Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
1 Chronicles 9:1 seems to bring the genealogies of 1 Chronicles to an end. The Chronicler has recorded the genealogy of the human race from Adam, focusing on the descendants of Abraham through Jacob. Summing it all up, he says, “So all Israel was enrolled by genealogies; and behold, they…
The “personalist” understanding of the Trinity, articulated most influentially in the work of John Zizioulas, has fallen on hard times. Recent scholars have attacked Zizioulas’s idea that Cappadocian Trinitarianism represented an ontological revolution, hammering on the distinction between divine and human personhood. Michel Barnes’s conclusion is the most drastic of…
Biblical Theology is often defined as the historical unfolding of God’s revelation, or of God’s revelation and of the history of his covenantal redemption and transformation of humanity and the world. In practice, Biblical Theology is usually broader than this, and also includes the study of literary structure and of…
We are made to be happy. Created to enter into the eternal joy of God, our whole being inclines to that end, but the fallen world has put forth barriers and by our own sin we bar ourselves from that endless delight, and death blinds us to that reality. Yet…
At the end of Revelation, John sees the heavenly city descending to earth. The city shines with the brilliance of God's glory, which lightens the nations, so that kings bring their glory to the city. This is not a vision of the final new heaven and new earth. It's a…
“No one has ever seen God,” writes John (John 1:18). If this is the case, then how can we speak about God? Some people say we actually cannot. Or at least we cannot speak about God positively, i.e. who He is. We can only say who or what God is…
Showing page 130 of 309
Showing page 2 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.
