I mentioned in my last post that Jesus’ teaching was subtle. I chalked this up to the vastness of his teaching. I said that the reason he was so subtle is because what he was saying was so multi-faceted that one cannot grasp it all at first glance...
There’s a popular Christian video out right now called “The Gospel in Four Minutes”. I admit that it’s interesting, creative, and even quite sound theologically. However, there is one thing I wish to take up with it. I...
It is generally accepted that we tend to overlook the things with which we are familiar. I find that when we pause for a moment and lend our attention to the familiar that it is the fundamental things, the things that we take for granted, that are...
The Bible is very clear on the fact that sinning isn’t the problem. Rather, the sin nature is the problem. Martin Luther described the sin nature by describing the individual as being “curved inward upon itself” (Latin, incurvates in se). Curved...
I’m going to do something risky here. I was invited by some colleagues to write an installment for a small theological education curriculum for folks in the Ukraine. The audience is unreached people groups. People that know nothing about...
I’m currently reading in John 6. This is the “I am the bread of life” chapter. Jesus, in teaching about himself as the bread of life, makes a strong connection between bread of life and eternal life. He also has quite a bit to say...
The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. — Matthew 13:31 God’s Kingdom, while being entirely transcendent and different than the human kingdoms of this broken, corrupt, and decaying world...
Jesus said this often. The question is why? What did Jesus mean when he said this? After all, Jesus was a great teacher. At the same time, there were some pretty enigmatic things that Jesus said. After all, aren’t we still arguing quite a bit...
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believers, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. —Romans 1:16, emphasis added. Often times we overlook the fact that 99% of Jesus’ recorded words in the...
And the Spirit was hovering over the waters… (Gen 1:2b) I’ve always been intrigued by the Spirit of God hovering over the watery chaos just before God speaks order into the vast and formless deep. On the one hand we have the watery...