In every era of the church’s history, the question of spiritual gifts has caused significant discussion and debate. One aspect of this doctrine that found almost universal agreement during the sixteenth century, however, was that spiritual gifts existed for the edification of the whole church to the glory of God. This is understanding is exemplified…

I am grateful for Jonathan Pennington’s wise and insightful study. I learned a great deal from it, and was delighted by its delivery on the promise in its subtitle: to offer a theological engagement with the biblical text. Indeed, Pennington extends the conversation more widely still, drawing Matthew into intelligent and fruitful conversation with both…

Preaching, as Menno Simons puts it, is a “high and holy office” and thus not to be entered casually or cavalierly. Who, then, should dare enter the pastorate? The well-educated? The well-spoken? The well-favored? Simons (c.1496–1561), the radical leader of a Dutch Anabaptist group that preached nonviolence and withdrawal from the world, argued on the…

Timothy is told to “fan into flame” the gift of God,” a gift that he received from the laying on of Paul’s and others hands’ (2 Timothy 1:7). Last week, in “Fan into Flame the Gift of God,” we looked at this verse and began to explore the significance of 2 Timothy 1:7 for human achievement….

Johannes Brenz on Luke 2:25-27 The way Christ’s life proceeds agrees with the way it began. As Christ was born in misery and poverty, so now he is acknowledged only by poor and abject people. He is not visited by kings but by shepherds; he is not worshiped by Pharisees but by magi, who, although…

Location: First Baptist Church, Conway AK Date: November 13, 1979 Scripture: John 14:1-27 Anxiety in the Christian life is not merely a contemporary phenomenon. The disciples of Jesus, Carl Henry explains, were anxious about Jesus’ death and departure. They wondered what life would look like without the Messiah in whom they had placed their faith and to whom…