Ashley LyonThe word selah is prominent in the Psalms, occurring 71 times (as well as 3 in Habakkuk)— but what does it mean?
Mark WardIs it dangerous to accept changes to our language? Does doing so amount to moral relativism? I once had to stand as a young man in front of an adult Sunday school class and wait for ten minutes (it felt that long, anyway) while a much older man in...
Watch Mark Ward’s full interview with Jonathan Leeman on the theology of love. Love is the most important commandment in the Bible. And the second most important. On love for God and neighbor hang both testaments. And at the center of the Bible...
Bible Study MagazineReformation Day is October 31. In remembrance, keep reading to explore with David P. Barshinger how the Reformers offer us a model for Bible study. (Or dig deeper into Reformation exegesis with Reading Scripture with the Reformers or The Martin...
Nathaniel J. EricksonThis is the second article in a two-part series dealing with the common myth that Greek is the most precise language known to mankind. (Article one here.) I’d like to look at a few more examples of imprecision in the Greek of the New Testament...
Peter KrolFaith is one of those fancy Christian words we can find ourselves using a lot without truly understanding what it means. To many in American culture, “faith” is the opposite of reason and is best represented by a blindfold or reckless leap. For many...
James Strong’s 1890 Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible is one of the most frequently cited Bible study resources out there—perhaps because it is freely available in many places online. But its dictionary portion is often misused. I humbly offer...
Drew LongacreThe Dead Sea Scrolls don’t interest only academics and scholars. Many average Christians have questions, too. Read on for the answers to the most common questions! What are the Dead Sea Scrolls? How were the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered? How...
Brian CollinsEven elementary Bible readers quickly recognize that the Bible includes an Old Testament and a New Testament. For beginning readers, these two great divisions might seem to be equivalent to Part I and Part II. As beginners grow in their...
Gregory GoswellWhat is “paratext”? In short, paratext is everything in the Bible apart from the words. That statement sounds distinctly odd, for most people would simply equate the Bible with the words it contains, but there is, in fact, more in the...
Murray J. HarrisIn order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes. (2 Cor 2:11 NIV) One of the Christian’s defenses against the devil’s stratagems is prior awareness of his purposes and methods. In 2 Corinthians 2:5–11, we discover...
David P. BarshingerWith the church under attack and the safety of believers and the furtherance of the gospel at stake, what would a professor say to his students? Peter Martyr Vermigli (1499–1562) turned to the Psalms—as Christians have long done—as a source of...
Michelle GroverImprinted among Kristie Anyabwile’s earliest memories is a scene in which she and her grandmother “Miss Nicie” kneel to pray beside their shared featherbed. Kristie vividly recalls the worn tapestry of da Vinci’s The Last...
While Abram was an idolator in Ur of the Chaldeans (Josh 24:2–3), God appeared to him and made three staggering promises (Gen 12:1–3). I will make you into a great nation. I will make your name great. I will make you the source of blessing for the...
Richard WinstonIn Matthew 5:17, Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” What does this mean? What is the relationship between Jesus’ teaching and the Old Testament? Three...
There is an idea which floats around in pulpits and Bible studies, and it goes something like this: “Greek is a perfectly precise language which clearly conveys its meaning, and this is the reason why God used Greek for the New Testament.” I do not...
Andy NaselliWhat Jesus says in Matthew 5:31–32 is a key passage on divorce and remarriage. Here is a phrase diagram of Jesus’ words, made using the Logos Canvas Tool: Evangelicals hold three main views on divorce and remarriage: I believe that what constitutes...
Jonathan T. PenningtonWhoever they are, don’t give them your pearls. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the...
Bible translations cause fights. As if we needed more of those in the church right now. I want to bring peace to Christian conflicts over the KJV, ESV, NIV, and other good evangelical English Bible translations—to End Bible Translation Tribalism...
Scott CorbinMark Keown is the author of Discovering the New Testament. He sat down with Scott Corbin of Lexham Press to talk about this recently completed three-volume work. What was it like to do a full New Testament theology? Writing Discovering the New...
If you want to interpret the Bible correctly, you’ll need to use the right tools, and use them rightly. This is surely true for Paul’s letter to the Romans, which is long, complex, and very important to Christian faith and doctrine. Let’s take a...
Randy LeedyOur Savior was a master of enigma, a device by which he made his hearers think. In Matthew 6:22–23 we find a teaching whose initially enigmatic character resolves, under patient study, into delightful clarity. The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if...
Bronwyn LeaIf church kids over the years learned that the answer to just about any Sunday School question was “Jesus,” scholar and pastor Jonathan T. Pennington says adult church goers often have similar ingrained responses. Like a call-and-response Rorschach...
We are sometimes told that unless we have experienced the same trial as someone else, we are unable to give that person genuine sympathy and encouragement. For example, only a parent who has lost a very young child can really sympathize with parents...
Matthew EverhardWhen Jonathan Edwards was 19 years old, he sketched out a series of handwritten resolutions, or personal vows, intended to provide structure to his Christian pilgrimage and guidance for his emerging ministerial career. Many of his resolutions...
Origen (ca. 185–ca. 254) is often remembered today as the great biblical allegorist. In my seminary years, I was told to avoid him because he was loose with the Bible. And yet Origen remains one of the most influential theologians on the question of...
One of the big guns often hauled out in Christian fights over Bible translation is the literal gun. “BLAM!” says the literal gun. Then it says in a booming voice, “TRANSLATIONS SHOULD BE LITERALLY ACCURATE, WORD-FOR-WORD!!!” And then it adds another...
Jim HamiltonThe Evangelical Biblical Theology Commentary is a special new kind of commentary. It includes not just exegetical comments about the meaning of specific verses; it also has a biblical theology section where it traces out the theological themes of a...
John LeeUnlike the Gospels of Luke and John, Mark’s Gospel never explicitly reveals any authorial intent. In A Ransom for Many, John Lee and Daniel Brueske identify Mark 10:45 as the heart of Mark’s Gospel. This single verse is the pivot point of Mark’s...
I spent a significant portion of my twenties reading productivity blogs, especially those recommending the latest cool apps that promised to make my work umpteen-percent better/faster/easier. Until I realized one day that the time I was spending...