In a TLS (August 14) review of William Doyle’s recent Aristocracy and Its Enemies in the Age of Revolution , David Armitage made some intriguing comments about the sea change in the fortunes of aristocracy that took place in the 18th century. For the French, he points out, nobility was not just a class, but a race question: “Many French nobles, supported by their ideological allies among historians, had long argued that they were literally a race apart from other... Read more
Paul draws a direct analogy between the relation of the human spirit to the human being and the relation of the Holy Spirit to God. Our spirits know the thoughts that are in us, and so the Spirit of God knows the thoughts of God (1 Corinthians 2:10-11). Not only does this provide support for the vestigia tradition, but it provides notable support for the much-maligned Augustinian uses of that tradition, the so-called “psychological analogies.” Read more
Is the vestigia tradition valid? Does the NT give us any warrant to think that there will be Trinitarian imprints on the creation? The answer is Yes. 1 Corinthians 12 describes the diversities of gifts from the one Spirit, the same Lord, and the same God (vv. 4-6). Gordon Fee suggests that the passage shows that the ecclesial “diversity reflects the nature of God and is therefore the true evidence of the work of the one God in their midst.”... Read more
That Paul says that the crossing of the sea is a “baptism” is surprising enough; but then he says that the baptism is “into the cloud.” Where’d he get that? You can suss that out from the exodus story, but I suspect that Paul has conflated the exodus story with the procedures for sacrifice. Leviticus 1:9 says that the legs and entrails of an ascension offering are first “washed with water” and then “turned to smoke.” The washing is immediately... Read more
INTRODUCTION Jesus finishes His prophetic discourse with a series of three parables – the parable of the wicked slave (24:45-51), the parable of the ten virgins (25:1-13), and the parable of the talents (25:14-30). Each of these is about expectation, and each describes how wise and faithful disciples respond to their master’s delay. THE TEXT “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of... Read more
Matthew 24:38-39: For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, they were marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark. Only one passage of the Old Testament uses the phrase “days of Noah.” That is Isaiah 54, a prophecy about the restoration of Israel from exile, a promise that barren Israel will become... Read more
A friend called attention to this remarkable passage in Calvin’s Institutes (3.24.8): “there is a universal call, by which God, through the external preaching of the word, invites all men alike, even those for whom he designs the call to be a savor of death, and the ground of severer condemnation. Besides this there is a special call which, for the most part , God bestows on believers only, when by the internal illumination of the Spirit he causes the... Read more
Jesus’ Olivet Discourse is not about the end of the world. But it is about the end of a world, and because of that it instructs the church in every age. Since Jesus ascended, a number of worlds have come and gone. Most of us believe that the Roman empire collapsed, and gave way to something new, the medieval world. The early medieval world ended sometime in the 11 th or 12 th century, and the later medieval world ended... Read more
Did Jane Austen want people to read and admire her work? Of course; she was a writer. Did she like making money from writing? Yes. She wasn’t the wispy angel that her family biographers tried to make her out to be. To this extent Claire Harman ( Jane’s Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World ) offers a helpful rebuttal to some portayals of Austen. But Harman’s book is married by what seems to me a humorless and tone-deaf use... Read more
INTRODUCTION Jesus tells His disciples what events will precede the end of Jerusalem , and He tells them that these events will take place within the generation of the apostles (v. 34). He does not, however, tell them the year or even the decade when they will occur (v. 36, 42, 44). He doesn’t allow the disciples to relax until the mid-60s; instead, He tells them to be constantly on the alert (v. 42). THE TEXT “But of that day... Read more
Leithart
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