tim Keller is on the mark in his recent article on hell”. The short answer is no. A longer answer follows. Readers might also be interested in my post “Tim Keller gets a lot right but gets hell badly… ( | 6 comments)
The resurrection of Jesus and the theological fiction of “redemptive history”
Zondervan Academic has just put out a blog post on the resurrection adapted from some online teaching material from Scott Oliphint. Oliphint is professor of apologetics and systematic theology at Westminster Theological Seminary. I want to consider the piece, first, because it’s Easter, and… ( | 1 comment)
The argument against annihilationism
In an article on “Evangelical Annihilationism” published twenty years ago J.I. Packer respectfully rebutted the arguments made by the likes of E.W. Fudge, John Wenham and John Stott in favour of a more benign understanding of “hell” not as a place of eternal conscious torment but as eternal… ( | 7 comments)
Did Jesus promise to return within the lifetime of his disciples?
A decent sermon at a well known central London Anglican church Sunday night was spoilt, in my view, by the excited closing announcement that Jesus is coming back soon. Apart from the fact that the dogma is questionable on biblical grounds, which I’ll come to, I don’t understand how or why such a… ( | 15 comments)
Why we should contain rather than extinguish the fires of hell
I have written rather a lot about the doctrine of “hell” on this site, for several reasons. It bothers people. It is one of the least pleasant aspects of conservative-fundamentalist expressions of Christianity. It continues to be misunderstood by its detractors and defenders alike. It draws on… ( | 8 comments)
7 things you need to know about the kingdom of God
This always baffles me. At the heart of Jesus’ teaching is the proclamation of the coming kingdom of God: ‘Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel”’ (… ( | 12 comments)
The narrative logic of salvation from the point of view of a Jewish apostle
Carrying on the conversation from here, with some repetition… God was gracious and forgave or overlooked the sins both of Jews and pagans who believed in the new future vouchsafed by the death and resurrection of Jesus. Both Jews and Gentiles, therefore, like Abraham, were “… ( | 5 comments)
Gentiles needed the death of Jesus as much as Jews did, but for different reasons
In answer to Peter’s comments about my post on the “The logic of salvation for Jews and Gentiles in Paul” here’s another broad-brush attempt to clarify the thesis.His basic point is that there is no real difference in the logic: “it seems that Paul’s argument was that Jews and Gentiles were in… ( | 8 comments)
The marriage of the Lamb and his Bride and the not-so-happy-ever-after
I’ve just finished reading a book on the church and same-sex attraction that has an appendix setting out the “Bible’s meta-narrative in its four great acts: creation, rebellion, redemption and perfection”. This grossly reductionist storyline is how evangelical thought has typically reconciled… ( | 4 comments)
Scripture, same-sex marriage, natural law, and the narrative-historical method
Is the main story that the Bible tells bigger than human history or smaller than human history? The biblical story is certainly bookended with creation and new creation, but it’s what happens in between that I’m concerned about—the sequence of events from the rise of Babel (Gen.… ( | 11 comments)
How would Jesus teach the church to pray today?
There were two parts to the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples. Our Father in the heavens, sanctified be (hagiasthētō) your name; may your kingdom come; may your will become as in heaven also on earth. (Matt 6:9–10) First, they were to pray that by intervening as king in… ( | 4 comments)
More on the narrative logic of salvation: “we have redemption through his blood”
Someone suggested on Facebook that Ephesians 1:7 contradicts my argument about the narrative logic of salvation:In him we have redemption (tēn apolutrōsin) through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses… (Eph. 1:7)This is the ESV translation. It seems to suggest that Paul… ( | 13 comments)
The rise and fall of the modern evangelical paradigm
This is a response to a couple of questions raised about the conclusions to the preceding post on the logic of the salvation of Jews and Gentiles. First, what did I mean when I said: “As a response to the fall of Christendom, modern evangelicalism has reinvigorated the universal model to keep the… ( | 3 comments)
The logic of salvation for Jews and Gentiles in Paul
The theologies that dominate the thought and practice of the modern church distribute their truths as flattened user-friendly doctrines. The Bible, however, gives us theological truth in the form of extended narratives mapped against the landscape of ancient history, as seen from the perspective of… ( | 9 comments)
Peter Leithart on the “Christendom model” of church-state relations
Peter Leithart has written an excellent, concise, balanced account of the “Christendom model”, its relation to scripture, and its strengths and weaknesses, in a post simply entitled “For and Against Christendom”. I won’t bother summarising it—I hope people will read it. But there are three… ( | 6 comments)
What do I mean when I say that Jesus is my personal Lord and saviour?
In a comment on my “Could you please help me understand the practical consequences…?” post Donald asks for ‘some explanation of what our “personal” relationship with Jesus should look like and if possible how it relates to our “personal” relationship to God.’ I’m afraid it won’t be possible to… ( | 23 comments)