Posts by Richard D. Phillips

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Saved from the Deep

Richard D. Phillips
May 1, 2020
Jonah 2 tells of God’s prophet being swallowed by a whale (or great fish) after disobeying the Lord’s command. This chapter is not precisely the prophet’s prayer, but rather his reflection on it afterwards. It begins, “I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me” (Jon. 2:1)...

The Lord Will Provide

Richard D. Phillips
Apr 9, 2020
Abraham was walking up Mount Moriah when his son, Isaac, asked, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” (Gen. 22:7). God was testing Abraham’s faith, having commanded him to offer his son as a sacrifice at this place. Scholars have long wondered how Abraham...

Does Christianity Have an Answer?

Richard D. Phillips
Apr 2, 2020
Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing; heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled. My soul also is greatly troubled. But you, O Lord—how long? — Psalm 6:2, 3 Anglican scholar N. T. Wright posted an article last week on the TIME magazine website, titled “Christianity Offers No Answers...

Jesus, the Prostitutes, and Transgender Outreach

Richard D. Phillips
Mar 6, 2020
The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), a denomination founded to be faithful to Scripture, the Reformed faith, and the Great Commission, has been rocked yet again, this time by news of transgender-promoting theater performances hosted by Memorial Presbyterian Church of St. Louis. The events were...

Keeping Desire and Temptation in Their Place

Richard D. Phillips
Aug 23, 2019
In the history of theological debate, one of the most important steps towards doctrinal clarity involves getting the terminology right. The ancient church sorted through the Trinitarian debate by clarifying the distinction between "essence" and "person." Likewise, the Reformation haggled over the...

Four Cheers for PCA Approval of the Nashville Statement

Richard D. Phillips
Jul 1, 2019
There have not been many times over the last twenty years in the PCA General Assembly when I had no idea how a crucial vote was going to turn out. Late last Thursday night (or was it Friday morning?), the GA's vote on the Nashville Statement was one of them. The Nashville Statement was produced by...

Evangelical Evolution?

Richard D. Phillips
Jun 19, 2019
Given what World Magazine once called a " major, well-funded push " to promote the acceptance of evolution among evangelical Christians, the case must be persuasively made against the compatibility of evolution and the Bible. In answer to a pro-evolutionary stance, I am one of those Bible teachers...

The Consequences of Ideas in New York

Richard D. Phillips
Jan 25, 2019
By now, most Christians in America have seen the images : thunderous applause at the New York State Assembly and a festively decorated World Trade Center spire. And what is the great deliverance celebrated by this applause? The legal freedom to terminate babies until the moment they are born. One...

The Mission of the Church in the Story of Jesus' Birth

Richard D. Phillips
Dec 21, 2018
As 2018 draws to a close, we look back on a year in which perhaps the most pressing issue for Reformed Christians is the relationship between the church and the world. How does the church respond to cultural shifts in terms of human identity and sexuality? And what is the mission of the church when...

Doing Doctrine Pastorally?

Richard D. Phillips
Oct 11, 2018
As Reformed churches face an array of social challenges and pastoral concerns, I have found the idea spreading that we must "do" doctrine pastorally. That is, we must decide the Bible's teaching based on how we think it will impact our hearers. Most recently, we see this occurring with respect to...

Revoice and the "Idolatry" of the Nuclear Family

Richard D. Phillips
Sep 25, 2018
When the Obergefell case was argued before the US Supreme Court to establish the right to gay marriage, many saw little threat to religious liberty. It became clear, however, that the approval of same-sex marriage would in fact result in the delegitimizing of the Christian view of sexuality and...

Is the PCA Becoming More Unified?

Richard D. Phillips
Jun 25, 2018
Some years ago, our friend Terry Johnson (senior pastor of Savannah's Independent Presbyterian Church) wrote an article suggesting an opportunity for constructive dialogue in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). Terry classified the two main PCA camps in positive terms, seeing some brothers as...

Can the "Welcoming Church" Speak the Truth?

Richard D. Phillips
Jun 8, 2018
One feature of life in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) is the unveiling of the annual buzz-word for our General Assembly . This year, the word is "welcoming." So far as it goes, this is a fine aspiration for our denomination. We, of course, want our doors to be open not merely to certain...

Five Extraordinary Benefits of Pentecost

Richard D. Phillips
Apr 27, 2018
We are wrapping the 2018 Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology this weekend at Proclamation Presbyterian Church outside Philadelphia. Our theme this year is "Spirit of the Age - Age of the Spirit." As we have been celebrating the exalted Christ's outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost and its...

PCRT Reading Recommendations

Richard D. Phillips
Apr 11, 2018
This weekend we kickoff the 2018 Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology , meeting April 13-15 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Our theme this year is The Spirit of the Age: The Age of the Spirit. I am excited to welcome Conrad Mbewe and Danny Akin and looking forward to exploring the mighty work of...

Looming Debate Over SSA

Richard D. Phillips
Feb 13, 2018
These days, it seems that almost every week social media uncovers another eruption along the Presbyterian Church in America's (PCA) volcanic fault line between social accommodation/compassion and biblical obedience. This week, a conference promoting strategies to address same sex attraction (SSA)...

Andrew White, Todd Pruitt and John the Baptist

Richard D. Phillips
Jan 31, 2018
Over at Mortification of Spin , Todd Pruitt has made waves by sounding an alarm over Andrew White, the PCA ruling elder who--as a Democratic candidate for governor in Texas--has stated his commitment to legalized abortion and gay marriage . As reported by Pruitt, Mr. White stated on Texas Public...

Accommodating Rome?

