2023-08-20T20:49:10-07:00

In Romans 9–11 the Apostle Paul claims that many from Israel have become hard hearted, rejecting the gospel about their Messiah, Jesus. At the same time, many gentiles have believed this message. In Romans 11:25–26, however, we learn that Israel’s hardening is only temporary. Once the “fullness” of the gentiles comes in (i.e., they get saved), “all Israel” will be saved. Several interpretations of “all Israel” are possible, but a prominent position these days is to interpret “Israel” in Romans... Read more

2023-08-02T23:13:10-07:00

Sometimes 1 Timothy 2:9–15 is read in tandem with 1 Corinthians 14:34–35 to make the claim that if Paul commands women to be silent, churches today should not permit them to teach, speak, or lead congregations. I explained 1 Corinthians 14:34–35 in my previous post, and this time we will discuss the text of 1 Timothy. Incidentally, 1 Timothy 2:9–15 also discourages women from braiding their hair, putting on jewelry with gold or pearls, and wearing expensive clothes. Yet somehow... Read more

2024-07-01T16:11:28-07:00

Did Paul forbid women from speaking at the Corinthian church? With 1 Corinthians 14:34–35 as our model, yes, they were to keep quiet, but what does this mean? A number of biblical interpreters point out that Paul permits women to prophesy at church in 1 Cor 11:5. Hence, unless our apostle is contradicting himself, 1 Cor 14:34–35 cannot mean an absolute ban on women speaking. It also follows that if they were allowed to prophesy, Paul would hardly prevent them... Read more

2023-07-16T09:20:18-07:00

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

2023-06-29T19:45:11-07:00

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

2023-09-23T20:40:38-07:00

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

2023-07-03T10:20:51-07:00

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

2023-06-07T15:38:08-07:00

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

2023-06-07T15:39:17-07:00

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

2023-05-07T12:18:22-07:00

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

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