Isaiah’s Servant in Paul: The Hermeneutics and Ethics of Paul’s Use of Isaiah 49-54

Last updated on: January 29, 2023 at 10:42 pm By B. J. Oropeza

What is the significance of the Servant in Isaiah in relation to the New Testament, particularly Paul’s letters? Dr. Daniel Cole interprets this famous portion of text from Isaiah, including Isaiah 53, not simply as fulfilled in Jesus the Messiah but in the church. Daniel M. I. Cole’s recent monograph, Isaiah’s Servant in Paul: The Hermeneutics and Ethics of Paul’s Use of Isaiah 49–54, WUNT 2.553 (Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 2021), discusses this viewpoint; his book is the topic of our current... Read more

A Tribute to E. P. Sanders

Last updated on: January 29, 2023 at 10:45 pm By B. J. Oropeza

E. P. Sanders, perhaps the most influential New Testament scholar in the last 50 years, passed away on November 21. Ed Parish Sanders was 85. Sanders’s Paul and Palestinian Judaism: A Comparison of Patterns of Religion (Fortress Press, 1977) became a trend-setting work that sparked the new perspective on Paul. Prior to this work, many Christian scholars, especially those influenced by Lutheran and other Protestant traditions, taught that first-century Judaism was typically a legalistic religion of righteousness by works. Sanders’s work... Read more

Junia: A Woman Apostle in the Bible (Romans 16:7)

Last updated on: January 29, 2023 at 11:00 pm By B. J. Oropeza

Amidst Paul’s greetings towards the end of Romans, apart from Phoebe and Priscilla, he greets Junia, another female colleague of great significance: “Greet Andronicus and Junia, my kin and my fellow prisoners, who are distinguished among the apostles, who were also in Christ before me” (Romans 16:7). What can we know about Junia? Junia is a Fellow Jew Paul names both Andronicus and Junia as “kin” (συγγενεῖς/ syngeneis), which could mean that they are either fellow Jews or blood relatives... Read more

Romans: Texts, Readers, and the History of Interpretation. An Interview with Stephen Westerholm

Last updated on: January 29, 2023 at 10:58 pm By B. J. Oropeza

I recently had the privilege of conversing with one of the great Pauline scholars of our day, Stephen Westerholm. We discussed his new book entitled, Romans: Texts, Readers, and the History of Interpretation (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2022).This book is an introduction to Paul’s letter to the Romans that covers virtually all the past great interpreters of Romans, including Origen, John Chrysostom, Ambrosiaster, Augustine, Abelard, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, Melanchthon, Arminius, John Locke, John Wesley, Adam Clarke, Matthew Poole, Henry Alford, Karl... Read more

Is There Really Good News in the Bible? What is it?

Last updated on: March 4, 2023 at 1:01 am By B. J. Oropeza

Bad news! That’s what many people say when watching, reading, or hearing news media outlets. What then is good news? The Bible speaks of good news, but what specifically does this mean? Good News in the Old Testament The term “good news” or “glad tidings” comes from the Hebrew verb basar (בשׂר), which means to announce or give news, and by extension to herald as good tidings.[1] Sometimes the word and its cognates depict runners who advance to cities and... Read more

Priscilla: A Woman Teacher in the Bible

Last updated on: April 24, 2023 at 10:38 am By B. J. Oropeza

In Romans, Paul ends his letter by recommending Phoebe, a benefactor, to his recipients, and then he greets a number of friends and colleagues. Among these are a number of women, the first of which is Prisca, better known as Priscilla. We discover some important details about her in Romans as well as elsewhere in the Bible. One of her roles is teacher. Priscilla in Romans Paul writes about Priscilla in Romans 16:3-5: “Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers... Read more

Phoebe: A Woman Leader in the Bible

Last updated on: January 29, 2023 at 11:30 pm By B. J. Oropeza

At the end of his letter to the Romans,* Paul commends a woman named Phoebe. Her credentials are that she is a fellow believer in Jesus Messiah (“our sister”), a minister from Cenchreae, and the presumed carrier of the letter to the Romans. She also appears to be the letter’s reader. Paul identifies her as a benefactor of many. Phoebe thus appears to be a woman leader in the Bible, though of course, not the only one. We will explore... Read more

Who were the Recipients of Romans? The Most Famous Letter in the Bible

Last updated on: January 29, 2023 at 11:38 pm By B. J. Oropeza

Towards the end of the most famous letter in the Bible, Romans, the Apostle Paul gives a list of greetings to various people he knows in Rome (Romans 16:3–16). These greetings are designated to friends, colleagues, and fellow believers in Rome. We can learn some things about the recipients of this letter by virtue of these greetings. Such greetings are typically found as a conventional feature towards the end of his letters (1 Corinthians 16:19–20; 2 Corinthians 13:12; Philippians 4:21–22;... Read more

The Nature and Role of Angels

Last updated on: January 29, 2023 at 11:37 pm By B. J. Oropeza

Do you believe in angels? Those of Judeo-Christian faith normally do, whether by personal experience or, much more commonly, because they read about angels in the Bible. The word angel commonly identifies a supernatural being who plays a mediating role as a messenger or assistant between God and humans. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for angel is mal’ak, meaning “messenger.” In New Testament Greek the word is angelos. We should recognize from the outset that angels are not... Read more

Does Paul the Apostle believe that other gods exist?

Last updated on: January 29, 2023 at 11:16 pm By B. J. Oropeza

This is the third and final instalment of a trilogy on the book, Paul, Then and Now by Matthew Novenson (Eerdmans, 2022). Part 1 was a review of the book, part 2 started an interview with Dr. Novenson, and now in part 3 we conclude the interview. We cover topics on whether the Apostle Paul believes that other gods exist, the Spirit (pneuma), and the future of Paul’s theology. Second Part and Conclusion to the Interview: More Questions and Answers... Read more