Wisdom Literature– Part One

Last updated on: May 14, 2025 at 9:59 am By Ben Witherington

Some of the most neglected literature in all of Scripture is Wisdom literature, which includes Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job in the canon and later Sirach and Wisdom of Solomon, all of which influenced the teaching of Jesus and Paul. In this post I want to talk generally about the nature of this literature, and then we will work through some samples from Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. Speaking generally, wisdom literature in the Jewish tradition involved sages studying the behavior of humans,... Read more

FIVE MAJOR EXEGETICAL MISTAKES THAT ARE ALL TOO COMMON

Last updated on: May 14, 2025 at 9:06 am By Ben Witherington

1.READING OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS AS IF THEY WERE NT TEXTS. TO GIVE BUT TWO EXAMPLES, THE ‘ANGEL OF THE LORD’ WAS NOT CHRIST SHOWING UP IN OT SALVATION HISTORY. WHY NOT? FOR STARTERS, THE SON OF GOD WAS IN A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT ONTOLOGICAL CATEGORY THAN ANGELS, AS HEBREWS 1 MAKES PERFECTLY CLEAR. FOR ANOTHER THING, OT INDIVIDUALS SHOULD NOT BE EVALUATED ON THE BASIS OF CHRISTIAN CHARACTER STANDARDS. ABRAHAM, ISAAC, JACOB, DAVID, SOLOMON ARE NOT CHRISTIANS BEFORE THEIR TIME.... Read more

New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity– Vol 11 Part2

Last updated on: May 11, 2025 at 8:39 am By Ben Witherington

A very good illustration of the value of this series is James Harrison’s discussion of the phrase ‘friend of Caesar’ (pp. 157ff in Vol. 11a). It will be recalled that this phrase comes up in John 19.12. And it is this threat– to go to the Emperor and tell him of how uncooperative Pilate was in the Jesus of Nazareth matter, which would have led to Pilate no longer being in the Emperor’s good graces (having already irritated Tiberius by... Read more

New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity Vol. 11 A-B

Last updated on: May 11, 2025 at 8:12 am By Ben Witherington

There are few series in Biblical Studies that have gone through a more interesting pilgrimage than the New Documents series. It began as just a project of the Ancient History department of Macquarrie University in Sydney with Greg Horsley overseeing the first five volumes, and Stephen Llewelyn shepherding the second five volumes. The goal was to relate recently discovered manuscripts, ostraca, and inscriptions to the New Testament in some meaningful way. Vols. 1-5 focused on philology, Vol. 6-10 on social... Read more

Why Mark did not End at Mk. 16.8

Last updated on: May 10, 2025 at 7:51 am By Ben Witherington

Here is a limestone inscription about the Sergius Paulus family, who were from Pisidian Antioch, the place Paul visited on his first missionary journey. Notice that at the end of the line the name Sergius is cut off in both the first and the second lines of inscription. If this can happen on a stone inscription, it was all the more likely to happen with fragile papyri. And here is where I mention that ancients were no better than moderns... Read more

Mother’s Day

Last updated on: May 10, 2025 at 8:23 am By Ben Witherington

My mom was a remarkable woman. She was a college graduate from the school that became UNC-Greensboro though neither of her parents went to college. She became a widely sought after piano teacher, and taught at both Salem and Queens college as well as giving private lessons in her home and playing at churches. She instilled in me and my sister Laura a lifelong love of music— ranging from classical to hymns to rock and roll to jazz to country... Read more

Imagine seeing the Ancients in Person– with AIs Help

Last updated on: May 6, 2025 at 9:20 am By Ben Witherington

The problem I have with the following is they made the mistake of giving various of these icons perfect teeth, and we know from skeletal remains that was not the case with even the most elite Egyptians, Romans, Greeks. Even with 18th century folks like Ben Franklin or George Washington, George had iron dentures!! Read more

On the Asbury Awakening of 2023

Last updated on: May 5, 2025 at 9:49 am By Ben Witherington

We are now fortunate enough to have several good accounts of the remarkable outpouring of the Spirit in February 2023 at Asbury University, which became a story that spanned the globe within weeks, including thousands of people showing up in Wilmore while it was happening. You have to understand that Wilmore Ky. has a population of just over 5,000 and we now know what would happen if it would suddenly increase by 10 fold— namely utter chaos, but of a... Read more

John Wesley’s Famous Sermon on Money

Last updated on: May 5, 2025 at 8:31 am By Ben Witherington

The Sermons of John Wesley – Sermon 50 The Use Of Money “I say unto you, Make unto yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into the everlasting habitations.” Luke 16:9. 1. Our Lord, having finished the beautiful parable of the Prodigal Son, which he had particularly addressed to those who murmured at his receiving publicans and sinners, adds another relation of a different kind, addressed rather to the children of God.... Read more

The Zondervan Compact Lexicon

Last updated on: May 5, 2025 at 8:09 am By Ben Witherington

Sometimes small is better. And that is true when it comes to lexicons you can carry around with you to Greek class and church, and Bible study. Paul Jackson has done us a considerable service in producing this lexicon which actually has an amazing amount of words and definitions in it for a book that barely tips the scales at just over 200 pages. By contrast my Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek comes in at a rotund 2500 pages and... Read more