Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
A while back a friend told me that his church had finally introduced weekly communion. He told me that they were having an 8:00 a.m. service on Sundays for anyone who wanted to have communion. At present only about five people were coming to this service, but he was hopeful…
According to James B. Jordan’s outline of Deuteronomy, the first commandment section runs from 6:1 to 11:32, and the second commandment section begins with 12:1. 1 That this division of the text is sound is confirmed by a comparison of 6:1 with 12:1. Deuteronomy 6:1 announces that "this is the…
Calling Jerusalem the "holy city" comes so naturally to Christians that it comes as something of a surprise to realize how infrequently the phrase is used in Scripture. Not only is Jerusalem rarely called holy, but in the Old Testament this classification is found only in texts that refer to…
Nicodemus’s conversation with Jesus in John 3:1-15 is often regarded as an illustration of the tremendous stupidity of the Jews of our Lord’s day. Those who take the passage this way fail to recognize the profound nature of Nicodemus’s questions and of Jesus’ answers. In verse 3, Jesus tells Nicodemus…
In his book 1994? , Harold Camping asserts that the life spans of the primeval patriarchs of Genesis 5 & 11 were actually epochs, one after another. This together with other mistakes in interpretation yields for him a creation date of 11013 B.C. From here, Camping tries to work out…
I have received a number of letters asking for my comments on this difficult passage. Here is my best shot! 2. Now I praise you because you remember me in everything, and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you. This statement opens a new section…
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This is an old essay from Biblical Horizons, which is not currently available on the BH site. Jude 9 raises several difficulties (though not insuperable difficulties) for conservative commentators. The event that Jude recounts does not seem to be drawn from the Old Testament, and most scholars claim, based on…
INTRODUCTION Jesus promises rest to the weary who come to Him (11:28-30). Next thing we know, He’s in conflict with the Pharisees over the Sabbath (12:1-14). Jesus’ Sabbath-keeping stands in sharp contrast to the Sabbath-keeping of the Pharisees. The response of Israel’s leaders is becoming more defined: They want to…
Matthew 11:25, 27: At that time Jesus answered and said, I praise Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent and didst reveal them to babes . . . . All things have been handed over to Me by…
In our sermon text, Jesus speaks of the Father who hides and reveals things. We like the idea of a God who reveals things, but a God who hides things is disturbing. Jesus is not the first to talk about the hiding and hidden God. Isaiah said, “You are a…
In her recent book on the temple origins of Christian worship (T&T Clark, 2007), Margaret Barker notes the various meanings attached to baptism in the NT. She disputes Paul Bradshaw’s conclusion that this variety means “the process of becoming a Christian was interpreted and expressed in a variety of ways,”…
When we speak of “clock time” we tend to mean the natural movement of moments. But of course, the clock is a mechanical device, and its measurements of moments is purely conventional. It ignores natural seasonal variations in the length of daylight and night and generally, as Barbara Adam notes,…
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