Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The Building of the Temple Solomon began work on the Temple in the second month of his fourth year. This was the year 2993, a sabbath year. He finished in the eighth month of his eleventh year, the year 3000, also a sabbath. (1 Ki. 6:1, 38). This is said…
The Bible expresses its chronology not only in sequences of years, but also in sequences of sabbath years and jubilees. This enables us to make a cross-check of our chronology, and when we find apparent problems, to refine it. If our chronology is right, we should find some significant correlations…
Adele Berlin, Poetics and Interpretation of Biblical Narrative Sheffield, England: Almond Press, 1983. This volume is the ninth in the "Bible and Literature Series" under the general editorship of David M. Gunn. According to its author, who teaches Hebrew at the University of Maryland, the book is an effort to…
V. Propp’s classic work Morphology of the Folktale (University of Texas, 1968) argues that one of the basic structures of folk literature is "lack, lack liquidated." A king sets out to look for a wife, and the tale ends with a wedding. Often, the hero sets out on some business…
Luke’s gospel begins and ends in the temple. It opens with Gabriel’s annunciation to the priest Zacharias (whose name, appropriately, means "Yahweh remembers") of the coming of a forerunner. Zacharias is performing priestly service at the time. The book ends with the joyful worship of a new priesthood in the…
Last time we arrived at the year A.M. 3960 as the date for the inauguration of the New Creation through the death, resurrection, ascension, and session of Christ, and the sending of the Holy Spirit. We also saw that this is most likely the year of Paul’s conversion. Fourteen years…
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Europeans are finally making honest men of themselves. Instead of pretending they are Christian, they are seeking legal means to erase their baptismal records. They can do it through the internet. According to Breitbart.com, “More than 100,000 Britons have recently downloaded ‘certificates of de-baptism’ from the Internet to renounce their…
INTRODUCTION Last week, we saw that for Paul the cross delivers us from all powers, human and angelic and demonic, that rule human life. For Paul, one of those powers is the Law, but the cross delivers us from that too. THE TEXT “For I want you to know what…
A few weeks ago, I posted a summary of Van Drunen’s argument against depictions of Jesus. I wrote: “Christology, he argues, does not support the conclusion that we may make pictures of Jesus, but the opposite. Because Jesus is still the Incarnate Son, because He is still fully human, He…
Colossians 1:15: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. As we’ve seen in this morning’s sermon, Paul uses the word “firstborn” twice in Colossians 1 to designate Jesus as the new Adam, the new Isaac, the new Israel , the new man. He also…
Over the centuries, Christians have invented all sorts of lore about Satan, hell, and the underworld. Most of it is pure fancy. Dante is instructive in many ways; he is not instructive in giving us a map of hell. This may seem harmless speculation, but at a fundamental level it…
Unlike many who write about Paul’s teaching on the “powers,” GB Caird pays attention to Colossians 1:20, where Paul claims that things in heaven - which much include powers and principalities (1:16) are reconciled and pacified by the cross. When they do notice this verse, writers like Walter Wink push…
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