In this episode of What in the Word?, we dive into one of the most puzzling verses in the New Testament: 1 Corinthians 15:29 and its reference to baptism for the dead. Host, Kirk E. Miller, is joined by biblical scholar, B. J. Oropeza, to explore...
A Bible concordance is simply a reference tool in which words from a particular translation of Scripture are arranged alphabetically in a kind of index—often accompanied by words from the immediate context of each use. Scripture references are...
I was that kid whose nose was always stuck in a book. I was also that kid who occasionally read a dictionary for fun. I just loved words—including and especially God’s Word. When I was eleven years old, I asked for my own Bible, having already worn...
Bible study tools come in all different shapes and sizes, and the best ones can really make a difference in your comprehension of the book. Read about different kinds of Bible study tools and what you can do with them—along with some suggested...
A friend of mine recently polled his church—both members and pastors—to see which Bible study resources they used. Independently, every single one of them named Strong’s Concordance. Many mentioned nothing else. Strong’s was their only Bible study...
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...
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 can be as addictive as eating Fritos: “You can never eat one. You can eat a half a bag, but not one.” That’s what Chuck Swindoll, one of the best Bible teachers, says. But for many Christians, reading the Bible feels like eating...
I was talking with a friend recently about how I’d been spending a lot of time reading books about the Bible, but less time reading the Bible itself. The spaces between my personal reflections on Scripture were growing wider. I still felt like...
The NET (or New English Translation) is a relatively new Bible version, but it has quickly become one of my favorites. It is completely unlike any other translation before it. Perhaps the word openness best describes what makes this Bible so special...
Few Bible study tools so effectively prick the conscience, focus the attention, and calm the spirit as a well-crafted daily devotional. A daily devotional is not designed to change your mind; it’s meant to change your heart. There are...