The prologue to the Gospel of John is one of the Rubik’s Cubes of biblical studies, a set of puzzles, riddles, and questions that challenge interpreters.[1] Everything, literally everything about the prologue is disputed: religious background, origins, redaction, structure, intertextuality, literary analysis, narrative function, theology, and reception. I have no intention to explore them all. Suffice to say that John the Evangelist’s opening stichs about the Logos are pregnant with a cosmos of theological significance. The notable words are,... Read more

I have always enjoyed Robert Gundry’s works. His Mark commentary is one of the best ever and I think he nails the purpose of Mark’s Gospel: An apology for a crucified Messiah. He wrote some good essays too on imputation and justification as well that I’ve appreciated, i.e. there is no explicit text that mentions the imputation of the active obedience of Jesus to the believer, zip, none, nada. Gundry was, however, unceremoniously kicked out of ETS around about 1980... Read more

One of the best examples of the holistic nature of the gospel is Lk 4:16-30. The Lucan version of Jesus’s visit to Nazareth (see Mk 6:1-6; Mt 13:54-58) is unique in many respects not the least the way that Luke uses it to frame the beginning of Jesus’s Galilean ministry. 16 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17... Read more

In the Greco-Roman world, deity was relative to a relationship and plottable along a spectrum.  Ascriptions of divinity were not primarily about one’s nature or being, but about honor, status, power, and benefaction. The chasm between the divine and human was traversable for those who achieved great things. The deified are not “divine” in the same sense as Jupiter or Dios, but they are elevated into divine honors with respect to their accomplishments and deliverance as an act of gratitude.... Read more

The latest issue of Credo Magazine has some terrific articles about the doctrine of the eternal generation of the Son. Check it out! Shawn Wilhite defines being pro-Nicene this way: [W]e can safely summarize our Nicene heritage by emphasizing (1) a clear distinction of person and nature in our trinitarian language, (2) a clear expression of the eternal generation of the Son, and (3) a clear expression of the Trinity’s inseparable operations on account of a unity of Being. To... Read more

I’ve been teaching on the Book of Acts this semester, and Christoph Heilig gives a good summary of Acts 10-11: To sum up, we find in Acts 10–11 the recognition by Peter that it is wrong to assume moral impurity and profaneness for Gentiles per se. Rather, they can become members of the messianic community by repentance and faith, with-out becoming Jews. As Peter says later (Acts 15:8), God knows the repentant heart and purifies it through faith without making a distinction between Jews and Gentiles (Acts15:9);... Read more

Over at the CUP Blog, Harvard Theological Review articles by Joel Kaminsky/Mark Reasoner and moi about N.T. Wright and Israel are now available for free access to until 31 Dec 2020. Jews and Christians are both united and divided by the parts of the Bible that they hold in common. Many see Paul’s innovative, at times “counter” readings of the Hebrew Bible as standing at the beginning of the process that led to the eventual separation between rabbinic Judaism and... Read more