Karen EngleQuiet Capernaum (Kfar Nahum or “Nathan’s village”) wraps around the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It’s surrounded by lush, rolling hills that invite easy living—likely the reason a large number of Jews migrated there from Jerusalem after...
Logos StaffWhen we decided to curate a list of resources for every book of the Bible, one of our priorities was to choose resources that would help people comprehend the most difficult books of the Bible. All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for...
Michael S. HeiserMost of us have read John 5:1–9—the story of the blind, paralyzed man at the pool of Bethesda—many times. But I’ll bet there’s something that escaped your attention. Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 2 Now there is...
Many people can recite John 3:16, but how many know what John 3:14–15 says? Jesus’ words in these two verses have generated confusion and controversy: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that...
In one of the more enigmatic verses in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells his disciples, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Luke 10:18). The question isn’t about the “what” of Jesus’ statement. It’s clear that Satan is under judgment...
“Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah!… I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt 16:17–18). The “gates of hell”? Why did Jesus respond to Peter’s confession, “You are...
Mark WardI was looking for a Mother’s Day gift and I stumbled across a quotation on the website of a local massage therapist: You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending. —C. S. Lewis I’m a huge Lewis...
What do we really know about the “magi,” the three “wise men” who brought gifts to Jesus? I get questions like this from my kids all the time, questions about Bible and theology stuff. I love their curiosity. And I often find myself answering them...
In Exodus 3, God famously appears to Moses in a burning bush and sends him to rescue the Israelites. Fearing nobody will believe him, Moses says, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they...
As finite beings in a finite universe, it’s almost impossible for us to imagine what God was doing before time and matter as we know it was created. Was God alone? Was he adrift in a vast nothingness? Does the Bible give us any indication what life...
Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount amazed its original hearers; it subverted their expectations on multiple levels. It’s the meek who win the world. Believers are supposed to be happy when persecuted. And then this: Jesus, this new teacher with...
If you want to start a fight, meddle with people’s religion and their grammar at the same time. Here goes. I think it’s time to no longer capitalize deity pronouns in Christian writing and in (most) Bible translations. Shall we take this out back? I...
Have you ever been listening to a preacher who is using a Bible translation different from the one in your lap? Generally, the wording is similar enough to avoid confusion; in fact those differences often provide little insights. But occasionally...
In modern stories people destined for greatness rarely start off privileged. They are dropped off at the doorstep of an orphanage or abandoned in the rain. This literary motif goes back to ancient stories, where writers use the abandoned child theme...
“Measure twice, cut once.” It’s a memorable adage, and good advice with application beyond carpentry. But after measuring and cutting for years, you may be tempted to cut the measuring frequency in half. After all, you’re an expert. But even experts...
Samuel LamersonDid Jesus have a sense of humor? Explore the possibility in this article by Dr. Samuel Lemerson, professor of New Testament and president of Knox Theological Seminary in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
If you can’t use the Bible, you don’t really understand it. It may sound backwards to speak of “using” the Bible: we don’t stand over the Bible, twisting it to our ends; the Bible stands over us and is one major means by which God uses us. That’s...
Many Christians are faithful Bible readers, but they feel stuck when it comes to Bible study. After you’ve read a Bible passage once, and then read it again, what do you do to study it? Um, read it again? And then what? Looking at a commentary or...
I am on a mission to end Bible Translation Tribalism. If you don’t know what I mean by “Translation Tribalism,” see if any of these tribal stereotypes (some borrowed from another blogger) ring true for you: The NIV 2011 is the Bible of the broad...
Ryan NelsonAt the heart of Randy Alcorn’s book, Happiness, is the simple belief that Christians, having a direct relationship with the source of all happiness, should be happy. This isn’t a call for delusional ignorance of the terrible things that...
This is a guest post about faith by Andrew B. Perrin. assistant professor of religious studies and co-director of the Dead Sea Scrolls Institute at Trinity Western University. A few years ago I googled “faith” and discovered that the top two hits...
In a culture that doesn’t sacrifice animals on altars when we make mistakes, it’s sometimes tough to explain how and why Jesus’ death on the cross atones for our sins. Without a system for understanding sin, sacrifice, and...
John D. Barry“How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart, you begin to understand, there is no going back? There are some things that time cannot mend. Some hurts that go too deep.” When Frodo Baggins says these...
What if taking the Bible “literally” doesn’t mean what you think it means? In The Lost World of Genesis One, Dr. John Walton of Wheaton college affirms that Genesis 1 is talking about a literal seven days of creation—but he also...
The church’s emphasis on abstinence in dating sometimes leaves people feeling as if the Bible says that sex itself is bad. Not only is that not what the Bible says . . . it’s not even close. Sex was designed to be good. Within the...
Morris ProctorThis post is from Morris Proctor, certified and authorized trainer for Logos Bible Software. Morris, who has trained thousands of Logos users at his two-day Camp Logos seminars, provides many training materials. In an ideal world you and I would...
One of the hardest things for me to wrap my brain around as a Christian is how a God who defines himself as love (1 John 4:8) and defines the greatest form of love as laying down your life for someone else (John 15:13) could lead Israel on a...
I caved. Somebody sent me one of those time-wasting links you know you’re not supposed to click on if you want to get any work done. But I couldn’t help it. “Find out what your most used words on Facebook are,” the link said. I was like Digory at...
The Bible is constantly revealing how big, how wise, how powerful, and how awesome God is. Psalm 139 is one of the many passages where God’s omniscience is put on display—but here, God’s omniscience is a powerful reminder that nothing...
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...