Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Evangelistic Message to the Uninformed: 1 Timothy 3.14-16 Even though this is written as a sermon for delivery, and even though it was preached in a homiletics class, I decided I can’t post it as a sermon because it was not truly preached at a place where nonchristians wanted to…
If we only read the Gospels of Mark and Luke, we might get the impression that Jesus’ ascension was on resurrection Sunday. Matthew speaks of going to Galilee but he does not put things into a clear time frame. John shows us that Jesus appeared to the disciples eight days…
The most cursory glance at the history of Western literature reveals that it has been deeply influenced by the Bible. Some of the greatest classics of Western literature draw their plots, characters, and ideas largely from Scripture; Dante’s Divine Comedy and Milton’s Paradise Lost are two of the most notable…
Few themes emerge as profoundly and persistently in the streams of biblical narrative as the conflict between light and darkness, and the juxtaposition of humanity with monstrosity. These themes not only weave through the fabric of Scripture, emerging in stories from Genesis to Revelation, but also stitch together the human…
In John Wenham’s work, Easter Enigma , he devotes an entire chapter to Mary Magdalene, which is rephrased and summarized here. 1 One of the interesting things that Wenham said was that Mary Magdalene was the second “most favored woman in the Bible.” 2 He adds, “Yet apart from a…
God made man to live in a larger relational context, and even in high rebellion, man cannot escape his created nature. Instead, that nature takes revenge on rebellious man. Autonomous and alone, the self craves absolution but recognizes no authority that might give it; it thirsts for glory but rejects…
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Those who keep ( tereo ) Jesus’ words will be kept ( tereo ) from the hour that is coming (Revelation 3:10). It’s a global hour, coming on the whole oikoumene . And it will test the ones who dwell on the earth ( ge ). Is that simply saying…
Diaspora Jews “stood aside virtually completely” from the Jewish war of 66-70, writes Mary Smallwood in her Jews Under Roman Rule (356). By that, she means that Diaspora Jews didn’t send men or material to help their brothers in Judea, She admits that “Possibly rather more help was offered than…
God has no needs. He is independent of His creation, perfectly blissful before He created it. But that’s not the same thing as saying that neediness is in no way a feature of the life of God. God doesn’t need anything outside Himself, but God does need God. Unless we’re…
Jesus has a triple title in both the letter to Philadelphia (Revelation 3:7-13) and the one to Laodicea (3:14-22). To the Philadelphians, He is holy, true, the one-with-keys. To the Laodiceans, He is the Amen, the martyr, the beginning-of-creation. Those traids suggest the Trinity, perhaps in detail. The Father is…
When the father welcomes the prodigal back, he instructs his slaves to bring a robe, a ring, and sandals to adorn his son, and to slaughter a fatted calf for a celebrated (Luke 15:22-23). This in response to the son’s confession, “I have sinned against heaven and in your sight;…
Herodotus thought it a silly story: “how Herakles came to Egypt and was taken away by the Egyptians to be sacrificed to Zeus , with all due pomp and the sacrificial wreath upon his head; and how he quietly submitted until the moment came for the beginning of the actual…
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