Publications

Introduction A generation ago, when blacksmith shops were still common in villages, Robert Shank aptly observed that Colossians 1:21-23 is one of several Scripture passages over which one could affix the sign: “All kinds of fancy twistings and turnings done here.” ((Robert Shank, Life in the Son (2nd ed., 16th printing; Springfield, MO: Westcott, 1976),…

Living in this fallen world, we all face suffering and evil. One of the most common questions asked by non-Christians is how we, as Christians, explain the existence of evil and cope with it. Christians also are not immune to these questions and it is for this reason we have devoted an entire issue of…

Introduction While Paul has traditionally been understood as expecting the churches to engage actively in outward-focused evangelism, this view has been increasingly challenged. It must be admitted that there is a lack of explicit imperatives to evangelize in Paul’s letters. Nevertheless, a number of texts, however small, do seem to indicate that Paul both commended…

When people experience suffering, they deserve more than platitudes or pat answers from a 2013 version of Job’s friends. They need the comforting grace of God and the compassionate people of God. And they need a grounded theological perspective, a vision of God, life, and themselves, that can enable them to see (even if dimly)…

In Revelation, John writes as one in affliction (Rev 1:9), to churches in affliction (e.g., 2:10, 13), about the affliction that will take place before kingdom come (see esp. Rev 11–13). The contention of this essay is that John sees the affliction in which he is a “brother and fellow partaker” (1:9) as the outworking…

Introduction The Apostle Peter tells us, “that the testing (or proof) of your faith, more precious than gold which is perishable, though tested by fire, may be found to the praise and glory and honor in the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet 1:7). God tests the faith of his saints. Such testing, when successful,…