The Apostle Paul in Romans 9 addresses God’s sovereignty and uses the illustration of the potter and the clay. The potter, of course, creates out of his pile of clay whatever he or she desires. The clay has no say…
The word depravity implies the absence of something that used to be abundant. In considering the doctrine of man’s total depravity it’s good to see first that man, Adam, was totally good, righteous, and upright. This is what Solomon…
Think about the job of the Old Testament priest. As if he didn’t have enough to do he had to do the occasional skin inspection. We read about it in Leviticus 13. The first thing that the priest had to…
What is the “total” in “total depravity”? When we speak of total depravity, we do not mean that every person is as quantitatively bad as they could possibly be. We do not mean that every person has committed every possible…
Every society has a rulebook, but living in one’s birth culture creates a blind embrace of its practices, norms, and expectations. We believe certain things about speech, social cues, and even driving habits with little awareness of what we prize…
Abraham Keteltas (1732-98) was raised by Protestant parents in New York and New Rochelle, where he spent much of his time among the communities of Huguenots in the area. Becoming fluent in French early on, he later studied theology at…
Some of Jesus’ statements in the Gospels stand out vividly, but their full force is somewhat vitiated because they are often only quoted partially. His statement in response to the Pharisees’ question, ‘Which is the greatest commandment?’ (Mt 22.36) is…
Those who take the Bible seriously believe that its message is coherent and consistent. It does not contradict itself. Although it is presented through the multiple voices of its human authors, those voices ultimately speak with one voice: that of…
Over the last several years, some in the church have argued that a person may be oriented toward homosexuality but not act on the inclination or tendency. That may or may not be the case. However, the burden of this…
In her book, The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert,[1] Dr. Rosaria Butterfield compares her Christian conversion experience to “an alien abduction or a train wreck.” As she shares about her very public Christian “coming out” while a tenured university English…
