Alles wat wij zeggen over God moet getoetst worden aan Gods openbaring van Zichzelf in Christus. Immers, ‘Jezus is Heer’, wat betekent dat Hij God is en daarmee de door God aangewezen meetlat van de waarheid over God. In Jezus zien wij wat God doet en daarom ook wie Hij…

Some Afterthoughts — This is the epilogue to an article series on Hell: see my first article (on election), second article (on merit), and third article (on embodiment and the ending of evil). Throughout the previous articles, the reader could detect a clash between two fundamentally different theological systems, [1] the key question…

Part 3: Embodiment, Ending Evil + Final Remarks — This is the final part in a series of articles asking questions about Hell; see also part 1 and part 2. 4. Are people embodied in Hell? (1) Yes — they are embodied In one scenario, humans destined for Hell are resurrected with their own fallen body, but endowed with a special kind of ‘immortality’ — the ability to endure infinite torment…

Part 2: Desert — This is the continuation of my first article on Hell; see also part 3. 3. Do all people deserve eternal punishment? The foundational principle of ECT is retributive justice: everyone is personally ‘retributed’ in accord with their own deeds. In other words, everyone gets what they deserve. If this principle of personal merit is held consistently (which…

Part 1: Election — Note: this is the first article in a series of three — see also part 2 and part 3. It’s probably one of the most frightening topics for any Christian: Hell. Eternal Conscious Torment (ECT) is notorious and widespread in the public imagination, being the ‘traditional’ view of Hell. This…

In The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul (Eerdmans 2013), Douglas A. Campbell has provided a radical reinterpretation of Romans 1:18–3:20 (among other texts) that makes Paul a more coherent writer and a brilliant rhetorical one at that — but that makes his interpreters throughout…

Defining the Gospel, Pt 3 — The Prophets are one of the most important yet least understood parts of the Bible. They bridge the gap between the exile of Israel, which seemed to be the end of their story, and the plans of God for his people in the Messiah. In the previous article, I introduced…

Defining the Gospel, Pt 3 — In the first part of this series, we discussed ‘gospel’ in the historical books; in subsequent articles, we looked at gospels in the Psalms (40, 68, and 96). Now we have arrived at the most famous gospel texts of the Old Testament, found in the Prophets. The prophecies of Isaiah…

When I read the news this morning, my heart broke. My heart broke, thinking about innocent people losing their loved ones, their homes, their lives, because of needless violence. So much suffering and pain and injustice. With this grief, I could only turn to God. But how does God relate…