Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Before considering the details of the Leviticus, we must have before us certain matters that have been established in Genesis and Exodus. These are things that we as Israelites already know when we first hear Moses report what God dictated to him in Leviticus. Adam Let us begin with Adam.…
(continued from issue 142) 2 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘An adam, 1 when he brings near from you p a Nearbringing 2 to Yahweh, from livestock 3 from the herd and from the flock you p shall bring near your p Nearbringing. 4 2.…
Trying to Deal Honestly with Luke 10.25-37; 18.18-30; and Parallels When Christ enjoins upon the young man the duty of following him (Mt. 19:23), he does not give a counsel, but a command to all in common because no one can have a hope of salvation unless he follows Christ…
Initial Observations: How the Gospel Challenged the Pharisees In another paper , I argued that the “Law-Gospel” hermeneutic, as applied to Luke 10.25-37; 18.18-30, resulted in a fundamental misreading of the text. Thinking of the context of those passages in Luke’s Gospel has given me some further reflections on how…
I recently heard of a new English translation of the Bible being prepared by men concerned to preserve a literal word-for-word rendering of the Hebrew and Greek but also sensitive to ecclesiastical tradition. I wrote to the committee and asked if they were going to fix the traditional translation of…
All Christians struggle with sin. Many times even relatively mature Christians commit sins they thought they had long since left behind and end up struggling anew with sinful habits in thought, word, or deed. Naturally, this means they must rouse themselves to action in putting to death the deeds of…
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In Gethsemane, it seems that Jesus is being “reconsolidated” as the original Adam.  His helpers, the disciples, flee from Him, leaving Him along to face His Satanic attackers. Maybe, though, the typology works differently.  Perhaps we are to see Jesus-and-disciples as forming an Adam, an Adam that has to be…
Matthew 26:36: Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane. The word “Gethsemane” means “wine-press of oil.”  It’s built from the same Hebrew root as Gath-Hepher, “the wine-press of the well,” a city in the tribal area of Zebulun, the birthplace of Jonah, and Gath-Rimmon, the “wine-press of the…
Toby Sumpter pointed out parallels between Matthew 18 and 26, specifically on the issue of “stumbling blocks.”  Jesus condemns those who put stumbling blocks in the way of little ones, and predicts that the disciples will stumble over Him on the night of His arrest and trial. One of the…
Jesus explains His arrest and the scattering of the disciples in terms of Zechariah 13:7-9, where Yahweh commands the sword, “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.”  This all happens at night (Matthew 26:31), the night that happens to be Passover. Scripture records an earlier night strike at…
Peter denies Jesus three times on the night of Jesus’ arrest and trial.  The only other time the verb “deny” is used in the NT, it’s used of “self-denial,” which is immediately connected to “taking up the cross.” There are thus two options: Deny self by professing Jesus, and face…
Josh Gibbs writes: “While it might be anachronistic to read it this way (modern Christianity has likely blown the idea of the ‘sword of the Spirit’ way out of proportion), it seems best to me that we understand two entirely different, separate swords in Christ’s statement, ‘He who lives by the sword will die by…
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