But we need to remind ourselves to whom Paul’s great letter was sent. Looming up behind the various discussions of why Romans was written is an issue not usually noticed. Paul was coming to Rome with the gospel message of Jesus the Jewish...
I mentioned in this post that the Bible compares Jesus and the Church to a married couple. I noted that the points of comparison between the two are deep love and commitment (self-sacrificing love and commitment). This isn’t the only metaphor the...
At the end of each academic year here at Emmaus Biblical Seminary in Haiti, we do a deep clean of the cafeteria kitchen. My ministry partners have spent the past three days washing, scrubbing, bleaching, mopping, wiping, painting, and bleaching...
A friend of mine recently gave me a tallit as a gift. A tallit, for those who may not know, is a Jewish prayer shall. This particular tallit is of the messianic kind (made by and for cultural and ethnic Jews who believe in Jesus as the Messiah), and...
Many in the Reformed tradition criticize NT Wright for his interpretation of the Pauline doctrine of Justification. Listen in as Tom Wright debates the issue with James White.
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...
Contemporary Western Christianity has a tendency to overlook the work of the Holy Spirit (granted, some sects within Protestant Christianity aren’t as negligent as others). First, I want to answer the question why? After that I want to freshen our...
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...
This week, people around the world celebrated Mardi Gras. Mardis Gras, which is French for “Fat Tuesday” has its roots in Roman Catholicism (and other Christian traditions). Fat Tuesday is the Tuesday just before Ash Wednesday, which marks the...
Romans 1:1–6 reads: Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to...