The Choice
Bible scholars have long recognized that Genesis 1 & 2 offer two complementary creation narratives. Genesis 1:1-2:3 contains a comprehensive account of how God formed the entire cosmos by bringing…
The Fall
I recently heard a Christmas sermon which purported to offer a broad overview of the Biblical story leading up to Jesus. Unfortunately, this sermon was flawed in ways which are…
The Fruitless Fig Tree
Mark 11 contains an excellent example of a literary "sandwich." The meat of the sandwich is the so-called cleansing of the temple. Many Christians fail to grasp the importance of…
Bearing the Right Fruit
The theme of fruitfulness can be traced throughout the scriptures. In the last blog, we examined Isaiah 5, which contains the song of the vineyard. God the landowner lovingly cultivated…
The Vineyard
Isaiah chapter 5 contains a song about a landowner who made every effort to cultivate a flourishing vineyard: "My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug…
Scripture Alone?
Martin Luther was an Augustinian monk who launched the Reformation by posting his 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany (then part of the Holy…
Salvation and the Spirit
It's not at all unusual to hear Christians talk about the time when they were "saved" in the past tense. Perhaps this salvation event occurred when they were a child…
God’s Mystery
We're building up to Revelation 11, arguably the most puzzling chapter in the Bible. Chapter 11 will reveal the contents of the scroll which we first encountered in the right…
The Promised Land
In our last two blogs, we've been exploring the New Exodus theme found throughout the New Testament. The disciples of Jesus were Jews who cherished the grand story of how…
The Children of Abraham
We've recently examined the life of Abraham, the Patriarch of Israel. The promises God made to Abraham are foundational for Christianity. The Almighty pledged to bless Abraham and through his…