Andy NaselliIs it wrong to call the Holy Spirit an “it”? Contemporary English speakers use the words “it” and “he” in distinctly different ways. As a general rule, a person is a “who,” and a thing is an “it.” A spoon is an “it.” Your mom is a “she.” A spoon is...
Tobin Perry“Attributes of God” sounds like a stuffy theological phrase that barely relates to how we live our Christian lives. In fact, most of us (me included) have to sit with a dictionary in hand to understand the $100 words some theologians use...
Harold L. SenkbeilMost everyone knows the Great Commission by heart: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt 28:19). But why make disciples, and why baptize using that...
Robert ElmerWe see it sometimes when a baseball player steps up to the plate or when a worshipper in a liturgical church approaches the altar. It’s the sign of the cross, traced on the forehead, shoulders, and chest. In the West, the motion goes: up, down...
Portia CollinsEvery Wednesday, my family and I gather at our church for midweek Bible study. During that time, I joyfully teach some of the littlest members of our congregation, the four and five year olds. One aspect of our time together involves catechizing. A...
Steve WaltonIn Acts 13:9 we learn for the first time that Saul of Tarsus was also known as “Paul”; and almost without exception he is known as Paul thereafter. In the Pauline letters, there is no indication that he ever bore any other name than Paul. So what’s...
Christopher KouWhat is the Trinity? We can define the “Trinity” or “Triune God” in this way: There is only one God. The Father is God. The Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are three distinct persons. When we see these...
Logos StaffEven the best metaphors fail to capture the complexities of God’s being. In fact, when Christians attempt to explain the Trinity, they often stumble into metaphors that sound suspiciously like the very heresies Trinitarian theology was...
Michael F. BirdIs the Trinity a holy hierarchy, a triarchy, with God the Father as the boss, Jesus as his deputy, and the Holy Spirit as the Son’s assistant or delegate? The short answer is no. Historical Christianity—whether Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant—has...
Joshua JensenMy wife and I are missionaries in Cambodia, where I work as a Bible translation advisor for a local language, Jarai, and we both teach the Bible in various contexts. The Bible is important to us: not only how it is translated, but how it is used and...
Jeanette PiferI have the privilege of teaching Greek. It’s one of my favorite classes to teach. But for many of my students, it is one of the hardest classes they take for their degree. Thus, one of my primary pedagogical goals is to instill a conviction in my...
Karen EngleThe significance of Palm Sunday was lost on me as a child. I suspect it’s lost on most Christian adults, too. My first memories of Palm Sunday were of sitting patiently in Sunday school next to my friends, holding palm fronds.
Keith N. Smith Jr.Throughout the Bible there is a theme that you might call “choosing between two ways.” It starts with the two trees in the Garden of Eden narrative: the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil produced death, while the Tree of Life was a source of...
The most important lexicographer of the Greek of the New Testament had this to say about Greek lexicons: It is a mistake to shun the lexicon as a graveyard haunted by columns of semantic ghosts or simply fall back on it as on a codebook identifying...
Timothy MillerThe 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...
David P. BarshingerWe 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...
Douglas EstesTeaching is a form of research, observes William A. Dyrness, senior professor of theology and culture at Fuller Theological Seminary. To teach students well, we must always discover what they know and where they come from. Dyrness is the author of...
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...
Christa ThrelfallOne 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...
Jason StoneWhat 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...
Daniel K. EngPerhaps 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...
Kelley MathewsDestination: 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...
Kirk E. MillerVirtually 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...
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...
A Conversation with Thomas R. Schreiner Respect for our students and for our schools is what undergirds a meaningful calling to teach, observes Thomas R. Schreiner, the James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation and associate...
Jill FirthHow can Gollum, hyperlinks, and product placement help us to understand why there are lament psalms at the end of the Psalter? A popular generalization about the Psalter is that it moves in a trajectory from lament to praise, and from psalms spoken...
Timothy BergA common YouTube pastime is the Wired “Autocorrect Interviews.” A public figure holds a board hiding a series of commonly googled questions behind paper strips. They peel the strips one by one and answer the sometimes absurd, always...
S.M. BaughProfessional athletes were as popular in the ancient world as they are today, even if the sports back then were somewhat different. Wrestling competitions, for example, were held throughout mainland Greece and Asia Minor in various festivals. And...
Adam J. HowellGraded Implementation for Using Digital Tools in Original-Language Courses The speed with which digital technology has swept through our society has certainly made an impact on original-language learning. Whereas it was previously unthinkable to...
Clark BatesWhen one looks at the Christian church today, depending on their experience and exposure, the first thing he or she may see is its divisions. Within Protestantism alone, the mere mention of issues like free will, predestination, foreknowledge...