On the phrase “The right hand of fellowship” in Galatians 2:9, Luther comments as follows. There is only one and the same Gospel for Gentiles and Jews . . . There is no partiality; but the Word and its teaching are one and the same for all men, no matter how diverse the mask or social position may be. The apostles circumcised; Paul did not. But both he and the apostles left circumcision free for those who had been born... Read more

R.T. France Luke  Teach the Text Commentary Series Eds. Mark Strauss and John Walton Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2013. Available at Amazon.com The late R.T. France was one of the great British evangelical scholars of the twentieth and twenty-first century. A great commentator especially of the Gospels. His commentaries on Matthew (TNTC and NICNT) and Mark (NIGTC) are very good, so it is wonderful that even posthumously we have his Luke commentary from Baker in the “Teach the Text Commentary... Read more

Justin Taylor and Andreas Koestenberger have teamed up to create a wonderful book for Lent called The Final Days of Jesus about Holy Week. You can find out more about the book here and watch the video about it. Here’s my blurb for the book: “Andreas Köstenberger and Justin Taylor provide a simple yet eloquent survey of the final week of Jesus’s life. This is a wonderful resource for individuals, families, and fellowships to learn more about the Easter story, the greatest story... Read more

Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known to us in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen! Read more

Just saw this thanks to James McGrath I’ll give a free copy of How God Became Jesus to anyone who can come up with the funniest meme of Bart Ehrman and Jesus’ divinity.   Read more

There was a recent news report, perhaps you’ve seen it, that Scandinavian countries are seriously considering a ban on ritual circumcision. The Huffington Post reported: In September 2013, the Child Rights International Network released a joint statement from the Nordic Ombudsmen for children and pediatric experts which said, “As Ombudsmen for Children and pediatric experts we are of the opinion that circumcision without medical indication is in conflict with Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which... Read more

Over at the Logos blog, Jonathan Watson pulls out a blast from the past by posting a quote from my Colossians commentary on Col 1:15-20. I stand by my remarks on the origins of the hymn and especially its relationship to Wisdom traditions and a Jewish theology of creation. Even so, if I had to write it again, I’d probably give more attention to kingship themes, being persuaded as I am by John Anthony Dunne and Joshua Jipp that this theme has... Read more

Okay, I’m in the process of renewing my memberships with some learned scholarly societies about biblical and theological studies so I thought I would make some humorous observations about each one, namely, ETS, IBR, and SBL. Now Australians tend to have a very deprecatory sense of humour and we like to make fun of some of the eccentricities of our friends. Let me add, different though ETS, IBR, and SBL each are, I believe in all three organizations, but that... Read more

Craig S. Keener Acts: An Exegetical Commentary – Volume 2 Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2013 Available at Amazon.com The latest installment in Craig Keener’s epic four volume Acts commentary – the mother of all Acts commentaries – is now available. It covers Acts 3:1-14:28. All I can say is whoa! The first thing I checked out were the many excursuses and he’s got a bunch of helpful ones with helpful overviews of things like Pharisaism, Greek and Aramaic in Judea... Read more

Over at CBWM Griffin Gulledge offers a very gracious but not uncritical review of my ebook about women in ministry called Bourgeois Babes, Bossy Wives, and Bobby Haircuts: A Case for Gender Equality in Ministry. Griffin takes issue with a few of my exegetical decisions here and there, esp. about 1 Cor 11:2-16, but is sympathetic to the course I try to navigate, and he rightly notes that the book is not an exercise in complementarian bashing. I also learned... Read more