Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Mark Horne has done a good job elucidating how martyrdom paves the way for revival and success of Christ’s kingdom in the world, just as it also can bring more hardship and suffering. The diverging wheat and tares both growing up together, both benefitting from the watering of blood on…
For Part 1, click HERE . Anyone who has read James B. Jordan’s Through New Eyes: Developing a Biblical View of the World and appreciated it as a revelation of how God communicates in symbols and types—both in His Word and in the created order—understands what it is like to…
Abel was the first martyr in history. There is no evading this. Jesus pairs him with a murdered prophet (Matthew 23:35; 2 Chronicles 24:20-22). Abel’s blood was heard by God (Genesis 4:10), and God responded to the cry by driving out Cain, Abel’s killer, from the eastern borderland near Eden…
Adapted from The Shape of Isaiah: A Covenant-Literary Analysis The prophetic texts are the most difficult parts of the Bible to understand. And when it comes to baffling the reader, they are no respecter of persons, perplexing with their Delphic wiles even the studied scholars. It has been said that…
The subtitle for the 2004 film Dodgeball is “A True Underdog Story.” If the viewer lets the words pass by without a double-take, he or she will likely spend the rest of the movie, which applies the “unlikely teammates make the best teams” trope to the “sport” of dodgeball, asking,…
The book of Ezra gives an almost odd amount of attention to vessels. These holy vessels, whether cups, bowls, or flagons, are either dedicated as tribute or were used in temple service. The two Hebrew words translated as ‘vessel’ in most English translations are used a total of 14 times.…
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Tyler Mayfield’s monograph, Literary Structure and Setting in Ezekiel , focuses on the literary markers on the surface of the text of Ezekiel, rather than on conceptual or genre, as a guide for literary structure of the book. He argues that the book divides into 13 units, each of which…
Klaus Wengst argues that the harlot city of Revelation can “only” be Rome (contribution to Politics and Theopolitics in the Bible and Postbiblical Literature , 191). He follows with all sorts of good reasons to doubt that conclusion. For starters, he point out the odd doubling: The beast on which…
Amos warns Israel about her injustices. If they do not seek Yahweh, He will consume them, those who “turn justice to wormwood and cast righteousness to the earth” (5:1-7). Amos supports this with a description of God’s creative power (vv. 8-9). The declaration of God’s creative power is complexly structured.…
Everyone who reads Paul knows that Abram believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6). What is not evident in Paul, but certainly assumed by him, is the specific promise that Abram believed: “So shall your descendants be” (Genesis 15:5). How shall Abram’s descendants be? Yahweh…
Jesus is justified by the Spirit in His resurrection. Though all the courts of mankind condemned Him to death, the Father reverses the sentence and therefore the verdict by raising Him. That is also the vindication of Jesus’ followers. Peter, James, John, and the rest had been groping toward the…
A thought inspired by a sermon from Pastor Rich Lusk. Jesus tells His disciples that they disciple the nations by baptizing and teaching the nations His commands. That is precisely the sequence of Jesus’ own life: Jesus moves out of the wilderness, crosses the Jordan in baptism, sets up a…
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