Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Thus says the Lord: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more” (Jer 31:15). The Night of the Hunter belongs on every Christian’s Christmas list. My family has even…
One important part of Jesus's birth narrative is the presence of angels. The angel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary, announcing that she would bear a son. And then, on the night Jesus was born, a whole host of angels appeared to the shepherds. Angels are mysterious creatures to us.…
I was settled nicely into my chair and listening to the conversation in an undergrad religion seminar, my last required course to graduate. Though a few Christians sat scattered around the room, the course itself was dedicated to poking holes in traditional understandings of the Bible: our readings deconstructed notions…
God’s symbols belong to Him and to His people. They are constantly at work in the world, including the world of film, music, painting, architecture, and other artforms. You cannot escape God’s symbols or the meaning He has woven into the created order. Artists use and borrow God’s symbols, whether…
For centuries, Christians identified Israel in the Old Testament as a single, literal ethnic group, often called “the Jews.” Even supersessionists – those who believed the Church superseded Israel – assumed the clear-cut, technical definition of “Israel” in the Bible is the ethnic group. However, a deeper dive into Genesis,…
Misreading Intent In the opening verses of Matthew 11, the reader is confronted immediately by John the baptizer who has been imprisoned since 4:12. John poses a question to Jesus, inquiring from prison as to whether or not he is Israel’s awaited Messiah or if they should anticipate another: “Are…
Showing page 1 of 309
Showing page 15 of 43
I can’t fit it all together, but in general outlines, it’s clear that Matthew’s Passion narrative is tracking with Zechariah 9-14.  There are a couple of fixed points: Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem explicitly fulfills Zechariah 9 (cf. Matthew 21:5), and despite the fact that he attributes the prophecy to Jeremiah,…
The woman pours perfume on Jesus’ head (Matthew 26:7).  Jesus says she has “cast” ( ballo ) the perfume on his “body” ( soma ; v. 12). It is like the precious oil upon the head, that runs down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard, down to the skirts of…
The opening episodes of Matthew 26 are organized in a fairly neat chiasm: A. Passover, delivered up, chief priests, plot, 26:1-5 ( paradidomi , v 2; archiereus, v 3) B. Woman  pours myrrh on Jesus, 26:6-7 ( muron , v 7) C. Disciples complain: give to poor, 26:8-9 ( ptochos…
Abraham received the coins from Thares (i.e., Terah), and bought a field with them from the people of Jericho; Joseph was also purchased with them (” his etiam Joseph est emptus ab Ismahelitis”); then they came into Pharaoh’s treasury, and then into the treasury of the Queen of the Arabs,…
The priests and elders who plot against Jesus determine not to do it during the Passover, to avoid an “uproar” (26:5).  The word is used only one other time in Matthew, to describe the “uproar” among the Jews who are rioting in front of Pilate’s Praetorium (27:24).  Because of the…
“Jesus had finished all these words” (Matthew 26:1).  Not only has Jesus finished the last of the five discourses; He has stopped speaking to Israel altogether.  Through the next several chapters, He barely speaks at all. This is an announcement of judgment against Israel.  From the beginning of His ministry,…
Showing page 1332 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
