Posts by Layton Talbert
Pharisees and Fundamentalists
Layton Talbert What is the difference between a Fundamentalist and a Pharisee? The two are implicit synonyms in many minds, as it has become increasingly popular to equate modern Fundamentalism with ancient Pharisaism. It is a serious charge—too serious to be lightly dismissed. Oversensitivity to criticism is a mark of immaturity and insecurity. Likewise, an…
Read MoreA renewed review: The Dividing Line
Layton Talbert Mark Sidwell, The Dividing Line: Understanding and Applying Biblical Separation (Greenville, SC: Bob Jones University Press, 1998). 200 pages. Why another book on separation? Author Mark Sidwell (who also edited Fred Moritz’s Be Ye Holy) anticipates this question. His goal is “to supplement, not to supplant, other studies.” The author’s aim and spirit…
Read MoreIn Pursuit of Noah’s Faith
Layton Talbert The “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11 displays the radiance and reality of faith through the stained-glass portrayals of real men and women, exhibiting what faith looks like as it is fleshed out in the choices and actions of those men and women. But how do we cultivate that kind of faith? The…
Read MoreHermeneutics (Part 4): Context and the Doctrine of Separation: A Case Study
by Layton Talbert This article first appeared in FrontLine • July/August 2000. Click here to subscribe to the magazine. The most effective way to illustrate the importance of context in Bible interpretation—and simultaneously to address an equally important doctrinal issue—is to present a real-life case study. Gordan Fee and Douglas Stuart have written a mostly…
Read MoreHermeneutics (Part 3): Key Questions In Bible Interpretation
by Layton Talbert This article first appeared in FrontLine • May/June 2000. Click here to subscribe to the magazine. Click here for Part One, here for Part Two Interpreting the Bible: A Tale of Two Questions Accurate Bible interpretation starts with asking two questions— and asking them in the right order. What did it mean…
Read MoreHermeneutics (Part 2): The Bible as Literature
by Layton Talbert This article first appeared in FrontLine • March/April 2000. Click here to subscribe to the magazine. Click here for Part 1. God communicated Himself to man in order to reveal Himself, not veil Himself. Consequently, He gave His revelation in a variety of literary forms common to normal human communication. Since God…
Read MoreHermeneutics: An Introduction To Bible Interpretation
by Layton Talbert This article first appeared in FrontLine • January/February 2000. Click here to subscribe to the magazine. Understandest thou what thou readest?” That is the perpetual question with which hermeneutics (the science of interpretation) is concerned. The fact is, you engage in hermeneutics every day whenever you read or hear any form of…
Read MoreNT/OT: A NT Christian Studying the OT
by Layton Talbert This article first appeared in FrontLine • May/June 2004. Click here to subscribe to the magazine. Is the Old Testament at all authoritative for the New Testament era? Should the New Testament believer even attach much value to the Old Testament? And if so, in what ways and areas is the Old…
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