Richard D. Phillips
Nov 2, 2017
Probably the most interesting Reformation celebration that I had the privilege of participating in last month took place in a Roman Catholic Church. The Center for Evangelical Catholicism here in Greenville, SC graciously invited me to join with two other Protestants and three Roman Catholic...

Greenville Conference on Reformed Theology

Richard D. Phillips
Oct 9, 2017
This is a personal invitation to come to beautiful Greenville, SC in order to enjoy a new conference joyfully set in the Reformed tradition October 13-15, 2017. Joining me will be Rev. Dr. Harry L. Reeder III of Briarwood Presbyterian Church and Rev Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III of Reformed Theological...

Standing Firm on the Slippery Slope

Richard D. Phillips
Aug 29, 2017
A few weeks ago, the editorial team at Ref21 asked me if I would be willing to write something regarding Fred Harrell (pastor of City Church, San Francisco) and his recent postings in which he attacked the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement. In doing so, I made a connection between Harrell...

The Slippery Slope and the Jesus Box

Richard D. Phillips
Aug 4, 2017
Over twenty years ago, while in seminary, I was present during a hallway conversation with a professor who then seemed to be moving toward liberal theology. A student asked how this man's higher critical methods would enable him to remain a Christian. The professor gave quite the revealing answer...

Mike Pence, "Truth's Table" and Fencing the Law

Richard D. Phillips
Apr 5, 2017
The last week provided more disturbing information on the collapse of civilization and reason in secular America. Vice President Mike Pence revealed that he follows the "Billy Graham Rule," refraining from private meals with women other than his wife in order to protect his marriage from adultery...

On Board with Waterboarding?

Richard D. Phillips
Jan 27, 2017
With the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump, the issue of government sanctioned torture has been revived. From 2002-2006, military and intelligence interrogators made use of waterboarding, a form of simulated drowning, in their "enhanced interrogations." Since then, torture has been banned...

The Wondrous "Why" of Christmas

Richard D. Phillips
Dec 23, 2016
Christmas is a time of mystery and wonder. The Virgin Mary was told by the angel that she would conceive and bear a son: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy - the Son of God" (Lk. 1:35). It is...

Nothing Like It in All the World

Richard D. Phillips
Dec 9, 2016
Recently, in my Bible reading, I came to the book of Jonah (I've been working through the Minor Prophets). It struck me how remarkable this message is compared to everything else in the ancient world. Homer was a contemporary of Jonah (mid 8th century b.c.), and his epic books of the early Grecian...

A Political Paradigm Shift for Christians

Richard D. Phillips
Nov 5, 2016
With the 2016 Presidential election drawing near, Bible-believing Christians are as divided over their votes as at any time in recent memory. Very few offer support to Hillary Clinton, given her rabid support of abortion and disrespect for religion. The divide instead comes between Christians who...

What Andy Stanley Has Forgotten

Richard D. Phillips
Oct 5, 2016
What Andy Stanley has forgotten is that conversion to Christianity involves a supernatural rebirth that requires the Word of God. Forgetting this essential truth has been the tendency of the seeker-sensitive church-growth movement. This vital truth is forgotten wherever sociology is given a higher...

Why Complementarianism Remains Important

Richard D. Phillips
Sep 19, 2016
Recent months have seen considerable controversy among conservative Christians around the topic of complementarianism, arising mainly from a false analogy between the subordination of wives to husbands and that of God the Son to God the Father. Depending on your perspective, the complementarian...

Should Christians Roar? 5 Questions about the Clemson "WeRoar" Prayer Protest

Richard D. Phillips
Sep 6, 2016
Last Friday, September 2, 2016, a group of students at Clemson University gathered to protest the suppression of free speech by campus officials. Christian evangelist Robbie Roberts had been removed from campus for sitting in a chair with a small sign marked, "Prayer" (see video and Wall Street...

The World's True Hope

Richard D. Phillips
Jul 19, 2016
Americans have come to one of the more exciting portions of the quadrennial election cycle in the national conventions of the two main parties. This invariably means non-stop media attention, partisan revelry, messianic symbolism, and the occasional significant speech. Without dwelling on the...

2016 PCA General Assembly: Moving Forward Together

Richard D. Phillips
Jun 30, 2016
Having read a number of assessments of the 44 th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), it occurs to me that one's perspective, as usual, has a shaping effect on one's view. My own perspective arises largely from having had the privilege to serve on the Overtures Committee,...

A Survey of Male-Only Ordination in Key New Testament Texts

Richard D. Phillips
Jun 22, 2016
There can be little doubt that in years to come, when historians look back on our generation, the challenge of cultural pressure on the church will loom large. First, the theory of evolution challenged the Christian doctrine of God as Creator. This led to an assault on sexual morality, which has...

What Should Christians Think about Cremation?

Richard D. Phillips
May 25, 2016
Over recent years, I have noticed that more and more Christians are opting for the cremation of their bodies after death. The primary reason for this seems to be financial, as cremation is considerably more affordable than the pricey cost of caskets, plus the other amenities of a funeral,...

4 Approaches to a Balanced Complementarianism

Richard D. Phillips
May 4, 2016
I have been following the concerns raised over at the Mortification of Spin with respect to imbalances in the practice and teaching of biblical complementarianism (I think particularly of some of Aimee Byrd's posts - here and here ). I have long been an admirer of CBMW (Council of Biblical Manhood...

Bringing Our Children to Jesus

Richard D. Phillips
May 3, 2016
One of the most important things we will do at Second Presbyterian Church is disciple our children to a living, personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We live in a society that assumes that when children grow up they will jettison the family's beliefs and values. But the Bible sees things...