Articles - Theology

A graphic description of what the crucifixion of Jesus meant physically and spiritually. Theology in prose:

“Jesus is bowed and bloody. 110 pounds of lumber is strapped across his shoulders. The weight of the rough wood proves too much as it grinds against the lacerations left by the Roman scourging. Pain explodes like light in Jesus’ brain. And he crumples under the beam.”

As part of our series on the local church we’re excited to let you peek inside Mark Dever’s new book “What Is A Healthy Church?” Here, with the knowledge of a scholar and the heart of a pastor, Mark Dever talks about the often misunderstood issue of becoming a member of a local church.

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Is church membership a biblical idea? In one sense, no. Open up the New Testament, and you won’t find a story about, say, Priscilla and Aquila moving to the city of Rome, checking out one church, then another, and finally deciding to join a third… (read more)

Do you remember the bumper stickers with the slogan “think globally, act locally”?

I used to see them everywhere. And from time to time I’d hear on TV or at a campus event an advocate for this or that cause touting the importance of this maxim. “Think globally, act locally.”

I suppose the slogan aimed at countering two problems. On the one hand, “think globally” suggested…

In a recent book, evangelical pollster George Barna describes a new type of Christian whom he (positively) calls Revolutionaries. Barna describes them as “born-again Christians who had eliminated church life from their busy schedules.” He writes that the life of a Revolutionary Christian “reflects the very ideals and principles that characterized the life and purpose of Jesus Christ and that advances the Kingdom of God-despite the fact that [a Revolutionary…

I have read about and heard of people who cringe at the idea of ‘studying’ God, as if learning theology is clinical, like some kind of divine autopsy. But Scripture consistently calls us to grow in our study and knowledge of God and says there is an important connection between what we know about God and how we should live.

I recently spoke at a retreat entitled –…

The Apostle Paul spent a lot of time teaching. He taught in the synagogues, in the streets, in the markets, with women by the river, at all night Bible studies where people fell out of windows, and from house to house. The center of his ministry was the proclamation and explanation of the truth about God.

As a teacher of truth, the apostle was an astute observer of…

What is the “orthodoxy” in our “humble orthodoxy” anyway? What do we mean when we say “orthodoxy?” It’s a question that we often explore in parts on the Na blog, but this week we wanted to pause and define the most essential of the essentials.

Mark Dever answered this question recently in his message on doctrinal discernment last May at New Attitude. We…

Not many people stay up late at night thinking about the doctrine of the trinity, but Bruce Ware probably does. Not because he’s passionate about dry doctrine, but because he’s passionate about God.

To help us continue to explore the character of God we talked to our friend Bruce Ware about the Trinity, why it’s worth defending, and how it can affect our daily lives.
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During the Na 2007 conference we sat down with Justin Taylor to talk about why church history matters and why we should care about reading old dead theologians. We met in a tiny convention center room and talked over the background noise of the band practicing next door. The concepts Justin talks about are great complements to the messages Mark Dever and Al Mohler gave so read carefully. Discernment requires…

The church is often criticized for being out of touch, irrelevant, and outdated. But God provides us with a very different picture of the church in his Word. In the next few blog posts we’re going to talk about the local church and why it matters. We’re going to start our study with church history and why it should matter to us today.

Robin Boisvert, a pastor at…

A few weeks ago there was some discussion about a book we recommended. The book was by an author we love and respect but someone pointed out that he holds a position we don’t think is scriptural. Can we still recommend the book if we don’t believe everything the author believes?

Of course, this is a bigger issue than just one book or one author. How much and…

We asked Justin Taylor some questions about Overcoming Sin and Temptation, a new version of John Owen’s classic Sin and Temptation, which he edited along with Kelly Kapic. Justin is currently the ESV Bible Project Manager at Crossway and writes the blog Between Two Worlds.

1. Can you give us a ten second introduction to John Owen? Who was he?

Owen was…

In this part of the interview we learn that when the Woodsman is on a roll he’s hard to keep up with.

Woodsman: I’ve been arguing that, according to Romans 1:18-25, wrong views of God are not merely innocent mistakes or a result of ignorance, but a willful rejection of the true God. Sinful human beings exchange the truth about God for a lie and worship and serve…

Q: So,

-Nick

A: You jump…