Peter KrolThough the Sermon on the Mount gets most of the attention, the Gospel of Luke records another major teaching event regarding the kingdom of God (Luke 6:20–49), known as the Sermon on the Plain. Concerning that sermon, this article will take up the...
Mark WardWhat is the most violated verse on the internet? Probably love the Lord your God with all your heart. Every online sin draws its nourishment from that root. But right behind that violated verse might be—our second-place winner—Paul’s words: Speaking...
Katie FrenchWho doesn’t love good literature? This is especially true of a Christian book that enriches the soul and encourages growth in your walk with Christ. If you’ve had any exposure to this genre, you’re probably familiar with A Pilgrim’s Progress, Foxe’s...
Robert ElmerEnvy typically means the desire for something someone else has. It can be used as a noun or a verb. So, for example, we might avoid envy (the noun) or we might envy someone (the verb). Jealousy is a close cousin, though it’s often interchanged with...
Daniel K. EngThe Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5–7) contains some of the most memorable sayings of Jesus: Love your enemies. Seek first the kingdom of God. The Lord’s Prayer. Do not judge. Figures like Mahatma Ghandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. were heavily...
Michael F. BirdAmong the divine attributes, none is so mysterious and sublime as that of divine holiness. In systematic theology, the divine attributes—aspects of God’s character and being—are normally divided into two categories: the incommunicable and the...
Mary JahnkeI was born with a Bible in my hand (not literally), in church before I was even born (literally). I can’t remember my first Bible, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was one of those soft, cute little fabric storybook Bibles with crunchy things on...
A former coworker of mine, now retired, a very sharp editor and faithful Bible reader, sends me occasional Bible questions. She sent one the other day about the alleged secret meaning of God’s name, YHWH.
John Mark YeatsIf we are honest, theological education has a persistent PR problem. Some pastors may even discourage a potential seminarian from attending a school because of their own difficult journey. But there’s a reason seminary has long been a standard...
Blake AdamsExegetical ambiguity occurs when a word or passage from Scripture can support more than one interpretation. Exegetical ambiguity can spur a deeper engagement with the text, but it can also frustrate or even cause despair. But it may relieve us to...
It’s one of the most recognizable verses in the Bible—Genesis 1:1. Maybe that’s because that verse and the thirty-one verses of Genesis 1 open the door to everything we know, our shared human experience. It comes right before Scripture outlines the...
George HillmanGrowing up, my family had a weekend farm just north of the town where we lived. As a kid, it was a great place to explore nature and learn many life skills. It was on that farm, for example, where I learned how to drive a manual transmission even...
Timothy RuckerJesus says to Peter in Matthew 16:18, You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. Few passages have been as foundational and encouraging for the church as Matthew 16:18. For example, at the...
Kelley MathewsNearly a third of high school girls in the US confessed to contemplating suicide,a 60 percent rise in the last decade. Young women are experiencing tragic levels of emotional trauma, physical abuse, and sexual violence. One of the primary culprits...
Daniel StevensThere are many, many options for reading and studying the Greek New Testament. There are more studies, editions, and tools available to the student or scholar than ever before. Manuscripts are available at a click. Surveys of historical opinion are...
Mike Leake“Church.” To my pre-adolescent mind this word meant, “that place you go when you visit grandma’s house, where you sing boring songs and hear an old guy talk for hours.” To my adolescent mind this word meant, “that place you endure when...
Jonathan ShirkOn every page of the Bible are words of comfort for our souls, but how those words comfort us is not always immediately clear. The more we understand the meaning of a passage and how it connects to the grand redemptive story of Scripture, the more...
Jennifer GrishamAs a book nerd since birth, few things are as fun for me as a list of book recommendations. (I haven’t read all the books I’ve gotten off recommendations—my bookshelf is about good intentions, thanks for asking!) That’s why...
Tobin PerryOften, when we talk about the early church, we’re tempted to idealize it. But that’s before you get to 1 and 2 Corinthians—which were written to arguably one of the most dysfunctional churches in the New Testament. Then you’re...
Rhyne PutmanOpen your social media feed or turn on the news, and you will quickly recognize that we live in a fractured society, one that is deeply divided by competing worldviews and ideologies. In this fallen and broken world, it comes as no surprise when...
Josh StewartAs the Israelites said of the manna that fell from heaven, so it must be said of the youth pastor: What is it? Empirically speaking, youth pastors are half-friend, half-pastor, half-parent, half-can’t-decide-what-it-is types of things. But what...
Constantine CampbellI like to say to students that, in ancient Greek, verbs are where the action is. It’s a tongue-in-cheek acknowledgement that, of course, verbs are doing words, but also that verbs are centrally significant for the way that ancient Greek functions...
Revolutions are by their very nature destructive and disruptive. Revolutions bring old things down and erect new institutions and networks in their place. Revolutions bring conflict. They trample down things once thought sacred and raise up new...
Christopher KouWe often hear that the church isn’t a building; it’s people. And that’s true. Church isn’t where you meet. It’s who meets. However, this statement can become clichéd, repeated so often that we miss the profound meaning behind it. In this article...
Seana ScottThe pandemic lulled me into a new church rhythm. The kids slept in, and I slowly sipped coffee. They eventually woke up and we logged into YouTube from our smart TV to watch the livestream for the second service. Months later, when the church...
Timothy BergAll Christians must reckon with spiritual gifts in their Bibles. Lists in 1 Corinthins 12:7–10, 1 Corinthians 12:28, Romans 12:6–8, and 1 Peter 4:10–11 name various gifts while passages throughout the New Testament depict them at work. What are...
Patrick SlymanIt was an innocent question, “Will you use sermon slides when you preach?” I was a first-year seminary student asking a recent graduate embarking on his first pastoral position. The curtness of his answer surprised me, “Not on...
Esther SmithPrayers for physical wellness fill our prayer chains, but what about prayers for mental health? We all face struggles that threaten our mental well-being. Anxiety overwhelms us. Depression crushes us. Addiction entices us. We walk out of...
Marcus JerkinsPneumatology is the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. The purpose of this article is to offer some terms and concepts associated with the Holy Spirit, which will help in constructing a biblical pneumatology. This article is not complete or exhaustive but...
JoAnna HoytSaint Photini, so named in the Orthodox tradition, was an especially blessed woman. You may know her simply as “the woman at the well” from John 4. Her story tends to be remembered for two reasons: her shockingly high number of marriages, and Jesus’...