Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Matthew 5:8). Take a moment and think about all the ways in which we can apply the word pure. We can talk about pure water, purebred animals, sounds can be pure, gold can be pure, and the list...
Why did Jesus die? Is there really a short and simple answer to this question? Can the most important event in human history really be summed up in one quick line? Think about the various kinds of answers we can come up with. We could give...
The Crucial Pillars of the New Perspective Going back to the original question, what is the gospel according to Paul? N. T. Wright has made a career out of answering this question. In his research, Wright has identified several crucial pillars that...
(This post is an excerpt from my working manuscript provisionally titled Holiness in Fresh Perspective or Covenant, Cross, and Kingdom: Holiness in Fresh Perspective. All rights reserved) For too long we have read Scripture with nineteenth-century...
(This is an excerpt from my working manuscript, Holiness in Fresh Perspective). All Rights Reserved. The New Perspective highlights the corporate people of God as a central point of reference of Paul’s theology and thought. For Paul, God’s...
As already announced, I’m working on a manuscript titled Holiness in Fresh Perspective. The goal of the project is very specific: to situate the biblical doctrine of holiness within the new framework of understanding Paul’s thought and theology...
The Bible plainly teaches that there is nothing that humanity can do to save itself collectively, or individually. No one is able, in their own strength and effort, to put right that which was lost in the Garden of Eden. In fact, the very attempt to...
I love that the New Testament (Heb. habrith hachodesh) begins with the genealogy of Jesus. I love this because the Old Testament (Heb. Torah) begins the same way with the repeated genealogical theme found in Genesus (Heb. Breshith). The phrase...
Some folks make the point that Jesus verbally taught more in the last six months of his life than any other time in his ministry on earth (any observant red letter Bible reader notices this). It is also apparent to any observant Bible reader that...
The word matzah in Hebrew means “unleavened bread”. According to Deuteronomy 16:3, it’s also known as the “bread of affliction”. This is the bread associated with the Passover (Pesah) story found in Exodus. The idea behind matzah as “bread of...