Is Heaven Boring? What perceptions do we have about eternity? In intriguing chapters in Why Does God Allow Evil? professor and apologist Clay Jones (D. Min.) tackles such questions. He suggests that we will have “free will” in heaven, and this provides a reason for why we suffer on earth—“so that God can release us in His eternal kingdom to do what we want to do and yet not sin… but will heaven be worth it?” (p. 160). To arrive at... Read more
What are ways you can experience joy? Since so much of our culture seems to thrive on reporting negative news, we might want to think more about positive things, such as the goodness of life and what it means to have joy. The main biblical verb for rejoicing is chairȏ (χαίρω) in the Greek. It appears at least 91 times in the Old Testament (the Septuagint version) and 74 times in the New Testament. The noun form for “joy” (chara/... Read more
Every major English version of the Bible I have run across translates the Greek in Romans 8:29-30 the same way, even though it may not be the best way. The subject is God and the passage reads as follows: “because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also... Read more
Leviathan is an extraordinary creature that we read about in the Book of Job 41. Is this a fire-breathing dragon, a mythological monster, a poetic description of a natural creature, or something else? What do biblical texts and other ancient traditions say about this beast? Job and Leviathan Towards the end of the book of Job, God appears to Job and relays a set of questions to him that exemplify the mysteries of God’s creation and his extraordinary power over... Read more
Paul speaks in almost a schizophrenic way in Romans 7:7–25. This text is called the divided “I” since our apostle repeatedly uses the first-person singular as though being double-minded. He laments over his predicament as a “wretched man” who desperately needs deliverance. Romans 7:14–15 capture the sentiment well: “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold under sin. For I do not understand what I am accomplishing. For what I want, this I do not... Read more
The former Prince Charles automatically became king after his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, passed away on September 8, 2022. And now his official coronation is set for Saturday, May 6, at Westminster Abbey. Dudley Delffs’s The Faith of Queen Elizabeth* helpfully made explicit the Queen’s devout faith, but what about her son? Is King Charles III a Christian? King Charles and the Anglican Faith In his first address to the United Kingdom after his mother’s death, King Charles III affirmed his... Read more
Romans 5 is an important chapter for Paul’s letter to the Romans, and we will discuss it in relation to Old Testament passages that may have informed it (intertextuality). Paul essentially proclaims his version of the gospel message in Romans 1–4. Among other things, he features prominently God’s righteousness and being justified by faith in Christ Jesus, more accurately, being “righteoused” by faith (dikaioô + ek + pistis). And starting in Romans 5 the apostle now discusses how believers are... Read more
Among the many discoveries in the Dead Sea Scrolls is the Book of Giants. This book never made the cut when it came to entering the biblical canon. It appears to be dependent on Genesis 6:1-4 and 1 Enoch 6–11 (the Book of Watchers). Scholars disclose some interesting facts about the Book of Giants. Here are 5 that you should know: 1. The Book of Giants is an ancient writing comprised of fragmented documents pieced together from the... Read more
In the Bible we read about the Nephilim who lived during the time of Noah before the Great Flood (Genesis 6:1-4). They are also mentioned again many years after the Flood in Numbers 13:33. Did they escape the Flood? Depending on your translation, they are also called “giants” along with the Rephaim and the Anakim. Who are they? The word Nephilim first appears in Genesis 6:4, where the texts states that such beings were on the earth during the days... Read more
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Reading Romans 6-8 Intertextually: Exile and the Slaughterhouse
What do the topics of exile, renewal in the Spirit, the Abba cry, and believers as metaphorical sheep for the slaughter all have in common? They are all mentioned in the Romans 6-8 and involve intertextual echoes from the Old Testament. Intertextuality has to do with the presence of a text in another text. In the New Testament we find numerous text presences that frequently originate from the Old Testament or traditions originating from Jesus. For our study we... Read more