Be Strong and Be a Man
David tells Solomon, “Be strong and be a man.” Is strength a particularly masculine quality? Does one need to be strong to be a man?
PeopleName: Solomon
“My Son,” Says the Proverbs
“This is frustrating!” quipped a female relative as she surveyed the Biblical book, Proverbs. It seemed unbalanced to her.
The Shulammite Celebration of Gender, Part I
I had the great honor recently of co-preaching through one of the most confusing (and avoided) books of the Bible: The Song of Songs (aka, The Song of Solomon).
A Poorly Gendered Wedding in the Bible
Does a passage in Ecclesiastes teach a negative view of women or the bitterness of a man who beds many of them?
Desires are Moral
A reader writes: My understanding has been that same sex attraction that is not acted upon is not sin. Is a Christian who struggles with same sex attraction, yet in living for the Lord, doesn’t act on these desires, sinning? Is being tempted, yet resisting temptation, still evil? I thought it would be correct to tell a friend wrestling with …
Soul Mates or Maturing Souls?
I officiated a wonderful wedding last week. There was talk, as there always is, of whether these two would be right for each other. I told the guests why I was there and why I was confident to pronounce them “husband and wife.” Many people today feel like two people should get married if they are soul mates. I …
In Every Phase of a Woman’s Life, Jesus Meets Her: A Mother’s Day Sermon
A Lover or A Mother or What? Especially for a woman, what she does, and so who she is, can change radically from one phase of life to the next. A woman in different phases of life has different needs. Proverbs 31, the Old Testament chapter, describes the “virtuous wife” as a super-woman who seems to do so many different …
Looking at The Trinity Without Diverting Our Eyes: Reply to Claire Smith, PART V
One of the most interesting conversations the book, enGendered, seems to spawn concerns the nature of things between the Members of the Triune God. Whereas this topic is often avoided for fear of speaking heresy, I suggest that there is too much in the Scriptures that encourage us to find the ground of our relationships in the Persons of God–even …
Where to See Our Genders –Reply to Claire Smith, Part II
In the first part of this rejoinder to Claire Smith’s thoughtful questioning of enGendered¸ I talked about being careful in using the label, “complementarian.” One had better define it to use it. But it is clear that Dr. Smith understood how I was defining gender in terms of relationship. That I do do, saying that close relationships are where gender …
Christ is the Paragon of Femininity
Christ is the Paragon of Femininity
“Wait, what!?” you exclaim. “That doesn’t sound right. We know that Jesus Christ was incarnate as a man, not a woman, so how can He show us femininity?” Well, you are thinking about gender in isolation again, but the Bible teaches us differently…