Yesterday at our church, I took a break from verse-by-verse exposition of 1 Corinthians in order to address an important question about prophecy and tongues. The sermon has three points: What Is the Gift of Prophecy? What Is the Gift of Tongues? Are Prophecy and Tongues for Today? My answer to the last question is “no.” My contention is that prophecy and tongues are revelatory gifts that are foundational to the church but that are no longer operative within the church (Eph. 2:20). You can download the sermon here, subscribe to the podcast, or listen below. –For more reading on this, I recommend two books, both of which I rely…
-
-
What does it mean that “God is the head of Christ”?
Paul’s teaching about head coverings in 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 stands out as some of the most difficult material in all of Paul’s writings. This is not only because there is disagreement over what the head covering means, but also because commentators debate what the covering even is. Even though there are some obscure points in this passage, I would argue that the main point of the passage is clear enough. That main point is Paul’s teaching about headship. Verse 3 reads as follows: 1 Corinthians 11:3 “But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the…
-
A Basic Principle of Justice
“A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established.” –The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Deuteronomy 19:15) “Take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.” –Jesus of Nazareth, King of Kings (Matthew 18:16) UPDATE: John Calvin’s commentary on Deuteronomy 19:15 is illuminating: “Since too great credulity would often impel the judges to condemn the guiltless, [God] here applies a remedy to this evil,…
-
Albert Mohler answers questions about social justice
Albert Mohler had an open Q&A session with students at Southern Seminary and Boyce College today in which he answered a question about social justice. At 24:14 in the video above, a student asks, “How do you define social justice, and how do you define our gospel call in how you define social justice.” Dr. Mohler gives an extensive statement in response, and at 38:35 offers a specific explanation of why he didn’t sign the recent Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel. Later in the day, Dr. Mohler answered more questions along these lines on his podcast “Ask Anything Live.” In the video below, you can hear the questions…
-
John Calvin on Temptation and Original Sin
Over the summer, Rosaria Butterfield and I coauthored an article about the differences between Protestants and Catholics concerning original sin. I followed up that article with some of my own reflections about temptation and sin. I stand by what we wrote. I have many Roman Catholic friends that I love and appreciate, but I still think that our differences on this point are important to come to terms with. John Calvin opines on these differences as well in a sermon on Galatians 5:19-23. Calvin’s comments reveal that our differences with Roman Catholics about original sin are as old as the Reformation. The sermon also reveals that the debate was not…
-
An 88-year-old dad is reunited with his 53-year-old Down Syndrome son
“An 88-year-old dad is reunited with his 53-year-old Down Syndrome son after spending a week apart for the first time ever.” The loving bond between father and son truly knows no limits, no bounds, and no age.pic.twitter.com/5ESDZfGrHP — Jeremiah Stephan Dunleavy IV (@JerryDunleavy) September 2, 2018 This really is wonderful. As Jayber Crow would say, “Good-good-good-good-good!”
-
Why get rid of priests who experience same-sex attraction?
I read the news with horror two days ago after I saw the headline from The New York Times: “Catholic Priests Abused 1,000 Children in Pennsylvania, Report Says.” If you haven’t been following this story, you need to. It is simply horrific. And all this in the wake of the disturbing revelations about Cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s sexual abuse of young boys and seminarians. The scope of the problem in the Pennsylvania is staggering. What struck me when I read the Times article, however, was that the words “gay” and “homosexual” appear nowhere in The New York Times’ coverage. I understand why it wasn’t mentioned. This is a kind of third…
-
The Trinity Debate Two Years On
It’s been about two years since the great online conflagration known as “the Trinity debate” began to wind down. I still think a lot about what happened during those months during the summer of 2016. Two years hence, I can say that my dominant feelings about it are thankfulness. And I say that in spite of the fact that it was one of the most bitter and unsparing debates I’ve ever been a party to. Why am I mainly thankful? I stand by what I wrote two years ago in the immediate aftermath. I learned from both faithful and unfaithful critics. And it was good for me. Before the debate…
-
Revoice is over. Now what?
I could not have predicted the Revoice conference would become the catalyst for controversy that it has now indeed become. Debate about the celibate gay identity movement has been going on for years. Both in print and online, the controversy was joined years ago about sin, temptation, desire, concupiscence, etc. And yet, it has been a controversy largely ignored by many evangelicals. That’s why I couldn’t have predicted that a conference featuring speakers whose views have been widely known for years would somehow change evangelical indifference about problems within the celibate gay identity movement. Even last Fall when celibate gay identity proponents were some of the most strident critics of…
-
The Moral Status of Desire Is the Issue
Ron Belgau has a rejoinder posted at The Public Discourse responding the essay that Rosaria Butterfield and I wrote. I’m not going to give it a point-by-point rebuttal, but I do want to offer some pushback on one central claim of his article. Belgau claims the following: Denny Burk and Rosaria Butterfield argued that our disagreements stem from the difference between the Protestant and Catholic views of sin… They asserted that I only denied that same-sex temptation is itself sinful because I am Catholic. This is a puzzling assertion, because Butterfield herself has denied that all temptations associated with same-sex attraction are sinful. In Openness Unhindered: Further Thoughts of an…
