Two months ago I responded to an article posted by Tim Challies. He developed a few points made by Christopher Ash, in Married for God, arguing that it is sinful...
Nestled in the tightly argued and exegetically demanding section of Galatians 2:15-21 we read this: “A person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus...
For the next two quarters my church will be working through Galatians in our small groups. I have decided to attempt a translation of Paul’s letter, with the hope that...
Last year I wrote a three part series on the Pharisees, prompted by my frustration at how the Pharisees are often portrayed in teaching and writing. My appeal throughout the...
‘When Jesus is held back for execution and Barabbas is set free we have a wonderful picture of substitution.’ Have you heard that before? I have. Perhaps you have even...
It's always awesome when things in the Bible suddenly fit together and you realise something bigger going on that makes a whole bunch of pieces fit together. Most of the...
Not a bad question if you live in the first century. Most Christians today will tell you without hesitating that the answer to that question is Jesus. What's interesting is...
Graham has recently written a couple of posts (here and here) on Alter's seminal work, "The Art of Biblical Narrative". The "New Literary Criticism" movement is not new any more...
Despite the difficult details and apocalyptic flavour of Daniel, the overarching theme is not too complicated and I think correctly summarised as: “God is sovereign. He overrules and eventually will...
I few weeks back I posted in the wake of completing Robert Alter’s The Art of Biblical Narrative, noting his method and drawing out some theological conclusions. The experience implicit throughout...
One of the most exciting elements of my ministry this year is that of training lay preachers. In South Africa many rural churches share a pastor who alternates visiting churches...
Somehow the inevitable reading of an account that has likely been read or heard every year of my life was nevertheless fresh on Sunday. The reading was from Luke and...
Most people arrive at Bible College dreading the prospect of Greek and Hebrew - nerdy as I am, I relished it. Not because I expected to have original insights on...
Some time ago I preached from Mark 6 and thought verse 31b a little weird, “For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat”. Of...
I recently wrote a post on what I labeled, The Dangerous Evangelical Assumption. In it I asked if we are in danger of limiting the work of the Holy Spirit...
It was as a teenager that I first encountered exegetical preaching. And it is significant, though not paramount, that I was converted under that model of preaching, as the Holy...
The adventures of leaving theological training to starting in full time church ministry present to me familiar challenges that my three years of training could not solve. And one such...
At Friday youth we have been doing a course called Christianity Explored (the youth version though - called Soul). The course runs for seven weeks with each week teaching something...
Hebrew authors, it seems, have a propensity towards the prodigious use of direct speech but rarely reported speech and it seems clear that they were willing to summarise conversations into...
