In this episode of The Two Cities podcast we are joined by Dr. Beverly Roberts Gaventa, who is Distinguished Professor of New Testament at Baylor University (Waco, TX), and the author of When in Romans: An Invitation to Linger with the Gospel According to Paul (Baker, 2016). Over the course of our conversation we talk about Dr. Gaventa’s current research on Romans for the New Testament Library series, noting some distinctive features of her reading...
I once believed in greatness. Last week, my beloved San Francisco 49ers lost the Super Bowl. Although there was a fierce and exciting comeback in the second half, the Baltimore Ravens became the champions. Growing up in Las Vegas there are no local professional sports teams. One either inherits sports teams from family members, or chooses their own at a young age. I don’t know when it happened, but at a very early age I...
I don’t remember ever saying this, but here goes. I’ve never been more confident of my salvation. I’ve never felt so secure. I’ve never been so satisfied in Christ. And yet, at the same time, I’m more aware of my sin, ready to acknowledge it, even willing to tell people about it. Sound like a paradox? Welcome to the Christian life. I’m convinced that a true understanding of the gospel allows these two truths to...
Shortly before graduating from Biola University in the Spring of 2008, I took a job working as a part-time pastor at a new, predominantly Korean, inner city church plant in Los Angeles. A couple months into the job, I found myself in Buffalo, New York for our denominations’ annual conference. I still cannot forget a conversation that I had—along with two other colleagues—with a certain Army chaplain. Talk about a collision of Christian worldviews. Here...
One night a few years ago, I was reading through Romans and stumbled upon an extraordinary command from Paul’s pen: Rejoice with those who rejoice (Romans 12:15). I’d read it before, even quoted it, but something stood out this time. Struck by its simplicity and its strangeness, I considered this verse a challenge—a serious, sin-killing challenge. Something I wanted to master. How does one live out such a command? What does it look like? How...
A few weeks ago, I introduced an idea that natural law was meant to be the source from which all civil laws flowed. Thus, rather than appealing to biblical texts in order to erect judicial code, one must look to natural law. This post is my effort to establish natural law as the normative seat for the creation of civil law. While this may seem foreign to many, it was in fact the “orthodox” Reformed...
In the undergraduate class I am teaching this semester, one of the research assignments students can choose is an analysis of the Barth and Bultmann debate over the nature of Jesus’ resurrection. One student who chose this assignment later changed their mind; this person sent me an email asking if it would be possible change to another assignment because, they asked rhetorically, “Isn’t Karl Barth heretical?” In fact, this person went so far as to...
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