Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death (ESV). Continue reading →
Word studies dominate the resources available for Christians. Some are good and some, well, not so good. With all the word pictures, Strong’s numbers, footnotes in translations, study Bibles and more, you would think that there’s nothing more that can be said . . . Continue reading →
Up to this point, no one has established historically that there was, in fact, a feminist culture in first-century Ephesus. It has merely been assumed. Enter Richard and Catherine Kroegers’ I Suffer Not A Woman: Rethinking 1 Timothy 2:11–15 in Light of . . . Continue reading →
Perhaps one of the most common Bible verses found on bookmarks, in memory lists, and on social media posts is Jeremiah 29:11: “‘For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to . . . Continue reading →
I corresponded with John Hughes recently and complimented him on a detailed scholarly article he wrote some years ago where he gave a most helpful treatment of Heb. 9:15-22. He mentioned in return that it was disappointing that his work seems to . . . Continue reading →
Word studies dominate the resources available for Christians. Some are good and some, well, not so good. With all the word pictures, Strong’s numbers, footnotes in translations, study Bibles and more, you would think that there’s nothing more that can be said . . . Continue reading →
During this season, which many Christians call “Holy Week,” I am perversely drawn to Saturday.
…but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene (John 19:25). Beginning in the late patristic and early medieval period, the eyes of the church were gradually drawn away from Christ . . . Continue reading →
The Bible is a big book. That’s what J. I. Packer told us seminary students in 1987. He was right. Not only that but it was written over 1,500 years, in three different languages, in multiple settings, under multiple governments, by multiple . . . Continue reading →
So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him (John 6:53–56; ESV). Continue reading →
Around Good Friday it is fitting that we should think first of all about the Lord of Glory who was crucified for his people (1 Cor 2:8). It is he alone who obeyed on our behalf, as our substitute. He alone is . . . Continue reading →
Basically, their teaching seems to have been Jewish. This appears from the part played in it by legal ordinances, circumcision, food regulations, the sabbath, new moon and other prescriptions of the Jewish calendar. But it was not the more straightforward Judaism against . . . Continue reading →
The hit TV show Seinfeld has been called a show about nothing. One of the most pernicious falsehoods about the Bible is that it, too, is a book about nothing, that it is a random collection of ancient myths and moral aphorisms. . . . Continue reading →
One of the first slogans I learned as a young Reformed theologian was to be Reformed was to “take every thought captive.” I learned that this slogan signaled the determination by those from whom I was learning theology to bring every aspect . . . Continue reading →
However not the fact only of his showing Himself to Mary, but likewise the manner of it claims our attention. When first beholding Him she did not know the Lord, and even after his speech she still supposed Him to be the . . . Continue reading →
D. A. Carson says about this commentary, “Baugh’s comments are invariably measured, judicious, the product of informed and careful scholarship, lightly worn. Mercifully, the excellent scholarship comes in readable prose, making this a thoroughly interesting and stimulating work. This is now unquestionably . . . Continue reading →
Below are some notes I compiled as part of a broader discussion about how Christians ought to think about homosexuality. The argument was made that the Bible does not really speak clearly to the question of homosexual behavior. In response I offered . . . Continue reading →
During this season, which many Christians call “Holy Week,” I am perversely drawn to Saturday. Perhaps it is because the Saturday between “Good” Friday and Resurrection Day is, for others a sort of relief. For them it is a day off from . . . Continue reading →
When we think of Christmas, we probably don’t think of Genesis 19 and Lot’s daughters. It’s one of the more difficult stories in Scripture. It’s an ugly story of doubt and worse. As Pastor Gordon notes, in this sermon, some have said . . . Continue reading →