This post will offer a fresh perspective on the grammar of a much-debated, and theologically loaded, verse in the Hebrew Bible: שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָד Listen, Israel! YHWH is our God. YHWH is the one. My interpretation is a...
Ever wondered, “When did Jesus die?” It’s a perfectly reasonable question as we near the celebration of Easter. The good news is there’s a fairly straightforward answer. The Bible and historical records suggest Jesus died at...
God has a name, and it’s not “God.” However, God’s proper name has come to us “damaged”—linguistically damaged. Sadly, we have inherited this name with consonants, but not vowels. I consider the loss of these vowels as one of the sociological and...
The other day, my brother-in-law gave my children a gift that awoke many of my childhood memories. Indeed, Where’s Waldo? books apparently haven’t changed much since my childhood. The goal remains: find Waldo amidst an overwhelming sea...
Bible study is the practice—whether individually or within a group—of reading, interpreting, and applying Scripture to daily life. Christians don’t study the Bible simply to amass information they won’t use. The point of Bible study is to know God...
We are familiar with God’s calls in Scripture to be marked by a tender heart. Paul commands Christians, “Be … tenderhearted” (Eph 4:32), and Peter tells believers to “have … a tender heart” (1 Pet 3:8). These teachings clearly show what God expects...
Since the mid-1980s, the New International Version (NIV) has been the best-selling English-language Bible, both in the United States and worldwide. The NIV was a trans-denominational effort by over a hundred scholars, sponsored by the nonprofit New...
Jason Stone interviews Amanda Bible Williams of She Reads Truth about Bible study and biblical literacy.
Family discipleship is hard work. The days are long with small children: a messy home, a litany of whys, and a gaggle of shouts of joy and frustration over the big and the small. In the midst of all this, you might ask yourself: Am I up for fighting...
Give me life, O Lord, according to your word! (Ps 119:107) Recently, I had a lively conversation with a well-educated young man whom I know quite well. We were both eager to catch up. In the course of our discussion, I asked him whether he still...
My previous article demonstrated that a covenant in biblical times served two primary purposes: to establish kinship relationships among non-kin and to establish peace where there was potential for violence. I noted the existence in Scripture of two...
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...
It’s women’s history month—and March 8 was International Women’s Day. To celebrate, we’re highlighting 20 Christian women in Church history who served God in both extraordinary and ordinary ways. 1. Priscilla (first century AD) Though the Bible...
A recent review of Mac OS Ventura began with an all-too-common admission: the features the reviewer had been excited about in previous versions of Mac OS turned out to receive little use. I don’t think that will be the case with Logos 10’s killer...
The Bible is a big book. More accurately, the Bible is a collection of books written at different times to different people by different authors. Readers will find that the Bible contains literary genres including history, narrative, law, poetry...
One of my required courses in college was titled “Teaching Elementary Math.” I enjoy math and expected the class to be a piece of cake. This assumption quickly proved to be incorrect. During one of these arduous classes, my professor...
What you’ll see in this Logos Live episode Dr. Mark Ward interviews Bible scholar, professor, and author Rev. Dr. Vern Poythress about Trinitarian theology and more. Vern Poythress (PhD, Harvard; DTh, Stellenbosch) is distinguished professor...
Perhaps you’ve heard it spoken, read it on a T-shirt, or heard it in a song. Jesus wants to be your friend. Jesus is my best friend. What a friend we have in Jesus. In some ways, the idea of friendship with Jesus is appropriate. Jesus taught that...
Scribes & Scripture: The Amazing Story of How We Got the Bible, is a love letter from the academy to the church, a truly excellent book that will surely become a staple in churches and seminaries all over the English-speaking world. Authors...
The word “exegesis” might sound fancy, but its meaning is simple—and the act of doing it is paramount for understanding the Word of God by which followers of Jesus live and breathe.
Jennifer Grisham interviews Bible scholar, professor, and award-winning author Dr. Jeannine Brown about the Bible. Listen to this interview to hear advice on how to read and understand the Bible.
Virtually all Christians practice some form of baptism. In fact, Paul mentions our universally experienced baptism among those things that demonstrate our unity as believers: “one body and one Spirit … one hope … one Lord, one faith, one baptism...
Destination: the Eternal City. I was thrilled to finally spend the New Year in Italy with my husband … and a dozen seminary classmates. My doctoral intensive began in Rome, where we sought to discover how the early church celebrated women...
The Bible tells us that all Scripture is authored by God (2 Tim 3:16). This implies that since God is the author and he is without error, the Scriptures are also without error. However, we often come across passages in the Bible that seem to...
As Christians, we affirm that the Bible, made up of the Old and New Testaments, is the inspired Word of God. Much to no one’s surprise, non-Christians do not hold the same view. Many have challenged this foundational Christian belief, claiming that...
Commentaries are tools in the toolbox of Bible teachers and preachers. But just as a woodworker will use a table saw, miter saw, and band saw for different purposes, Bible teachers will turn to different types of commentaries for different purposes...
When I tell people that I’m a seminary professor—or, more precisely, a biblical scholar, I get all sorts of weird looks and remarks. Among those persons from a non-religious background, or else who are virulently anti-religious, I often get...
Last time you checked the cover of your family Bible, it probably didn’t say “The Bible, by God.” Perhaps that’s why several good questions often arise early in faith conversations, such as: Who wrote the collected books of the Bible? What does the...
I’ll never forget the moment when a nurse led my wife and me over to press a button on the wall to announce to everyone in the hospital the good news of the birth of our newborn son. We pressed the button and chimes calmly rang throughout the...
A few years ago, I tweeted something that made pretty big and unexpected waves on social media. The tweet read, “Sisters, if we are smart enough to cook, raise/teach children, take care of homes, work 9–5s, or do whatever it is that we do daily...