What Is Unity in the Bible? (It’s Far More Important Than I Thought.)
And the first prize for most unifying religion goes to… Easy answer, right? Obviously, the answer is supposed to be Christianity, isn’t it? And yet the church isn’t always very unified—at all. At last count, there are over 45,000 Christian denominations globally. Narrow it down to just one denomination, and chances are that even that […]
Because You Say So, I Will
God’s ways are higher than our ways, so it’s no wonder that some of His commands don’t always make sense to us. Throughout the Bible, we see examples of people being asked to do things that defy human logic. In the fifth and sixth chapters of Luke, Jesus repeatedly asked people to take actions that […]
Why Do We Confess Jesus as Messiah and Lord?
We call the “good confession” what Christians confess out loud when they convert to Christ. Early Christian formulations of the good confession point to two important ideas. First, confessing that Jesus is the “Christ” is saying that he is the promised Messiah of Israel. The Old Testament contains promises, titles, prophecies, and sufferings regarding the […]
Summary of Titus: Understanding the Basics of Titus in the Bible
Here is a short summary of the book of Titus: Titus is a personal letter from Paul to Titus, a long-time partner in ministry. Paul and Titus had begun making disciples and starting churches on the island of Crete, and Paul left Titus there to finish setting things in order in the churches. Titus needed […]
Summary of Psalms: Understanding the Basics of Psalms in the Bible
The Hebrew title for the book of Psalms is tehilim, roughly translated as “praises.” In some ways, this is an unusual title, as the largest single category of Psalms are laments. It is from the Greek translation of the Old Testament known as the Septuagint that we get the term “psalmos” or song. The term […]
Did the Gospels Borrow from Pagan Mythology?
Mythology in the Greco-Roman world had dying and rising god-men—Apollo, Asclepius, Hercules, Tammuz. Serapis was called Lord. Half the Greek gods were said to be born of virgins. Hercules ascended to heaven. Just how unique is Jesus’ deity? What’s original about Jesus as being born of a virgin and being the Son of God? Is […]
Encountering God’s Amazing Grace
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23, ESV) Literary editors claim that the phrase “free gift” is redundant. They say the idea of free is implicit in the definition of “gift” and so is unnecessary to mention. However, Paul […]
Resisting the Lure of Legalism
“Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them?” (Mark 7:18, NIV) Let’s talk about legalism. I know about legalism because I used to be a legalist. At the time, I didn’t believe legalism was really a thing. I’ve actually said to people, […]
