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No Trinity, No Love?

A common argument heard among evangelicals today is, “If God isn’t Triune, then he can’t be loving.” That is, since love requires someone else to love, there must logically be a plurality of persons within God. This argument is central to the popular book Delighting in the Trinity by Michael Reeves (IVP, 2012). And it’s […]

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Review: The Invention of the Inspired Text by John C. Poirier

Recently I taught a church Sunday school class on the doctrine of Scripture, defending the Protestant view of inspiration. During the class, I referenced a debate that had taken place earlier between Trent Horn (a Roman Catholic) and Gavin Ortlund (a Protestant). Horn, in arguing for the necessity of the papal magisterium to affirm biblical […]

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Review: God Reforms Hearts by Thaddeus Williams

These words, written by C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity, reflect one of the most common Christian responses to the problem of evil and suffering in the world. At first glance, the so-called “free will defense” has considerable appeal. It seems to absolve God of responsibility for the existence of evil, by shifting that responsibility to […]

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Does nature need addition? Bavinck against the donum superadditum

One of the central points of disagreement among the various Christian traditions is the question of the relationship of grace and nature. Should we say that grace opposes nature? Affirms nature? Perfects nature? Flanks nature? The answer that Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck famously gives is that grace restores nature: it gives back to us what […]

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Doubting Thomists: John Bolt’s defense of (the real) Aquinas against his Reformational critics

Protestants have always had a complicated relationship with the great medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas. On the one hand, the Reformers rejected many of his views on salvation and the sacraments. On the other hand, even in the heat of post-Reformation polemics, Protestants and Catholics were still able to find much common ground in his teachings […]

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Roundup on the Frame-Dolezal Dustup

First it was Eternal Subordination of the Son; now it’s Theistic Mutualism. It’s hard to keep up with all of these modern evangelical debates over the doctrine of God. For those just tuning in, the latest controversy centers on the recently published volume All That Is in God by Reformed Baptist theologian James Dolezal (Reformation […]

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Resources on Daniel’s Seventy Weeks

24 Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place [literally holy of holies]. 25 Know therefore and understand that […]

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Further Thoughts on Modern Bible Translations and Textual Criticism

Based on some helpful feedback that I received on my previous post on textual criticism, I thought that I should write a follow-up post to clarify a few things. To begin with, I should state upfront that I’m a relative newcomer to the subject of textual criticism, and would by no means consider myself an expert. […]

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In Defense of Modern Bible Translations: A Case for Eclecticism in Textual Criticism

How do we know that the text of the Bible has been reliably preserved throughout the centuries? If I were to make a list of all the objections that I commonly hear from skeptics against Scripture’s authority, this question would probably come close to the top of that list. It is often argued that if […]

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Jehovah’s Witnesses and Jesus As Theos in John’s Gospel

The doctrine of the deity of Christ has been affirmed by the vast majority of the Christian church throughout its history. Ever since the Council of Nicaea in AD 325, it has been considered a litmus test for orthodoxy. It is one of the few doctrines that unites the main branches of the faith—Protestantism, Roman […]

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