Usually full-length commentaries devote much of their space to surveying and evaluating the secondary literature—a useful but rarely a fresh or exciting venture. Baugh’s commentary is different. Every page reflects years of exacting study of primary sources—classical literature, inscriptions, the first-century historical . . . 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 →
Academic life at Westminster Seminary California does not happen only in the classroom. It happens in prayer, it happens in the chapel, it happens in casual hallway discussions, and when one faculty member walks out of his office and into a colleague’s . . . Continue reading →
2:8 Τῇ γὰρ χάριτί ἐστε σεσῳσμένοι διὰ πίστεως (Tē gar chariti este sesōsmenoi dia pisteōs), “for by grace you are saved through faith.” Paul resumes the line previewed in v. 5 with the addition of explanatory γάρ (gar), “[F]or by grace you . . . Continue reading →
5:22 αἱ γυναῖκες τοῖς ἰδίοις ἀνδράσιν ὡς τῷ κυρίῳ (hai gynaikes tois idiois andrasin hōs tō kyriō), “Wives, be subject to your own husbands as to the Lord.” The elision of the verb ὑποτάσσω (hypotassō) links this verse closely with the general . . . Continue reading →
In the Gospel of Mark, the first words we hear from Jesus are about the Kingdom of God: “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of . . . 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 →
One does not often think of Hebrews when it comes to the doctrine of justification—we normally go right to Paul’s writings. Continue reading
La ordenación de las mujeres, y, de forma más general, la participación de éstas en la iglesia, es un tema moderno que continúa produciendo numerosos libros, artículos e incluso apoyando sociedades. Lo peor que podemos hacer en las comunidades reformadas es ignorarlo . . . Continue reading →
Uno no suele pensar en Hebreos cuando se trata de la doctrina de la justificación, sino que normalmente vamos directamente a los escritos de Pablo. Pero Hebreos en realidad contiene mucha enseñanza que contribuye significativamente a la doctrina más amplia de la justificación . . . 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 →
When working with foreign words, we should be aware of a very important distinction: the distinction between meaning and gloss. For our purposes, a gloss is an English word substitute for a Greek word. In simple cases, a gloss is perfectly satisfactory . . . Continue reading →
Given the abundant parallels to the construction in 1 John 2:8—with just a few of the ones I found given above—we can make two preliminary conclusions on its syntax that then impact the overall interpretation of the verse. First, the conjunction ὅτι . . . Continue reading →
Last time, we looked at the difference between glosses and word meanings. A gloss is an English word substitute and is of concern primarily to translators, while meaning is a brief description of a word’s referent. I illustrated this difference with some . . . Continue reading →
The Mosaic law itself did not originate the notion of personal obedience de novo, since it recapitulated a more fundamental creational principle of righteousness through obedience to the Creator’s covenant stipulations. Further, the Mosaic law did not introduce a new way of . . . Continue reading →
You do not have to hang around Reformed teachers and pastors very long before hearing about “guilt, grace, and gratitude.” We like it because it is a handy summary for the structure of the Christian religion. And it is a way to . . . Continue reading →
If you do a search in the ESV for the word “grateful” you only get three hits in the whole Bible, two of which produce the word “ungrateful” (Luke 6:35; 2 Tim. 3:2), leaving only one place where the word “grateful” is . . . Continue reading →
“This” is not very interesting. In fact, when studying a foreign language “this,” “that,” and “the other” are the kind of words that are easy to overlook and hard to memorize. Like “who,” “what,” or “why?” Why? In isolation, they seem abstract . . . Continue reading →