God Chose Us In Christ

July 17, 2023

This is lesson was delivered at the Northwest Christian Convention in Turner, Oregon, on June 28, 2023. The message is based on Ephesians 1:3-14.


Jacob Arminius: Theologian of Grace

February 1, 2016

Review of Jacob Arminius: Theologian of Grace, by Keith D. Stanglin and Thomas H. McCall.  New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.  This review first appeared in Restoration Quarterly 56 (2014): 258-259. This book is long overdue. While the shelves are filled with scholarly summaries of Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and Wesley, this is the first book-length […]


1 Peter 1:1-2 — Exiled, But Chosen

May 11, 2015

Everyone wants to be chosen, especially those who feel marginalized or undervalued. Many of us remember what it feels like to be the last one chosen in a pickup game of basketball or uninvited to the school party. Sometimes we feel like outsiders, and sometimes we are treated like outsiders. Sometimes we simply are outsiders. […]


Malachi 1:2-5 — Lord, How Have You Loved Us?

July 3, 2012

The opening line is simple, direct and profound: “I have loved you, says Yahweh.” That should be good news, but there are times when it may be heard with a bit of skepticism or even bitterness. It is a difficult word to hear when someone has just told you in the previous breath that your […]


Election: Before We Called God Answered (SBD 6)

May 14, 2009

[Note: I am attempting to keep these SBD installments under 2000 words each, but that is–of course–quite inadequate for the topics covered. Consequently, these contributions are more programmatic than they are explanatory or defenses of the positions stated. You may access the whole series at my Serial page.] God elects us in Christ through faith […]


The Love and Glory of God

May 8, 2008

In my first post in the series on Arminianism and Calvinism, I suggested that at the heart of Calvinist theology is the desire to preserve the glory of God as the sole cause of salvation and that the heart of Arminian theology is the desire to preserve the faithfulness of God to his own relentless […]


The “P” in TULIP

May 6, 2008

All who persevere in faith are elect. Both Calvinists and Arminians can agree with the above statement. For the Calvinist, those who do not persevere in faith, though they at one time seemingly had faith, never possessed authentic faith in the first place (e.g., Calvin’s own example is Simon Magus in Acts 8). For the Arminian, those […]


Election–Common Ground Between Arminians and Calvinists

May 5, 2008

The often acrimonious debates between contemporary Arminians and Calvinists are not new.  The history of this discussion dates back 1600 years and has been continuous within Christian circles.  It can be tracked, in part, with the following discussions: Augustine vs. Pelagius (early 5th century) Gottschalk vs. Rabanus (late 9th century) Bradwardine vs. Ockham (mid 14th […]


Calvinism and Arminianism: What Do They Want to Preserve?

May 3, 2008

There has been significant interest over the past decade in a resurgent Calvinism (or Reformed Theology).  Some call it a “New Calvinism” (as per Collin Hansen’s book Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist’s Journey with the New Calvinists). The popularity of John Piper as well as the renewal of Calvinism among the Southern Baptists (specifically Southern Baptist Theological […]