Teaching Our Children the Raw Parts of Scripture
One of the things that I realized the first time that I taught through the book of Genesis is that the patriarchal narratives look far more like something that you…
Nick Batzig
5 Important Theological Pairs
One of the many wonderful things about the Westminster Shorter Catechism is that it includes several extremely important theological pairs (i.e. joint categories) in the opening questions that help us robustly systematize the biblical…
5 Reasons to Keep the Kids In
At New Covenant, we enthusiastically encourage parents to keep their children in the worship service–the whole worship service. Being with the congregation in the worship service from childhood is one of…
Jesus’ Miracles: Types of Spiritual Realities
If you put together all the maladies of those whom Jesus miraculously healed during His earthly ministry (i.e. those having to do with eyes, ears, tongues, arms, hands, legs, skin…
Eternalizing the Old Testament
When reading the Old Testament we come across such language as that of "an everlasting ordinance" (Exodus 12:14, 17), "everlasting covenant" (Gen. 9:16; 17:7, 13, 19; 2 Samuel 23:5), "everlasting…
Jesus’ Ark
As I have been preaching through the book of Genesis, I have been struck afresh by the Creation/New Creation structure of the entirety of Scripture–no less in its opening chapters.…
Fear and Sonship
On a prima facia reading, the Scriptures seem to give us contradictory statements about the roll of fear in the life of the believer. On the one hand we are called to…
The Rare Jewel of Christian Commitment
As a young believer, I came across Jeremiah Burrough's searching little book The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. I have yet to come across another book that so helpfully uncovers the great…
Perspective is Key
I recently received an email from a missionary couple in our congregation who serve in a large country in Africa. The wife of this couple who wrote us was telling…
The Hardest Week
At the end of an unusually exhausting or challenging week I sometimes find myself saying, "This has been the hardest week of my life." This is often simply a sophisticated…
The Cursed and Blessed Ground
In recent years it has become common for theologians to give focused treatment to the sphere (i.e. the sacred space) in which redemption occurs. The Temple motif–from the Garden of Eden to…
A Biblical Theology of Clothing
Many years ago I was involved with an evangelistic ministry in New Jersey. A group of us would go out on the Boardwalk ask people if we could talk with…