It is important to pause and observe that nowhere in the New Testament are Christians ever described as disciples of a fellow believer. Throughout the Gospels and Acts, ‘disciple’ is used as a term for believers exclusively with relation to Jesus.
Reformed evangelicals are known as being devoted to Scripture: teaching it, preaching it ... but what about the public reading of it?
What is heaven? Or should we also ask: Where is heaven?; When is heaven?; and - better - Who is heaven?
Trinity Sunday appropriately comes after Pentecost (the Father’s giving of the Spirit through the Son). The appropriateness reflects the history of the church’s formulations of biblical doctrine, which took over three centuries to thrash out.
Many Christians feel the need to promote the Spirit’s personhood in terms of his uniqueness, else we ‘forget’ or ‘neglect’ the Holy Spirit. But the unasked question remains: does the Spirit himself feel the need to define his personhood in this way?
Co-Authored with Dan McKinlay. In this age of salvation, God not only brings us into his kingdom through Jesus, but gives us the joy of participating in the work of proclaiming that kingdom as well. What, then, is our responsibility before God?
What distinguishes Jesus’ crucifixion from every other performed by the Romans? Tens of thousands were crucified. And it doesn’t take much for us to remember Spartacus, where there was the mass crucifixion of 6,000 people along the Appian Way.
We have responsibility before God to work; we are not to be lazy. But what does this mean for the person who suffers from depression or anxiety? Because depression and anxiety can outwardly resemble the all characteristics of laziness.
Epimenides and Menander. 1 Enoch and 2 Esdras, and the Assumption of Moses. What do each of these authors and books have in common?Their commonality is that they are all quoted in the New Testament.The Bible is a real-world Bible.
Writing is an act of speech; reading is an act of listening. This is helpful to remember, since, particularly in memory cultures, the written word often functioned as the preservation of or aid to recall the spoken; texts were read out loud.
As Ezekiel experienced his vision, the word of judgement ‘tasted as sweet as honey’ in his mouth. The things he would experience in his ministry were terrifying: he’d lose his speech, lose his freedom, lose his wife. Yet he is taught that even God’s hard words are good.
I was recently reminded of one of the displays of the Parker Library. One of the cabinets has an original of the Articles of Religion written by Thomas Cranmer. In the same cabinet, however, is the bill for the wood purchased for Cranmer’s burning as an heretic.
The Bible is not afraid to give evidence. Faith is not an irrational religious experience in spite of evidence; rather, faith is the common human activity of trusting what we are persuaded is true. And, whether we require little or lots, this usually involves proof.
God’s grace to us is not dependent on how much we trust him but whether we trust him. Perfect or imperfect, the quality of our trust/faith is unimportant, so long as we do trust/believe him. The only alternative is to reject him, after all.
It is not unusual for the modern use of a word to be quite removed from the meaning of that word in its biblical context(s). ‘Kingdom’, for instance, in modern use has an emphasis on ‘realm’ while in Scripture the word refers to the ‘reign’ or ‘rule’ of a king.
