In this post I talked about the illuminating and convicting work of the Holy Spirit in believers. Here, I want to talk about the EMPOWERING work of the Holy Spirit because these two dynamics go together. They workl together in the sense that the...
In this post I talked about how worldview shapes the lens through which we read scripture (i.e., creates our hermeneutical framework). I said that the hermeneutical principle that the “plain meaning of the text is usually the correct meaning...
As I read the Easter passage today, I wonder why Christ let them come to the tomb expecting him to be dead. Granted, we can’t be sure exactly at what time he arose, but could he not have met them prior to their arrival at the grave? Why is the...
What is the resurrection of Jesus all about? There are many valid interpretations of the story of the resurrection. For starters, Jesus’ resurrection foreshadows the resurrection of believers at the time of his return. In addition to this, it...
This is from my lovely wife. We are over in the Dominican Republic for a few days, where the tourism industry actually makes a night or two away far cheaper than a night or two away in Haiti. The internet is as poor as our Spanish, the food as...
God is in the business of separating Christians from the world. Normally we focus our thinking on God’s unifying work. The Apostle Paul has quite a bit to say about the unity of believers in the sacrificial death and miraculous resurrection of...
One of Jesus’ famous last words on the cross were “My God, my God! Why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). What did Jesus mean by this? I’ve heard a couple of different explanations to these words of Jesus. Most...
As a Bible teacher, I hear the phrase “the plain meaning of the text” all the time. It’s used in the context of, “the right interpretation (i.e., “way to read”) of the text is the plain meaning of the text.”...
(This is from my wife’s blog (mshaiti.blogspot.com). I thought I would share for TIS readers.) I’ve got goosebumps. This is good. On Wednesday during the Academic Convocation, I was walking around the front of the chapel, trying to get...
In the opening chapters of 1 Samuel we find the story of a struggling family. Don’t you love, by the way, that the heroes in the Bible are the ones who struggle, the ones whose lives are messy? He came for the sick. What’s particularly noteworthy...