Genesis

Providential Opportunities

Jeffrey Stivason
Jan 26, 2024
I was recently struck anew by reading Genesis 26. It’s the story of Isaac dwelling in Gerar. The story is familiar. We might read it in “like father, like son” fashion. As Abraham told Abimelech that Sarah was his sister, Isaac did the same. Yes, we sometimes learn from our parents. Even the...

Friday, April 17, 2020

Todd Pruitt
Apr 17, 2020
Genesis 3:14-21 The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring...

Monday, March 16, 2020

Todd Pruitt
Mar 16, 2020
Beginning today I plan on posting daily (Mondays – Fridays) devotions for anyone interested. First and foremost these are for the folks I get to serve as pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church . But I hope they are encouraging to anyone who may happen upon them. I’ve been preaching through Genesis...

Interpreting Scripture with Scripture

Richard C. Barcellos
Aug 20, 2018
We cannot properly interpret what God does, as He has recorded it for us in Scripture, unless we know something about the God who effects what is recorded for us in Scripture. In other words, there must be a hermeneutical ( i.e. interpretive) dialogue between the text which confronts us (e.g., Gen...

Human Dignity, Justice and the Death Penalty

Joshua Steely
Aug 14, 2018
Pope Francis' recent and much-publicized change of the Catholic church's position on the death penalty presents a challenge in the realm of theological and ethical reasoning. His rationale for denouncing the death penalty, according to the Vatican statement, is that "the death penalty is...

Imitatio Sanctorum

Aaron Denlinger
Feb 23, 2017
"The things related in Scripture are not always proper to be imitated." So notes Calvin midway through his commentary on the story of Isaac and Rebekah's engagement and marriage--a story that, rather unpromisingly to modern ears, begins not with star-cross'd lovers flung forth from the fatal loins...

Praying Through the Scriptures: Genesis 1

Chad Van Dixhoorn
Sep 5, 2016
Over the years it has been my practice, learned from others, to offer up praises and petitions framed by a passage of Scripture. Some of these passages were read in preparation for preaching, others offered material for meditation in daily devotion; still others were plundered specifically for the...

"The Labyrinth of Temptation": Calvin on Genesis 22

Aaron Denlinger
Jul 6, 2016
"This chapter contains a most memorable narrative." Thus Calvin introduces his readers to Gen. 22, that text which records God's instruction to Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, the long-awaited fulfillment of God's promise and source of Abraham's profound joy. Calvin's subsequent comments on...

Against Hotels: Calvin on Gen. 18.1-8

Aaron Denlinger
Oct 17, 2015
Somewhat curiously, Calvin judged "the great number of inns" populating the landscape of his day to be rather obvious "evidence of our depravity" -- the "our" in question being, in the first instance, early modern Europeans. What prompted such disapproval of something as seemingly innocuous, if not...

Painful Lessons in Humility: Calvin on Gen. 17.1-27

Aaron Denlinger
Sep 7, 2015
Scripture's account of God's command to Abraham to "circumcise the flesh of [his] foreskin" (Gen. 17.11; KJV) affords Calvin ample opportunity to reflect on the reality and nature of sacramental signs. Thus he is keen, in his comments on this and surrounding verses, to emphasize the close...