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...
People have been asking, “Which Bible commentary is best?” for as long as anyone can remember. Learn what an exegetical commentary is—and seven exceptional selections.
With sixty-six books of the Bible written over two thousand years, the Bible is the most diverse collection of literature in the world. Those books contain some of the most famous stories, most respected wisdom, and most powerful prose (and poetry)...
Every morning and every evening I pray for my children. I pray the words God has placed over my children and over me. Because God’s Word interprets the world, these words are how God wants me to see my children. In baptism, God has given my...
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...
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...
Effective Bible study practices Studying the Bible is an important part of the Christian life, but it’s a part that all too often gets swept under the rug and pushed off until a later date. Even if you take the time to read the Bible every day, how...
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.
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...
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 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...
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...
“Is this worship?” That’s not a thought I expected to have nearing the end of my first 15K race, but there it was. As I watched seagulls soaring overhead and one foot fell in front of the other, my reasoning went like this:...
On February 8, 2023, students from Asbury University gathered at chapel as they would any other Wednesday at 10:00 a.m., but it was not an ordinary Wednesday. Those in attendance lingered in the chapel—for 15 more days. Craig Keener of Asbury...
In 2019, my Christian counselor broke up with me. We were discussing my anxiety woes and the constant work I was doing to experience the promise of Philippians 4:7. For the past few years, I had taken Paul’s words in Philippians 4:6 and worked them...
A covenant in biblical times served two primary purposes: 1) to establish kinship relationships among non-kin and 2) to establish peace where there was potential for violence.
How many times have you heard this in a sermon? How many times have you preached this in a sermon? Faith in Greek is pistis, which means fidelity or trust. In Hebrew, the word usually translated as faith is emunah, which means steadfastness or...
Almost two years ago, I switched to the Christian Standard Bible (CSB) as my primary preaching and teaching translation for my church, Mercy Baptist Church in West Chester, Ohio. Last year I led our church to purchase CSB pew Bibles (though we use...
Is it meaningful to speak of “pets” in the Bible? Some claim “pet” is a purely modern category, so much so that what a modern person would call a “pet” does not exist in the Bible. If so, then to speak of...
Morris Proctor of MP Seminars, the authorized Logos trainer, entered into glory on Monday, January 23, after a brief illness. View the announcement from MP Seminars here. Over the last quarter century, Morris trained thousands of people to use Logos...
John Bevere and Scott Lindsey discuss using Logos Bible Software to reliably answer tough Bible questions in 2023.
I was staring at the back of The Man Sitting in Front of Me, the one who killed my little brother. First my sister, then my niece, stood and told the man what his act had taken from us. The murder had been vicious. My not quite thirty-eight-year-old...
I’m from Texas, the land of every type of weather. I’ve experienced tornadoes, flash floods, droughts, sub-zero, and temperatures above 110 degrees Fahrenheit. We even get the occasional sleet and snow. We all know it’s not real snow—a mere...
No church leader wants to admit it, but for many of us it’s true: we still don’t have a sustainable habit for personal Bible study and prayer. Here are five ways forward—true for anyone, church leader or not. 1. Know your why In Man’s Search for...
Every Christmas Eve growing up, my father read the Christmas story from Luke 2 in the King James Version.
Howard Marshall remarked that compared to the parts of the Bible which “can be recognised to be among the great literature of the world … One cannot attribute this level of religious or literary insight to the composer of the some of the genealogies...
