Category: Biblical Studies
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Sing the Ascension
Read more: Sing the AscensionWe believe what we sing, so it’s important to sing the most important doctrines of our faith. But I don’t think we give Jesus’ ascension the attention it deserves. Here is a beautiful hymn text that considers the Ascension biblically, theologically, and with implications for our lives, below with my comments: The author introduces us to…
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Where did Christian Baptism Come From?
Read more: Where did Christian Baptism Come From?Question of Origins What are the origins of Christian baptism? A quick perusal of the biblical texts might leave one perplexed as to the sudden appearance of baptism in the New Testament.1 Immediately and without explanation one is confronted with the appearance of John “the Baptist” and the practice of baptizing in water (Matt 3:1ff).…
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Torah and Your Auto Insurance Policy
Read more: Torah and Your Auto Insurance PolicyI work for a major insurance company known nationwide and which can be found in all states… and no, it is not Nationwide or Allstate. I started working for this company just over eight years ago. I started out in a call center taking calls for our auto insurance policy holders. People called in for…
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What has Hollywood to do with Jerusalem?
Read more: What has Hollywood to do with Jerusalem?The early Church father Tertullian once asked a similar question to explore the connections between Christianity and Greek thought. This question is designed to explore a literary connection between how we watch movies and how we read the Bible. The issue here is how are we to interpret the Old Testament narratives? Are they history…
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Hospitality in Redemptive History
Read more: Hospitality in Redemptive History“I don’t know,” said Gavin, feet on the dash, brow furrowed in thought, “college students just aren’t that hospitable.” Driving away from a youth theater performance of Singin’ in the Rain, we exchanged reflections on home-finding, transience, and living on a micro-budget. While hospitality may slip by the wayside, students do a lot of other…
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Lent Meditation: The Suffering of Moses
Read more: Lent Meditation: The Suffering of Moses“Because of you,” spoke the old friend of God, trembling, holding back heavy tears as he looked out over a sea of remorseless faces, “Because of you,” he spoke, perhaps with frank shock and bewildered grief, “Because of you the LORD became angry with me.” (Deut. 1:27) . Moses These words are among the first…
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Joshua serves the Lord’s Supper in Numbers
Read more: Joshua serves the Lord’s Supper in NumbersWhat does it mean to participate in the Lord’s Supper faithfully? Paul’s instructions in 1 Corinthians 10 highlight the central story of Numbers to teach a lesson. . That’s how the chapter opens: teaching us a lesson from Numbers. The lesson is negative: “They all ate the same spiritual food [as us] and drank the…
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Genesis 1-11: Rest for Anxious Souls
Read more: Genesis 1-11: Rest for Anxious SoulsOne morning, my brother Googled “Bible verses for anxiety.” Many of the people closest to him were being affected with crippling anxiety and he wanted to know how to help. 18% of American adults suffer from diagnosable anxiety disorders, and many more of us regularly experience anxiety of differing degrees and types. I want to…
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Top 5 Monographs on Galatians
Read more: Top 5 Monographs on GalatiansI am currently in the midst of that delightfully anti-climatic state of liminality that comes with submitting a PhD thesis. Of course, once you’re done with the thesis, you’re not actually done at all because you still have to defend it. And so, that means that I basically still need to be working on my…
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How Calvin helped me read the Bible
Read more: How Calvin helped me read the BibleThis fall I started rereading Calvin’s Institutes, which may be my favorite book. When I first seriously engaged with Calvin it was the most theologically formative book I had read (that may still be the case). Once while I was in a conversation with a Ladder Day Saint I quoted Calvin and was then asked…