God himself is love (1 John 4:8). Love for God is the greatest commandment. Love for others is the second (Matt 22:34–40). Love is the greatest Christian virtue. But what is love? That is a rather important question. Similar questions come to mind ...
Christian feast days—what are they? Far from being a strange and sour corruption from the late middle ages, the feast days of the church—or what is called the liturgical calendar—offer Christians a gospel-centered way of walking through the year...
When anxiety hits, among the places we go for advice and comfort—e.g., family, friends, pastors, spiritual directors, or perhaps even to a counselor or therapist—we must not forget to go to God’s Word to calm our anxious hearts. The Bible...
Genesis 3:8 is a familiar verse in a familiar story: Adam and Eve have sinned, and now, in the cool of the day, they hear the sound of the Lord God walking in the Garden. Afraid, they hide among the trees.
Who is God? What’s he like? Ask a hundred people, and you might just get a hundred answers. So let’s find out the truth of who he is—from Scriptures. They’re his Word to us, a gift that allows us to get to know him directly. As...
Hebrews 11:6 says “without faith it is impossible to please him.” Not unlikely. Not difficult. Impossible. Thomas a Kempis, author of The Imitation of Christ, wrote, “Faith is required of you, and a sincere life, not a lofty...
Hope. It’s a word most of us overuse: “I hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow.” “I hope there’s a good parking spot open.” And, of course, “Hope you’re well!” as a pleasant (admittedly unoriginal) email intro. The Bible uses hope this way sometimes...
The alarm chimes and our busy day begins. Our to-do list is ready and our phone is fully charged. But wait! Are we forgetting something important? Here’s a collection of morning prayers, collected both from Scripture and from the sermons or...
“In everything give thanks.” The importance of thankfulness is impossible to miss in that well-known verse. Other aspects of 1 Thessalonians 5:16 and the following two verses, however, are easier to overlook. Keep reading to find out how “in...
Many of us read Luke 2 at Christmastime, but what Scriptures can we read at Thanksgiving? Here are 54 Bible verses about thanksgiving and gratitude to meditate on during the holiday season or take turns reading around the table on Thanksgiving Day...
More people go to church on Easter than any other day of the year, and churches around the world are already preparing for more visitors—whether online or in person. There are plenty of ways to ensure your Easter service is great, but what about the...
God calls all Christians to become more like Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit (2 Cor 3:18), and this transformation happens in the innermost part of a person: their heart. This progression is called spiritual formation, which involves...
Today is Valentine’s Day, a day on the greeting card calendar for celebrating romantic (or what the Greeks called eros) love. We’d like to twist this day a bit (though there’s nothing wrong with hearts, flowers, and chocolate) and turn our eyes...
The coronavirus has spread throughout the globe and impacted not only the health of millions of people but also daily routines and everyday tasks. But thanks to the unsung heroes who have put themselves in the path of the virus to keep our world...
The world can be a scary place. From wars to epidemics to natural disasters, we often have good reasons to be afraid. But Scripture reminds us that we have even better reasons to trust God. These 14 Bible verses about fear help us remember that God...
1. Job 42:10–11 Then Yahweh returned Job’s fortune when he prayed to him on behalf of his friends. Thus Yahweh increased all that Job had twice as much as before. So all his brothers and all his sisters and all those who had known him before came to...
atonement [ uh–tohn-muhnt ] Also called: Expiation, Propitiation Reconciliation between God and humanity, specifically through Jesus’ death. Top Bible Verses about Atonement 1. Leviticus 16:29–34 “And this shall be a lasting...
Today’s guest post is by Dr. Daniel Bush, author of Live in Liberty: The Spiritual Message of Galatians and Embracing God as Father: Christian Identity in the Family of God. Dan holds a B.Sci. from Michigan Technological University, the M.Div...
The Bible doesn’t promise us that life with Jesus is easier. The difference is that when life gets hard, we have somewhere to turn for strength, courage, hope, and peace. When times are tough, these verses are tougher. Here are seven Bible...
Psalm 137 ends with one of the Bible’s most scandalizing lines: a prayer that an enemy’s infants would be dashed against rocks. It understandably troubles believers, and for skeptics, it’s a classic case against the Bible’s goodness. Does this...
Jonathan Akin joins Kirk E. Miller to explore the infamous passage of 2 Kings 2 where prophet Elisha's curse leads to two she-bears mauling young boys. Was Elisha simply an irritable old man who couldn’t take a joke? How old were these “youths”? And...
If the Bible teaches that human beings are made in the image of God, why does the Bible seem to allow their enslavement? It’s a question that often troubles believers and serves as an objection for skeptics. Kirk E. Miller sits down with author and...
Luke records that the early Jesus followers in Jerusalem "held everything in common" (Acts 2; 4). Does this mean the early church abolished private property and embraced a sort of communalism? Luke-Acts scholar Darrell L. Bock joins Kirk E. Miller...
When Paul says that gentiles “do what the law requires” and have “the work of the law written on their hearts,” is he describing morally conscious pagans who have God’s natural law or believing gentiles who experience the inward transformation of...
Join Kirk E. Miller and Old Testament scholar Chad Bird as they discuss the so-called "Curse of Ham" in one of the Bible's most cryptic and infamously abused passages. Discover the different views on the nature of Ham's sin, why Noah curses his son...
Some of my most spiritually rich and formative years were spent in seminary. From 2011 to 2014, I had the privilege of studying at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. I was equipped for ministry in the classroom, gained practical experience as a...
In Galatians 4, the Apostle Paul refers to the story of Sarah and Hagar as an allegory: Hagar corresponds to Mount Sinai and the present Jerusalem, while Sarah corresponds to the Jerusalem above. Is Paul twisting the Old Testament? Is he reading...
Melchizedek is one of the most mysterious figures in the Bible, with only two incredibly brief mentions in the Old Testament. Yet in Hebrews 7, the author makes the astounding argument that this fleeting character from Genesis anticipates the end of...
We are to raise up faithful leaders who will be able to instruct the church in sound doctrine. One way to accomplish this task is through a pastoral internship: a definite amount of time given to training aspiring leaders for the prospect of...
In this episode of What in the Word?, Kirk E. Miller talks with Richard Middleton about one of Christian theology’s most foundational and widely discussed ideas: humanity as the image of God (imago dei). Yet despite how important this concept is...
